Gateshead F.C.
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| Full name | Gateshead Football Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname(s) | The Tynesiders, The Heed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 1905 (as South Shields Adelaide FC, 1930 Gateshead AFC ) 1973-77 (as Gateshead United F.C.) Reformed 1977 (as Gateshead F.C) —see text for details |
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| Ground | Gateshead International Stadium Gateshead Former grounds: Horsley Hill, South Shields Redheugh Park (Capacity 11,800 (5,000 open to spectators)) |
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| League | Northern Premier League Premier Division |
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| 2006-07 | Northern Premier League Premier Division, 9th |
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Gateshead F.C. are a football team based in Gateshead, England, who currently play in the Northern Premier League. The club was reformed in 1977, after the original club, who was a member of the Football League from 1930 to 1960 collapsed in 1973.
The club is currently Chaired by Graham Wood, a self-made millionaire who supported the original Gateshead F.C and attended games at their Redheugh Park home.
In May 2007 Ian Bogie was appointed as Manager, his assistant being former Preston North End and Newcastle team mate, as well as former Gateshead Captain, Jeff Wrightson.
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There have been many different Gateshead clubs over the years. Probably the earliest to reach prominence was Gateshead NERFC who were formed in 1889. But none of these are the forerunners of Gateshead Football Club. The original Gateshead A.F.C club originated eight miles (14 km) from Gateshead in the town of South Shields. Founded in 1905, South Shields Adelaide FC initially played in the Tyneside League before being elected to the more senior North Eastern League in 1908. In 1910 the club adopted the name of South Shields F.C.. With the expansion of the Football League after World War I, South Shields applied and were elected to the Second Division. From 1919 until 1928. the Horseley Hill Ground played host to football in England's second tier. But financially, the club were struggling and the inevitable happened in 1928 when the club finished bottom and were relegated to the Third Division (North).
After two fairly mediocre seasons in the lower division, the club was on its knees so the board took the almost unprecedented step of moving the club lock, stock and barrel to another town with hopefully more support. With the enthusiastic support of Gateshead Council, a new stadium was built at Redheugh Park in the West end of Gateshead and in August 1930, Gateshead F.C. kicked off a new era when over 15,000 spectators watched the home side beat Doncaster Rovers 2-1. Gateshead narrowly missed out on promotion when they finished runners-up (on goal average) in 1932 and again in 1950 (by two points), but stayed in the lower division until the regional divisions were replaced by the Third and Fourth Divisions in 1958.
In their 1950s heydays, Gateshead enjoyed some remarkable FA Cup runs. reaching round four in 1952 and round six in 1953. Having already beaten Liverpool 1-0 in round three in 1953, Gateshead finally succumbed 1-0 to Bolton Wanderers who then went on to reach the final.
Missing the cut to form the new national Third Division by only one point, Gateshead were founder members of the Fourth Division. The travelling in the new national Division was difficult for all clubs but especially one as far North as Gateshead. In the first season, (1958-59), Gateshead finished twentieth and the next year Gateshead finished even lower in 22nd place. At that time, the bottom four clubs in the Fourth Division had to apply for re-election.
Gateshead applied along with Southport (applying for the third year running and the seventh time in total), Oldham (applying for the second year running) and Hartlepools (applying fo the fourth time). Gateshead had no reason to believe they were at risk, but the Football League shocked the footballing world by failing to re-elect Gateshead. With no National League System then in place, the club played in various regional leagues before becoming founder members of the Northern Premier League (NPL) in 1968. The club played in the NPL from 1968 to 1970 when they finished bottom and were out. After a season replacing their reserves in the parochial Wearside League, the first team were admitted to the Midland League. By now the club was in financial difficulties and were forced to leave Redheugh Park. They took up residence in the Gateshead Youth Stadium, until they disbanded in 1973.
History then repeated itself, when the reformed South Shields F.C., themselves members of the NPL, moved to the Youth Stadium and became Gateshead United F.C.. This only lasted three seasons before they themselves went out of business in 1977.
A reformed Gateshead F.C. was constituted to take their place in the NPL. By now, the Youth Stadium had been upgraded and renamed as Gateshead International Stadium. With a superb ground and a new dynamic board, Gateshead finally made progress, winning promotion from the NPL to the Alliance Premier League in 1983. With good sponsorship, Gateshead spent several seasons in the Football Conference and looked on the brink of regaining their coveted Football League place. But as the sponsorship money dried up, the club declined and spent the 2003-04 season in the Northern Premier League First Division. A 6th place finish was enough to win promotion to the Premier Division due to the restructuring of the National League System.
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Gateshead (1) (1930-73):
- Football League Third Division (North) runners up 1932, 1950
Gateshead (2) (1977-date):
- Northern Premier League champions 1983, 1986, runners up 1990
- Official site
- Heed Army Fan Site
- www.HeedForums.co.uk - Gateshead FC Fans Forum
- Home of the Heed - A New Stadium for Gateshead FC
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