Macc journey is only just beginning

I PLAYED professional football for 21 years, captained four clubs in the Premier League, and won 39 caps for my country. In that time, I experienced every possible emotion. But helping to raise a football club from the ashes, and running it as director of football operations, is the hardest thing I’ve done (me at Moss Rose, above).

The documentary on BBC iPlayer, Robbie Savage: Saving Macclesfield FC, is not a hard-luck story. It’s about giving a community its football club back, and providing the best possible facility they could wish for.

What we have done is to restore a focal point to an area which was taken away when Macclesfield Town was liquidated.

Over the last 12 months,

I’ve found myself cleaning glasses in the bar, planting corner flags on matchday, dealing with the police, health and safety, fire brigade... people you never meet ordinarily as a player.

I’ve been to watch more games, scouting for talent, than I’ve watched on TV. I’ve been to more meetings in a year than I’ve attended in the rest of my life.

I’ve found myself dredging emotions I never expected to release – whether it’s running down to the touchline from my seat in the stand to berate a player, or letting off steam in the dressing room at half-time.

And I invited the BBC to capture much of it on camera for posterity.

We now have 600 players on the books, from first team to primary school kids.

Macclesfield FC is up and running: Rob Smethurst, you are a legend, and I need to catch up on about 1,000 hours of lost sleep.

But the journey has only just begun.