The Heed Head to Wembley –

True Faith likes to follow all the local sides in their quest for success, well most of them. Today it is the turn of our nearest neighbours just across the Tyne. MAZIAR JAMNEJAD prepares to join the Heed Army.

Gateshead are on their way to Wembley to play in the final of the FA Trophy on Sunday 21^st May. It’s a huge moment for the club.

Our memories of the Carabao final come rushing back. The impossibility of focusing on anything else. The wild swings between excitement and terror. The guilt that hope will jinx it.

Sure it matters south of the Tyne. It couldn’t matter more. But does it matter to Newcastle fans?

Well, it matters to me. Let me tell you why.

North East non-league teams

I grew up in Newcastle but was brought up a ‘North Easterner’ more than anything else. Our family first worked in Gateshead after we moved here. Weekend dog walks at Tynemouth. Hikes around Rothbury. Nights out with the boys from Consett. It was all home, top to bottom, Berwick to Catterick. Possibly Carlisle. Definitely not Sunderland.

And the clubs came with that. The North East is packed with non-league teams. Honestly, they’re actually quite good.

Since the founding of the amateur FA Vase in 1974, they’ve been in thirteen finals. That’s excluding North Yorkshire teams – shame – because Bridlington Town had an absolute stormer in the late 80s.

In the semi-professional FA Trophy, though, it’s been a rougher run. I think we can only really claim as our own the Darlington win in 2011. Otherwise we’re extending our Northumbrian borders to Scarborough to get decent numbers.

Though not covered in the non-league history below, we should get an honourable shoutout to Blyth Spartans whose three round campaign in the 2015 FA Cup got them a Twitter follow from Luis Figo. We also have them to thank for the North East’s proud history of sportswashing after they led the way with a deal from ‘Visit North Korea’ in 2018.

Tow Law and Bedlington

Based out of the old industrial heartland in County Durham, Tow Law have been around since 1890 and were the first side to make waves in my lifetime. Suddenly they were on everyone’s lips and the buzz was massive when they reached the final of the Vase in 1998, before being bested by Tiverton Town in the final.

The dastardly Tiverton also took out Bedlington in the following final, a double blow to the region.

Whitley Bay

Following these two defeats, we didn’t know we were on the cusp of a story for the ages. A team with over a century of vintage memories was about to dominate the Vase.

Whitley made one trip to the final in 2002, beating Tiptree United at Villa Park. This laid their foundations for three consecutive Wembley finals between 2009 and 2011. Glossop, Coalville and Wroxham were the victims on each occasion.

It’s a rare achievement. Winning four times is the record for the Vase currently, nobody except Whitley have won the Vase (or the Trophy) three times in a row. It’s not been done very often for any trophy. Liverpool did four League Cups in the 70s, Man City recently did the same with the Carabao and Blackburn with the FA Cup between 1884 and 1886.

You’ll be shocked to hear I wasn’t wildly following the Bay before their cup ascendancy. First final was a total tourist (missed a goal for an extra beer in the concourse), second meant a lot for me, third I felt I was a natural Blue and White.

Geordies at the top

This was a spark to light up North East football.

For each of the next seven years a regional team made it to a final. Eight times in the next nine. Take that in, between 2009 and 2020 every final bar one had a team from the North East in it, and one year there was two.

Dunston played West Auckland in 2012. Other sides to make it were Spennymoor, North Shields, Morpeth, North Shields, South Shields, Stockton and Consett.

Gateshead, dare we dream?

The Heed have had a rough season, bouncing around the lower ends of the National League. A late rally meant they stayed up finishing fourteenth.

Mike Williamson is the manager, who was a part of NUFC campaigns between 2009 and 2016, a lot of which we would all happily forget. He did get us out the Championship, but he did help us go down again before leaving. Let’s call it equal.

Their opponents Halifax finished three places and two points better off. The two fixtures saw a goalless draw at the International Stadium, before Halifax won two nil at the Shay.

Something about Wembley though lifts a spark, a final is a reminder that a club matters, a win can light a fire. Just like it did for Whitley.

So why do I love Gateshead.

Ok, so for a Newcastle fan, a Trophy final doesn’t have the glamour of a Spurs win or a Carabao final. As for non-league football, Wrexham have redefined entertainment.

But that’s kind of the point isn’t it?

Gateshead matches have a real magic. It’s 1000 of us, in a 20,000 stadium, trying to fill it with noise. The chanting. Does. Not. Stop.

It’s the self-mocking air of chants that keeps you going: “we’ve got the biggest Tesco in the land”, “Joe McElderry celebrity fan” and “4-3, we’re going to win 4-3” on innumerable occasions when 3-0 down in injury time.

Cup full of Bovril, soggy and damp. Yelling, “you’re just a town full of kebab shops” at Luton.

The Whitely final had a different magic. Flags waving in a little corner of a mostly empty national stadium. Walking down Wembley Way seeing sellers who have had to go to the back of the warehouse for the colour scheme they need.

There is somehow a sense of authenticity that comes from that gap between the club, the brand, the merch and the commercialisation of top flight football. Not a single part of you feels Wembley’s eighteen pound for a focaccia and a Carling is an acceptable deal.

The winning is better because you never expect it. It is a surprise to be there and indescribable to win.

I’m a Newcastle fan but these boys are our own. They’re part of us. The fans are out week on week cheering no matter the weather and no matter how many seasons of suffering they take. They’re out on away days to Scunthopre and Wealdstone and Altrincham, whilst we are at Anfield and Old Trafford. Ryan Reynolds made fun of the bridges, and damn it one end of each of those bridges is ours.

Lets go lend them our voices and drive the team on. Let’s fill Wembley with noise.

“HEED ARMY!”

MAZIAR JAMNEJAD @maziarjamnejad