What happens next at Blyth Spartans as takeover ends long-term uncertainty

The speculation over the long-term future of Blyth Spartans is over after a Community Interest Company led by local businessmen secured a takeover of their beloved club.

However, the hard work is only just getting underway for everyone involved at Croft Park as they look to move on from an extremely concerning period that should never be repeated. Spartans, when at their best as a club, represent the sort of display the qualities that their hometown was built upon for centuries.

There is hard work, industry, togetherness and an unwavering spirit to defy the odds even in the darkest of times. As a town, Blyth has been stripped to its core, bruised, ignored and shunned by respective governments, reduced to shell of its former self.

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The industries that allowed this part of Northumberland to grow are long gone and now the town’s highest-ranked football club - along with their local Northern League neighbours, who are performing so impressively this season - can play a part in allowing the local community to have a source of pride and belief once again.

I have witnessed Spartans at their best. My career started as a volunteer press officer and I saw the local community rally around the club when they saw off the likes of Darlington and Altrincham to reach the FA Cup second round, where they claimed a famous 2-1 win at Hartlepool United in front of the BBC cameras.

I saw over 3,200 supporters make their way to Croft Park and sensed a communal daring to dream when perhaps the club’s greatest ever player, Robbie Dale, put Tom Wade’s men two goals up in a third round tie against then-Championship club Birmingham City.

On a pitch where legends have been created in the FA Cup and lifelong memories have written into folklore, I saw pride become the prominent emotion, even when there was bitter disappointment after Birmingham overturned that deficit to claim a 3-2 win.

It is easy to rally around a cause when times are good - but now, after supporters and local businessmen came together to rescue their club, it is time for the local community to get behind Spartans and help them emerge from the darkness.

No matter what happened at Ilkeston on Saturday, they will remain in the Northern Premier League Premier Division relegation zone. A second successive relegation and only the third in the club’s 125-year history remains a distinct possibility and the road back, on and off the pitch, will be a difficult one that will present many challenges.

This club, which has become part of their hometown’s identity, needs the community to get behind it in numbers and offer both financial and emotional support.

Those that have worked so hard whiling away the hours over the last month to secure a community-led takeover that offers hope and belonging for the future deserve that. They deserve to know they are being driven by passion and commitment and that their town is ready to push them forwards once again.

This group of local businessmen can not do this alone, they can not simply bankroll a resurrection of fortunes and write blank cheques for whoever their next manager will be.

The unwavering spirit to defy the odds that has been commonplace in Spartans past must now become the foundations upon which a brighter future is to be built.