Other than Lincoln and Macclesfield fans, there are probably very few fans in football who know that since Macclesfield came into the League back in 1997, Lincoln are the only team to play them in the League every single season since. Both were promoted together in 1998, both were relegated straight back in 1999 and both failed in the Playoffs in 2005. It seems that as long as Macclesfield are still in the Football League, the Imps will never get promoted.

I’m not going to lie, I hate going to Macclesfield, mainly because of the weather. My first visit was back in 2002 and on a day of rain, snow and fail, the Imps recorded the only victory I’ve seen us secure there. Since then we’ve lost twice and drawn 3 times, although one of those felt like a win as the sides drew 1-1 in the second leg of the Playoffs to secure a 2-1 aggregate victory and send the Imps to the Playoff final against Southend.

Since then the Imps have been suffering at the hands of curious refereeing at Macclesfield. Last season Macclesfield were awarded a penalty after 5 minutes because Shane Nicholson controlled the ball with his shoulder about 3 yards outside the area. At the beginning of the second half may appear to be a justified penalty on the cameras, but what you can’t see is their attacker pushing Moses over and there was no way it was a free kick.

The year before saw the worst referee in the League, Jarnal Singh award a penalty in the first half when Clive Wijnhard ran between two Imps defenders and collapsed despite the lack of a challenge from either player. It’s bloody frustrating, especially when Singh is universally viewed by fans as not being good enough for the Football League, and everyone knows the only reason why he is officiating at this level and it has nothing to do with his ability.

Anyway, other than the aforementioned promotion in 98 and Playoff campaign in 2005, Macclesfield can almost constantly be found fighting relegation to the Conference. Last season they sat bottom of the table for the majority of the early part of the season, only the pure coincidence that their form improved once Ince had arrived saving them. Oddly enough they played much better when they lost to us than they did when they beat us.

As for their squad, they’ve done their seemingly annual plunder of a recently released Imps’ player. For the fourth year in a row they’ve signed a player who had spent the previous season at City, firstly it was Mark Bailey, then Kevin Sandwith followed by Marvin Robinson. Now it’s Martin Gritton’s turn, he forms a strike partnership with another former Imp, Francis Green. However, both of those signings were made whilst Paul Ince was still manager, he left within a few weeks and now the futures of Gritton and Green are far from certain.

If those two are the main strike force at Macclesfield then they could be in trouble, because although Gritton could potentially score around 15 goals a season if given a regular starting position, Green is certainly not capable of being a regular goalscorer at this level, getting 7/8 a season if you’re lucky.

The main question will be whether Gritton can replace Jon Parkin, a striker single handedly turned around Macclesfield a few years ago. Whenever he played they were fantastic, whenever he wasn’t they were back to their days of being rubbish. He left them around 18 months ago and they haven’t been the same since. They have never replaced Parkin and the players they try and pick as replacements often end up in the non-League within 6 months, that happened to Marvin Robinson last season and so you get a feeling that could happen to either Green or Gritton if they don’t perform.

Last season they seemed devoid of motivation at Sincil Bank, and at Moss Road they weren’t exactly fantastic either, and if it hadnt been for that aforementioned "penalty" in the 5^th minute then the game would have been very different.

As for the rest of their squad, it’s hard to see any players that could potentially make a big difference in a match and this could prove an ultimate difference between a safe midtable finish or a nervous season looking over their shoulder. Although I don’t think they’ll get relegated, I think they will spend the season looking over their shoulders (again) and eventually finish in 19^th position.

Do you agree with this prediction or think that Macc will finally return to the Conference? Either way post your opinion below.

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