Never Forget...

While NUFC suffer it is important not to forget that there is more football on Tyneside and in Northumberland. With Gateshead and Whitley Bay both having relative success this season its a chance to take your disillusion and help the smaller clubs. There is potential for a second or third side to flourish in the areas and this is why...

Gateshead FC - 1st Conference North
The Tynesiders are strong and strengthening. The hope will be that they can stick this out and get back into the Conference next season. Once there it is always going to be tough to stay their, but the dream of a second league football side on Tyneside could be here in a couple of years.

Blyth Spartans AFC - 19th Conference North
The FA Cup specialists have struggled in the league this year, and like their Premier League counterparts survival is the best they can hope for this season after the glory run in the cup.

Newcastle Blue Star - 5th Unibond North
Hopefully Blue Star can push on this season to stay in the play off positions and sneak into the Unibond Premier next season. The dream is to push on to break into the Conference divisions in the next couple of years and finally become a solid alternative to United. A well run club in Newcastle and lets hope that they can push on to get 3 Tyneside teams in League positions in the next 5 years!

The Best of the Rest...
Dunston Federation - 2nd Northern League
Newcastle Benfield - 3rd Northern League
West Allotment Celtic - 4th Northern League
Whitley Bay FC - 6th Northern League
With promotion to the Unibond difficult to gain both on and off the pitch, and Consett leading the way, the hope would be that either Fed or Benfield can win their games in hand to get a Geordie team into the Unibond structure for 2009/10 and push on in the way that Blue Star have. The biggest team of the bunch, Whitley Bay, don't have a chance of promotion this year, but a strong cup run could set them up nicely for 2009/10 and you would expect them to be the most likely in the long run to be able to push on and survive in the higher division.