Who Owns Macclesfield?

Macclesfield FC is owned by Robert and Sarah Smethurst. The club they run is not the club that played in the Football League: Macclesfield Town Football Club, Limited — incorporated in 1946 — was wound up in 2020 and is still in liquidation on the register today. A new company bought the ground and started again. The register shows both, side by side. Ownership verified 6 September 2026.

Who owns Macclesfield?

The current club operates through THE INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL SPORTS GROUP LIMITED (13020911), incorporated 15 November 2020 and registered at the London Road ground. It was previously named Macclesfield Football Club International Limited.

Its person with significant control is The International Football Group Limited (14442438), holding 75% or more of shares and voting rights since 19 April 2024.

That company’s own register names two people: Robert Stephen Smethurst and Sarah Jane Smethurst, each with more than 25% but not more than 50% of shares and voting rights, both notified 25 October 2022.

Current owners and shareholding structure

Read only the operating company’s register and you would conclude Robert Smethurst had left. His entry there — 75% or more, from 15 November 2020 — ceased on 19 April 2024.

He did not leave. The company that replaced him is his own, held with Sarah Smethurst. A holding company was interposed above the club, so his direct entry ceased and an indirect one began.

This is the third instance of that pattern documented on this site, after Au Vodka and Salford City. A cessation records that a person stopped meeting the PSC conditions at that company — not that they sold, left, or lost control. It is the single most reliable way to misread a PSC register, and it is why every cessation on this site is checked one level up before anything is written about it.

Key controlling people and entities

Robert Smethurst, a local businessman, bought the Moss Rose ground and the club’s assets out of liquidation in 2020 and refounded the club as Macclesfield FC. He has funded it since, and the two-person split with Sarah Smethurst is a straightforward family holding rather than an investment structure.

There is no fund, consortium or overseas owner. At this level of the game that is the norm: most clubs below the Football League are owned by one or two local people, and the register usually names them plainly.

The Macclesfield FC Community Sports Trust (06469186) is a separate body, formerly named Macclesfield Town (Community Sports Trust) Limited. Community trusts are typically independent charities rather than club subsidiaries, and this one survived the liquidation of the club it was attached to.

Ownership history

MACCLESFIELD TOWN FOOTBALL CLUB, LIMITED (00415853) was incorporated on 25 July 1946 and its status on the register today is Liquidation.

The club was wound up in the High Court in September 2020 over unpaid debts, after a period of unpaid wages and points deductions. It had been in the Football League as recently as that season. Liquidation is not the same as dissolution: the company still exists, in the hands of a liquidator, six years on.

Smethurst bought the ground and assets and formed the new club, which restarted several divisions below and has climbed since. The new company’s incorporation date, 15 November 2020, is effectively the club’s second founding.

Nothing carried over in law. The 1946 company’s debts, its Football League membership and its record belong to a company in liquidation; the club playing at Moss Rose today is a different legal entity that acquired assets from it. Supporters reasonably regard it as the same club. The register does not.

Related clubs or investment group

The Smethursts’ companies are named for football but hold this club alone — the “International Football Group” naming reflects ambition rather than a portfolio. There is no multi-club structure and no other club under common ownership.

Macclesfield has no connection to any of the investment groups profiled elsewhere on this site.

Sources and verification

Every company number, incorporation date, previous name, PSC entry and the 19 April 2024 cessation are from the Companies House register, as is the liquidation status of company 00415853.

The circumstances of the 2020 winding-up and the purchase of the ground are matters of court and press record rather than of any current filing. The Smethursts’ exact percentages within their holding company are not disclosed — the register gives only the 25–50% band for each. Companies House does not verify most filed information.