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Jimmy Greaves 1940-2021

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Jimmy Greaves, one of England’s greatest-ever goalscorers, passed away today.  His record of 466 goals in 661 games will take some beating, and the former Chelsea, Tottenham, West Ham and England forward was widely regarded as the deadliest finisher in the game.

For those of us lucky to see him play, and later work with him in his colourful media career afterwards, Jimmy was a delight, never to be forgotten.  Norman Giller first met him as a teenage reporter when Jimmy was making a name for himself at Chelsea and the two Essex boys became friends for life.   Here is Norman’s tribute to his mate…

“Football writers everywhere will today mourn the passing of Jimmy Greaves, greatest of all British-born goal scorers and, more important, a wonderful human being who brightened millions of lives with his humour and in-your-face personality.

“Only Jimmy could have chosen today, Sunday September 19, 2021, for his departure, just a few hours before his favourite old clubs Tottenham and Chelsea met in the first carbon-free match. I can hear Jim right now: “WTF?”

“He was the greatest of all friends to football journalists. Big or small, he never used to refuse an interview and would always leave the reporters walking on air at the pleasure and privilege of sharing the great man’s company.

“Jimmy did not have an ounce of arrogance, yet had so much to shout about. Anybody from my generation who saw him burst on the scene with a wonder goal for Chelsea against Spurs at White Hart Lane in August 1957, were treated to scores (ha ha) of some of the greatest goals ever conjured over the next 14 years.

“There will be many who will argue that he was at his best in the blue of Chelsea, when with the innocence of youth he continually tricked and teased defenders before finding the net with his trademark ‘passing’ shots. But it was at Tottenham where he was acclaimed as a world master with a procession of mind-blowing performances in that ‘Super Spurs’ side of the 1960s. His partnership with skilled Scot Alan Gilzean – the G Men – was one of the most potent in the history of British football.

“He climbed off the football express at the ridiculously young age of 31 after an unhappy wind-down season at West Ham to concentrate on business and boozing. As I kept telling him while waiting for him to sober up, his only business should have been football.

“A load of nonsense was talked about him missing the World Cup final in 1966 turning him into an alcoholic. Jim had a chemical imbalance that meant he could not handle the booze he was pouring down his throat as a substitute for the football that he played better than almost anybody else on earth.

“It was nothing to do with the World Cup. He just could not handle the alcohol. Geoff Hurst, the man who replaced him in the England side and scored a famous hat-trick in the final, told me today: “Jimmy was the greatest goal scorer I ever saw, and I loved the bloke. We were good friends and he never once showed any envy that I had stolen his glory. We will all miss him terribly, What a character!”

“He had the discipline to finally beat his demons and reinvented himself as a television celebrity, best known for his wit, wisdom and irreverence alongside Ian St John in the popular Saint and Greavsie show.

“Later, when television decided his face no longer fitted (the idiots), he went for his third career, this time as a stand-up comedian and road show star with his long-time agent Terry Baker, touring the country and getting standing ovations for his hilarious performances.

“Then, at the age of 75, came the paralysing stroke that confined him to a wheelchair and relays of carers having to look after him for what were six abysmal years when only the company of his ever-loving Irene kept him sane. He had lost the ability to express himself, and so the wittiest person ever to cross my path was frustratingly unable to deliver his punchlines.

“He was like a great classical pianist trying to play with the lid closed. As we had known each other since we were both 17 and had produced 20 books together, it was heartbreaking for me in visits to Jimmy to have him pleading for somebody to take a shotgun to him.

“So his passing today is something of a relief. But all of us – family, friends, supporters, TV viewers – will miss him desperately. He was a one-off.

“Stats (that Jimmy hated, he was an action man): a record 357 old First Division goals, a then club record 124 League goals for Chelsea, 9 goals in a brief flirtation with AC Milan, 266 for Tottenham (a record that Harry Kane is desperately chasing), 44 goals in 57 England matches and 491 his career total. But it was not the numbers game that thrilled as much as the way he scored the goals, many of them gems after leaving a procession of defenders behind him on the floor. Sheer genius.

“A precious delight for reporters to write about. We shall not see his like again.”

Peter Watson RIP

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PETER WATSON, A FLEET STREET LEGEND DEPARTS

By Norman Giller

A huge old Fleet Street oak has fallen with the passing of Peter Watson, a powerhouse sports editor of the London Evening News and then the Sunday Express in the halcyon days of newspapers.

Peter was a proud Surrey and then Sussex boy, a top-notch club cricketer and a whirlwind force on the sports journalism scene from the late 1960s into the 1990s. He had a fiery temper to match his flame-red hair, but was always generous with his praise for anybody meeting his energy and search for perfection.

More than anybody, he was responsible for launching the columnist careers of Peter ‘The Poet’ Batt and then the peerless Patrick Collins.

His barnstorming relationship with ‘the Battman’ is a thing of Fleet Street legend. The two Peters used to clash like a pair of rutting stags, Batty usually fuelled by a drink or three too many. The result was invariably some of the finest sports columns ever to adorn the London Evening News and the two Peters later hugging and making up.

Soon they would be back battling again, and Battman dubbed Watto ‘The Ayatollah,’ a less than flattering nickname that stuck. They fought and cussed and cursed each other in full public view and the editorial floor would hush as they shouted insults above the thunder of the presses. It was Fleet Street out of an Ealing comedy. And they loved each other like brothers.

Once Batty had gone a drinking bridge and binge too far, Peter W. took  young Pat Collins under his wing and gave him a platform for his beautifully considered and balanced columns that were the best sports read of their time and the forerunner of his wonderful prose for the Mail on Sunday.

The Watson-Collins partnership was much more serene than the short-lived Watson-Batt battle, but both equally rewarding for readers of sports writing at it very best, most incisive, informative and entertaining.

Watto moved on to the Sunday Express, where he had an up and down relationship with editor Eve Pollard. Peter was out of the blind old school who found it difficult to accept a woman as the superior voice, but he always rewarded her with a cracking and crackling sports section.

Among his most gifted writers was the omniscient James Mossop, who recalls: “Peter was the ultra professional. Had a handle on everything going on in the sporting world, never short of ideas. Oh, and always sociable in or out of the office. A real character.”

I was Peter’s freelance TV sports columnist on both the late, lamented Evening News and then the Sunday Express. He was a driving, demanding, motivational sports editor, and had an almost chilling charisma that brought the best out of his talented staff. 

Among his closest confidants was king of the freelances, Dennis Signy, and between them they cooked up many of the most riveting football stories of the pre-Premier League era. Peter never sought the spotlight, but was the hidden driving force behind some of the finest sports pages of the 70s and 80s.

Away from the world of headlines and deadlines, he was a gambling man who always holidayed in Las Vegas, and considered Cheltenham Week holy ground.

Peter and I were close buddies for several decades, playing each other every month in our two-man Giller-Watson Trophy golf competition. Happily, he had the trophy at the end. Rest easy, commander. Your honour.

We sadly lost touch with each other in recent years after he had hidden himself away in Eastbourne. He battled with Parkinson’s and a stroke finally claimed him on April 25, aged 77. He is survived by his adoring wife Sheila, who had been his secretary on the Evening News and his loving stepdaughter Karina.

Ps Peter’s rascally sense of humour shone through to the end. At his request, the send-off music at his funeral service: The theme from The Godfather. That will amuse the many reporters and sub-editors who worked under his whip … and  who were always rewarded with warm thanks for good work.

 

Bob Driscoll RIP

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We are saddened to hear that Bob Driscoll, a long-standing member, friend and colleague to many, passed away at the age of 80.  Bob’s son Matt, also an FWA member and friend, posted the news on Facebook on Saturday evening.

Below is a tribute from Bob’s great friend and former FWA Chairman Alex Montgomery:

BOB DRISCOLL – DIED 26TH FEBRUARY 2021

My pal Bob, one of the great sportswriters of his era has died, peacefully, thank the gods, surrounded by the family he adored.

His death at 80 years means another light has dimmed from the days when Fleet Street was the unchallenged centre of the newspaper universe and reporters were expected to ‘get the story’, which he did time after time.

Bob was exceptional in a hugely competitive and never less-than-ruthless market. He was the most talented of writer reporters, a journalist who would spot a story when no-one else could and write a column full of insight and all the emotions of sporting battles from wherever and whenever he had access to a phone – not always easy in Russia, for example, in the bad old Cold War days where the phone would be brand new but there’d be no line out.

There was no pomposity about him, quite the opposite, in a career that covered the great days of The Sun, the emergence of The Star as a worthy challenger to its tabloid rivals before changing course and, latterly, when he was the vastly experienced cool head on the Daily Mail sports desk.

Bob’s professionalism was never in doubt by those who knew him and that most certainly included me.

For more than 50 years we never let our rivalry as reporters interfere with our friendship. We travelled together and helped each other when it was appropriate. We were the small team in a small team of reporters who covered England, everywhere, and all the major clubs matches, everywhere. Our friendship saw us through some difficult reporting days, particularly with the England national side during failed World Cups and catastrophic European Championships (Germany ’88).

For all that, he knew how to relax, we both did. Bob was, in fact, an expert even in a country like Chile where we risked arrest when we broke curfew for dinner and a glass of wine in some local boozer. There were other even riskier places visited, all survived.

It was always a pleasure to see him; to be in his company and to listen to his stories. He was such a superb raconteur, so sharp witted. He seemed to have a story for every situation, but Bob wasn’t a know-everybody type of reporter. He had his favourites, like Bryan Robson the England and Manchester United captain and Alan Hudson the fellow Londoner he revered at Chelsea, the club he supported with a passion. They trusted him.

Bob suffered from advanced dementia, made even more vulnerable by a number of fractures after a fall and then contracted the damned covid 19 virus. It was a combination of all three – not Covid alone, which he had in fact survived – that hastened the end.

His family – wife Joan, daughters Shelley and Kerry, son Matt and the grandchildren who lit up his life – are distraught.

We now all carry different memories of a remarkable man.

Bob Driscoll (left) reports on the arrival of Gianluca Vialli at his beloved Chelsea

Racism, club ownership and City to retain their title – FWA Live

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Our latest FWA LIve event at the Landmark London on August 6 was a huge success, with a wide range of topics discussed by our panel in front of a packed house.

Chris Hughton, Simon Jordan and Teddy Sheringham were our special guests from the world of football, and joined FWA Chair Carrie Brown and Times football correspondent Henry Winter on a panel hosted by Gerry Cox, former Chairman of the FWA.

The first 45 minutes involved a panel discussion on the likely winners of this season’s Premier League (Manchester City were overwhelming favourites), transfer dealings this summer, the fates of the newly-promoted clubs and how Frank Lampard and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will fare.

After a short break, panellists took questions from the 100 or so guests, resulting in lively and revelatory discussions about racism, club ownership, the difficulties of management and more.

The event was streamed live on Facebook thanks to our title sponsors William Hill, and you can see the first 45 minutes on the FWA’s Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/FootballWritersAssociation/videos/2131821920279052/

And a substantial sum was raised for our charity Alzheimer’s Society.  See the great work they are doing on research into a disease that increasingly affects not only football but society as a whole https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/

(Left to right) Gerry Cox Former Chairman of FWA/Hayters TV, Chris Hughton Former Brighton Manager, Simon Jordan Former Crystal Palace Owner & Broadcaster, Teddy Sheringham, Carrie Brown FWA Chair and Henry Winter  of The Times.

Simon Jordan, Former Crystal Palace Owner & Broadcaster, and Teddy Sheringham during the FWA Live Season Preview at The Landmark Hotel, London.

Carrie Brown- FWA Chair and Henry Winter of The Times during the FWA Live Season Preview at The Landmark Hotel, London.

Chris Hughton, Former Brighton Manager, during the FWA Live Season Preview at The Landmark Hotel, London.

General view during the FWA Live Season Preview at The Landmark Hotel, London.

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium media facilities

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Tottenham Hotspur stadium media facilities

The FWA have been in consultation for some time with Tottenham Hotspur over media facilities at the club’s new stadium, and the results are stunning.

The new stadium is set to stage the first of two test events this weekend, an under-18s game between Spurs and Southampton, followed by a legends game next Saturday against Inter Milan.

Subject to approval, Tottenham will formally open the stadium on April 3 for their Premier League clash with Crystal Palace, followed by their Champions League quarter final first-leg against Manchester City, and media attending these games are in for a treat, according to Gerry Cox and Mike Collett of the FWA National Committee, who have been in consultation throughout and visited the stadium earlier this week.

“Simon Felstein, the club’s Head of Communications, welcomed the FWA’s input from the early stages of planning and listened to our ideas and responded to our feedback,” said Gerry Cox. “The planned media facilities looked first-class on paper, but when we actually saw them we were blown away.

“If there are finer media facilities in world football, we have yet to see them!”

The stadium has been planned to accommodate world-class football and also NFL games, and the media facilities reflect this in size and state-of-the-art technology.

Journalists and photographers have a dedicated entrance on the north east corner of the stadium, just off Tottenham High Road. The media lounge has space for over 200 in a relaxed environment, with a range of bar-stools, comfortable chairs and other seating . Workspaces feature plenty of power, ethernet and USB charging points. There are kit lockers for video-journalists and photographers, who also have a separate work room nearby. Hot and cold drinks and food are available before games and at half-time, with vegan and gluten-free options, while big screens will show relevant sports programmes and carry a club ticker with important information for journalists – news updates, lineups, etc. There is a dedicated broadband for media, through wi-fi and hard-wired connections, and Spitfire’s representatives will be on hand to help with any connectivity issues.

Access through to the press seating is via a dedicated media corridor, which leads to an impressive press tribune with seats for around 170 journalists – 118 with desks, 54 without. All desks have power and connectivity and a monitor for each pair. The press box is situated to the left of the halfway line with excellent views of the pitch and the visiting team’s dugout just in front. All media areas are accessible for wheelchair users, with lifts and ramps.

From the tribune it is a short walk to the press auditorium, which has 120 seats, with pull-out desks, power, ethernet connections and USB charging points.

There is also a large, covered mixed zone adjacent to the dressing room area, which both home and away players will pass through after games, with wi-fi throughout. And for broadcast rights-holders, there are 10 flash interview rooms located next to the tunnel area.

All in all, it is a perfect working environment for our members, and we thank Simon Felstein and the club for involving the FWA in the planning and implementation of these facilities.

To see a short film of the facilities, please visit: https://youtu.be/ZcIk4BMAFG0

MANarama National League column – Leyton Orient

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Leyton Orient, by Glenn Moore

On 25 May 2014 Leyton Orient were twice on the brink of reaching the second tier of English football for the first time in more than three decades. As they prepared to celebrate promotion at Wembley that day, the idea that they could be playing a league match at Braintree within four years – and coming home elated after a win – was beyond comprehension.

Nevertheless, on Tuesday night around 1,600 O’s fans made the 40-mile journey back from Essex in jubilant mood. Justin Edinburgh’s team had won 5-1 at Cressing Road to extend their lead at the summit of the MANarama National League (sponsors Vanarama have renamed the competition in support of the charity Prostate Cancer UK).

Victory eclipsed a club record set in that 2013-14 season when Russell Slade’s team began with a 12-match unbeaten run before having to settle for a play-off place. At Wembley they led Rotherham 2-0 with 35 minutes left, then led again in the penalty shoot-out.

Two failed penalties followed, and less than three years later they were relegated from League Two ending a stay in the Football League dating back to 1905. This precipitous decline, which almost concluded with the club ceasing to exist, began when long-term owner Barry Hearn sold to Italian businessman Francesco Becchetti. This proved ill-fated as Becchetti rattled through 11 managers, overseeing two relegations, a string of unhappy headlines, and the alienation of supporters. Soon after dropping out of the League the club faced a winding up order.

This, however, was staved off and the club bought by a consortium fronted by Nigel Travis, an Orient fan and former schoolmate of Hearn who had risen to head up Dunkin’ Donuts.  The bulk of the cash was provided by Texan millionaire Kent Teague whose enthusiasm has extended to watching the club’s walking football teams play.

The pair brought stability off the field and, after a brief stint by former Crewe boss Steve Davis, Edinburgh provided it on it. The former Tottenham defender arrived at Brisbane Road at a low ebb having been fired in quick succession by Gillingham and Northampton Town. However, he had good experience at non-League level having taken Rushden & Diamonds and Newport County into the National League play-off places, winning promotion with the latter.

Edinburgh banished fears of a second relegation as the Os finished mid-table. This season they began by snatching a late equaliser at Salford and have been unbeaten ever since with six wins in the last seven games. Macauley Bonne, a 22-year-old signed by Davis from Colchester United, took his O’s total to 31 goals in 57 matches with a hat-trick at Braintree. Just as influential have been the experienced Jobi McAnuff and Dean Brill, youth product Josh Koroma, East Thurrock recruit Marvin Ekpiteta, and an injury-free run that has enabled Edinburgh to name the same XI for nine successive matches.

MANarama National League is a hard one to escape. Less than half the clubs relegated from League Two in the last decade have bounced back. Orient are on course to buck the trend.

For more on Leyton Orient visit: https://www.leytonorient.com/

For more on the MANarama National League visit: https://thenationalleague.org.uk/

For great deals on cars and vans visit: http://www.vanarama.co.uk/ 

Vanarama National League column – April 4

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Easter by Luke Coulson, Ebbsfleet United and FWA member

On Easter weekend, children across the country ran round their gardens screaming and shouting as they tried to claim all the hidden Easter eggs. Similarly, but without the chocolate ending, teams from across the Vanarama National League ran around screaming and shouting as they tried to claim all the bank holiday weekend points.

With two games in four days and the end of the season closing in on us, Easter weekend provides a huge opportunity for clubs to establish their position in the league or move further up the table.

On Good Friday, I was excited at the prospect of playing against my former team Eastleigh; the club that introduced me to Vanarama National League football. However, a waterlogged pitch meant that the game was postponed, allowing my team mates and me to rest for the bank holiday Monday clash against Dover.

Before kick-off, our not so distant rivals were precariously sat in 7th position, seven points ahead yet having played two games more. Therefore, as we arrived at Stonebridge Road, we knew the game was vital to keep our aspirations alive of claiming a playoff spot this season.

It must have been clear to the 1,700 fans in attendance how desperate we were to win as we raised our performance levels to fit the occasion. Having not lost since early February, our confidence was high and we dominated the game, urged on by the Ebbsfleet faithful.

Dean Rance and Andy Drury were instrumental in the centre of midfield, while Danny Kedwell somehow, yet unsurprisingly, handled three central defenders allowing Whiteley and me the freedom to express ourselves in a must-win game. However, the score remained 0-0 at half time owing to a fantastic display by the Dover goalkeeper, Mitch Walker.

After the break, our constant pressure caused the breakthrough. An overhit corner allowed Sean Shields to take the ball on to his left foot and his low driven shot finally gave us the lead. I must admit that I expected Dover to begin to chase the game and pile on the pressure, yet we looked comfortable for the remaining half an hour until disaster struck in the 93rd minute.

Having been substituted with five minutes to go, it was agony to watch from the bench as the referee pointed to the spot and awarded Dover a penalty in additional time. I pulled the coat over my head and hoped to hear a cheer from the home crowd but it was the away fans that began to sing.

Watching helplessly from the bench, we were rewarded a free-kick with a minute to go. Myles Weston stood over the ball and his inch perfect delivery led to a scramble in the box before the ball fell to the hero, Andy Drury, whose composed left foot shot nestled in the far corner as the passionate celebrations began. A goal we deserved and most importantly, needed.

The final whistle blew and relief flooded throughout the stadium. The result continues our surge towards the playoffs, maintains our excellent current form and builds excitement for our next game live on BT Sport against league leaders, Macclesfield. 

Vanarama column March 21 – “Make the most of it!”

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Throughout my career, I have heard senior players share different words of wisdom with younger team mates. Yet, there is one reoccurring quote of advice that every older player is in agreement upon; ‘Make the most of it, it’s over before you know it’.

At the beginning of the month, I stared at the smoke as it slowly dissipated from the candles atop my birthday cake, while pondering on those frequent words of guidance. It seems only yesterday that I was signing my first professional contract at the tender age of 18 and now I am beginning to see the truth in those words.

It is not always an easy thing to do – to enjoy the moment and savour it while you can. However, with nine games to go and the end of the season around the corner, I am determined to make the most of the games that remain.

After our fixture against Wrexham was postponed, due to poor weather conditions, we travelled an hour up the road to face Leyton Orient. Despite an unexpected season for the former League Two side, their home attendance has been one of the best in the Vanarama National League and once again more than 4,000 fans came to watch.

Unfortunately for those supporters, I have to admit that the game was far from the most exciting spectacle of the season. Corey Whitely opened the scoring after latching on to a Danny Kedwell header and his low shot gave us the lead after 15 minutes. Yet, the home side equalised soon after, when a low driven cross was unluckily turned into our own goal by our captain, Dave Winfield.

The second half was a dull affair with limited chances and the game finished 1-1. However, despite the lack of excitement, we were happy to take the point after our four previous wins and extended our unbeaten run to five games.

Disappointingly, we weren’t able to build on that momentum last weekend due to another cancelled fixture as Gateshead featured in the semi-final of the Buildbase FA Trophy. Therefore, we played a friendly against Eastbourne Borough to help us prepare for Maidenhead United, who visit Stonebridge Road on Saturday.

Now that I am 24, I am still aware that I have many years left in my career and I am far from wishing those years away. Having said that, I am now realising that the advice from the senior players is invaluable because just like my birthday cake; my career will be gone before I know it.

For more about the Vanarama National League visit: http://www.thenationalleague.org.uk/

For great deals on car and van leasing visit: http://www.vanarama.co.uk/

Vanarama Column Feb 28 – Boreham Wood

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by Glenn Moore

Meadow Park, Borehamwood, may not be the first stadium that springs to mind as a Champions League venue hosting international footballers, including world and Olympic champions. But that is because most of the above have been stars of women’s football, with Arsenal Women playing the majority of their home games at the 4,000 capacity stadium on the outskirts of London.

Now, though, it is the men who are aiming to put Meadow Park on the map. Arsenal’s hosts, Boreham Wood FC (the Hertfordshire town was originally spelled with two words, and the club has done so since formation in 1948) are beginning to dream of playing in the Football League.

Boreham Wood attract the lowest gates in the Vanarama National League averaging around 700. This reflects a relative lack of footballing heritage, strong local competition from established London league clubs, and the 32,000 population of Borehamwood. Yet crowds have more than doubled in the last three years and could be set for another boost. The club lie fifth in the Vanarama National League after taking 13 points from the last 15. The play-offs beckon. Having won their past two promotions through that route Boreham Wood can approach such a scenario with confidence, improbable though it would have seemed only a decade ago.

This is The Wood’s third season at the elite non-League level having not played above the Isthmian (now Bostik) League until 2010. Former Arsenal player Wayne Allinson steered them into the National League but quit early in the first season at the top after a poor start convinced chairman Danny Hunter the club needed to go full-time. This did not fit with the work commitments of Allinson who now manages Vanarama National League South promotion contenders St Albans City.

Assistant manager Luke Garrard, three weeks into his 30s, stepped up. Though Garrard had only recently retired as a player for Boreham Wood he had eight years’ coaching experience at the club’s academy. The relegation struggle went to the final day, but The Wood stayed up. Last season they rose to seventh before finishing 11th. The upward mobility has continued this season, fired by the goals of Portuguese Bruno Andrade, a former QPR academy graduate.

For Hunter, who has a background in the film industry (the world-famous Elstree studios are nearby), it is a family club, literally. His father Mickey managed it and there are several other relatives involved with Hunters filling a variety of roles from groundsman to academy manager.  Danny Hunter himself has been chairman since 1999 and the club would not be in its current positon without his regular investment.

The club recently agreed a 10-year extension to their hosting agreement with Arsenal. The women’s game may be much better known by 2028, but Boreham Wood hope if the crowds are finally filling Meadow Park their men’s team will be the draw.

For more on Boreham Wood FC please visit http://www.borehamwoodfootballclub.co.uk/

For more on the Vanarama National League, go to: http://www.thenationalleague.org.uk/

For great deals on car and van leasing visit: http://www.vanarama.co.uk

Vanarama National League column Dec 20 – Gateshead

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The Vanarama National League column – Gateshead by Glenn Moore.

 

Gateshead International Stadium will stage a very local affair on Boxing Day, and enjoy an unusually vibrant atmosphere. The ‘Heed’ host Hartlepool in a rare Vanarama National League north-east derby with every expectation of a substantial four-figure gate.

It will be a significant match for Steve Watson, the former Newcastle United player who was lured back to his native north-east in October to take on his first managerial job. Watson, who made more than 350 Premier League appearances, for Everton, Aston Villa and West Brom, besides the Toon, has declared it his mission to take Gateshead into the Football League.

Watson, 43, had been assistant manager at table-topping Macclesfield, but seized the chance to replace Port Vale-bound Neil Aspin and come home. He returned to a region that, while noted as a football ‘hotbed’, has made little impact in the country’s premier non-league competition.

This is only the third season in the National League’s 39-year existence that there have been two clubs from the north-east in the league and there have frequently been none. The Northern League’s reluctance to join the original Alliance Premier League in 1979 meant several of the area’s bigger clubs were left behind as the football pyramid was formed. Blyth Spartans, of FA Cup giant-killing fame, were then dominant in the Northern League, but by the time they switched into the pyramid were playing catch-up and are yet to progress beyond Vanarama National League North.

Gateshead, who were formed in 1977 after the eponymous former Football League club, and its successor club Gateshead United, both folded, have the region’s most regular National League club with 20 campaigns in four stints. They were briefly joined by Darlington from 2010-12, and now by newly-relegated Hartlepool.

The holiday fixtures – the return at Victoria Park is on New Year’s Day – will be a good test of both teams’ progress. Watson has improved Gateshead’s results, but they remain lower-mid-table, eight points off the play-offs. Pool, anxious for an instant return, are one point ahead but have lost four on the spin. They play Saturday, at home to Maidenhead, while Gateshead have the weekend off.

It will also be a measure of the effect Watson’s arrival has had off the pitch. In many respects playing in a smart stadium refurbished as recently as 2011 has its advantages, but unfortunately the International Stadium is both designed for athletics and too big for non-League football.

At 11,800 its capacity is only exceeded by The Shay at Halifax. However, an average gate hovering between 750-850 is matched only by Boreham Wood. With only the two covered stands each side of the ground usually opened for Vanarama National League matches, and an athletics track around the pitch, fans often complain about a lack of atmosphere.

Proposals to build a new ground have been floated but Watson’s short-term solution is to copy the philosophy of his former manager Kevin Keegan. “We have to entertain, to get out on the pitch and play good football, to get positive results,” he said. “Then before you know it, there are more on the gate.”

For more on the Vanarama National League, visit: http://www.thenationalleague.org.uk/
For great leasing deals on cars and vans, visit: http://www.vanarama.co.uk/