Hello all and welcome to the winter 2025/26 Spartans Trust update! While it might be a touch late by now due to many things getting in road, on behalf of entire Spartans Trust board, I hope all of you had a superb Christmas and New Year with your friends and family.
Before we get into the update, I would like to thank you all for the support you’ve shown the club over the festive period and the new year – both on and off the pitch. The following the lads had at Ashington on Boxing Day was top tier and at Matlock Town – as was the home crowd against Blyth Town on New Year’s Day.
Whilst the Ashington win was a welcome one, the recent results and performances against both Bridlington Town and Grimsby Borough have been huge boots for everyone! The football on display has certainly been truly superb over the last week or so and now, it feels as though we’ve finally turned a corner on the pitch, at long last. Full credit goes to the management team and the players for their recent run of form. It’s safe to say every supporter has more than deserved that last week or so.
Off the pitch, your support has been equally as strong. I think everyone who attended the Viz launch night would agree that the Viz shirt has been a huge success! Thanks to that triumph amongst some other great work that’s been done over the last few months – £13,000 has now been donated to the football club so far this season, along with an additional £2,000 worth of stock and merchandise. This of course doesn’t include the donation of the first team kit at the beginning of the season as well.
As well as thanking every one of you for supporting what we do, I must also extend an enormous thank you to each and every one of the Trust Committee for their efforts in generating revenue for the football club, helping to promote the club and much more work that often goes unseen. I should also extend that thank you to Peter Thompson and Karen Hertwick as well, who continue to help out with the running of the club store.
We’ve got a lot of work to do this season in that respect, with lots of plans in place and pots on the boil so to speak – some of which I’ll be sharing with you below.
Club Store
On the subject of the club store, I can confirm that no more top orders for this season’s home and away shirts will be made. So if you’re still after a shirt, I’d recommend getting one soon as we’re beginning to get short of numbers in certain sizes.
The replica Viz shirt however will continue to be re-stocked for the forseable future. They have in fact not long been restocked, so if you’re in the market for one, you know where to go.
The planning for next season’s home and away shirts has already began – details of which will be shared very shortly. I can say however, Ian has already been cooking up some superb designs! Initially we had discussed some sort of 3rd shirt to be worn in pre-season (the resurrection of that white Hummel one from the mid 2000’s is a hill I will die on) however, having not long released the Viz shirt and the 125th anniversary shirt the year prior – we figured that releasing another 3rd shirt this year would be a bit much.
Instead, we’ll be focusing on a range of new and different items and styles for the summer months and beyond. Details of new products will be shared in the coming months – but if you’ve got any suggestions on the sort of things you’d liked to see, we’d happy to listen to any suggestions.
Away Travel
In the autumn update, I discussed in detail the frustrations and some of the obstacles we’ve faced when trying to arrange away travel this season. Despite some bumps along the road, it’s been great to now finally have had a few successful trips under our belts this season.
Despite the rain putting pay to our day out at Bridlington, the bus was well attended and just about everyone had a great out. Spare a thought for Kirk and the lads though, who ended up getting their speaker nicked in Spoons!
While it was frustrating to see the Redcar Athletic bus be canned late on, due to the uncertainty surrounding the game with the weather that week – it was more than understandable as to why people were hesitant to put their name down for that one. Thankfully though after two wins on the bounce, we did manage to just squeeze by with the bus to Matlock last weekend.
While it was probably one of the funnest trips we’ve had for a little while, unfortunately the amount of very late drop outs did mean the bus made a bigger loss than we had originally planned for. While we appreciate these things happen of course – when you lose 3/4 people on the day, a £100 loss can easily jump up to a £250 + loss.
With that in mind, when booking on a bus – can you please ensure that payment is arranged ASAP. This helps us get a better idea of the proper numbers we’ll end up having for a bus, while also saving myself and Pieface from chasing people for payment – which can be rather time consuming, and slightly boring.
Before I go on, I should however say a massive thank you to the regular lads and lasses who’ve supported away travel throughout the last year or so. It’s been a very tough gig, but you’re backing of ourselves and the team has been top draw – as ever.
This week we have a trip planned for Emley on Saturday 14th February, full details of which can be found here. If the interest is there, we’ll also look organised for Ossett United – on Saturday 7th March and Brighouse on Saturday 21st March.
The bus for Newton Aycliffe on Saturday 28th March is already booked in. The prices will likely be £12 for members and £15 for non members, but we’ll confirm that information nearer the time.
A bus is also booked for Bishop Auckland on the final day of the season (Saturday 25th April) which could end up being a nail biting finale to the season, or a Burscough-esque day of debauchery. At the moment it’s looking like it’ll be £10 for members and £12 for non members but again, we’ll confirm that nearer the time.
As ever, please keep your eyes on the site and socials for the latest news on away travel. Hopefully we’ve got plenty more fun days out and good football to come this season!
Events
Firstly, a huge thank you to everyone that donated to the toy drive back in November, and to those who joined us for our evening with the treble winners to help raise funds for Operation Elf at the start of December. On top of the toy drive, we managed to raise £340 for Operation Elf and a further £220 for the Scott Bell Fund/MNDA. Both Graham Fenton and Peter Snowdon were superb, and I must say a huge thank you to Scott Gibson who stepped in as our host at the last minute. Safe to say, he did a brilliant job.
While it was sad Harry was unable to attend the evening, i’m sure with the recent passing of his wife Sue – you’ll understand why he was unable to make it. Our thoughts go out to Harry, his daughter Louise and the rest of their family and friends.
Frustratingly, we were recently forced to push back our ‘Evening with Rob Lee’ at the social club a few weeks back. Ticket sales simply were far from what we had hoped they’d be, so therefore the decision to push it back to a new date had to be taken. While I can totally appreciate it may not be the sort of the event that will interest some of you, this is ultimately the sort of event that has been request time and time again for many years. Essentially, these sort of events will only work in the long run they are supported. So for those of you who are able to, please do consider supporting the new date when it’s rearranged.
As well as that, we do have some other unique and big name talk in’s and sportsman’s dinners potentially in store for you at the social club throughout 2026. Those events will be shared later in the year, when dates and finalised and booked in. It should be stressed that we’re always very open to different ideas when it comes to talk in’s – should have anyone have any suggestions they’d like to put forward.
On Saturday 2nd May, our second annual ‘Play on the Pitch’ will be taking place. Like last year, players will be sorted into two different teams and be managed by some current/former Spartans personalities! This year we’ll be competing for TUS Group Cup, who’ll be sponsoring the event this year.
Kick off will be at the slightly earlier time of 12pm this year, with the social club open throughout the day. Family, friends and supporters will be welcome to attend once again with it being ‘pay what you want’ at the gate.
The proceeds from the gate collection’s will donated Tiny Lives, as chosen by TUS – who support and champion premature and sick newborn babies and their families, across the North East and North Cumbria. Some further fundraising for Tiny Lives will also be taking place on the day.
Afterwards, will be welcome back to the Social Club – where they’ll once again be served with an array of food from Gino’s. A full schedule for the day will follow shortly, however for those of you who want to reserve your space – you can do so here.
Please note we expect these spaces to sell out very quickly, as they’re limited to 32 spots this year.
You may have also recently seen that we’re hosting a Golf Day at Blyth Golf Club on Friday 1st May, full details of which can be found here.
I’m very pleased to confirm that former Spartans Michael Liddle, Jordan Watson, Alex Curran and Gareth ‘Cheeks’ Williams will be entering a team into the competition! The chances of someone having to carry Lid’s home however, are rather high.
The event will be a Texas Scramble with a shotgun start. Players can enter as teams of 4, or enter individually and be paired up into team’s of 4. The scramble format tends to even out the competition, so every one of all ages, abilities and genders are welcome to participate.
As well as a round a golf on what will hopefully be a warm spring morning, you’ll also be supplied with bacon and sausage sandwiches and other refreshments upon arrival, as well as food in the Golf Club’s Clubhouse afterwards – courtesy of our own Shield and Skillet.
As well as overall winners, players will have the chance to win golf themed and Spartans themed prizes on selected nearest to the pin holes and longest drive. Extra competitions and prizes will also be added nearer the time, so keep your eyes out for those!
At the end of the afternoon, a presentation will be taking place – where the winners will be presented with their awards alongside some Blyth Spartans personalities! If you wish to sign up, you can do so here.
Some opportunities to sponsor parts of the event will also follow shortly.
As well as that, a number of other fundraising events are currently in the offing. Dan Haldane (Pieface) is currently investigating the feasibility of hosting our own Casino Night in the social club in the coming – though he does insist on being blackjack dealer! A few clubs at this level have done them in the past, and they seem to done well out of them. On top of that, a Race Night has also been booked in at the social club by Mark (Porky) Walker, for late March. More details on that event will follow before the week is out – as will some further information on how you can support the event by sponsoring an a race and more.
A Beer Festival is still being looked at for July, preferably centered around a pre-season friendly, much like the last one in 2014 – which was a big success. Getting said festival sorted takes a fair bit of ground work, so you likely won’t see any information come out in relation to that for a few more months yet, while everything falls into place. If you are interested in helping out with organising it or do have any useful suggestions, please do shout up – as we’d welcome any help or advice.
Finally, the feasibility of hosting some regular (be they monthly or quarterly) band nights and comedy are still being looked into. To do these sort of things properly, they need a lot of work put in behind the scenes. As well as that, the ticket sales of course need to turn a profit – or at least break even at first. In order to do that, we need to make sure the right acts are brought in that will attract a crowd. Even if the ticket sales just about break even, if the room is full and the social club is bringing in money – ultimately, it will still be bringing money into the football club.
As well as the aforementioned points, a number of other fundraising ideas and events are still to be discussed/announced for 2026 and beyond. If you have any suggestions on what you’d like to see, by all means, do get in touch! The more events and activities we can get on in the social club, the better.
And that’s a wrap…
So, that should just about cover the main part of the update for what will effectively be the 3rd quarter of the 2025/26 campaign. At the upcoming forum, an updated version of the club’s current financial and a whole host of other information will be made available. So if you’re able to attend, please do to get get the chance to have your say.
For Trust members, you should be getting some further updates in the coming weeks regarding some events, and having your say on some other issues that will help shape the direction of the club. Starting with choosing next season’s home and away kits! While you will be emailed the relevant information, I’d again advise keeping an eye on the site and socials in the coming weeks.
Whilst i’m addressing Trust members directly, I must apologies to you all for the lack of communication from my end and even lack of direction to some degree. For myself, he last few months haven’t been very pleasant to say the least for various personal reasons. As a result, I haven’t been as effective as i’d like to be on the ‘football side’ of life – with a few things falling by the wayside. Over the coming few days though, that will be changing – with a few long overdue website/social media updates, Player of the Month polls and more to follow.
Thank you all for taking the time to have a read through the update, and once again, thank you to everyone that has supported the Trust in recent months. Let’s make sure we back Nashy and the lads through the remaining 2 and a bit months of the season, as we look to beat the drop and secure our place in the NPL East for next year.
Cheers,
Dan Rolls – Spartans Trust Chairman
