Rooney backs biggest ever FA Cup upset

All the quotes from the Palace press conference

FA Cup action returns to the Moss Rose tomorrow lunchtime and the cup holders are in town in what marks the biggest game in Macclesfield FC’s history.

On paper, the outcome of the Silkmen’s historic third round tie looks a formality against Premier League opponents, Crystal Palace. After all, the Eagles’ last outing in this competition was a 1-0 win in the FA Cup final against Manchester City and they will be heavy favourites to ease past Macclesfield.

But the FA Cup has a long history of tearing up scripts and manager John Rooney and leading goalscorer Danny Elliott made their intentions clear in Thursday afternoon’s press conference in front of media representatives from the BBC, the Guardian, the Times and Sky News.

Don’t count us out

“I don’t think a win is unrealistic,” said Rooney when I asked him how he’s managing his expectations ahead of Saturday. “In the FA Cup, crazy things happen.

“Are we setting up just to win? No. We’ll have to defend really well to minimise their chances but there’s giant killings in every round so why can’t it be us this round?

“I’m definitely not ruling a victory out, absolutely not.”

But there will be a sense of achievement no matter the scoreline, with Saturday’s clash seeming less about the result and more about the occasion. Above all, this fixture acts as a reminder as to why the FA Cup still matters to clubs at this level. It’s an opportunity to attract transformational financial windfalls through prize money, gate receipts and TV coverage, while putting Macclesfield back on a national stage by attracting audiences that have never even seen a non-league game.

A remarkable journey

Even the small things tell the story - having been at the stadium on Thursday and seen the carpark full of broadcast trucks, scaffolding built around the ground for TV cameras, digital advertising boards being installed around the pitch. These are all signs of how far Macc have come as a club since their reformation just six years ago.

To put that into perspective, six years ago on Saturday Paul Dawson and Lewis Fensome were playing together away at Grantham Town for Lancaster City in front of a crowd of just 202 people. Fast forward six years, Grantham have suffered three relegations while Dawson and Fensome will be captain and vice captain in the Third Round of the FA Cup against Premier League giants Crystal Palace. Remarkable.

One man that will know how important cup runs are for non-league clubs is Danny Elliott, who has featured for eight different clubs across the National League and the National League North.

“As I’ve grown into my career, I’ve seen what it means to lower level clubs and how much the financial aspect can affect a lower level club.

“I signed for Boreham Wood a few years ago just after they got to the Fifth Round. They played away at Bournemouth and won and then they played away at Everton and lost, but I’ve seen the way it affected the club financially. Seeing all that makes [the game on Saturday] mean even more.

“Macclesfield is such a community club. To be able to give them a brilliant day on Saturday and potentially another day after that would be something special.”

Danny is amongst the many Macc players balancing their playing career with a job off the field, with this acting as one of the reasons why the club is hesitant to go full-time due to the fact that the players would be forced into choosing between their day job and football.

He seems to be doing a fairly respectable job of juggling both though, with the 30-year-old being the owner of a property business helping players make smarter financial decisions to prepare for life after football while also finding the time to become Macclesfield FC’s all-time leading goalscorer.

After three goals in the First Round and one in the Second, he smiled when I asked him if he fancied his chances on Saturday: “Definitely,” he said with confidence.

“It’d be brilliant to get a goal and to get something out the game whichever way that comes.

“We’re not naive in the fact that we know it’s going to be an incredibly tough game. It’s going to require a lot of effort and a good stroke of luck as well but anything can happen on that pitch.

“But, I think it’ll be something that a lot of the Crystal Palace players won’t have experienced before, coming to somewhere like this - those away changing rooms aren’t necessarily the best!

“Hopefully we can make it as difficult as we can and if I can get a goal in the process then that’ll be fantastic.”

Influential Kay to return?

The Silkmen faithful will be looking forward to the return of Josh Kay, whose red card against Bedford Town saw him miss out on defeats against Buxton and Chester as well as midweek’s victory over Radcliffe - an emotionally exhausting run of games for those fans that attended all three.

Macc have benefited on many occasions from the creativity of the Oldham Athletic loanee (the club are confident they can make this permanent having had Josh show interest in staying), whose only real drawback seems to be his disciplinary record with him being the only player in the league to receive two straight reds this season. Extraordinarily, this means he’s received more red cards this season than yellow cards.

“Josh has been fantastic since he came in,” said Elliott, who has been feeding off of Kay’s flawless through-balls and eagerness to look forward in the few games that the 28-year-old hasn’t been either injured or suspended for. “He’s a top quality player.

“You can see the experience that he brings when he comes on the pitch. We’ve got so many really talented players that have all done really well over the last few years whether it’s here or at other clubs.

“Some of the players haven’t come up with the numbers of goals and assists that they would have liked so far this season, but they’re more than capable of doing it so that doesn’t make them a bad player.”

Rooney’s FA Cup history

And Saturday’s clash will act as a full circle moment for Rooney, who came off the bench for Macclesfield Town as a 19-year-old in their FA Cup Third Round clash at home to Everton.

The now 35-year-old progressed through the academy ranks at Macc before signing a professional contract in the summer of 2008. He went on to make 44 appearances for the Silkmen, helping them secure back-to-back survival from League Two relegation.

Having bookended his playing career with spells at the club, Rooney will be hoping to mark his debut managerial season by turning an exceptional cup run into what would be one of the biggest - if not the biggest - cup upset in history.

“To have your first chance as a manager to be at the club where you started is important to me. It’s something I’m really proud of.”

While it’ll be an indisputably monumental day for the players and staff, Saturday’s clash belongs just as much to the supporters, many of whom have never seen Macc play a game at this scale in their lifetimes.

Seeing the Moss Rose host an occasion like this is what the journey of the last six years has built up to, an ascension that began in the ninth tier of English football and has led to a meeting with Premier League giants and FA Cup holders Crystal Palace.