Q, Why are we doing this?

A, Dear Football Fans, Yes, I know - yet another football club is on the rocks, and of course it's up to all of you to bail us out. It's the way it goes these days, and I don't blame you for feeling a bit apathetic about Macclesfield Town's current plight.

But since you've made it this far, you might as well take a couple of minutes to hear our case, because what has happened to this club should raise fundamental concerns about the suitability of the Football Association to run the game, even if you decide that best wishes are all you can offer us.

Allow me to explain.

On Monday morning, December 19th 2005, Macc Town were a club with strong links to the community, who, despite a lowly League ranking and small attendances, had as bright a future as any other club in the League.

By 4pm, they became a club on the verge of extinction.

I won't bore you with the details, but Macc Town were charged by the FA of misusing a Football Foundation grant which paid for a new stand. At no point did the money go near the playing staff, and the club gained no competitive advantage (no points were docked).

Our current board (which bears no relation to the board of 4 years ago which committed the offences) plead guilty to those charges, and they were fully co-operative with the FA at every stage of the investigation.

Naturally, we were mainly optimistic about the outcome of the FA's enquiry. Of course no-one expected a pardon from the FA, but we did expect a substantial but even-handed fine that would see justice done without unnecessarily hampering the considerable efforts we've made in building a community club.

After all, the FA (according to their website) are about 'Promoting the development of the game amongst all ages, backgrounds and abilities in terms of participation and quality. This also involves promoting the availability of the sport to the greatest possible number of people.'

Perhaps I am being particularly short-sighted, but I am unsure how giving Macc a £300,000 levy to pay in six weeks quite ties in with this. Sadly it will almost certainly prevent us from helping the FA to achieve these laudable goals, due an imminent lack of existence on our part. Perhaps there is a clause in the FA's many regulations which exempts Macclesfield from this having to do any of this tedious 'promoting the availability of sport' stuff.

Essentially, the FA is serving a brand of justice with a much greater injustice. If you'd like a portrait of how the great minds at the FA work, I recommend Simon Jordan's article from The Observer, 'So Who Is Barry Bright?'. He talks about the sort of people running your game - people unconcerned about promoting the availability of football, but in expanding a relentlessly punitive bureaucracy.

Samuel Johnson is always good for a quote, and he once said 'An injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere.' And so it is the case here, because this is a punishment that will aid nobody. £195,000 will admittedly go to the Football Foundation, but the benefits of that will be entirely outweighed by the loss of a community football club.

By fining Macc so harshly, the FA are in fact failing in their fundamental obligation to promote football, which is a much higher injustice than the extinction of a tiny club in Cheshire.

Of course, I implore you to donate to this scheme because it will directly save my club. But I also offer this as a referendum against the damaging bureaucracy of the FA, and ask you to consider that by assuring the future of Macc Town, the goals of 'promoting the availability of sport' are upheld. If the FA can't do this, then we must.

Q, How to use the pixsale Website?

A, Its easy.  When someone donates money they will get their team/club/business icon/logo on the Pixsale pages.  If you hover over the icons with your mouse you can see who has purchased the space and also read the message they have left.  If you wish to purchase your own then simply click on "Donate" at the top of the screen.  You too can join the Pixsale craze to help Save Our Silkmen.

Q, I bought some pixels but they aren't on the Pixsale Website yet?  Why not?

A, It can take up to 48hrs before they appear on the site.  Some days I will be busy and won't have time to update the site.  But don't panic - They WILL get done.

Q, Its over 48hrs and my Pixels aren't on the site yet?

A, Email me and I will look into the problem - sos@mtfc.info

Q, How can I contact the webmaster of this site?

A, Send an email to sos@mtfc.info

Q, Where is my money going?

A, All the money is going towards the fine given by the FA to Macclesfield Town FC.  They money will go to the Supporters Trust bank account to pay the huge fine to save the existence of the club.

Q, What happens if the FA Reduce or cancel the fine (not a chance of this happening by the way)?

A, All money that is raised from the SOS Pixsale will go to the Silkmen Supporters Trust to keep Macclesfield Town alive and kicking.

Q, I want to donate but I don't want to do it via PayPal.

A, The Silkmen Supporters Trust is currently being set up and a bank account is being created where you can deposit money from your bank account.  Or you can donate at home games via the collections.

Q, Some of my pixels have disappeared that I bought?

A, No they haven't.  All that's happened is that they have been moved to another page to make room for a business that has bought advertising space - that's all.  Have a look on the other Pixsale webpage's.

Q, What is Gary Jackson getting out of this?

A, Nothing apart from hardly any sleep!