Sunday, December 21 represented a new low in the tumultuous history of Gateshead FC.
The turnout for their National League fixture against Eastleigh was 431. Fewer than 400 of them were home fans. The last time Gateshead drew a crowd under 500 for a league fixture was April 2019, when 470 turned out on a Tuesday night versus Fylde. You have to go back to January 2018 to find the last time the Saturday attendance was under 500.
When you consider the Eastleigh fixture was on a Sunday, with no competition from neighbouring Newcastle United, it makes the figure all the more alarming.
It is a worrying statistic at a time when non-league football in England is undergoing a renaissance. Attendances have rocketed across the steps. While some of this is down to large clubs such as Carlisle and Southend dropping down, the pattern of growth is visible everywhere. The National League North’s average attendance has grown from 902 to 1265 over the last decade, while the South’s has doubled from 653 to 1255.
For the National League itself, in the 2015/16 season 7 of the league’s 24 clubs averaged over 2000 fans. Ten years later that number has doubled to 14. Similarly, 10 years ago 5 clubs averaged fewer than 1000 fans – as of right now, there are no National League clubs with an average gate below 1000.
While Gateshead have averaged over 1000 fans this season, this figure is masked by the recent fixture versus Carlisle where the visitors brought 3500 fans, outnumbering the home support by almost 4 to 1. Subtract that game and Gateshead’s average league home attendance this season is 878, the sole club below four figures.
Gateshead have simply not shared in the growth of the league. At the end of the 2024/25 season Gateshead’s average crowd was 1404. 10 years prior it had been 1178. While this does not sound too bad, Gateshead had entered the year as FA Trophy winners and spent most of the season competing for the playoffs, yet this ranked them 19th in the attendance table.
Compare this with another long-tenured National League club in similar circumstances: Altrincham. Their average crowd in 2024/25 was 2088, up from 1251 ten years prior. Whereas once Gateshead were drawing similar crowds, Altrincham pulled away and left them behind.
So what has gone wrong at Gateshead? Put simply: everything, and the speed at which it has happened is hard to believe. At the time of writing one year ago, Gateshead were solidly in a playoff position after an electric start to their campaign.
However, the cracks had already begun to show. A small club like Gateshead cannot hold onto its best assets when there are so many bigger fish circling. In October 2024 manager Rob Elliot departed for Crawley Town, the second time in a year they had lost a manager.
The real damage however was done in January, with the departure of key players such as Owen Oseni and Callum Whelan, as well as a very public attempt to force a move by Regan Booty.
The effect was instant – form dropped off a cliff. Gateshead would only win two more home games for the rest of the season. On matchday 45 of 46 they dropped out of the playoffs after spending the entire season in them, and a draw at home to fellow playoff hopefuls Southend on the final day meant they missed out.
All of this was secondary to off-field drama, which ramped up massively in the off-season. Rumours began circling in January of an attempted takeover of the club by former Premier League footballer Victor Anichebe. This takeover ended up being blocked by then club chairman Neil Pinkerton. It is unknown at this time why the move was blocked, however Pinkerton subsequently departed the club, rendering the situation all the more confusing.
The Anichebe saga would define the club’s off-season, with a variety of rumours circulating since. The most alarming was a story surrounding potential legal action from Anichebe to recover lost monies – while he never owned the club at any point, he is alleged to have put money into the club to fund transfers in January and February; with the deal falling through he wanted his money back.
What was certain was Gateshead were under a FIFA-imposed transfer ban for much of May and June, relating to outstanding player development fees. While this issue was eventually resolved, it epitomised the state the club was in.
Nothing epitomised it more, however, than the departure of Greg Olley. Olley was the face of Gateshead FC, a talismanic captain who had turned down moves higher out of his love for the club. Following the final game of the season, he gave an interview that eviscerated the state of the club. Most damningly, he spoke on the stadium situation: in the 2023/24 season Gateshead had finished in a playoff spot but were denied entry due to issues relating to the club’s lease of Gateshead International Stadium from the local council. While fans blamed the council for this catastrophic error, Olley’s interview claimed the council ‘took the weight off a lot of the people at this club’s shoulders’ – implying the issue was at least in part down to the club’s owners.
He went on to say he had ‘never seen a club melt down this bad’ and savaged the board for not investing in retaining or rebuilding the playing squad, saying that the manager’s hands were ‘tied behind his back’ and has ‘no help from above’.
Olley also spoke on the takeover, most notably voicing frustration at the board not communicating the state of the takeover clearly, and criticising them for allowing ‘new owners to come into the changing room when they haven’t officially taken over the club’, which he said ‘unsettled the dressing room’.
The interview was damning, and entering the 2025-26 season Gateshead fans’ relationship with the board had sunken through the floor. Unfortunately there has been no on-pitch revival to heal wounds. They have won only one home game this season, and at the time of writing the club is in the midst of a 9-game losing streak, where they have conceded 27 goals and scored just 4. At the recent Carlisle fixture, the remaining Gateshead contingent sang songs calling for the board’s head.
It is a sad situation after recent success, but fate has dealt them a dismal hand. They play in a stadium regarded by many as the worst in the country, which denied them a shot at the Football League in 2023-24, and is decaying with each passing year. The club represents a town of 60,000 in a borough of 200,000, one of the largest catchment areas in the league, yet have consistently been one of the worst supported sides.
This triple whammy of poor football being played in a terrible, unattractive stadium and local apathy in favour of the Premier League team across the river has always been fatal to the Heed. While these problems have hung over the club for years if not decades, at this moment in time, combined with fan distrust and anger at the board, it has disintegrated the foundations of the club’s fanbase.
Six years ago I wrote an article about the slow death of Gateshead FC. While no less catastrophic and existential than their current predicament, the constant throughout that particular saga was the fans being united. While a troubling time for the club, there was unity among the support base, and it was this unity that helped steer the club through the next few years. Attendances were consistent.
There is no such unity this time around. Fans have turned on the board and even each other. The cratering attendances are a reflection not just of the club’s on-field performance, but of the fanbase’s disillusionment as well.
Should Gateshead FC fold, there will no doubt be righteous indignation locally much as there was when they were denied a playoff spot, but the people of Gateshead have never bothered to back the club where it matters. Crowds are not the be-all and end-all of football, but at lower levels a strong fan backing can insulate clubs against the pressures of operating costs and whims of fickle owners.
Gateshead FC are currently trapped. Trapped in a stadium that has destroyed their ambitions, with no exit on the horizon. Trapped in a town that does not love them like it should, who will briefly pay attention to their successes and abandon them just as quickly. Trapped in a footballing landscape that has grown while they have stagnated. Fate has conspired to harm them as much as it could, and even when the light of millionaire ownership shone on them it was brutally snuffed out and descended into chaos.
Football is a strange beast and things can change quickly. Things have changed quickly at Gateshead, and they may one day soon change in their favour. Right now though, it is certainly going to get worse before it gets better.
Playing in the shaddow of NU is probably not going to work now or ever. Why not offer something different, play in Scottish league system instead. Gateshead’s unique location offers that up and with as you say potentially thousands of fans in the town, there is potential to be on the telly every week in the SPL, playing the old firm etc. Ticket prices could be in stark contrast to the NU EPL prices and Gateshead could find a niche that is actually really beneficial.