Blues must keep sense of perspective

RUGHBY UNION SHELDAN KEAY

MACCLESFIELD RUFC head coach Giles Heagerty believes his club needs to keep things in perspective despite their relegation from the National League One.

It has been a disappointing campaign for the Blues, ending with them finishing bottom of the table.

While that may be the case, Heagerty thinks that there are some positives to take from the past 12 months.

“What I’ll take from this season is that whatever happens in this game you need to keep a sense of perspective,” he said.

“Two relegations in three years would suggest that there’s a degree of instability here and that we’re a yoyo club, but when you look at the rugby we’ve played most of this season, you have to accept that we’ve performed at a high level and played some really good stuff.

“We’ve scored some amazing tries and dug in deep when all the odds were stacked against us.”

Heagerty also believes that geography and finances needs to be taken into consideration when assessing Macclesfield’s season.

“I saw an interesting stat which said that now promotion and relegation matters are settled, next season half of National League 1 will be London and south-east-based. There’ll only be four teams from the north, and that is quite startling,” he said.

“When you consider the playing power and buying power of the majority of the clubs in National 1, I think we’ve done remarkably well to have done what we’ve done, given what we had to work with.

“In fact, I’d go further and say in the context of those stats, and the fact that we’ve only spent £100K on the squad this season, we’ve done really well this year.

“Obviously I’m in no way trying to justify relegation, but asking supporters to consider the overall results this season in context and with perspective.”