Macclesfield Town: Silkmen put players and staff on furlough scheme during coronavirus crisis

Macclesfield were 22nd in League Two when the season was halted

Macclesfield Town have put all of their first team, backroom staff and majority of their office staff on furlough leave during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Silkmen say they will top up all affected employees' salaries to the full value of their standard wages.

The move comes after the League Two club paid players their outstanding wages for March on Friday.

A statement said the decision would "help to safeguard the roles of all those employed by the football club".

"Yet this isn't to say that these uncharted times won't present us with unique challenges which we will need to navigate," the statement added.

"Like every single business out there, we are in many ways engulfed within the great unknown and have to react to what is thrown at us in the best way we can."

The club have had financial problems for much of the 2019-20 campaign and were charged by the English Football League with misconduct for not paying players on time.

Players went on strike earlier this season and the club were handed a six-point deduction, later reduced to four on appeal, for failing to fulfil their fixture against Crewe in December.

Prior to the suspension of the season because of the coronavirus outbreak, Macclesfield had been third from bottom of League Two, 10 points above basement side Stevenage.