Macclesfield Town have an interesting and complex history, as do we, of course!!! It appears that the club, possibly called Macclesfield Town were formed in 1874 but some time before 1900 they folded having played in the Combination which they joined in 1890. They were runners up in the first season, 1890/91 and again in 1891/96. There doesn’t appear to have been a club called Macclesfield playing in a league during the 1897/98 and 1898/99 seasons, which indicates that the original Macclesfield club folded in 1897.
A club called Hallifield, who played in the Stockport & District League, where they were champions in 1898, moved into Macclesfield’s Moss Rose ground (now Macclesfield Town’s ground) and joined the North Staffordshire League and Hallifield-Macclesfield and then just Macclesfield FC and joined the Manchester League in time for the 1900/01 season, finishing 9th in their first season. The league included Hyde, Northwich Victoria, Oldham Athletic and Broadheath, who became Altrincham.
For much of the time, Macclesfield were a mid to lower table side but in 1907 they finished 2nd to Altrincham and in 1909 they won the Manchester league by four points from Northwich Victoria. In 1911, Macclesfield won the title again, by a margin of 6 points from Altrincham. In 1911/12, they played in the Lancashire Combination Division Two as well as finishing 4th in the last pre WW1 Manchester League. In 1913/14, they were runners up and were promoted to Division One, but left the Lancashire Combination in 1915.
After the end of WW1, Macclesfield joined the Cheshire County League and remained there until 1966, winning the Cheshire County League title in 1932, 1933, 1953, 1961 and 1964. In 1966, the club changed its name to Macclesfield Town, remaining in the CCL until becoming founder members of the Northern Premier League after winning the CCL title for the sixth time in 1968.
Macclesfield Town won the inaugural NPL title in 1969, by a margin of 12 points from Wigan athletic and retained it the following season, this time succeeding only on goal average from Wigan again. They also won the first ever FA Trophy defeating Telford United 2-0 in the final at Wembley.
In 1987, they won the NPL for the third time finishing just a point ahead of Bangor City and were promoted to the Conference, finishing 11th in their first season. In 1996, they won the FA Trophy for the second time beating Northwich Victoria (their old rivals from the Manchester League) 3-1 in the final at Wembley Stadium.
In 1997, Macclesfield won the Conference by a margin of five points from Kidderminster and were promoted to Division 3 (now League Two) of the Football League. In their first season in the league, the Silkmen finished 2nd, winning automatic promotion to Division 2 (now League One), but finished bottom in 1998/99 and were relegated back to the 3rd division.
The next few seasons saw the Silkmen struggle in the bottom half of the table but in 2004/05 they finished 5th only to lose to Lincoln City in the play-off semi-final.
In 2006/07, Macclesfield finished 22nd, just one place above the relegation zone and the next few seasons saw them struggle near the bottom of the league. In 2012, Macclesfield Town were relegated back to the Conference and last season saw them finish 15th.
Barnet and Macclesfield Town first met each other in the FA Trophy semi-final in April 1970. The game was played at Stoke City’s old Victoria Ground. Macclesfield were defending champions of the new Northern Premier League, while Barnet were a Southern League side.
Macclesfield deservedly won the game 1-0 through a first half goal by Young and went on to win the first FA Trophy Final played at Wembley, beating Telford United 2-0. They also won the Northern Premier League again completing a league and cup double.
The Barnet side that day was; McClelland, Lye, Jenkins, Ward, Embery, King, Powell, George, Meadows, Eason (Gregory), Ferry.
The next time the two sides met was in the Conference in 1987, when the two sides met at Moss Rose and drew 2-2, Barnet’s goals coming from Keith Alexander and Nicky Evans. Lake and Edwards scored for Macclesfield. Graham Westley made his Barnet debut in this match. In the return fixture at Underhill, Barnet won 2-1, Nicky Evans scoring both Barnet’s goals and Hanlon scoring for the visitors.
In 1988-89, Macclesfield thrashed Barnet 4-1 at Underhill, Gary Abbott scoring for the Bees and the return at Moss Rose was drawn 1-1, John Docker scoring for Barnet and Parlane for Macclesfield. In 1989/90, the game at Underhill was goalless, but Barnet won 1-0 at Moss Rose through a David Gipp goal.
The following season, 1990-91 proved to be a historic season for Barnet. The match at Moss Rose ended in a 3-3 draw, Richard Nugent, Micky Bodley and Gary Bull scoring for Barnet. The return at Underhill was in April and Barnet looked to have lost any chance of promotion. Barnet won the game 3-1 with goals from Kevin Durham, Frank Murphy and Gary Bull and went on to win the Conference championship and gain promotion to the football league.
The two clubs next met in 1997-98 following Macclesfield’s promotion from the Conference. Barnet won 3-1 at Underhill with goals from Stevie Searle, Kieron Adams and Sean Devine. Wood scored for the visitors. In the return fixture, goals from Sodje and Powell gave Macclesfield a 2-0 win. At the end of that season, Macclesfield finished 2nd and were promoted to the 2nd division.
However, Macclesfield were relegated straight back the following season and the two sides met again in 1999-2000. Scott McGleish scored twice in a 2-1 win at Underhill, Barker scoring for Macclesfield, but the return fixture ended in a 2-0 win for Macclesfield.
The following season proved to be a disastrous one for the Bees as they finished bottom of the 3rd division and were relegated back to the Conference. Macclesfield did the double over Barnet that season, winning 2-0 at Underhill, Glover scoring both goals and then 3-0 at Moss Rose in March with Barnet already in freefall. Durkan (2) and Glover scored for Macclesfield in a game which proved to be the last match for Barnet played under player-manager Tony Cottee.
Barnet won the Nationwide Conference in 2005 and met MacclesfieldTown early in the season following their promotion to League Two. Barnet were in 2nd place after winning two and drawing one of their first three games of the season. Macclesfield had just one point from two games. A Nicky Bailey goal was enough to win Barnet the match 1-0 taking the Bees to the top of the table. The Barnet side was; Tynan: Hendon, King, Charles, Gross; Bailey, Sinclair, Lee, Graham, Strevens; Grazioli. In the return just before Christmas the two sides drew 1-1 at Moss Rose, Bailey equalising late on in the game for the Bees after Kevin Sandwich had given Macclesfield a half time lead.
The following season, 2006-07, the two sides met in September at Moss Rose and Barnet produced one of their best away performances of the season, winning 3-2. After a goalless first half, Macclesfield took the lead after 52 minutes when an attempted clearance by Ian Hendon hit Matty McNeil and rebounded into the Barnet goal. Ian Hendon equalised on the hour from the penalty spot after Simon King had been brought down in the penalty area. Barnet then took the lead two minutes later, Barry Cogan scoring his first goal for Barnet after his transfer from Millwall. Cogan tapped the ball home after the Macclesfield keeper, Brain spilled the ball. Macclesfield equalised through Matthew Tipton after 67 minutes, but Barnet took all three points when Nicky Bailey headed home a Jason Puncheon free kick. The Barnet team was, Harrison; Hendon, King, Charles, Gross; Cogan, Sinclair, Bailey, Puncheon (Graham); Kandol, Norville (Vieira).
The two sides then met at Underhill in January with Barnet in 14th place and having just reached the 4th round of the FA Cup, 4 days earlier, for the first time in the club’s history by beating Colchester United 2-1. Macclesfield were 2nd from bottom. The Bees recorded their 4th home win on the spin with a 1-0 win, completing a double over Macclesfield for the season. Adam Birchall scored the Bees’ winner.
In 2007/08, in December at home to Macclesfield, two awful defensive blunders put the visitors 2-0 up within 10 minutes, through James McNulty and Levi Reid. Liam Hatch pulled one back and a late Neal Bishop goal, his first for the club, saved a point for the Bees. In the return fixture on Easter Monday, Macclesfield won comfortably 3-0.
In 2008/09, Macclesfield won 3-1 at Underhill. John O’Flynn scored for Barnet and Martin Gritton, Francis Green and Nat Brown scored for Macclesfield. The two teams met in the last but one match of the season. Macclesfield won 2-1 at Moss Rose with Albert Adomah scoring for the Bees.
In 2009/10, A Morgan own goal gave the Bees a point at Moss Rose in a 1-1 draw, but Macclesfield won 2-1 at Underhill despite a fine Ed Upson goal for the Bees. The following season, Mark Byrne scored the only goal of the game at Underhill, while at Moss Rose, an Izale McLeod goal gained the Bees a point in a 1-1 draw. McLeod scored both goals in the match at Underhill in 2011/12 with the Bees winning 2-1. The match at Moss Rose ended goalless and Macclesfield were relegated at the end of that season.
The two clubs met last season at The Hive in a Skrill Premier match. Marciano Mengerink missed an early penalty for the Bees and it was to prove costly as the Silkmen went on to win 2-1. Barnet's goal was scored by Mauro Vilhete. Macclesfield completed the double with a 2-0 win at Moss Rose.
Ben Wright had a trial with Barnet in the summer of 2007 and scored in a pre-season friendly at Northwood and was offered a contract by Paul Fairclough but chose to join LincolnCity instead. He scored 17 goals in two seasons for the Imps before joining Macclesfield in 2009.
Ahmed Deen joined the Bees from Macclesfield in the summer of 2009 after impressing in trial matches and made 20 first team appearances and scored 1 goal (at Northampton) for Barnet before being released at the end of the season. He made 32 appearances the previous season for Macclesfield after joining in the summer of 2008 from St Albans City.