MACC JOB WOULD TEST THE FINEST...

A FEW weeks ago, I was talking to an agent about one of his clients, an out of work manager on the hunt for a job.

At the time, there were four up for grabs: AFC Wimbledon, Shrewsbury Town, Notts County and Macclesfield. “He’ll be in for everything,” said the agent. “Except Macclesfield, obviously.”

Obviously. Because no manager with options and a reputation to protect would set foot in Moss Rose.

No money. Players working second jobs. In January, staff even went unpaid after owner Amar Alkadhi forgot to cover a budget shortfall.

It is a club run on the finest of margins with a wagebill dwarfed by many teams in the National League.

When their incredible promotion to the EFL was secured at Eastleigh last year, the players spent the journey home singing ‘The Silkmen are going up with a tenner in the bank’. It was barely an exaggeration.

It is, then, a mark of Sol Campbell’s desperation that the self-proclaimed “greatest mind in football” has hitched his wagon to such a decrepit train.

The former England defender has long bemoaned a lack of managerial opportunities and admitted last year that he was willing to “start in the gutter” with only a win bonus as payment.

“I’m a winner,” said the 44-year-old. “I love to build. I’ve got great ideas. I’ve got the passion. I’m very diligent and, if given a chance, I’ll work my rear end off to be a success.”

He’ll have to. As Guy Branston pointed out in his FLP column last week, lower league management is a no-frills business that often entails gruelling 14hour days.

And whilst Campbell is desperate to prove he can manage, he will be up against men who must succeed to pay the mortgage. Can he possibly have the same level of motivation?

Even if he does, he remains right up against it in terms of finances. I wish Campbell well and he deserves great respect for putting his money where his mouth is. But it is hard to see him succeeding, simply because it is hard to see anyone succeeding at a club so fundamentally disadvantaged.