Stability is key

Summer transfer strategy outlined as Drummond likely to exit

Following Macc’s 2-1 defeat to Marine in the Northern Premier League’s play-off final, owner Rob Smethurst and Director of Football Robbie Savage took to Facebook Live to address the Silkmen faithful last night (7 May).

The 30-minute video provided a raw, honest, and at times, emotional reflection on the club’s and the two Robs’ personal journeys 24 hours after suffering the heartache of missing out on promotion to the National League North. Whilst the disappointment remains palpable, the overriding message was abundantly clear: WE GO AGAIN and we will come back even stronger next season ready to mount another promotion challenge!

Rob Smethurst began by acknowledging the magnificent support from the sell-out home support, plus the many others who were unable to attend the game in person but purchased the live stream to watch the drama unfold.

“It was the most unbelievable atmosphere and seeing all you Macclesfield fans yesterday was one of those moments that felt like we’d brought a community together. In some ways it felt like we’d won, even though we lost. I was proud to be Macclesfield and it was very touching,” Rob said.

Robbie (Savage) was equally grateful to the supporters and proud of how far the Silkmen have come, but couldn’t hide his disappointment on missing out on a third consecutive promotion.

“When you beat a team (Marine) 2-1 twice and you get through Worksop, on the two big occasions against Gateshead and again yesterday we weren’t at it. The manager (Michael Clegg) prepared everything right, Cleggy’s been brilliant with (coaches) Nicky (Hunt) and Lewis (Hardcastle), but just for some reason on the two big occasions the team hasn’t delivered. But on the whole they have been magnificent,” reflected Robbie.

Recruitment lessons learned

In a campaign that has seen over 30 players and three managers represent the first-team, both of Macclesfield’s figureheads conceded that mistakes had been made with regards to recruitment.

“We got it wrong at the start. The recruitment wasn’t up to scratch. We brought in players that we thought were going to be brilliant – they didn’t achieve at the start so I thought we were always up against it,” admitted Rob.

Sav also acknowledged that last season’s summer transfer business didn’t deliver the anticipated success. “Recruitment is the key asset to any football club and Jimmy Holmes (Head of Recruitment, appointed in December 2023) has done an unbelievable job for us. A lot of our team out there (that finished the season) Jimmy deserves massive respect for – the majority of that team are Jimmy Holmes’ players and they’ve done unbelievably well.”

“But as a collective, I don’t think the recruitment at the start of the season was great. Not because they weren’t the players we’d have gone for, because on paper 100% we’d have gone for those players. Unfortunately, the players that came in didn’t hit the ground running. Our fans made their minds up pretty quickly and unfortunately there was a turnaround of players,” concluded Robbie.

The need for stability

Having narrowly missed out on promotion, don’t expect to see wholescale changes to the playing staff ahead of the 2024/25 season.

“We’ll pick ourselves up. If we look back to what we did last year, during the summer period we probably got a bit excited and brought in lots of players that unsettled the team. What we’ve learned is that now we’ve got to add stability. I think the players we’ve got now are good enough – we maybe need to make a few slight changes, maybe two or three,” reasoned Rob.

“We’re trying to keep Kane Drummond, but I think he’ll be gone. We’ve offered him a very, very good package to stay but probably not enough for what he wants. But for us, it’s making sure we keep stability now and go into the new season with just a few tweaks, rather than (making) rash decisions and going out and getting players and making mistakes. If we do that, we could be in the same position of having a bad start like we did this year. If we’d have got the team that we’ve got now, in my opinion, we’d have 100% won,” continued Rob.

2024-25 squad – who stays and who goes?

Robbie Savage stated the club announce will its retained list in the coming days. But one player who looks set for pastures new is Kane Drummond. The talented forward has been in scintillating form in 2024 which has attracted admirers from higher up the football pyramid.

While Drummond’s departure is yet to be confirmed, it seems unlikely that he will commit his future to Macc. Newly promoted EFL team Chesterfield is rumoured to be in pole position to lure another one of our prized assets away, having captured standout performer James Berry last August.

“Stability is important. Cleggy is a huge asset with his experience of over 500 games. I think he needs to go out and find a couple of players, one to replace Kane (Drummond), maybe a couple of midfielders, whatever he feels,” surmised Sav.

“We’ve been unlucky in the goalkeeping department – Joe Hilton was doing well but obviously got injured. Ollie (Byrne) has come in and we’ll have a chat with him. Going forward, I agree that I think we’ll have a core 13/14 players from the current squad,” he commented.

Plans already firmly in motion

Macc have wasted no time getting down to business as they seek to finalise the identity of next season’s playing staff.

Sav revealed: “I think we’ve triggered four (contract extension) options on players’ contracts today – big players. Those players are (they had a two-year deal plus a one-year club option) Alex Curran, Sam Heathcote, Paul Dawson and Luke Duffy. Those four players along with the following players are on current contracts: (Laurent) Mendy, Tre (Pemberton), Brandon Lee, Lewis Fensome, Dan Sweeney and maybe one or two others.”

Sav also confirmed the club will open discussions with numerous other members of the current squad, including strikers Tunde Owolabi and Tom Clare.

It’s going to be an interesting few weeks ahead as the squad takes shape ahead of pre-season!