(24 Mar 2014, 2:19 pm)marxistafozzski wrote This is north east footy after all, always seem to do things the hard way
Exactly.
Sometime I hear people falsely state that the North East is a hotbed of Football and it really does makes me laugh. There may be some passionate fans in the area, but where are the teams and where are the players?
The North East have four teams in the Football League and one in the Conference. Compare that with how many teams the North West, Yorkshire, the West Midlands and London have in those divisions and you'll find that we are poorly represented. Towns with sizeable populations (over 30,000) like Blyth, Consett, Washington, Peterlee, Durham and South Shields should be able to generate enough fans to sustain Football League clubs. However, they all linger in non-league divisions with wavering support. Darlington is the exception to this rule as I believe that the club and supporters have enough ambition to reach either the Conference or the Football League.
As for players, where exactly is the talent being developed? Sunderland and Newcastle both have academies but very few players seemingly come through the ranks. Oliver Bernard has said he wants to create an academy at Durham City. For the sake of North East football - I hope he succeeds.