‘That was for Ethan’: Macclesfield dedicate famous FA Cup win to former star killed in car crash

Macclesfield captain Paul Dawson dedicated his side’s historic FA Cup win over holders Crystal Palace to former forward Ethan McLeod , who was killed in a car crash last month at the age of 21.

After sixth-tier Macclesfield pulled off the greatest FA Cup shock of all time based on league ranking, with the Silkmen 117 places below Premier League club Palace in the football pyramid, club captain Dawson revealed he had received a good-luck message from McLeod’s parents, who were at the Moss Rose stadium, before the third-round tie but decided to avoid putting extra pressure on his team-mates.

McLeod was killed in a car accident on 16 December while travelling back from Macclesfield’s match at Bedford Town, where he was an unused substitute. He joined the non-league club in July after spending 10 years at the academy of Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers , and was in the Macclesfield squad that knocked out Slough Town in the FA Cup second round on 7 December.

“That was for him,” Dawson said. “A big team performance. We’ve dug in really well, and that was for Ethan.

“I haven’t really mentioned much in the changing room. I didn't want to put the extra pressure on the lads. I had a nice message off his dad last night and I was like, do I send it to the lads, or do I tell them before the game. But I didn't really want to put that little extra bit of pressure on them with everything we've been through, so I thought I'd leave that till after the game

“It was tough. You know, his parents are here today, young Ethan, so we need to go and see them as well. It’s been a really tough time and we've all stuck together through it. It’s never, ever gonna get easier. We've still got pitchers up in the changing room. That will never go.

“It has been really tough. But Ethan, I think he'd be looking down today and he'll be proud of us as well.”

Captain Paul Dawson said the club had been going through a ‘really tough time’ (Getty Images)

Seven months after Palace lifted their first major trophy by defeating Manchester City at Wembley, the Premier League side became the first FA Cup holders to lose to non-league opposition since Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1909.

Thousands of supporters flooded onto the pitch as the sound of the full-time whistle as Macclesfield became the first sixth-tier team to beat Premier League opposition. In terms of league placing, and the 117 positions between the sides, it is the biggest-ever FA Cup upset in the history of the oldest cup competition in the world.

Macclesfield were reborn as a club in 2020 after going out of business and being expelled from the Football League. The historic club Macclesfield Town, formed in 1871, were wound up in the High Court after their debts exceeded £500,000.

But inspired by goals from captain Dawson and Isaac Buckley-Rickett, and overseen by coach John Rooney, the younger brother of former England and Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney , they overturned the odds in a hugely emotional day for the Silkmen.