Once brought back from the brink by an owner who whimsically acquired the team on Rightmove during a ‘four-day bender’, the non-League club, Macclesfield FC, is managed by none other than Wayne Rooney’s younger brother.

This Saturday, the rejuvenated Macclesfield FC is set to experience a landmark event in its vibrant history as they host FA Cup holders Crystal Palace in a thrilling third-round clash.

Daily Mail Sport was granted exclusive access to the club, which competes in the National League North, ahead of Oliver Glasner’s team visiting to play on the astroturf at the Leasing.com Stadium.

As we toured the freshly refurbished venue, owner Robert Smethurst reflected on his initial thoughts: “I was thinking, ‘What have I bought?’ The place was in ruins—receivers had stripped it bare. Broken seats, shattered glasses, a non-existent pitch, overgrown weeds, and cracked tarmac were all that remained.”

For those who watched the BBC documentary Making Macclesfield FC, which chronicled Smethurst and his close friend Robbie Savage’s nine-month endeavor to rebuild the club, the image of the 48-year-old maneuvering through chaos with a massive set of keys remains vivid.

Rob Smethurst bought Macclesfield FC on Rightmove during a four-day bender

The ground at the Leasing.com Stadium had fallen into disrepair but plush surroundings now greet us when we are given access behind the scenes

The home dressing room where a side that has won three promotions in the last four seasons will prepare to take on FA Cup holders Crystal Palace on Saturday

And the dressing room where the Premier League stars of Palace will house themselves

This venture marked the start of a journey that, according to Smethurst, became his salvation from addiction.

Having made his millions through a car logistics app, his life was drifting after Covid forced him to sell a football academy business.

‘I was just drinking crazy amounts of alcohol really, and living a completely ridiculous lifestyle,’ he admits. ‘I’d go to the pub at two o’clock in the afternoon and always be the last person to leave.

‘I’d been on this session, a four-day rolling bender. It was just non-stop. You know, wake up, carry on, which was crazy.

‘My mate said, “Macc football club’s up for sale”. I went on Rightmove and bought it within 24 hours. I didn’t have a business plan, and absolutely no idea how to run a football club. It was just something to do when you’re p****d.’

A decision made in a drunken stupour had a profound effect on Smethurst. It gave him a sense of purpose and community among a fanbase grateful that he brought their club back from oblivion. It did the same for him.

‘Has it saved my life? Yeah, it has,’ he says. ‘It’s taken over. It gave me something other to do than going back to sitting in the bedroom watching Netflix. I’ve got to fight for this club.

‘Once you get into it, the love, the passion, there is a togetherness within football that goes beyond. It’s become the heartbeat of Macclesfield. I walk across the pitch and I get a standing ovation from 4,000 people. I can’t go into town without being inundated with people coming over and talking to you. I love that.’

Smethurst (left) says that buying the club has saved his life – and his marriage

‘Once you get into it, the love, the passion, there is a togetherness within football that goes beyond. It’s become the heartbeat of Macclesfield’

Having made his millions through a car logistics app, Smethurst’s life was drifting after Covid forced him to sell a football academy business

If buying the club saved his life, it almost cost Smethurst his marriage. He was still in the dog house over the four-day bender when he asked his wife to meet him at the football club.

‘I told her to just Google it and she’d find me. I was already in the bad books and she asked me what we were doing there. I said “I’ve bought the place!” That was the final straw. We split up for a good six or seven months.’

Smethurst has patched up his marriage and been sober for five years. The club is in rude health too. Having quickly realised the folly of relying on a matchday income from home games every other week, he built Macclesfield’s business plan on a public leisure club and stylish bar facilities that can be hired out, just like the astroturf pitch.

It has cost him £4million of his own money to renovate the stadium, and up to £400,000 a year to keep the business afloat. But a club that evolved from nothing to 38 teams, an academy catering for 800 kids, and an international programme now brings in around £2.5m-a-year.

Drawing on the wealthy areas surrounding this Cheshire market town, where high net worth individuals live side by side with some of the country’s most famous footballers including Rooney, Smethurst has brought in investors and is on the lookout for more.

It has helped Macclesfield rise from the ninth tier of English football in the North-West Counties Premier Division to where they are now, two rungs below the Football League, after three promotions in four years. Last season, they won the Northern Premier League with a record 109 points under Savage after he moved from his role as director of football to take charge of the team.

‘In all honesty, we’ve kind of bought the football leagues. No matter what we say, the reality is we have,’ says Smethurst, who announced he was stepping down in October but couldn’t let go because he’s a ‘control freak’.

‘I can understand why other clubs hated us for it because we weren’t on the same playing field. It’s only now that we’re starting to see that we’ve levelled out.’

‘In all honesty, we’ve kind of bought the football leagues. No matter what we say, the reality is we have,’ says Smethurst

Robbie Savage worked with Smethurst to rebuild the club, then left for Forest Green Rovers this summer and three of his best players followed

Macclesfield Town went under in 2020, a year after Sol Campbell had rescued the club from relegation in a great escape – before leaving due to being unpaid

The income from the Palace cup tie will be a massive help too. It will generate around £350,000 due in no small measure to the Premier League club’s willingness to waive their right to half the ticket proceeds from a 5,300 full house on Saturday.

When Macclesfield put the final allocation of 800 tickets up for sale last week, fans queued outside the stadium for up to six hours.

The cup windfall includes £120,000 from the BBC for live TV coverage that will see Rooney appear as a pundit.

‘Hopefully he’s not slating me,’ says Wayne’s brother John, who will be in charge of the non-League side against the cup holders. ‘He’s been on holiday and gets home the night before, so he’s on the game.

‘To have a brother like that and someone to look up to is only going to benefit me if I need advice. We were talking about the Palace game on the phone the other day. But he’s managed in the Championship and MLS. No disrespect, we’ve got to go to teams like Alfreton.

‘I know what people say: “Do you get frustrated with being Wayne’s brother all the time?” It probably was a little bit hard sometimes, but I’m used to it now. You always get judged on it and I have been since I started playing at a young age. You know, it’s always “Wayne Rooney’s brother this, Wayne Rooney’s brother that”.

‘I’m proud of what he’s done. He’s been one of the best players ever to play the game, but I’m my own person and I’ll manage the way I want to manage. It’s not always the great players that make great managers.’

Five years younger than Wayne at the age of 35, John grew up with the former Manchester United and England captain and their middle brother Graham playing football outside – and often inside – the family home in Croxteth.

John Rooney, brother of Wayne, started and finished his playing career at Macclesfield before moving into the dugout this summer when Savage left

The income from the Palace cup tie will be a massive help, bringing in £350,000 thanks to the Premier League club’s willingness to waive their right to half the ticket proceeds

There will be a 5,300 full house on Saturday – when Macclesfield put the final allocation of 800 tickets up for sale last week, fans queued outside the stadium for up to six hours

‘Just constantly football,’ he recalls. ‘We’d make a ball out of anything, even if it was a pair of socks in the living room. TVs, pictures, everything got broken. We put a ball through the front window.

‘We’d be on the street playing, using lampposts as goals. We had a nursery across from us, and used to climb over and play in there.

‘My uncle has had his own boxing gym for 40-odd years now, and we’d throw the gloves on and fight with each other. Wayne’s the oldest so we’d make me and Graham fight. He had to take it easy on me, otherwise if he ended up giving me a smack then Wayne would give him one too. But that’s brothers.’

Rooney, who came through Everton’s academy before starting his career at Macclesfield as a teenager, rejoined the club in 2023 as a midfielder and moved into the dugout when Savage left for Forest Green Rovers in July. He has already been kicked out of the players’ WhatsApp group.

The rookie manager brought in Franny Jeffers as his No 2 to lean on the former Everton and Arsenal striker’s experience. ‘Fran’s been my best signing,’ he says. ‘I didn’t want someone who’s just going to be a yes man.’

There are some things you simply can’t prepare for, however. Macclesfield’s 21-year-old forward Ethan McLeod tragically died in a car crash on the M1 before Christmas, as he travelled back from a game at Bedford Town.

The club have retired the No 20 shirt worn by the Wolves academy graduate, who had scored three times in seven appearances since joining in July on a trial basis, and paid an emotional tribute to him before the Boxing Day game against Buxton.

‘We’ll never get over it,’ says Rooney. ‘For a young lad at that age to lose his life in those circumstances, it’s been horrendous for us all.’

Macclesfield’s 21-year-old forward Ethan McLeod tragically died in a car crash on the M1 before Christmas as he travelled back from a game at Bedford Town

Rooney describes former England, Arsenal and Everton striker Francis Jeffers, who is his new No 2 and played with his brother Wayne, as ‘my best signing’

The message above the home dressing room door as the players head out on to the pitch reads ‘Against All Odds’, and it feels highly appropriate as Macclesfield attempt to topple Palace

The message above the home dressing room door as the players head out on to the pitch reads ‘Against All Odds’, and it feels highly appropriate as Macclesfield attempt to topple Palace with the help of the astroturf pitch which may present problems for the holders.

It would be the happy ending that was missing from the BBC documentary about the club. In the awkward final scenes, Smethurst visits Savage at Forest Green to discuss his sudden exit, swiftly followed by three of Macclesfield’s best players. A framed BBC promo picture of the two of them still hangs on the office wall.

Smethurst chooses his words carefully: ‘What hurt me at the time was the speed of it. I thought we were in this together, and it was just one big disappointment.

‘We move on now. I’ve got to look after the interests of Macclesfield FC.’