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Macclesfield win promotion on slim budget

Macclesfield Town have won promotion back to the Football League on the slimmest of budgets, the smallest in the division. Many clubs operate with playing budgets twice as big as Macclesfield's £350,000 and for others such as Tranmere Rovers or benefactor clubs like Ebbsfleet and AFC Fylde it would be three times as much.

The owners are Bashar and Amar al-Khadi, two Iraqi-Kurd telecom entrpreneurs whose family settled in Britain in the late 1970s. They bought the club in 2003. Since relegation from the Football League in 2012, finances have been drastically tightened and wages were late once this season.

There have been appeals to supporters for donations for signings. There has been no additional income from player sales, TV games or cup runs such as last year's FA Trophy final at Wembley.

In 2013 the club was £1m in debt and close to administration. The debt is now down to £280,000. Promotion to the Football League will be worth about £1.2m.

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