Hollywood screenwriters seeking to capture the fairytale rise of Macclesfield FC and their FA Cup triumph over Crystal Palace would struggle to invent a more dramatic plot twist.
Just four months after the remarkable January afternoon when the National League North underdogs stunned the reigning Cup holders in the third round, Macclesfield co-owner and chairman Rob Smethurst was arrested on suspicion of coercive behaviour.
Now, after being cleared of every allegation, Smethurst can finally tell Daily Mail Sport what happened — and disclose the turmoil that unfolded behind the scenes of one of football’s most extraordinary giant-killing stories.
Smethurst’s remarkable personal history had made him almost as central to Macclesfield’s FA Cup heroics as manager John Rooney and the two players who scored that day, captain Paul Dawson and Isaac Buckley-Ricketts.
He was the businessman who bought the club through Rightmove during the haze of a three-day drinking binge, revived it after it had been brought back from the brink and found a route to recovery following his own battle with addiction.
It was little wonder that Macclesfield’s stunning 2-1 victory over a Premier League side 117 places higher in the English football pyramid attracted worldwide attention — and prompted Hollywood studios to explore bringing the story to the big screen.
Rob Smethurst was the public face of Macclesfield’s FA Cup victory over Crystal Palace in January, but his life was turned upside down just months later
Macclesfield’s Isaac Buckley-Ricketts, right, celebrates after scoring the second goal in the famous 2-1 victory
But a month after Smethurst accepted the Freedom of Macclesfield on the pitch before the club’s April match against Southport — his final visit to the team he had rescued — the 49-year-old’s own freedom was threatened. Police arrived at his Cheshire home and placed him in handcuffs, in what proved to be the most shocking episode in his bitter, long-running divorce battle with his wife, Sarah Jane.
‘I was just sat watching TV,’ Smethurst says. ‘I opened the door and there were two police officers. They said I was being arrested for coercive behaviour. I’ve never been arrested in my life. Before I knew it, they’d handcuffed me.
‘It was crazy because things could have been dealt with so differently. You’re in absolute shock because you don’t understand. I was literally numb.’
He was led through Wilmslow high street in handcuffs in broad daylight before being placed in the back of a van. The journey to Middlewich Police Station took roughly another hour.
‘You’re embarrassed, aren’t you? Thinking, “What’s going on here?”. They opened the back door and put me in a cage. I knew I was going to be absolutely fine, but being put through that is horrific.
‘When we got to Middlewich, I was fingerprinted and photographed. They even took a picture of the sole of my foot.
‘I wasn’t allowed my phone. It’s very humbling when everything is taken away from you and you’re in a cell. You’re completely in the hands of somebody else.
‘I was in there for 17 hours. The hardest bit for me was the waiting. They said somebody would be with me within an hour. It was 11am the following morning when I was finally spoken to.
‘There were about six allegations, just all ridiculous. The police did what they needed to do, which is fine, because they have to take these things very seriously. I understand there are a lot of people out there who are being coercively controlled.
‘But when you’re innocent and you’ve not done anything wrong, it’s really hard. Things stick. What’s nice about it is the truth always comes out in the end.’
Smethurst was arrested on suspicion of coercive behaviour in May. ‘You’re in absolute shock… I was literally numb,’ he said
Cheshire Police confirmed to Smethurst last week that all the allegations against him had been dropped. However, he says that decision represents only half of the battle.
He had stepped down as Macclesfield chairman in October 2025 to spend more time with his children amid his acrimonious divorce.
The marriage separation had halved his shareholding, which meant he no longer had the minimum 26 per cent stake needed to maintain a controlling interest. That became an insurmountable problem given his concerns over the budget of a club with increasingly lofty ambitions.
It was hard seeing a business he had rebuilt from the ground up – a genuine labour of love – going in a direction he didn’t like.
Having filmed two BBC documentaries with Macclesfield’s former director of football (and manager) Robbie Savage, Smethurst was a natural in front of the camera and agreed to come back on board to handle the media frenzy building around the club’s cup success.
Even then, though, he was aware of animosity towards him in the boardroom and a suspicious hate campaign on social media.
It still stings that Macclesfield put out a statement in June in the wake of his arrest saying that he was being suspended as a director. A letter informing him that he was no longer welcome at the club dropped while he was on holiday in Majorca with his new partner.
‘The decision was made to remove me from the football club,’ he says. ‘My mum, who was a massive supporter, was banned. She’d had cancer and loved it there. She won’t put a foot in the club now because of the way she was treated.
‘My dad was banned. My brother was banned. My girlfriend was banned, and her children as well. It was, “How can we really make this guy go away from something that he’d created?”.’
‘I wanted to build something amazing for the community of Macclesfield. Being a Macclesfield lad, I felt that was kind of my destiny’
Smethurst filmed two BBC documentaries with Macclesfield’s former director of football (and manager) Robbie Savage
A tearful Smethurst went straight down to the beach and recorded a Facebook Live video to speak to the Macclesfield fans with whom he has always had a strong relationship, attracting thousands of views. Then he went to the bar.
‘I’m very proud of being five years clean and sober, which was amazing,’ he says at his home in Cheshire. ‘The Crystal Palace game was the pinnacle of all that hard work. I really did turn myself around as a human being and made myself proud of who I was.
‘There was a period of my life where I’d sent myself into a deep depression of addiction. When I found that club, it was my lifeline and my saviour.
‘I wanted to build something amazing for the community of Macclesfield. Being a Macclesfield lad, I felt that was kind of my destiny, and I really worked hard to create something special, which we did.
‘We did what no other club has ever done before, which was just fantastic. Off the back of that, we had the most amazing story with the Crystal Palace win which has led into potential movies, which is insane.
‘But it went a lot deeper for me in terms of my mental health. It gave me a real purpose and direction to really look after myself mentally. Since then, obviously, things have really turned quite dark.
‘When I was removed from the board, it was a complete and utter shock. It was probably one of the lowest points. I couldn’t believe what was happening because I haven’t done anything wrong. I’ve built that club for the fans. I thought, “F*** it, I’m going to drink”.’
Smethurst was determined not to go down an all-too-familiar route and voluntarily checked himself into rehab in a clinic when he returned from Majorca. ‘I relapsed. I was seeing myself go back to an old version of Rob, and realised I needed to make sure this never happened again.
‘It was all those things that had been trying to break me and destroy me as a person: the hate campaign, the coercive control, the damage to somebody who didn’t deserve any of this. Trying to ruin a human being.
‘I was able to turn things around because I had the toolbox to understand what I needed to do. Deal with it and own it. That is not what I wanted to be. How do you then recover yourself from that point? I have completely gone back into the programme, and I feel great.
‘I’ve had thousands of messages from people who are in addiction that I’ve helped. They have come forward and said, “I’ve hidden it” and “I’ve not talked about it”. I message everybody back.’
‘Now that my name is clear and all the allegations have been dropped, I can move on with my life,’ says Smethurst (pictured with Daily Mail Sport’s Chris Wheeler last year)
The reaction to the Facebook video was huge. Smethurst was overwhelmed by the love and support from the club’s fans, sponsors and even the players. Just three days after his suspension, he was called to a meeting at Macclesfield and asked to come back in a non-executive role. Smethurst agreed and a statement went out – but in reality he has never returned.
‘Not even once,’ he says. ‘I didn’t want to go back. There was a lot of toxicity. I didn’t agree with a lot of things about how it was going to be run, and I didn’t want to put money into something that I had absolutely no control of.’
Another statement followed in August to say Smethurst had resigned as a director. He is still a shareholder, however, and could return if ownership of the club changes hands. Hollywood doesn’t have its ending just yet.
‘I’ve been approached by numerous people since they found out what’s gone on,’ says Smethurst. ‘I think we need to find the right buyer. That’s the key. If the right investor wants to come in and buy out all the other shareholders, and believes that I’m good enough to carry on that journey, then would I throw myself straight back into it? Yes, one hundred per cent. In a heartbeat.
‘Now that my name is clear and all the allegations have been dropped, I can move on with my life.’
