The dilemmas facing John Rooney

Rooney takes charge after Savage & co bolt

The timing of Robbie Savage’s departure was bad enough, but taking Tre Pemberton, Neil Kengni and Laurent Mendy to Forest Green further rubbed habanero chillis into the wounds for everyone at Macclesfield FC. Not to mention the added inconvenience of first-team coach John McMahon, regarded as Savage’s tactical ‘brains’, also jumping ship to Gloucestershire.

The departure of three longstanding and major players from last season’s title-winning squad leaves a gaping hole in the Silkmen’s team, and with it presents new manager John Rooney his first headache since taking the reins earlier this week.

Rooney’s appointment, made quickly and decisively by chairman Robert Smethurst represents a gamble, but has been made with sound logic behind it.

“In John Rooney, we have someone who is a vibrant advocate of our football philosophy and how this should be executed. He commands respect at every level of the Club, and the relationships he has created here at the Leasing.com Stadium speak for themselves. Tactically astute, John possesses all the attributes we need to sustain the phenomenal momentum we currently enjoy,”said the club in a statement.

Rooney will be supported by coaches Nigel Keogh and Peter Band, along with Director of Football Anthony Curran ahead of Macclesfield’s debut season in the National League North.

Rooney needs no introduction following a glittering playing career and more recently his goals and assists have helped catapult the Silkmen to Step 2. Band had been entrusted to be Savage’s ‘right-hand man’ and is highly respected by everyone at the club, so it was a relief that he will not be heading to Forest Green.

Keogh, who joined the backroom team in January, has gained experience as assistant manager in the National League North at Warrington Town, but also played a key role as a coach as Buxton won the Northern Premier League in 2022 and helped establish the Bucks’ youth academy. Finally, Curran’s elevation to Director of Football to now incorporate first-team matters, building on his stint as Macclesfield’s International Academy manager, should lighten the burden on Rooney.

Nevertheless, as a new managerial kid on the block Rooney has been handed a tough first gig. Let’s take a look at five quandaries immediately confronting him.

Replace the energy levels of the departed trio

Between them Tre Pemberton, Neil Kengni and Laurent Mendy chalked up nearly 500 appearances for Macclesfield and contributed hugely to our success. Their personalities and the continuity they offered on the pitch will be a huge loss, but arguably the trio’s biggest asset was their energy levels.

Pemberton covered every blade of grass on the right flank, bombing forward from full-back to support attacks, whilst never shirking his defensive responsibilities. He also proved to be a versatile and effective defender when Savage asked him to play wing-back, or at centre half in a back three.

Out of the trio, I suspect Tre will prove to be the biggest loss and the player most capable of succeeding in the National League. He has all the attributes to flourish, but will need to cut out some of his petulance with referees and his fondness for diving into tackles which cost him cheap yellow cards and Macclesfield free-kicks in dangerous areas. Even prior to Pemberton’s departure we were short of cover at right-back, with only Lewis Fensome able to stand-in if needed. Rooney is seeking to fill this void urgently.

Kengni’s switch to Forest Green was more of a surprise. It comes on the back of Neil having his best spell at the club after some sterling performances at left back and wing-back, which saw him invariably selected ahead of Brandon Lee. We even saw a timely, but bittersweet reminder towards the end of last season of how dangerous Kengni’s pace and directness can be in the final third. He ran riot when playing on the wing against Blyth and Guiseley, scoring that fabulous goal which started with Kengni running from the halfway line and leaving Guiseley’s players in his trail.

In Sean Etaluku, Justin Johnson and new signing Isaac Buckley-Ricketts, the Silkmen still possess speed merchants in their squad, but it was Kengni’s pace AND directness which made him a nightmare for defenders. That said, Neil’s final ball was often erratic and defensively he was accident prone which will could be exposed higher up.

He was deservedly a fans’ favourite, but it was invariably forgotten that Kengni was directly responsible for costing us five goals last season away at Ilkeston (misscontrolled the ball), Prescot (poor clearance then conceded a penalty), Hyde (ball-watching then outmuscled by attacker), Warrington Rylands (turned over possession leading to Rylands’ goal) and Lancaster (failed to clear his defensive lines).

At 28, it was probably a case of now or never for Mendy to become a full-time professional. As a loyal servant and almost ever present since walking through the door as a raw trialist four years ago, no one can say Macclesfield’s former captain doesn’t deserve his opportunity. We will miss his athleticism and ability to glide across the pitch to thwart danger, then effortlessly switch gears and break defensive lines by striding forward with the ball to set up our own attacks.

Mendy’s best position will always divide opinion – central midfield or central defence? He excelled at both and finished the season in the middle of the park, scoring that iconic equaliser against Bamber Bridge on the day we confirmed promotion. For what it’s worth, I thought Mendy was most effective as a central defender in a back three. There his precise passing and confidence in bringing the ball out from defence was a real asset. And playing him in a three gave him licence to advance forward without leaving a gaping hole in the centre of our backline, which could be the case when he played in a back four as positionally he lacked discipline and shape on occasion.

The jury was still out for me on Mendy as a central midfielder. For an imposing figure, I felt he somewhat lacked aggression and physicality which might see him struggle at Steps 1 and 2. Take away his three goals at the end of last season against Morpeth, Bamber Bridge and Workington, I actually thought Mendy was more conservative and less effective on the ball as a midfielder compared to when he played in defence.

Either way, my views are academic now. The overriding point is that Rooney needs to replace all three former stars with fit, mobile and tenacious players to lessen the impact of their departures.

Revamp central midfield

Not only have we lost Mendy, John Rooney’s decision to retire from playing to focus purely on managing Macclesfield means that we now need to find not one, but two new central midfielders who can also emulate Rooney’s in excess of 20 goals and assists – a rare commodity at any level.

Assuming Rooney sticks with our tried-and-trusted 4-2-3-1 formation, it will be interesting to see if he opts to play two more defensive-minded midfielders in front of the back four to give the team more steel, or try and recreate last season’s blend of braun and creativity which Mendy and Rooney offered in abundance.

Will the new manager restore captain Paul Dawson back to midfield after Savage predominantly played him as a defender? Daws is exceptional wherever he plays, and even though he tended to feature off the bench towards the end of last season, his precision passing skills and ability to dictate play were always evident, so much so that I thought it served to emphasise how much more he could bring to our midfield in comparison to Mendy. Rooney’s other option might be to try Luke Duffy alongside Dawson. Duffy did shine when asked to play central midfield fleetingly by Savage when Rooney was recovering from illness and is the closest asset we’ve got to possessing Rooney’s talent.

Wipe the slate clean for those out of favour, or cast the net out?

Savage’s exit could coincide with a fresh start for the players who have been out of favour: Elliott Whitehouse, Danny Whitehead, Justin Johnson and Dontai Gabidon.

Injuries restricted all four at contrasting periods of last season. Whilst Johnson did manage 42 league and cup appearances, his form fell off a cliff since the turn of the year and he has been given a specific summer fitness programme to get over the injury he sustained at Lancaster in February.

Whitehouse and Whitehead were barely mentioned, if at all, by Savage when announcing the players who had been retained for the 2025-26 season. However, both had promotion clauses in their contracts when signing for the Silkmen last summer entitling them to an extra year. Whitehouse and Gabidon were both deemed surplus to requirements by Savage, but are on good contracts and seemingly hard to shift.

Our current lack of bodies in midfield presents an opportunity for Whitehouse and Whitehead to impress the new manager, and less we forget both were signed by Savage for their very experience at National League North level having shined at Chester and AFC Fylde respectively the season prior. Kengni going may hand a reprieve to Gabidon, whilst Rooney will surely want to extract more goals and assists from JJ given he came to Macc from Chorley on the back of being named in the NLN’s Team of the Year.

Stick with 4-2-3-1 or adopt a new formation?

One of the justifications for appointing Rooney as new manager, aside from his obvious qualities, are because he won’t try and overhaul Macclesfield’s current squad of players or our playing style overnight.

But Rooney is his own man, with his own ideas, who may not be welded to the 4-2-3-1 formation. We know that Savage planned to experiment once more with a three centre back system in pre-season had he remained in charge, either a 3-4-1-2 or a more maverick 3-2-3-2formation. Might Rooney, who Savage cited as a growing influence for the club off the pitch, be tempted to dabble with either, or even try an entirely new set-up such as 4-3-3, for example.

Here’s what these line-ups could like with our current squad.

4-2-3-1

3-4-1-2

3-2-3-2

4-3-3

Scrutinise the trialists and spend the transfer budget wisely

Tomorrow’s ‘Talent ID Clinic’, aka a trialist event for out-of-contract players at Step 3 and above (to include younger players from professional academies) IS going ahead at the Leasing.com stadium. And given the events of the last seven days, it’s timely considering Rooney is seeking at least four new additions to Macclesfield’s squad, as we stand. I suspect with loan signings we may see six or seven new arrivals before the seasons commences on 9 August.

The club received an astonishing 270 applications for tomorrow’s trial, which have been reviewed by the Silkmen’s recruitment team and whittled down to (a still hefty) 90 players who will take part in a series of training activities and matches tomorrow afternoon (from 1pm, 5 July). Although agents, scouts and officials from other clubs will be in attendance, Macc will surely ensure they get first dibs of any players who impress on the day.

Judging from the various photos shared on social media of the lads returning to training, it would appear that some trialists are already In the building. I don’t recognise the young man next to Lewis Fensome in the grey joggers above, or the two players in camera shot below.

I was somewhat sceptical of the club’s reasons for holding this trialist event. Savage insisted the intention was simply as billed – to give out-of-contract players the chance to find a new club for the coming season and other clubs to scout players who previously may have gone under the radar. But was / is there more to it?

The decision to retain all of last season’s squad, whilst undoubtedly on merit, was still a surprise. Given his ambition of aiming for promotion to the National League, I was expecting Savage to bring in more permanent signings from the National League or League Two instead of just Isaac Buckley-Ricketts.

Can we conclude that as a number of Macclesfield players had promotion clauses built into their contracts which have been activated, it left Savage with a reduced transfer budget and limited scope for manoeuvre, hence him seeking to bolster the squad with free transfers?

According to non-league media whispers, Macclesfield are thought to have received anything from £85,000 to £175,000 for the ‘substantial, undisclosed’ sales of Pemberton, Kengni and Mendy after Savage activated the very buy-out clauses he had previously negotiated for them. Given the discrepancy between those two estimated figures, it suggests no one outside of the Silkmen’s boardroom really knows. But I suspect a five-figure amount seems more likely.

Hopefully the generated fees will be handed to Rooney so he can urgently bolster the squad, but if he can save a penny or two by bagging an unknown gem from tomorrow’s trialists, so much the better!

The Silkmen News will be in attendance tomorrow and will endeavour to keep you posted as Macc’s recruitment team try and determine the wheat from the chaff.