We all spend a lot of time lamenting the cynical side of the modern game, but if there’s an antidote, it’s the weekend ahead of us. The FA Cup Third Round Proper is one for the romantics: the smallest clubs in the land can share a pitch with the biggest, and both sides can live a different football life for a day.

Moss Rose was built in 1891 for Macclesfield Town, which was would-up in 2020 amid financial troubles. A phoenix club was born in the ashes and has risen from the ninth tier of the English football pyramid (the North West Counties Football League) to the sixth (the National League North) in next-to-no time. Now they’ve got their biggest match of the year on Saturday, as FA Cup holders and Premier League stalwarts Crystal Palace will come to a small ground south of Manchester to battle the Silkmen.

In fact, says this week’s guest, it’s one of the biggest days in the combined history of Macclesfield Town and Macclesfield F.C. That guest is James Walker of The Silkmen News, a podcast and newsletter, and he also explained how new owner Robert Smethurst righted the ship with the help of his friend Robbie Savage after buying up the assets in an online liquidation sale. We also touched on how Wayne Rooney’s brother, John, is doing this season having replaced Savage as manager having helped the club win promotion how non-league football is thriving these days, and how Macclesfield got their nickname.

Check out The Silkmen News on Spotify and Substack, and get more sharp coverage of the world's game at TheFootballWeekend.com ↗️

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New year, new weekend, and we’re off in an unconventional direction. The big match of the coming days for our purposes is in Paris, but it ain’t PSG. RED STAR PARIS travel to face TROYES on Saturday for a meeting of second against first in France’s Ligue 2.

It’s a perfect opportunity to have a look at one of the world’s more storied — if off-beat — football clubs. Red Star was founded way back in 1897 by Jules Rimet, eventual inventor of the FIFA World Cup, and in the time since it’s acquired layer upon layer of identity. It’s the French capital’s rebel club, a vessel of alt-Paris, a different kind of chic from the glitz of the European champions at the Parc des Princes.

Simon Binns is a veteran journalist who wrote a book on Red Star — and fell in love with the club along the way. Red Star Paris: Punks, Politics and Power Struggles in the Fight for the Coolest Club on Earth is a history, a social study, and a love letter, though Binns also made use of his background as a financial journo to tackle the issue of Red Star’s new owners: 777 Partners, most famous for a failed takeover attempt of Everton Football Club.

You can follow Simon on Twitter and Instagram, and get more sharp coverage of the world's game at TheFootballWeekend.com ↗️

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David Novo from Lisbon's Record newspaper joins to help us preview the Dérbi de Lisboa, as Benfica host Sporting CP in a battle for bragging rights in the Portuguese capital. Along with Porto — which hails from the town of the same name further north — they make up the Big Three clubs in this nation of under 11 million people that punches far above its weight on the global stage.

We got into how, exactly, Portugal and these clubs in particular produce so many fantastic players. We traced some of the history of this rivalry, including the crucial intervention of the legendary Eusébio, who turned the tide after years of Sporting dominance to deliver Benfica into a new era. We talked over the return of José Mourinho to Portuguese football, as he's now coaching Benfica after all his years of massive success with Porto and across Europe. And David offered some intel on where to eat and drink if you’re going to the Estádio da Luz — where this one will be played on Friday — or the Estádio José Alvalade.

Follow David on Twitter and Instagram 👍

And get your rundown of all the matches worth your time this weekend at TheFootballWeekend.com ↗️

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