Bay heroes bring home the silverware

Whitley Bay FC today paraded the recently retained FA Vase to fans in Whitley Bay. Sadly the belated homecoming was met with cloudy, rainy conditions on the streets of Whitley Bay which saw the parade route less than lined with fans & well wishers. Nevertheless, there were healthy gatherings of fans in the town centre and in roadside beer gardens as the open top bus snaked its way to St Mary's lighthouse. The hardy souls who made the effort to congratulate the team were rewarded with a glimpse of the trophy and a chance to show their appreciation to the Seahorses for maling the town proud. And for further restoring footballing pride in the north east. Well done lads and see you at Wembley in 2011!

The World Cup so far : group stage ramblings

See - the World Cup is great!

As we entering into the second set of games in the group stages, both excitement and relief is taking over from impatience and apathy, at last. Frustrated appraisals such as, "the World Cup's shit“ and complaints of boredom are dwindling, and they're being replaced by renewed optimism. Do we all agree now that the World Cup's great? Good.

We now have open play and attacking football. The goals are flowing. And, significantly we have some welcome surprises on the cards. In their opening game, Spain reminded me of a peacock who would spend all day parading its pretty colours only to be shot in the head by a sniper. Or something. They blew it and in the process they demonstrated how important it is to take one's chances. Dilly dally at your peril, and so on.

The dark side of the World Cup is rearing its beautiful head. The form book has done little more than confirm what we already knew. Yeah, Spain, Germany and Argentina are good value for winning the World Cup yet Spain lost their opening game and, as I write, Germany have just lost 1-0 to Serbia. As well as Spain's group H, group D has turned on its head and is anyone's for the taking.

My faith in the World Cup was never in doubt and without reserve, I promise you it’ll only get better. As the nation prepares for England’s second game tonight (hopefully the team will be following suit) only a win will appease the naturally our critical nature. Fingers crossed.

ps. France look to be pretty much out of the tournament. Oh dear…

Tyne Tees Television, City Road studio demolition

I was sad to see Tyne Tees Television’s historic City Road studios in Newcastle in a partial state of demolition. TV operations had, a few years earlier, moved to Dunston in Gateshead but the iconic structure stood overlooking the River Tyne up until early 2010. The bulldozers moved in, systematically razing the structure to the ground and leaving only fond memories of Kathy Secker, Crosswits, The Tube and Roger Tames…

Mark Taylor Testimonial

Whitley Bay 2002 Vase winning team v Whitley Bay 2009 winning team
11th May 2010
Hillheads Park

Whitley Bay 2002 FA Vase winning side vs. the 2009 winning side in aid of Bay player Mark Taylor who was diagnosed this year with Motor Neurone Disease. Over £7k was raised tonight through a healthy crowd of just over 1,200 at Hillheads Park. Special mention, and thanks must go to the fans of last year's beaten Vase finalists, Glossop North End who were in attendance in a real show of solidarity and support. Cold night but the positive turnout was testament to the popularity of Mark. His last game was at Wembley when he was triumphant in the Bay's 2009 victory over Glossop. The game tonight, kicked off by a clearly frail Mark Taylor, finished 3-3 with the 2009 side running out winners on penalties but the result didn't matter. We started the first half with a Labour prime minister and the second half with news filtering through that Tory, David Cameron had taken the helm. A real game of two halves... The real winners though, amongst the folk who attended tonight, with a landslide, were Mark Taylor and everybody associated with Whitley Bay FC. Howay the Bay & all the best Mark.

Whitley Bay 6 Wroxham 1

FA Vase Final

9th May 2010

Wembley Stadium

Final score - 6-1 to Whitley Bay. Great day, great game though a tough train ride home. Long day but good fun. Back to the Head of Steam in Newcastle for a pint and home to Whitley Bay for 1am. Magic!

 

Wembley shenanigans #2

Whitley Bay 2-1 up! Sixteen mins gone.

Wembley prices/grammar shocker

Wembley half time refreshment price list. Omitted from the list here is the "pie & pint meal deal“ which weighs in at a cool £8. London prices are notoriously high but this really takes the piss. Lovely revamped national stadium but overpricing the half time pint, in a way not dissimilar to your average motorway service station, is nothing short of exploitation. That said, the actual taste of the beer arguably leaves a worse taste in one’s mouth.
Perhaps though, the bigger disgrace is the appalling use of the apostrophe in the top right of the picture. Shame...

Wembley shenanigans #1

The Perseverance pub, Marylebone

Owned by exiled Whitley Bay folk and today occupied by Whitley Bay folk. Pre-match sherberts in Marylebone before the main event. £6.10 for two pints but the atmosphere is good!

Beautiful Eleanor

My beautiful daughter, captured here just short of six weeks old. Photo taken with the Hipstamatic iPhone app.

South Shields 2 Whitley Bay 1

Northern League Cup Semi-final

26th April 2010

Filtrona Park, South Shields

Keenly fought battle between two top Northern League sides. On a fair evening (but a bone-hard pitch) it was South Shields who prevailed, winning the affair by two goals to one. They progress to the final in Dunston to face Ashington.