The following contribution is produced by INSSA committee member, Graeme Cansdale, and is written by him in a personal capacity to be shared here:

Now that the dust has sort of settled on a tumultuous season at NE29, I thought a little review of what happened off the pitch is in order. The timeline of events is certainly interesting and possibly revealing, whilst looking back can provide a different perspective on things. One would also hope it may also prevent history repeating itself..well, we can hope anyway.

I gather the previous manager’s style of play and persona was not that endearing to many and though we will never know fully about the financial outlay the club was committed to, when it rained for 40 days and 40 nights, it became clear that something was afoot. That it may be an existential threat to the club was not so apparent on December 12th, however.

A club statement seemed to herald a new broom.  Alan Matthews — after steering the ship for 30 years — ‘retired’ and a new co-chair partnership heralded a new era. You can read it here.

Certainly reading it back with hindsight there are a few clues that this was no smooth transition into a promising future but there was certainly no hint at the bombshell that was to land just 72 hours later

So in the space of 3 days we went from an upbeat if cautious statement to an “impossible financial situation” where the very future of the club was at stake. The entire coaching staff and players left forthwith and the league management committee were brought into look at the remaining fixtures and deal with the implications.

It was quite an astonishing turn of events that shocked the town and its supporters and not only made the local papers but the BBC sport website.

Apparently none of this could have been foreseen or planned for. It  was a total coincidence that the boardroom chairs had just been reshuffled and that the inclement weather that had been wreaking havoc on fixtures throughout the country, got so bad within that 3 day period at NE29, that Shields became the only club to declare it was going bust due to climate change.

I appreciate the parlous state that many non-league clubs find themselves in at this level. If it wasn’t for a fair smattering of sugar daddies and philanthropic dreamers with unsustainable ambitions — and of course, well grounded people with talent, nous and business plans — the inverted pyramid may have collapsed a long time ago.

But North Shields under the previous leadership, prided itself on not over-extending itself. Caution before ambition. Secrecy before transparency. Progress off the pitch — that could be termed ‘glacial’ at best — we were told is better than jeopardising the future. Walk before you can run. In short and in theory, the very thing that happened at North Shields FC  in December, should never happen to a club like err… North Shields.

Unless of course success on the pitch scuppers your ‘plan’ and reveals the limitations of a closed shop and mindset. If relegation for failure to improve infrastructure the previous season was inevitable, the crisis that enveloped the Morgue in December should not have been.

And to be fair, if we take things at face value, the new co chairs who addressed the packed clubhouse on December 29th (after the messianic Brian Smith stepped into the managerial hotseat — and conjured a team from nowhere) were humble enough to admit that mistakes had been made and that things “had to change”. The hand to mouth existence of the club was revealed by the fact that the break even crowd figure was 350. Big Bri declared he wanted 1000 at the next two fixtures — some people behind him scoffed — yet he fell short by only 1!

Ambition. Engagement. Community.

Also revealed that night in the clubhouse meeting, was that the £3400 raised by fans and ring-fenced for ground improvements was spent to “keep the club going” and would not be coming back.

Given the crisis that has been spelled out to the assembled crowd, people did not really question it. Fair enough you’d think, but when INSSA formed — a genuine response by fans to actually do something to help out — the response they’ve met from the Committee has ranged from incredulity, hostility and indifference. Looked upon as an unwelcome inconvenience.

To think that some fans had the audacity to get off their arse, organise and form something independently was too hard to palate for some. Even though they actually appealed to the public for help in December!

 £4k+ raised in 2 months is not to be sniffed at, or is it? Indeed, it is not a dissimilar sum to the ring-fenced fans’ money the club decided to spend without consultation in the December crisis.

Now that the club have seemingly got on an even keel — due initially at least to more fans coming through the imaginary turnstiles and patronising the clubhouse (particularly on the day of the Whitley home game and the musical acts provided by INSSA) — our efforts may be seen by some to be unwarranted.

I for one am delighted that Bri Smith is staying and feeling his decision is a very good indicator that things are moving in the direction behind the scenes.

The closed shop, bunker mentality of the board has got to go — the interim co-chairs promised as much at the December 29th clubhouse meeting. I hope they have the courage to pursue it alongside new ambition and engage with the wider community.

The need to change pervades the atmosphere at the ground… facilities are poor compared to less successful and less famous clubs at this level.

The fanbase is made up largely of an ageing demographic and in truth, The Morgue isn’t the most inviting or welcoming of places for families and kids or if you walk in as a stranger for the first time.

Let’s hope this close season really heralds a new chapter that unites the club, the fans and the wider community. Next year it will be a decade since the club won the Vase when many thousands of us travelled to London to celebrate the greatest footballing day of our lives. Maybe those days will return.

Take hope.