The Deeper Story Behind Robbie Savage and Macclesfield FC

MACCLESFIELD: The formation and rapid ascent of Macclesfield FC from the ashes of the wound-up Macclesfield Town was a remarkable football story, captured in the new documentary Robbie Savage: Managing Macclesfield. Yet, the film reveals that the project, championed by best friends Robert Smethurst and Robbie Savage, was a life-saving mission for both men, extending far beyond league tables and promotions.

Smethurst, the local businessman who purchased the club’s assets and established Macclesfield FC in 2020, shared an intensely personal revelation in the documentary.

“I was in a really bad place,” Smethurst explained, confessing he was close to losing his life due to addiction when he bought the club. “The football club was an amazing thing for me to rebuild my life.”

He credits the club—and specifically Savage—with his recovery: “It has saved my life. It’s given me a direction, it’s given me a purpose… I’ll never forget how much Robbie helped me and what he has done for me.”

The club’s impact on the community has been immense. Savage and Smethurst didn’t just give the town a senior football team; they built a vast community entity. “We’ve built a monster,” Smethurst says, detailing the operation: “We’ve got nearly 65 staff, 38 teams, 800 kids in an academy, an international programme.”

For Savage, too, the intense responsibility of building the club served as a purpose after his playing career ended.

“What we have been through together is not just a football club,” Savage reflected. “It’s mentally helped save me after football and I think it’s saved Rob’s life, I really do.”

Their deep connection, which Smethurst describes as “inseparable, like brothers,” was the engine that drove the club through its initial challenges, including building a squad and stadium from scratch in nine months after entering the ninth tier of English football.

Savage’s tenure was marked by success on the pitch but intense pressure off it. As a well-known media personality, he faced relentless abuse from opposition fans. He revealed in the documentary that he took a colleague with a bodycam to away games “to protect me and my family,” noting that non-league environments, with fans close to the pitch, can become highly hostile.

Despite the abrupt nature of his move to Forest Green—which left Smethurst visibly saddened and the Macclesfield fanbase reeling—Savage insists the club’s legacy lives on. When Smethurst later stepped down as owner, he remarked on how he had “struggled” without Savage at his side, underscoring the vital non-footballing support the two friends provided each other throughout the journey. Macclesfield FC will forever be remembered as the place where two friends rebuilt a club, and their lives, together.