Macclesfield town councillors have rallied behind the Silkmen as fans look for new ways to take community football forward.

Councillors, some of whom dressed in the Silkmen colours, were addressed by representatives from the Silkmen Supporters' Trust (SST) and the Macclesfield Town Community Sport's Trust during a virtual meeting of the full town council on Monday.

Patrick Birch, from the SST, told councillors: "Twelve days ago, Macclesfield Town, with its illustrious 146-year history, was wound up. Little point going into how this came about, it is best to focus now on what happens next and the help we would like from you the town council."

Mr Birch described one of the potential "upsides" in this current situation is the "opportunity to build a thriving football club at the heart of the community".

He listed three things he wanted the town council to help the SST, the first being: "Help us get the messages out about us becoming a community club again- we should all be determined that the club is not going to die- we should all be determined to rebuild."

Mr Birch also requested that the council help the new football club secure Moss Rose as their home. "The ground is a connection to our history; it holds so many memories. Without the ground setting up a new football club will be extremely difficult."

The SST is also requesting that councillors work with them on a "viable business plan" for the Moss Rose. Mr Birch suggested a renovation of the stadium and the installation of a 4G playing field that could "generate significant income for the club".

Mr Birch told councillors and those watching the meeting on YouTube that there is an "opportunity… to restore the football club's place at the heart of the Macclesfield community".

Mike Rance, the chair of the Macclesfield Town Community Sports Trust, told councillors his organisation "will survive the loss of the football club, at least in the short term".

The Sport's Trust is a charity which is funded by national football charities and local benefactors to enable their work to support organisations such as nurseries and primary schools to care homes in the community.

They also run the Community Football Academy in partnership with All Hallow's Catholic School and Macclesfield college with 100 students from both playing for its various teams.

Mr Rance said: "We'll find it difficult to survive without a 'parent' football club over the longer term and fully support the concept of a much-needed community stadium. We'll do all we can to support this vision."

In his role as the portfolio holder for communities, Cllr Mick Warren told the meeting that he would be representing Cheshire East Council as the freeholder of the Moss Rose land.

He explained that this responsibility would normally be with Cllr Nick Mannion as portfolio holder for assets, but he has a "conflict of interests" as a trustee on the Community Sport's Trust.

Cllr Warren, who sits on both the town and borough councils, said: "Cheshire East Council are in touch with the official receivers. There was an auction of the logo and the intellectual rights of the club today (Monday). We have expressed to the receiver that we have a strong preference for seeing community football on the Moss Rose site in the future."

He said they were "quite early on in the process", but said he would speak with Mr Rance and Mr Birch about what the options are.

He added: "Now putting my town council hat on, I feel that we as a town council need to be involved from the onset. I don't feel that person needs to be myself, it needs to be someone who can stand clear from Cheshire East."

Councillors agreed to find a member in the coming days to fulfil the role for what was described as a long-term commitment.

Cllr Neil Puttick gave his backing, describing the club as a "great community asset" for Macclesfield.

Cllr Puttick said this is "also about the future of south Macclesfield," adding: "As was mentioned about tremendous employment opportunities and tremendous opportunities for small businesses to engage and evolve the business model."

Cllr Fiona Wilson, who lives close to the Moss Rose stadium, described what happened to the club as "heart breaking".

"The mood is very sad in south Macclesfield where the club is about what happened. Over the years, as a resident here and a councillor more recently, I've been to many, many events at the Moss Rose," she said.

Cllr Wilson gave her support to helping Mr Birch and the SST with their three ways in which the town council could assist in maintaining community football at the site.

Cllr Fin Shenton cited examples of where community football has been revived in similar circumstances.

He said: "In terms of phoenix clubs, there are inspirations we can look to, such as AFC Blackpool, who were also ran into the ground by their owners. They were able to survive but also set up a phoenix club, so there are models out there; Bury as well.

"Hopefully with this new community driven model, we can try and reclaim football in the north west outside of the big teams. Bolton have gone into administration two seasons ago and Wigan have had the same fate, so there are models and opportunities we can go from."

Cllr Janet Jackson echoed the support for grassroots football as the way forward. She added that many other clubs from various sports could find themselves in a similar situation as a consequence of Covid-19.

The mayor of Macclesfield, Cllr Sarah Bennett-Wake, told the meeting: "There is no way that Macclesfield will ever let the Silkmen go, it's too big a part of our heritage."