(24 Mar 2014, 7:18 pm)marxistafozzski wrote Dont know about being the hotbed of football, we do have some of the best fans, very passionate, looking at this area we have(down to Conference North) 3 in Tyne and Wear, 2 in Cleveland and 0 in County Durham
Arguably, there's only one club that has passionate fans that fill their ground week-in, week-out and that is Newcastle United. Both Sunderland's and Middlesbrough's attendances fluctuate depending on what league they're in. If Sunderland do go down at the end of the season, do you think that they'll attract the same level of support? - Sure, the hardcore base will be there but I'm guessing that there'll be a lot of seats disguised as fans just as there is in Middlesbrough. Speaking of Middlesbrough, if they manage to gain promotion to the Premier League again, then I suspect you'll see an increase in supporters attending games. But, either way, it goes to show that there isn't a constant level of support based upon the love of their club.
However, if say, a team like Gateshead, Blyth or Ashington managed to miraculously end up in the Football League it would be interesting to see how that would affect the number of people attending Newcastle United games. A lot of support comes from these areas and I'd be curious to see whether locals would support their home-town team or still support the Toon depending on their league status.
This is what I mean when I include these towns although I agree with the points you make about the current state of affairs pertaining to the current state of non-league football. I don't think any of these teams have a hope in hell in getting to the Conference or the Football League and the 'Northern League bubble', as you put, as proven to be a barrier for successful progression. However, I do think these towns are large enough to sustain a level of support if they happened to be successful.