09 December 2023 , 12:56
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Exiled 20 miles away, the attendance one Tuesday night was down to a dozen fans and a dog.
South Shields had to sell cans of lager at the gate to generate just enough money to pay the officials' match fees. Now they are one of the best-supported and best-run non-League clubs in the country, employing former Premier League stars Kevin Phillips and Julio Arca as their most recent managers.
With the possible exception of Middlesbrough's Steve Gibson, who has just turned £107 million of debt into share equity, Geoff Thompson is probably the best chairman in the north-east – maybe in the whole of English football. He has only put his club up for sale after being diagnosed with prostate cancer 12 months ago and resolving to spend more time with his grandchildren.
Prostate cancer – what an insidious fiend. Get yourselves checked, fellas. For Thompson, a lifelong fan of the Mariners who now play at the swish 1st Cloud Arena in Jarrow, selling up is a “bitter-sweet” decision he didn't want to make.
And before you join the bidding, remember: Running a football club isn't done on a budget of loose change you find down the back of the sofa. Thompson has invested nearly £8 million of his own money into South Shields since he took over in 2015, but in return he's enjoyed three promotions and an FA Vase triumph at Wembley.
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Psssst... want to buy a football club? This one might be the proverbial Rembrandt at a car boot sale. Thompson's recovery from surgery last March is going well, but he admitted: “When you go through something like that, it makes you recalibrate and your priorities change.
Thompson has turned South Shields' fortunes around (Gavin Ellis/TGS Photo/REX/Shutterstock)“Coming up 62 years of age, that health scare hit me quite hard and made me realise I've probably run my course at the club and it's time to put my family first. I only discovered my condition because I had moved house, registered at a new doctors' surgery and they called me in for a routine blood test on a Tuesday.
“When the doctor's receptionist rang me back on the Thursday, I knew straight away it was something serious – they don't call you urgently to say everything's fine, do they? I told the surgeon I was a coward who was terrified of a three-hour operation, and he said, 'Don't worry – if anything goes wrong, your wife will cry, we'll be upset in the operating theatre but you won't know anything about it!'
“It was a wake-up call that it was time to take a step back and spend some time with the grandkids.”
Ex-Sunderland favourite Julio Arca is now manager of South Shields (South Shields FC)Founder of the Utilitywise energy consultancy, which employed 2,000 people in the town, Thompson deserves to find a safe pair of hands to build on his legacy at South Shields, who are currently third in National League North. He was born and bred in the area, watched games as a fan with his father and uncle, and his largesse includes a new £3million stand, drainage system for the pitch and boreholes for the club's own water supply.
“This was a Football League club until 1930, beating the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea back in the day,” he said. “When I got involved in 2015, we were playing at Peterlee and it just felt right to try and bring the club home.
“Our average gate down at Peterlee was 70 people, and at one midweek game there were 12 fans and an Alsatian dog. They were selling cans of lager at the gate just to make enough money to pay the officials' match fees. Over the years I've tried to invest sensibly in the infrastructure and we now get regular gates of 2,500 or more and we have our own training facility and academy structure.
Kevin Phillips was previously in charge of the first team (MI News/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock)“It's bitter-sweet for me to let go now because I would have liked to hang on a few more years and see how far we can take the club. Because of our geography, almost equidistant between the two cities, we are probably the only club in the north-east where Sunderland and Newcastle fans stand side-by-side, backing the same cause, without any antipathy.
“Of course that may be put to the test after they were drawn together in the FA Cup third round! But if I can find a new owner, I want to hand over to someone who understands what we've achieved so far, that there's no external debt and a lot of the spadework's been done.
“I know I'm not going to get back the money I've invested personally, but there have been some early-stage talks with a couple of interested parties, one of them in the United States. So far it's not a Ryan Reynolds and Wrexham scenario, and unfortunately we're not having any conversations with Hollywood stars. I don't expect to be selling to Tom Hanks or Clint Eastwood and we have to keep our feet on the ground.
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“For me it's not about walking away with a huge sack of money. It's about finding the right person.”
To show your support and donate to Prostate Cancer UK, head to https://prostatecanceruk.org/