Macclesfield Town's offer that could have seen a member of the public pay £20,000 in return for 10 minutes of playing time has been withdrawn.

The financially troubled Conference outfit, who need to find £100,000 by the end of August in order to survive, announced plans for the controversial scheme on Wednesday afternoon.

However, following consultation with league officials, the idea was scrapped just hours later as it was decided that it risked compromising the integrity of football.

An official club statement read: "We now recognise that it creates a possibility of altering the outcome of a competitive fixture and clearly crosses an important line with respect to the integrity of the game."

It added: "We are therefore withdrawing the offer and would like to apologise unreservedly to the football authorities and to the Football Conference for our error of judgement in this matter."

Macclesfield finished 11th in the Blue Square Bet Premier last season after being relegated from the Football League in April 2012.