Next Macclesfield Manager: Who is frontrunner Daryl McMahon?

Macclesfield Town have opened up the search for their fourth permanent manager in just over a year after Sol Campbell vacated his post on Thursday.

John Askey’s five-year spell came to an end in June 2018 after he was lured over to Shrewsbury Town. His replacement, Mark Yates, was then swiftly sacked in October following a winless start to the season, before Campbell entered into the dugout and subsequently saved the club from the dreaded drop out of the Football League.

But three games into the new campaign Big Sol has now left Macclesfield by ‘mutual consent’.

As to the potential identity of Campbell’s successor at Moss Rose, the early signs point to Daryl McMahon, the scorching hot favourite in the betting.

McMahon, a former West Ham trainee, spent three-and-a-half years in charge of non-league side Ebbsfleet United between 2015 and 2018, in what to date is the 35-year-old’s only spell in management.

In his first season in charge the Irishman led his troops to second spot in the National League South, only to suffer penalty heartbreak to Maidstone United in the play-off final.

The following season, 2016/17, Ebbsfleet again finished as runners-up, but this time they secured promotion to the National League after edging out Chelmsford City in the play-off final.

Dashing Daryl McMahon, former boss of Ebbsfleet United, can now be backed at just 1/8 to return to management with Macclesfield ????

Odds subject to change | BeGambleAware | 18+ #Silkmen pic.twitter.com/Qzrdcu5qRc

— The Sack Race (@thesackrace) August 16, 2019

The Fleet reached the National League play-offs in 2018 - after finishing 6th - but lost to Tranmere in the semi-final stage, with the Merseyside outfit then beating Boreham Wood to bag a place in the Football League.

Come November 2018 McMahon had left Ebbsfleet by the good old method of 'mutual consent', departing with a win rate of 54% from 158 games at the helm.

"I want to get back in straight away," McMahon said at the time. "I've already had two days off and that's enough for me!"

Now, nine months later, he could be set to become a Football League manager for the first time, should he land the Macclesfield Town job.

One of McMahon’s former players, Coventry striker Matt Godden, recently gave a glowing reference of his old boss on the KM Football Podcast:

"I think he’ll be one of the top managers in years to come. I think it suits him better than non-league football.

“He's probably one of the better managers I've ever played under, the way he man-manages players and gets the best out of them.”

Other contenders in the betting include Barnet boss Darren Currie, Macclesfield caretaker manager Danny Whitaker, and former Ipswich defender Mark Kennedy, while Harry Kewell is out at 25/1.