Mudboy LM is a “versatile musician hailing from Manchester, known for his ability to seamlessly navigate across genres, including rap, R&B, grime, pop, and beyond”.
Mudboy LM is also Isaac Buckley-Ricketts, one of the goal scorers when Macclesfield pulled off the greatest shock of the FA Cup by beating the defending champions Crystal Palace 2-1 on Saturday.
Macclesfield FC, a non-league side, play in the National League North, six tiers below Palace in the Premier League, 117 places behind them. Perhaps they were fated to win. The last time a non-league team knocked out the FA cup holders was when Palace pushed out Wolves 117 years ago.
Maybe Mudboy LM-Buckley-Ricketts knew this was coming. One of his songs is titled We Could Never, another is Sink or Swim and, looking ahead to the fourth round, he also has a ditty called Next Stop. The next stop for his side will be at home to another Premier League side, Brentford.
The story of Macclesfield is the essence of sport, a tale of redemption, belief and a mission. Five years ago, at the end of a four-day bender in Ibiza when he was off his head, Rob Smethurst bought the Moss Rose ground and assets of Macclesfield Town FC. As a business deal it made no sense, but then few things do on a “rolling bender”. Time, space and sense all flow into one.
The story of Macclesfield is the essence of sport, a tale of redemption, belief and a mission.
Macclesfield Town was up for sale on Rightmove, the UK’s biggest online property portal, having been liquidated for debts of more than £500,000 and expelled from the National League. “My mate said: ‘Macc football club’s up for sale’,” Smethurst remembered. “I went on Rightmove and bought it within 24 hours. I didn’t have a business plan and absolutely no idea how to run a football club. It was just something to do when you’re pissed.”
Buying the club was as much about the saving of Smethurst the person and addict as it was Macclesfield the club.
Finding purpose
Smethurst had made his money from selling a car delivery app to Autotrader in 2017, but in the documentary Robbie Savage: Making Macclesfield (Savage, the former Welsh player, managed the club for five years), said he was lost after being paid millions for his business: “The hard thing is when you can buy anything you want. The enjoyment’s gone. That’s been the challenging thing for me since I sold. I hit rock bottom, believe it or not, and got a bit depressed and down, and ended up watching Netflix all day,” said Smethurst, who admitted his marriage was also on the edge.
“I was just drinking crazy amounts of alcohol really and living a completely ridiculous lifestyle. I’d go to the pub at two o’clock in the afternoon and always be the last person to leave.”
In Macclesfield he found enjoyment and a purpose. He spent about £4m on the club, fixing the run-down ground, putting in an artificial pitch, rebranding it as Macclesfield FC and building a business plan. For the first few years he was putting £400,000 a year into the club, but things have turned around. The naming rights of Moss Rose have been bought by Leasing.com, a leisure centre and high-end bar facilities have been added, and the pitch is rented out. The income is now £2.5m a year.
Hodgepodge of players
It is a team of part- and full-time players. A bricklayer, a physical education school teacher, gym owner, podcaster, realtor, a scented candle packer and in Tom Clare, a full-time reality TV star and winner of the 2024 Love Island.
Beating Palace helped the bank balance. Macclesfield received £121,500 in prize money for beating Palace, which, added to the cash for winning the previous three matches in the FA Cup, comes to a neat total of £258,125. The BBC gave them £80,000 to broadcast the game live and Palace, in a classy move, told Macclesfield they could keep all the gate receipts instead of the usual 50/50 split, lifting the total for the match alone to £400,000.
It has spurred on Macclesfield as a town, said Smethurst: “Everybody benefits, the town benefits, not just the club. That’s what’s special when you see the bars and restaurants. I’ve had some calls that have been amazing saying we’ve taken more money than we take on New Year from different pubs around the area. Things like that make it more worthwhile.”
We could never, Mudboy LM? It seems you could. Next stop Brentford.
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