Simon Carter is the doyen of the Moss Rose press box as the reporter for BBC Manchester, The Manchester Evening News, PA, The Sun and anyone else that willl pay for his words of wisdom! The writer has known him for many years and collared him this morning for his view on how things are going for his beloved Silkmen at the moment.

" It is fair to see that the one consistent thing about Macclesfield this season has been their inconsistency. In many ways though that is understandable with so many young players in the side. The likes of Sean Brisley, Izaak Reid, James Jennings and Gareth Evans are all regulars ( at this stage we pointed out to Simon that those players would be regarded as old in the Dale side) and they are all learning the game. We have lost 2 vastly experienced players in Martin Gritton and Terry Dunfield and in fairness it has left something of a hole in the squad"

" It is quite obvious that manager Keith Alexander is planning for not just next season but the one after it as he rebuilds the squad. Of late he has reverted back to a 5-3-2 formation which can work if the wing backs get forward but if they get pinned back we do revert a little quickly to long ball and that doesn't always go down well with the supporters"

" In terms of players to look out for Emile Sinclair, in the last game of his loan spell from Nottingham Forest, is just about the quickest forward that I have seen at the club although his first touch isn't always the best. We also have Tom Elliott on loan from Leeds United, who will possibly be on the bench but is a big bustling striker. In midfield Jamie Tolley is back from long term injury trying to fill the void left by Dunfield's departure"

We went on to talk about Dale and Simon kindly expressed the view that he feels that this could be the year for automatic promotion and that Keith Hill is the best manager in the division but would not be drawn on a forecast for the game.