Unsurprisingly, this story didn’t end too well.
Last month we brought you the news that Macclesfield were offering a fan a once in a lifetime chance to play for the first team in a competitive game. All you had to do was hand over £20,000 and you were guaranteed 10 minutes of action for the Conference National club.
Sadly, the club had to withdraw the offer shortly afterwards when the authorities got upset about a team using an amateur, possibly affecting the integrity of the competition the wealthy wannabee played in.
So instead Macclesfield changed the plan and the fee. Instead, for £10k, the club allowed someone to play in a pre-season friendly. James Gorfin, a local businessman, ponied up the cash and after training with the Macclesfield squad for a week, he was all set to play the second half against Stoke City last Saturday.
But the game didn’t really work out for James. Stoke wouldn’t be our first choice of team to play as an enthusiastic amateur, a lesson James learned inside the first few minutes.
“You think you’d have loads of time on the ball but it’s pretty mental how quick the game is and I did get smashed by one of the Stoke lads when I got one of my passes away,” he tells the Mirror.
James battled on and even managed to have a half chance of a goal, but that finished his involvement. And his groin.
“Obviously I’d have loved to have got on that cross and scored but I couldn’t quite sprint quickly enough to get on the end of it.
“I tried to put a burst on and when I stretched, that’s when it went, I felt it straight away.” After just 10 minutes, he had to be substituted.
Despite his less than stellar debut, the Manchester United fan is still hoping for another shot with the Silkmen.
“Before I left, I did mention that if they ever get really short they could give me a ring … I don’t expect they’ll ever be that short though! ”
