BNP’s message to the Magpies
THERE was a message to Newcastle United from the British National Party at a meeting in the city last night.
Martin Wingfield who has written over 50 books, magazines and articles on the history of football called on the club to forget about foreign players and invest in the region’s young footballers.
“In the thirty years after the war, non-league football in the North East was hugely popular with crowds counted in their thousands. Clubs thrived on providing a conveyor belt of young talent for the big three clubs as well as Hartlepool, Gateshead and Darlington,” Martin told a packed pub in Elswick.
Newcastle United: Fairs Cup Winners in 1969.
“It was a great system because the non-league clubs put young players in the shop window and in return the money from the big clubs found its way down to football at grass root level ensuring its survival and a further supply of players coming through the ranks.
“In 1992 that all changed. The Premier League came into being with its obscene wages, influx of foreign players and foreign managers, and a ‘money is no object’ culture which sounded the death knell for local football in the North East.
“When the region’s professional teams were looking for players, they no longer sent their scouts to clubs like Blyth Spartans, Bedlington Terriers, Crook Town and Dunston Fed in the search of that new blood, but instead went to France, Spain or Iceland and splashed out money on overseas players. They were looking for quick fixes, trying to buy replacements ‘off the shelf’ rather than investing time, but a lot less money in nurturing local talent.”
Martin Wingfield: Mapgies should invest in local talent.
Martin said that he hoped that Newcastle United would take the opportunity of their changing circumstances and go back the drawing and start all over again, building the club on the region’s greatest asset which is the huge pool of talented young footballers awaiting the opportunity to make their mark.
“My advice to the Magpies is to forget about foreign footballers and invest in local youngsters.
“Build up a youth system that is the envy of every other club in the country and this will not only secure the long term future of Newcastle United but will also benefit the whole of non-league football in the North East.”
Former British steel worker Stephen Finlay from Morpeth also spoke at the meeting detailing the current unemployment crisis and explaining how together the financial meltdown and credit card time bomb, Britain would face a recession the like of which has never seen before.
“Gordon Brown and David Cameron are lying to you when they tell you that today’s recession is similar to what Britain experienced in the 1930s,” he told the audience.
“This recession will be ten times worse and will devastate our country and what remains of our industry unless action is taken now. We have to invest in real jobs – manufacturing jobs – and make sure its the British people that are being employed and not cheap foreign labour from Eastern Europe.”
Around 70 people contributed to a collection and raffle of nearly £200 which brought a smile to the face of North Regional Secretary Ken Booth.
“It was a very good turnout for a Tuesday evening in August. That the BNP can attract such crowd to a political meeting in the middle of the holiday season shows that people are really interested in what we have to say.
“As well as some regulars away on holiday, we had a team out campaigning in South Tyneside for a local election, so to still be able to fill the pub was no mean achievement.”
