Keith Alexander today confirmed that he had chosen Sean Hessey as the club captain for the coming season. The former Chester City defender signed for the Silkmen in the summer after spending the second half of last season on loan at the Moss Rose.

"Sean did really well for me last season and is a good leader. He certainly leads by example in terms of effort and commitment. So whilst there were several candidates for the job I didn't really have to think too long before asking him to take the job on," explained Keith.

"It's a bit of cliché I know but you need eleven leaders out there on the pitch. But the game is changing and a lot of the communication between the referee and the players has to be directed through the captain. Sean's got a level head on his shoulders and is the sort of person that I know will thrive on the extra responsibility."

Keith also confirmed that there had been two changes to the squad list originally published last week.

"Both Terry and Gareth have requested to keep last season's squad numbers. So Terry reverts to number 25 and Gareth will once again be wearing the number 26 shirt."

We caught up with Gareth Evans to get the background to the change.

"I am not really a superstitious person but 26 was the first number given to me by Ian Brightwell. So it has a special meaning in that respects. I also managed to get through the season relatively injury free. So if I can repeat that this season I will be more than happy."