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| Full name | Whitley Bay Football Club | ||
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| Nickname(s) | Seahorses The Bay |
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| Founded | 1897 (as Whitley & Monkseaton) | ||
| Ground | Hillheads Park, Whitley Bay (Capacity: 4500) |
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| Chairman | Paul McIllduff | ||
| Manager | Ian Chandler | ||
| League | Northern Football League Division One |
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| 2008–09 | Northern Football League Division One, 3rd |
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Whitley Bay Football Club is an English football club in the Northern League Division One. They play at the Hillheads Stadium which is adjacent to Whitley Bay ice rink in Whitley Bay. The club spent much of the 1990s in the Northern Premier League, but now play in the Northern League following financial problems.
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History
There has been a football club in Whitley Bay since 1896. The first incarnation was known as Whitley and Monkseaton FC, it was later renamed to Monkseaton FC and then to Whitley Bay Athletic in 1950 after many years in the minor leagues.
Whitley Bay Athletic joined the Northern Alliance League, where they had great success, winning the league and cup double in 1952-53 and the cup in 1953-54. Their winning side in 52-53 used only 14 players and Whitley became the first amateur team for 60 years to win the Northumberland Senior Cup, beating North Shields in front of 17,000 at St James' Park.
In 1955 the club decided to join the powerful North Eastern League which was comprised entirely of professional sides and for 3 seasons Bay struggled at the foot of the league. So in 1958 a limited company was formed, the Athletic dropped from the title and their application to join the Northern League was accepted on 14 June 1958 by a vote of 11-3.
During the 1960s Bay became one of the top amateur clubs in the country. They won the League and Cup double in 1964-65 and the league again the following season. Whitley won the Northumberland Senior Cup 6 times in 10 years and they were runners up on another occasion. It was in the Amateur cup (the predecessor of the FA Trophy) that they rose to National prominence, twice reaching the semi finals and the quarter finals four times. One of those quarter finals V Hendon in 1965 set the current ground record when 7,301 packed into the Hillheads Park only to see Hendon win 3-1. During the 60's a new stand(first used for an Amateur International between Italy and Switzerland) and dressing rooms were built (1963), the Seahorse Social Club was opened on December 23 1966. When the floodlights were opened on March 18 1968 a friendly game against Newcastle was the first game played.
The early 70's saw Bay's success continue with the League Cup being won in 1970-71 and the County Cup in 1970-71 and 1972-73 but with the demise of Amateur football the Club's fortunes took a nose dive culminating in them having to apply for re-election to the league in 1979-80. During the early 80's the Club slowly pulled itself around and when the Board appointed former player Bobby Graham as team manager in 1986 the teams performances took a huge turn for the better.
During his first season in charge Bobby took Bay to their highest League position (5th) for 15 years and the team enjoyed their best ever FA Trophy run when they reached the last sixteen. To cap a great season the Northumberland Senior Cup once again came to Hillheads when Bay beat highly rated Blue Star 2-1 in the final.
In Bay's last season in the Northern League (1987-88) after looking likely League Champions for most of the season only a bad run of injuries prevented the title coming to Hillheads. With the club on the up and up it was decided to apply to the Northern Premier League, an application which proved successful.
Whitley Bay F.C. have had several notable cup runs in recent history.
In 1990 they beat Preston North End on the way to reaching the 3rd round proper of the FA Cup, where they were beaten by Rochdale. In 2002 when they won the FA Vase, beating Tiptree United at Villa Park. They reached the final of the 2009 FA Vase (attendance: 12,000) and went on to win it 2-0 against Glossop North End at Wembley on Sunday May 10 [1]. Whitley Bay manager Ian Chandler said the win 'feels even better' [2] then when he won the cup in 2002 as a player for the team.
They were champions of the Northern Premier League First Division in 1991.
Honours
- FA Vase
- Winners 2002, 2009
- Northern Premier League
- Division One Champions 1990-91
- Division One Cup Winners 1988-89, 1990-91
- Northern League
- Champions 1964-65, 1965-66, 2006-07
- Runners-up 1959-60, 1966-67, 1968-69, 1969-70
- Challenge Cup Winners 1965, 1971
- Northumberland Senior Cup
- Winners 1953, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1987, 2005
- Runners-up 1954, 1955, 1956, 1966, 1977, 1986, 1991, 2003
Squad
- Terry Burke - GK
- Tom Kindley - GK
- Mark Taylor - DF
- Darren Timmons - DF
- Chris Reid - DF
- Leon Ryan - DF
- David Coulson - DF (Club Captain)
- Lee Picton - DF
- Callum Anderson - DF
- Richard Hodgson - MF
- Craig McFarlane -MF
- Damon Robson - MF
- Paul Robinson - MF
- Chris Fawcett - MF
- Chris Moore - MF
- Lee Kerr - FW
- Phil Bell - FW
- Paul Chow - FW
- Adam Johnston - FW
- Ian Chandler - Manager
- Steve Cuggy - Assistant Manager
- Glen Martin - Physio
External links
References
Coordinates: 55°02′04.93″N 1°27′16.61″W / 55.0347028°N 1.4546139°W
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Northern League Division One 2009-10
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