Browse Sections

• Macclesfield Town FC
• Local football
• Local cricket
• Golf

Talking business

Marc Iles
5/ 5/2004

MACCLESFIELD Town have laid their cards on the table with manager Brian Horton after the club finally secure safety last weekend.

Silkmen chairman Rob Bickerton sat down for talks on Monday and he told Express Sport he is confident Horton wants to take over the position on a full-time basis.

Former Manchester City boss Horton took over the struggling club from John Askey at the start of April and guided the Moss Rose men to safety, taking 13 points from a possible 18, conceding only four goals in the process.

This has prompted the Macc board to offer Horton a deal to stay on as manager next season, an agreement which may have been sweetened by the promise of several new faces in the summer.

"We want Brian Horton to be the next manager of Macclesfield Town and I think he is keen to join us, but it is his career we are talking about so he has to feel he is making the correct decision," said Mr Bickerton.

"If I was a player, I would want to know who the manager is going to be before I sat down to talk about a contract. I want to solve the managerial post before I sit down with the players."

"There is no timescale involved with the decision, but the Bank Holiday has put us back one day in the discussions."

Horton said he is keen to concentrate on the last game of the season against Bury on Saturday, where he hopes to pick up a win which would see the Silkmen surpass last year's points total.

He told Express Sport: "We've had a little chat and I'm sure we'll continue to chat over the next few days."

"I just want to finish the season on a high. I told the players after the game on Saturday, well done, but let's finish it off with a win and climb a few places."

Horton looks set to name an unchanged side from the one which defeated Oxford United so impressively last weekend, as George Abbey will almost certainly miss the game with a hamstring injury.

"Apart from Steve Brackenridge and Michael Carr I didn't have much else to choose from because it's a very small squad," admitted Horton.

"But they have done extremely well considering."