We’ve all harboured dreams of being a professional footballer and now anyone can, so long as you have £20,000 you don’t need.

Think you could have cut it as a professional footballer if it wasn’t for the drink/injury/total lack of ability? Well here’s your shot at the big time. Sort of big time anyway. Macclesfield Town, who ply their trade in the Conference National across the water, have just launched a very interesting fundraising initiative. The club needs to raise £100,000 before the end of August to stay afloat and they have come up with a plan that will interest all frustrated, and moderately wealthy, wannabe footballers. If you hand them £20,000 (€23,500) they will let you play for the team in a competitive game, either  in the Conference or in the cup next season. They guarantee that you will get at least 10 minutes of on-pitch action and who knows, if you are good enough you might even get a bit longer. The only conditions are that you have to be male and aged between 18 and 35. You don’t have to be a fan of Macclesfield and the club are hoping a keen amateur or a semi-pro player will stump up the cash. The person who pays up will get a squad number, appear in the official team photo and get a full set of home, away and training gear. The Manchester Evening News quotes Andy Scott, a club director, who says:  “It’s common knowledge that the club is in a precarious position and the club are looking at all avenues to keep the club running. “John Askey and the management have bought into the situation and it’s a wonderful opportunity for someone to become a professional footballer for a week. “As far as we know it has never been done before so it is a unique moment in English football.” The paper also quotes Silkmen manager John Askey who said: “What we don’t want is for it to become farcical, but I don’t think it will hinder or restrict the team, far from it. “We wouldn’t be doing it if there was any danger of that.” Sounds like the person who pays up will come on for the final 10 of a 6-0 defeat but still, it’s a foot in the door, even if it is an expensive one. UPDATE: It seems Macclesfield have gotten cold feet and withdrawn this offer. In a statement tonight they said: "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." "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." "The 'pay to play' proposal was one of many innovative ideas that have been considered in the last few weeks to raise both funds and interest in the club. It was intended to be a light-hearted idea that would be of interest only to our local media." Oh well, there goes that dream...