Holy quarantine, Batman. If any of us could’ve predicted just half of what the last 12 months have brought us, we’d be changing our names to Richie Rich and be diving into a swimming pool full of coins. It’s one for the history books alright; a year that will be taught in schools across the world for decades to come, usually prefaced with the line “the year the world PROPERLY went to shit.”
They’ll be a little footnote in those history books too. Filed away under the categories of “sport”, “lower league football” and “utter debacle” will be a mention of Macclesfield Town Football Club. The club that died, and the one the rose from the ashes.
Ah Amar…
This morning I re-read my blog from 1st January 2020. In between various boasts about my Christmas in the sunshine (doesn’t that feel like a different lifetime?!), I wax lyrical about the Plymouth game cancellation, the safety certificate nonsense and the general ridiculous situation that we found ourselves in this time last year. I’ll let you re-read it yourselves but one quote stood out for me and made me roll my eyes so hard they’re still stuck firmly in the back of my head:
As a Macc fan this year, it’s felt the toughest it’s ever, ever been.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!
How naive was I?! In all fairness, at the time of writing it truly felt like things couldn’t get any worse for MTFC. The best we could really hope for was that Amar (remember him?!) would get bored of the Ebeneezer Scrooge act and sell up. Some hoped for administration, others simply wanted to watch a game in peace. There was one thing we could definitely all agree on though; we wanted our club back.
Things have a funny way of playing out, don’t they? If it hadn’t been for the Amar years, Covid could well have been the thing that sealed the sorry deal for the death of our club. As it turned out, the last rites had already been screamed at us multiple times way before the virus reached our shores. However, what Covid did was remove the distraction of the actual football for all of us. For fans, it gave us some time for reflection on exactly what was going on behind the scenes. For those in charge within the football world, it shone a spotlight on just how desperate it had become for everyone other than the elite minority. And for Amar, it gave him nowhere else to hide.
Oh, and for Mr Smethurst et al, it opened the door for him to launch our new chapter. Cheers again Rob!
2021 and the birth of MFC
I can’t imagine there are very many people that are sad to see the back of 2020. Jeff Bezos, perhaps, considering how much money he’s made this year. But for us mere mortals, it’s a year to forget.
There will be more to be sad/angry/scared about in 2021 of course. But I hope you’ll forgive me for trying to sign off this year with a little bit of positivity. I know; me, positive!
The vaccine is well on it’s way and, with it, hopefully a gradual return to the normality that we all hold so dear. Hugs and handshakes will return, pubs will be full again and live sport will crash back into our lives like a much-loved, if slightly unpredictable, old friend. The friend who makes us laugh, the friend that we sometimes despair with, but the friend who we always welcome with open arms and who we love so deeply. Even when they’re being a right dickhead.
More importantly than the vaccine though; 2021 will see the very first game of Macclesfield Football Club. That first day will be something else. I know there will be tears shed. I know there will be songs sung. And I know within minutes of that first kick off there will be grumbles from the terraces about the new number 9 we’ve signed that couldn’t score if we made the goals 100 foot wide.
I know I’ll love every single second.
So, Silks, I’ll see you all there. We survived the biggest shit storm we could’ve imagined (I hope!). Now let’s enjoy our well deserved reward.
Happy New Year to you all.
#againstallodds
The Word Nerd 