David McNabb has expressed his pride at becoming the new Macclesfield manager after succeeding Danny Whitaker.
The former Silkmen midfielder was handed the opportunity to take Macclesfield up the divisions following their rebirth as a phoenix club.
However, he was relieved of his duties after their FA Trophy exit to Guiseley due to their recent run of disappointing results, although they stayed top of the Northern Premier League West title during that time.
McNabb ended his spell away from the dugout following his untimely departure from Warrington Rylands. But the former Blues boss admitted his time away from the game was tough.
He told Off The Park: “It was tough. Obviously it [the Rylands departure] was unexpected, came about quickly. Everyone knows you spend a lot of time doing the football-related activity and being there whether it be training, games that the club need you for.
“But what you don’t recognise is the amount of time you’re thinking about stuff, what team you’re going to play, how you’re going to set-up, how do you stop a certain opposition player.
“For it to stop all of a sudden was a massive impact in the way you live your life but look, I had a rest, tried to learn, watch other teams play, tried to watch as many games as I could. I was definitely ready to get back into it.”
It was a frantic 24 hours for McNabb after taking over, his appointment crashed Macclesfield’s website and within a day of becoming the new manager, he was preparing for their crunch match against Workington.
Goals from Neil Kengni, Alex Curran, Nicky Maynard and Neil Danns secured a 4-1 win in his first match in charge. On-loan Liverpool goalkeeper Marcelo Pitaluga also showed his quality as he made a crucial penalty save at 2-1 to deny Lewis Reilly.
“In a bit of a daze still, it happened so fast,” he added. “Going into the game, we hadn’t met the players or managed to speak to everyone, it’s been tough but I wouldn’t change it for the world.
“I’ve started to experience what the club is, how special the club is, how special the fans are already. We got a fantastic reception and I couldn’t be prouder to lead the team out.
“The group is fantastic, Danny [Whitaker] and the club have assembled an unbelievable playing squad, a good mix of youth and promise with experience and knowhow.
“We probably want to try play a slightly different way, put our ideas across so that’ll take a bit of time. We’re confident with the group we’ve got putting our philosophy and identity across, hopefully we can achieve our aims.
“It’s a huge privilege and I know I’m in a privileged position to be here,” he continued on his personal feeling at taking over. “I’m really proud to represent Macclesfield Football Club, I’m aware of the history and some of the sadder times that the club have had but it’s been reborn, it’s a chance now to be part of a journey that takes the club back to the Football League where it belongs.”
McNabb brought former Rylands assistant Tim Lees with him to the Leasing.com Stadium. One of their outstanding moments together was the famous last day promotion to the Northern Premier League as their draw with Bootle was enough.
He boasted a 69.28 per cent win rate with the Blues, winning three consecutive promotions and the FA Vase during his time.
“I think I’m going to take learnings from every club I’ve been at, Rylands was a really successful period, I feel like I’m much better equipped to deal with Macclesfield now than what it was when I started at Rylands – I certainly wouldn’t be able to do it then,” he admitted.
“That four-and-a-half years experience of managing big games, big budgets, recruiting and the other facets that come with man-management, the experience is massively important and hopefully that’ll allow us to be successful in this role.
“There’s demands, there’s always going to be demands,” McNabb revealed on chats with the Macclesfield hierarchy.
“It’s such a big club, I’ve been speaking to the powers that be at the club over the last few days and they’ve got very clear goals and ambitions of where they want to be. I just want to play a small part in getting back to where it belongs.
“I think since the announcement, it has given me a perspective of just how big the club is. Then the game just reinforced it.
“The announcement was made, I think the internet sort of went down a little bit in terms of the platform that hosts the site, I think there was about 90,000 hits in the first hour which is just ridiculous. The game last night, the reception was something else, I just felt so proud to represent them and made up to get the three points for them.”
[Featured Image: Macclesfield FC/YouTube]
