Moss Rose, known as The Leasing.com Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in

Macclesfield Macclesfield is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Bollin in the east of the county, on the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, England, which is the home ground of

Macclesfield F.C. Macclesfield Football Club is an association football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England. It is a Phoenix club (sports), phoenix club of the former Macclesfield Town F.C. founded in 1874, which was Liquidation, wound-up after a High C ...

, and the former home of

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional association football, football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was liquidation, wound-up after a High Court of Justice, High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially kno ...

, a club wound up in September 2020. The stadium, south of the town centre, is on the west side of the A523 London Road. The capacity is currently restricted to 4,720 by

Cheshire East Council Cheshire East Council is the local authority of the Borough of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government ...

. It was built in 1891, making it one of the oldest grounds in England.

History

Moss Rose first hosted

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

action when Chester City played home games at the stadium, between moving from

Sealand Road Sealand Road was the home stadium of Chester City Football Club (until 1983 known as Chester Football Club) from 1906 until 1990. Although officially known simply as The Stadium, it was more commonly referred to as Sealand Road. It was much loved ...

to the

Deva Stadium Deva Stadium is an association football stadium which is the home of Chester F.C., the effective successor club to the liquidated Chester City. The stadium straddles the England-Wales border at Sealand, on the outskirts of Chester. The stad ...

, from 1990 to 1992. The first such match was a 2–1 win for

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

on 1 September 1990. Later in the month,

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

played at Moss Rose in a

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

tie, winning 1–0. Macclesfield Town was a non-league side at the time and fixtures were arranged so Chester were at home when Macclesfield Town were away and vice versa. The Moss Rose pitch was having to contend with more than 50 first-team matches a season from the two sides. Despite hosting

matches in this period, Macclesfield Town were denied entry to the Football League in 1995 after winning the

Football Conference The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the ...

after the stadium requirements were tightened. A reciprocal offer by Chester to allow Macclesfield Town to play at the

while the necessary improvements were made was also rejected by the league. Macclesfield Town were champions again two years later, and the ground was now up to the required standards. Macclesfield Town beat

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

in their first home league match on 9 August 1997.

Structure and facilities

The ground consists of four stands. The Main stand is on the east side of the pitch and houses home supporters, unless the travelling support is particularly large, in which case the northern end which is terraced houses some away fans. The Star Lane End is to the left (south) of the Main Stand, and is used by the home support. On the west side is the Moss Lane Stand (originally known as the McAlpine stand, named after the contractor that built

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. The ...

Kirklees Stadium Kirklees Stadium (currently known due to sponsorship as the John Smith's Stadium) is a multi-use stadium in Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England. Since 1994, it has been the home ground of football club Huddersfield Town and rugby league si ...

). This is all-seated and covered, and houses home supporters, and a small number of travelling fans. At the north end is the Silkmen Terrace, an open terrace for away fans. Unfortunately, as Macclesfield is often struck by wet weather, this can make for an uncomfortable spectating experience for visiting fans.

Sale

After Macclesfield Town F.C. was wound up in September 2020, the stadium was listed for sale with offers invited in excess of £500,000, roughly equivalent to the amount owed to the club's creditors. On 13 October 2020, the

Official Receiver An officer of the Insolvency Service of the United Kingdom, an official receiver (OR) is an officer of the court to which they are attached. The OR is answerable to the courts for carrying out the courts' orders and for fulfilling their duties ...

confirmed that the assets of Macclesfield Town had been sold to Macc Football Club Limited. Local businessman (and owner of 10th tier Stockport Town) Robert Smethurst had purchased the assets, intending to rebrand the club as Macclesfield Football Club and enter the

North West Counties Football League The North West Counties Football League is a football league in the North West of England. Since 2019–20, the league has covered the Isle of Man, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, Cumbria, northern Staffordshire, northern S ...

in the 2021–22 campaign. These plans went ahead as scheduled and as of December 2021, Macclesfield FC are doing well in their first season as a reformed club competing in the ninth tier of English football.

References

External links

Moss Rose pictures
{{coord, 53, 14, 34, N, 02, 07, 38, W, type:landmark_scale:2000, display=title Football venues in England Macclesfield Town F.C. Chester City F.C. stadiums Sports venues in Cheshire Multi-purpose stadiums in the United Kingdom Macclesfield Sports venues completed in 1891 English Football League venues