Macclesfield Town have been charged by the EFL with misconduct following their failure to fulfil their fixture against Plymouth Argyle back in December.

The Silkmen have had a torrid time in League Two this season, with the vast majority of their problems coming off the pitch and surrounding the financial turmoil that the club finds itself in.

They started the season having lost manager Sol Campbell as tensions grew over his wage demands before the problems got even worse at Moss Rose during this campaign. It was revealed that the players and staff were becoming increasingly unhappy over the non-payment of their wages for certain months and this escalated to the point that a strike was held for their FA Cup tie against Kingstonian, where they lost 4-0.

The Silkmen were docked six points over the non-payment of those wages, with a further four suspended, plundering the side into the thick of a relegation battle this season.

Having had the problems bubble to the surface with players and staff striking and having points deducted, Macclesfield had more than one fixture not yet fulfilled as they failed to play against both Crewe Alexandra and Plymouth Argyle.

The Plymouth game not being played came as a result of the club receiving a ‘zero capacity notice’ by the local Safety Advisory Group after they deemed that the safety of the spectators was not of a satisfactory standard to play this game as scheduled.

As a result, the club have now confirmed that they have been charged by the EFL following this non-fulfilment of the fixture, in which they added this to their statement on the matter: “The matter is now subject to relevant proceedings and as a result, Macclesfield Town will be making no further comment at this time.”

The verdict

When it rains for Macclesfield, it pours at the moment. They will have known this punishment was coming but it is just more confirmation of the trouble they are in and just more bad news surrounding them at the moment.

A new head coach in Mark Kennedy could be a good boost for the side going forward, with some very experienced coaching staff behind him, but the off-field problems will persist until they finally confirm a takeover.