Macclesfield had gained only 10 points from 19 games and were seven points adrift at the foot of League Two when they surprised perhaps even themselves by appointing Sol Campbell as manager.

As the former England star and Arsenal ‘Invincible’ put it at his first press conference at the Silkmen’s ramshackle Moss Rose home, “I know Macclesfield fans will probably think: ‘What’s going on here?'”.

And who could blame them?