Spenny 90 minutes from Wembley dream

The streets of Spennymoor may be a little quieter than usual on Saturday afternoon.

More than 800 residents of the County Durham town will descend on Rochdale FC’s Spotland - or Crown Oil Arena, if you insist - for the FA Trophy semi-final. Next stop Wembley.

Rochdale are a National League side, currently sitting in the play-offs, eyeing a return to the Football League. 

Spennymoor Town are in National League North, the division below - also on the fringe of their play-offs - but have already knocked out Sutton United and Boston United from the National League.

Still, Spenny’s black and white army know they are underdogs. 

Success for the town and their manager, former Hartlepool United player Graeme Lee, is likely to depend on Moors' record goalscorer Glen Taylor, a non-league legend hoping to celebrate his 35th birthday with a Wembley appearance.

Taylor was part of the Spenny side to win promotion from the Northern League in 2014 - eight years after the club had re-formed under a new name when the town’s previous club Spennymoor United was forced to fold after 101 years. The FA have since turned down two bids to revert back to United. 

He actually missed the club’s greatest moment - a 2013 FA Vase Wembley win - because he’d signed for home-town club Ashington a couple of months beforehand - but since moving back to Brewery Field ten years ago he’s helped them reach Step 5 to 2, an FA Cup first round tie and their highest fourth-place finish in 2018.

A big powerful Number Nine, Taylor is good enough to have destroyed defenders and goalkeepers for a living but he’s also a teacher who turned down many professional offers. 

He says: “There are so many factors for people like me and I've had so many people say to me over the years, ‘Oh, you lack ambition’ but when you break down my life it’s just set up for this and it feels like a family at Spennymoor now. 

“I’ve had a decent career outside of the game and a young family, I've got a business here in the town with James Curtis and everything just is right to be part of Spennymoor and it just works for me. 

“Why would I risk it all to go full time and may be get a one year contract when I can be comfortable here?

“Maybe I am just trying to be risk averse but it works for me and if it works for me that's the most important thing.

“A few weeks back, the club put together a highlight reel of my goals and it showed my first goal against West Allotment in front of the stand that isn’t even there anymore. The change and progression is unbelievable. It's just a good feeling round the place, and it's a great place to play football.

‘We’re one game from Wembley. Obviously as a player you dare to dream, and I’m sure the fans are in same boat and want to make sure they go to Rochdale because if we get to Wembley they can say they were there. But I’d lying if I said I hadn’t thought about it. 

“It’s one game; 90 minutes from Wembley and personally, it's my 10th year at the club, and to get there on my birthday to play in the final would be a dream come true. But we’ve got a massive game first.”

Spennymoor’s Brewery Field ground maybe hidden away from the main road among the terraced houses as you approach the town centre but it is central to the town

The rise through the divisions has pulled in average 1200 home crowds and through its academy built close links with the town’s young population. 

Owner Bradley Groves, a local businessman who had spells at Aston Villa and Watford, has established strong links with the town through his energy brokerage companies.

The core of those connections are reflected in the weekly match day audience at the notorious Brewery Field slope - and the hundreds who will fill the dozen-plus coaches and minibuses heading west on Saturday.

The football club has its own business club - which includes Taylor’s aforementioned hairdressing salon - and offers advice and support to establishments throughout the town and monthly networking and advisory meetings. 

Managing director Ian Geldard has the task of ensuring Spennymoor Town remain County Durham’s highest ranking club - they’re one place and one point above rivals Darlington in the league with five to play - and have a sustainable future with or without Groves at the helm.

He said: “My brief when I came in three years ago was to create a revenue of sustainability on a year-on-year basis so the club is competitive in this league and on the pitch. which is clearly working, because, we’re in the semi-finals of the FA trophy and in with the shout of the play-offs again this season. 

“So all that's working on the pitch, but then it's about what a club at this level should be doing. Why does a football club exist? 

“And it's not just the 11 lads kicking the ball around on the pitch every other Saturday, but it's about the community. It's about what happens off the pitch, what impact we can have in Spennymoor and in County Durham. 

“We call ourselves the ‘Pride of County Durham’ and that is the case now; we’re the highest in the pyramid, and we should act like that, and we should build strategy around that, and make sure that long term, we're not relying on one or two individuals, so they're not heavily relying full time on their everyday running costs to the club because that in itself, is a very risky strategy. 

“It’s about being innovative. We’re looking to go beyond the traditional club/sponsor relationship and through things like the business club, offer support, business monitoring to a wide range of businesses across the town. 

"It builds a community, it’s free but businesses all contribute by being there, and we're ultimately helping them as well. 

“If you look at our gates now, we're averaging 1200 to 1300 on a Saturday, and there's nowhere else in the town that has that attraction on a regular basis; nowhere else generating that sort of economic spend in and around the town before the game, but also directly at the club. 

“The football club is a big part of what our town's about.”

Partnerships manager Stephen Gilling added: “We're trying to cover as many bases of the business community as we can and the aim ultimately, is that the club sits centrally within this community. 

“It's alright saying that we’re a community club, and we do lots of nice out-facing things, but we want to work alongside businesses to really embed the club in the local stuff. 

“A lot of clubs at the minute are going through really big change - people are not wrapped up in that traditional model of, let's go have a few pints on a Saturday afternoon and go watch a match. It’s a much more family-orientated experience.

“We're seeing a lot of fallout from Newcastle and Sunderland now. Yes, they've been more successful but their prices are very, very high and we’ve had businesses who’ve come here, got the same football buzz, without the hassle, really enjoy the experience and come back for more. 

“This is a fantastic opportunity for us.”

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