John Rooney became the unlikely hero of the FA Cup third round when his Macclesfield side knocked out holders Crystal Palace – and he says he’s loving his side being on the TV.
The 35-year-old brother of Man United legend Wayne was installed as manager of the Silkmen last July, and has already written himself into the history books by claiming the biggest scalp in FA Cup history.
And with money hard to come by in the National League North, where Macclesfield now ply their trade after being formed as a phoenix club of Macclesfield Town, Rooney is delighted that his side are now raking in the broadcast money.
The Silkmen banked £121,500 for beating the Eagles on Saturday, meaning the club have collected a total of £258,125 for also winning against Stamford, AFC Totton and Slough on their way to the third round.
They also scooped up £80,000 in BBC broadcast money for the match against Palace – who classily let Macclesfield take 100 per cent of the gate receipts for the sold-out affair.
‘For teams at our level, financially it’s huge for our club,’ he said while appearing on The Overlap with Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Roy Keane, Ian Wright and Jill Scott.
John Rooney says he’s loving his team being on the TV because of the money they’re raking in
Rooney’s Macclesfield claimed the greatest FA Cup upset by beating holders Crystal Palace
‘We don’t really play on TV that much at this level and the last two games have been. I’m sure we’ll be on it next round now as well, so that’s massive for the club.’
Should they claim yet another upset and beat their fourth-round opponents Brentford, the Cheshire-based outfit will earn yet another £127,000 in prize money – and that’s before TV money is considered.
But the Silkmen boss says their past two FA Cup games – including their tie against Slough which was broadcast on TNT Sports – have already ‘probably covered the budget for the season’.
Rooney, who replaced Robbie Savage when he took the job, said it was the goal of the club to have a good run in football’s oldest competition due to the windfalls that await.
‘Since Rob [Smethurst] took over he’s done an unbelievable job,’ he said. ‘Obviously we want to do well in the league of course… but it was more ‘can we try and make playoffs and have a good FA Cup run?’.’
Speaking on talkSPORT after the club’s win against Palace, owner Smethurst heaped praise on Palace for allowing them to keep the money made at the 5,300-seater stadium on the day.
‘It’s an amazing thing for Macclesfield. We do spend quite a lot because we have huge gate receipts,’ he said.
‘Within football, unfortunately, the better you do and the higher you move up the leagues, the worse it actually gets financially as an owner.
Silkmen owner Rob Smethurst heaped praise on Palace for letting the club keep gate receipts
‘Success brings other challenges because obviously your fan base want you to keep on moving up the leagues, but sometimes it’s not affordable.
‘This will make the club, for the next couple of years, especially with the next draw, if we’re lucky enough to potentially get an away game, especially if it’s a Premier League club, you can be drawing nearly up to a million pounds in funds.’
His club may not have drawn an away game, but hosting Keith Andrews’ high-flying Premier League Bees is set to land Smethurst and Rooney yet another windfall.
Brentford travel to Moss Rose on the weekend of February 14, and Rooney is delighted to have another chance to cause an upset.
‘We said before that we would have liked to get Liverpool, Chelsea or Arsenal, but another Premier League side is incredible,’ he told ITV.
