What's the Story - Moron Glory?

The 2008/09 season was a successful one for a a trio of North East non league teams, with Durham, Newcastle Blue Star and Gateshead all claiming promotion. However, in the case of two of these, one has to ask – will promotion come at a higher price than they first thought?

Durham appear to be the sensible ones from the group – winning the Unibond with ease using a squad made up of local lads that have had continued success in recent seasons without the slightest whiff of any spending. Whether their happy band will cut the mustard at the next level remains to be seen, but what ever happens 'the boys done good'.

There was a complete contrast up at Kingston Park, home of grass viruses and posh rugby. Here Newcastle Blue Star spent the season building a financial time bomb. It was always obvious that their few dozen fans couldn't pay for a squad made of decent ex league players in addition to the cost of travelling 100+ miles every other weekend. OK, they may have looked like the best team in the league but this was real fur coat and no knickers stuff.

At the centre of it was a 'credible' chairman Bob Morton and his mate Dave Thompson, both fully committed to putting NBS on the football map, yeah right. Now they have shuffled away and a row over a £65,000 grant looks set to to kill the club off. The grant feels like a bit of a red herring, it was obvious on the first day of the season that this club was built on sand and would be lucky to make it to the end of the campaign. It may have been an enjoyable ride for the NBS die hards, but sadly for them it may leave them with nothing – and we all know how that feels.

Near neighbours Gateshead look to have bought a similar sort of promotion. Their chairman, 64 year old Graham Wood, previously head honcho at Sunderland, is ready to take Gateshead back to their, erm... 'glory days'. With 2 successive promotions since he arrived, a new 6,000 capacity stadium is being planned. But how have they done it? Gate money? Your having a laugh! They have already gone bust once back in 1973, you'd think they would know better really.

The Conference ditched their salary cap fiasco, however, the scheme may return soon and be accompanied by a rule seeing clubs who go into administration being rewarded with automatic relegation. It feels like time for caution, with core attendances of between three and four hundred they simply don't have enough fans to keep a club alive at the top of the non league. Mind you there does seem to be a pattern recently of whipping boys being promoted up to highest point of the pyramid, a bit like the football equivalent of day trippers (cue St Albans, Stafford, Lewes etc.)

One senses that the 300 or so hardcore supporters will still be their long after Graham's cash has gone back into his purse. Wonder what his motivation is, he made his money making central heating boilers, perhaps he has friends in the building trade? I know a story like that one, but lets not go there! We hope for the sake of the fans that this one doesn't end in another football fatality.