Search: 'Gateshead'

Employment status is a major factor in non-League success. Andy Ollerenshaw witnessed part-time Altrincham’s relegation

It was relegation decider day for part-time Conference Premier club Altrincham FC. A larger than normal home support poured through the turnstiles to witness the crucial end-of-season encounter with Eastbourne Borough, bringing with them the familiar tensions that saturate these occasions: the nerves, the nail-biting, an atmosphere fuelled by a heady mix of expectation and trepidation. A whole gamut of emotions that would, towards the end of the game, peak in several minutes of high drama.

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Andy Brassell looks at a confusing and controversial TV deal for the Conference

It normally takes comedians or cover bands to pack out the bars at AFC Wimbledon and Kingstonian’s Kingsmeadow stadium on a night without a home game. But on a cold Friday evening in January, a few hundred were crammed in to watch live football. Wimbledon were playing at Gateshead and such is the relative obscurity of Premier Sports, the TV rights holder for the Football Conference from this season, that fans squeezed into the hostelries behind KM’s main stand to watch the transmission.

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Dave Jennings reflects on the demise of Newcastle Blue Star

Winning a promotion play-off final is surely one of the best feelings in football. It’s arguably better than winning a championship or a cup final because it’s transformative; not only has your team triumphed under enormous pressure, but it has turned itself into something higher and better than it was at the start of the day. After all the tension and euphoric release of the big day, you can enjoy the close season while relishing the prospect of the new grounds you’ll visit as your club enjoys its new, improved status.

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Owen Amos talks to an English youth player about his surprising career move to Italy 

What happens when a 16-year-old is released from a big club? He might learn a trade and pick up £100 every Saturday in non-League football. Or he could write for trials and, with luck, move to the professional periphery. Kris ­Thackray, from Chester-le-Street, County Durham, did differently. The 20-year-old has just signed his first professional deal with Reggina, in Serie A, after spending two years in their youth team.

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Non-League crowd-pullers FC United played Curzon Ashton in front of empty stands in late December, after the game was moved so it could be shown live on the internet. Michael Whalley reports

First came the Manchester United boycott. Now the FC United fans who stayed away from Old Trafford as a result of the Malcolm Glazer takeover have boycotted their new team, too. On December 29, FC’s board and all but a handful of their supporters stayed away from their side’s 2-0 victory at Curzon Ashton in the Unibond League First Division North. The reason? A dispute over the league’s decision to move the kick-off time forward from 3pm to 12.45pm, so that the match could be shown live on the internet.

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