Silkmen and manager part company

Macclesfield Town have parted company with manager Mark Yates following their winless start to the League Two season.

The Silkmen only appointed Yates, 48, in June after boss John Asked left to join Shrewsbury Town having guided them to the National League title.

Macclesfield are bottom of the English Football League, having taken four points from their 12 league games.

Assistant managers Danny Whitaker and Neil Howarth have been placed in interim charge of the club.

A statement on the club website said Macclesfield were “saddened” to part company with the former Cheltenham, Crawley Town and Solihull Moors boss. “Mark was brought in to the club during the summer and despite a plethora [of] injuries to deal with, as well as an enormous amount of bad luck on occasions, fought gallantly in a bid to lift our league position to where we all want it to be,” the statement added.

Yates led Macclesfield to the third round of the Carabao Cup for the first time in their history after beating Bradford and Walsall on penalties, but then saw his team thrashed 8-0 at Premier League side West Ham.

The Silkmen are on the brink of equalling an all-time English league record for consecutive games without a victory – although their winless run spans seven years, dating back to when they were relegated in 2012.

Their barren sequence currently stands at 35 matches, which is just one short of Derby’s winless run of 36 games between September 2007 and August 2008.