Macclesfield Town, founded in 1874, have been wound up after a judge was told the football club owe more than half a million pounds.

Judge Sebastian Prentis made a winding up order at a virtual hearing in the specialist Insolvency and Companies Court on Wednesday, reports the London Evening Standard.

He was told the club owe over £500,000, including nearly £190,000 in tax and more than £170,000 to two other creditors.

Lawyers representing HM Revenue and Customs had applied for a winding up order.

The judge said he could see nothing which gave him "any comfort" that the club can pay the debts.

He was overseeing the latest in a series of hearings.

Macclesfield have recently been relegated from the fourth tier of league football into non-league football.