Macclesfield Town’s fixture with Plymouth Argyle will not go ahead as planned on Saturday 21 December after the club was issued with a zero capacity notice by the local Safety Advisory Group (SAG).

The notice was served by the SAG on Thursday and the club, with the assistance of the EFL, had spent the intervening 24 hours working on a solution in respect of the outstanding inspections and tests required at the Moss Rose Stadium that would ensure the capacity was reinstated.

Despite making significant progress, the SAG is not satisfied all its requirements have been met and have maintained the capacity of the stadium at zero, resulting in the club informing the League it would not be in a position to fulfil the fixture with supporters in attendance.

The club did request to play behind closed doors, however on consideration, as per the provisions in Regulation 33.1, the EFL did not agree to the request.

The core principles behind EFL competitions are that all its fixtures are to be played in front of spectators and playing behind closed doors significantly increases the risks of crowds congregating in the vicinity of the stadium.

As a result of the game not going ahead, the club will be charged with misconduct for failing to fulfil its fixture obligations.

The club received a six-point deduction on Thursday after pleading guilty to charges of non-payment of wages and failure to fulfil its fixture obligations. A further four points were suspended as a result of the charges.