South Shields F.C.

The club was formed in the same year as the previous club failed, after a second move to Gateshead by the previous club, and the sale of Simonside Hall, given to the club by supporters. The re-formed club under chairman Martin Ford (a director at the club who disagreed with the sale of Simonside Hall and subsequent move to Gateshead International Stadium) was based at the council's Jack Clark Park which was primarily a cricket pitch, and began a 17-year crusade for a home of its own.

After two title winning seasons in the Northern Alliance, and an appearance in the quarter-finals of the FA Vase in 1976, Shields joined the Wearside League winning the league at the first attempt in 1977 and completing a league and cup double by winning the Durham Challenge Cup against Consett at Roker Park, the first county cup win for the club since it was reformed. The team however was broken up as the club did not have the facilities needed to meet the requirements of joining the Northern League. So the club spent the next 15 years languishing in mid table in the Wearside League while the club searched for a suitable home.

Ultimately, chairman John Rundle and his family provided the long wished-for new ground by purchasing the run down and vandalized facilities next door to the Filtrona factory, the ground was refurbished and ready for use in 1992, the team thanks to the management of Bobby Elwell and the goals of striker Steve Harkus responded by winning a double of the Wearside League for the first time since 1977 and the Sunderland Shipowners Cup.

In 1994–95 the club won the Wearside League for the second time in three years (with a big highlight being a run to the final of the Durham Challenge Cup, in which Filtrona Park hosted the replay which Shields lost 3–0 to Spennymoor United (in front of a record attendance of 1500), and were promoted to Northern League Division Two. Shields were quickly promoted again to Northern League Division One the following season after finishing runners up, The club enjoyed a 4-year stay in the 1st division with a big highlight in that time being a run to the 3rd Qualifying Round of the FA Cup in 1997 which ended in a close 3–2 defeat at Gainsborough Trinity. The club however could not build upon this and ultimately were relegated down to Division 2 in the 1999–2000 season with just 16 points. Chairman John Rundle publicly threatened to fold the club if they went down, though he did not follow the threat through.

After several seasons stuck in mid table in Division Two, John Rundle again threatened the club with closure in 2006, locking the gates at Filtrona Park before a home game. However, a new committee was formed, headed by new chairman Gary Crutwell, and the club was saved, the team was quickly rebuilt under the management of Micky Taylor and come the end of the season, a 2–1 win at home to Penrith on the final day prevented relegation back to the Wearside League. The club's performance improved the following season, although the team missed out on promotion by just 5 points. An FA Vase run to the 3rd round that season was a big highlight, coming to end in a 7-goal thriller at home to eventual semi-finalists Curzon Ashton. The club however built on the success of the previous season and won promotion back to Division 1 finishing runners-up to Penrith. Shields then settled down as a solid mid-table Division one side with a big highlight being winning the Northern League Cup in 2010 after beating Ashington 6–5 on penalties after a 2–2 draw at Dunston, the club's first honour since joining the Northern League.

In the 2012–13 season, despite uncertainty regarding the ground, there were early positive signs shown in a good FA Cup run which included a win over Darlington RA and knocking out NPL opposition in the form of Harrogate Railway Athletic before falling to Spennymoor Town in the 1st Qualifying Round. From then on, the season went downhill, despite some positive performances, these were few and far between and despite a late season charge of 5 successive wins, Shields were ultimately relegated from Northern League Division One. Things took a turn for the worse when the club were forced to move to Eden Lane in Peterlee, after its lease on Filtrona Park expired.

The club spent the 2013–14 and 2014–15 seasons in Division Two of the Northern League, despite having to play home games 20 miles away in Peterlee in front of double digit crowds and difficulties when it came to raising teams to play, manager Jon King still managed to maintain the club's Northern League status with 17th and 15th-place finishes.

In the summer of 2015 however, a local businessman by the name of Geoff Thompson (founder of Utilitywise) became Chairman and bought the original Filtrona Park from John Rundle.[1][2] He renamed the ground as 'Mariners Park'. To celebrate the return, a crowd of over 650 showed up to see Shields play a friendly against Darlington.[3] The new season itself started off brightly with genuine hopes for promotion back to Division 1 before the club pulled off a massive coup, tempting the former Sunderland and Middlesbrough midfielder Julio Arca out of retirement to sign for South Shields.[4]

Arca was joined by David Foley, Wayne Phillips, Lee Scroggins and Robert Briggs.[5] Shields went on to achieve promotion with a new division record of 107 points.[6] As the club were beginning to generate a positive buzz around the town, attendances began to improve, eventually peaking with a then new record attendance of 1,827 for the local derby against Hebburn.[7]

The rebuild continued throughout the summer with Jon Shaw, Gavin Cogdon, Carl Finnigan and Craig Baxter brought in as Shields attempted to push for the Division 1 championship.[8][9][10][11] However, part-way into the season, manager Jon King was dismissed and was replaced by Lee Picton and North Shields manager Graham Fenton. In October 2016, South Shields then appointed former Sunderland defender Martin Scott as assistant manager.[12]

South Shields went on to lose just one game in all competitions out of 55, this included a period between November and April of 32 successive wins, an unofficial world record. They would go on to win the Durham Challenge Cup for the first time since 1977, the Northern League Cup and the FA Vase. Shields had dispatched Esh Winning, Runcorn Linnets, Marske United, Staveley Miners Welfare, Morpeth Town and Team Solent before a home quarter-final against Newport Pagnell Town, here the attendance record was smashed as a crowd of 3,161 saw Shields dispatch their Buckinghamshire opponents 6–1 setting up a semi-final tie against Warwickshire outfit Coleshill Town.

Despite a spirited display from their opponents, Shields managed to grind out what turned out to be a crucial 2–1 win in the away leg at Coleshill Town[13] and a week later, Shields turned on the style in a 4–0 win in front of a new ground record of 3,464 meaning South Shields would be going to Wembley Stadium for the first time in their history.[14] In the final on 21 May 2017, South Shields's opposition came in the form of the Northern Counties East League champions Cleethorpes Town against whom Shields played in front of an estimated 14,000 of their own supporters. Shields went on to win 4–0 to lift the 2017 FA Vase.[15]

In this time, South Shields also managed to use their games in hand to overturn a 17-point deficit to North Shields at the top of the Northern League to win the title with 108 points meaning that when the FA Vase was won, South Shields had completed a 'quadruple' of trophies.[16]

The 2017–18 season brought more success in the form of a club record run in the FA Cup. After beating Bridlington Town[17] and Witton Albion,[18] South Shields inflicted two big cup shocks against higher division Darlington and York City.[19][20] This set up a 4th qualifying round fixture against local Hartlepool United (a team three divisions higher).[21] The visitors narrowly won 2–1 in front of a crowd of 2,887. South Shields entered the FA Trophy for the first time since 1974 and reached the 2nd Qualifying round of the tournament.

Both promotion and the league title were secured with games to spare and for the third season running. A 4–2 defeat at Colwyn Bay in September ended an unbeaten run in all competitions that stretched back 11 months and the 100 point mark was surpassed for the third successive season.[22] Julio Arca went on to lift the league championship trophy in front of a jubilant home crowd of over 2,000 on the final day. However, this turned out to be his last act as a South Shields player as he would announce his retirement soon after.[23]

In the 2018–19 season, South Shields competed in the NPL Premier Division, the same division which the previous incarnation of the club left behind in 1974 and also the highest level of non league football that the current incarnation of the club had ever played at.

The first team would have a very positive first season at NPL Premier Division level. Despite a sluggish start, Shields would go on to lose just 2 of their remaining 28 league games to take the title fight all the way to the final day, ultimately losing out to Farsley Celtic by just three points. Despite this, Shields claimed a highly respectable 2nd-place finish. However the playoffs would end at the second hurdle where Shields would fall to Warrington Town in the league play-off final.[24] This ended the streak of promotions at three.

The 2019–20 season saw many changes at the club, the biggest being the switch to a hybrid model encompassing both part-time and full-time players, the first steps towards Shields becoming a full-time professional club.[25] Many changes in the playing staff saw the departure of players such as: Carl Finnigan, Gavin Cogdon, Anthony Callaghan and Barrie Smith.

The league season started very strongly with the club winning 10 of their first 12 games before a mid-season blip saw their 10-point lead wiped out. Furthermore, the club made it to the 1st round of the FA Trophy before losing out to Southport.[26] Form began to improve through the winter with 5 wins in 6 before the 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic put a premature end to the league season. At the point of stoppage, Shields held a 12-point lead at the top of the NPL Premier Division with just 9 games left to play. A legal challenge attempting to overturn the ruling to null and void the season proved unsuccessful; thereby confirming Shields would once again participate in the Northern Premier League for the 2020-21 season.[27]

For the first time in their history, the Mariners made the 1st round of the FA Cup following an impressive win against National League side FC Halifax Town.[28] This set up a 1st round fixture with League 2 side Cheltenham Town which they would lose 3–1.[29]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  ENG Ross Coombe — DF  ENG Craig Baxter — DF  ENG Jon Shaw — DF  NED Wouter Verstraaten — DF  ENG Jordan Hunter — MF  ENG Luke Daly — MF  ENG Robert Briggs — MF  ENG Josh Gillies

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ENG Callum Ross — MF  ENG Phil Turnbull — MF  ENG Will Jenkins — MF  ENG Will McCamley (On Loan from Huddersfield Town) — FW  ENG Sam Hodgson — FW  ENG Darius Osei — FW  ENG Alex Kempster

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  ENG Myles Boney (On loan at Darlington) — DF  ENG Blair Adams (On loan at Gateshead) — DF  ENG Dillon Morse (On loan at Gateshead) — MF  ENG Nathan Lowe (On loan at Darlington) — MF  ENG Arron Thompson (On Loan at West Auckland Town) — FW  ENG Jason Gilchrist (On loan at York City) — FW  ENG Lee Mason (On Loan at Hebburn Town)