Time for part 2 now and while I did try to get everyone who played last season, I did somehow manage to forget a few somehow.
Starting with winger Corey McKeown, who left Spartans for Spennymoor in November 2022 for a rumoured £7,000 fee. He’s went onto make 21 appearances last season scoring 1 goal for them, that being in the FA Trophy. So far this season he’s featured in most of Spennymoor’s games, mostly from the bench of late.
Callum Elliot featured on the bench a few times as a back-up goalkeeper, as he played for both North Shields in the Northern Premier League East and Percy Main in the Northern Alliance Premier and it appears he’s signed for both sides again this season. Another lad who featured a lot for the under 19’s was Declan Bissett, who played for Consett in the NPL East before switching to Heaton Stannington where he’s stayed this season, tough he has just signed for Ashghanistan. Full back Tom McIntyre features for North Shields, as does winger/forward Dan Turner.
Looking back to some of the lads who featured for us throughout the 2021/22 season now, you’ll likely know that Jordan Watson has hung up his boots after spending last season with Heaton in the Northern League. Heaton is where you’ll now find Sean Reid, who joined them this summer and has so far featured 7 times and scored 2 goals for the Stan after an impressive pre-season. Last year he featured for Hebburn Town in the NPL East, making 37 appearances and scoring 5 goals.
Dan Maguire left to join Ashington in the Northern League last season, and he featured in 30 league games whilst getting 7 goals as Ash went onto win promotion to the NPL East through those weird regional play offs. So far this season, Dan’s made 6 appearances for Ashghanistan but is yet to score. Karl Byrne signed for Consett following his release from Blyth but doesn’t seem to have featured for them lately, though he is still listed as a player at the club.
Young midfielder Cam Painter featured for Spartans 6 times in the 21/22 season before being loaned out to Billingham Town. Last season he signed for Stockton in the NPL East, where he’s seemingly done well for them. Young forward Jamie Clark who came through the youth set up at Spartans (I think?) would spend part of the 21/22 season on loan at the likes of Whitley Bay, Newcastle Benfield and Seaham Red Star, playing 17 games and scoring 4 goals in total. He spent last season at Alnwick Town in the Northern Alliance Premier, netting 18 goals in 27 games.
Defender Ben Milburn started off at the Park View academy set up, which for a time was working with Carlisle United. Ben was signed on league forms, played 1 game and spent time ‘on loan’ at the likes of Whickham and North Shields as neither Nelson or Mitchell wanted to include him in the first team. He featured for Consett in the NPL East last season where he still plays now and is regarded as one of the best young defenders in the region at that level. Forward Sado Djalo returned to Dunston after his brief stint at Spartans, where he still plays today, mainly as a rotation player seemingly.
Goalkeeper Alex Curran featured briefly for Shildon at the start of the 22/23 season before picking up an injury and ultimately leaving the club. He trained with Spartans briefly before signing with Crook Town, where he remains as the club’s number 1 goalkeeper. Right back Josh Robson who made a handful of appearances for Spartans at the end of the 21/22 season made the switch to Morpeth Town last summer, where he remains as the clubs first choice right back.
Angello Cappello who joined on loan from Sheffield United would sign for Halifax Town in the summer of 2022, where he featured 31 times in the league as well as the FA Trophy final, picking up a winner’s medal as they beat Gateshead. Aaron Cunningham also featured briefly that year in his 4th spell at Spartans. He made 2 appearances before moving onto Whitby Town, where he stayed until the middle of last season before moving to Marske.
Winger Connor Thompson turned down a deal with Spartans in order to sign for Morpeth Town last summer, making 34 appearances in the league and scoring 7 goals as they just about managed to survive late on in the season. Another winger who only played for Spartans briefly was Dom Tear, who was largely unimpressive in his month-long spell at Spartans from Halifax. He’d go on to have loan spells at Buxton and Guiseley that season, making 18 appearances for Guiseley and scoring 5 goals as they were relegated. Currently, Dom regularly starts for Scarborough Athletic following his Halifax departure, where he scored 8 goals in 28 league games last season.
As for staff who’ve moved on in recent seasons, Andy Inness is now the first team coach at Spennymoor, working under Jamie Chandler. Former manager Terry Mitchell has been working as the Assistant Manager at Workington for nearly a year now, as they were promoted from the NPL East to the NPL last season. His assistant Graeme Coulson now works full time at Newcastle United. Someone who worked under Terry briefly in 2022 was Graeme Carrick, who now manages Newcastle United’s under 18’s.
Micky Nelson would join the coaching staff at Hartlepool united after being sacked as Spartans manager, where he ended up as interim manager for final day of the 2021/22 season. He left Pools in the summer, spending the first few weeks of the new season as Scunthorpe’s assistant manager. In the November he ended up taking over as interim manager as Scunthorpe spiralled out of control amidst a season of chaos. He’s now the Football Academy Manager at Park View academy, working with Chester-Le-Street United as a first team coach. His assistant Micky Barron who took over as ‘interim manager’ at Spartans appears to be no longer involved in football coaching/management. FA Cup hero Stephen Turnbull was announced as a co interim manager, though due to the birth of his child never really got involved with the club. He’s now back playing football, having spent the last 12 months at Whitley Bay. Physio/Masseur Rob Wark left the club in the summer of 2023, he occasional works with Gateshead.
Rounding this off with some of the lads who featured as trialists this summer, centre back Simon Yakub who played for North Shields last season is now apparently Ashington, according to Hendy anyway. Winger/Striker David Allasan who played in the first few pre-season games is also without a club still. Winger Jake Cunningham was picked up by Northern League side Whitley Bay. Welsh based Barbados winger Curtis Hutson signed with Pontypridd United, in the Welsh Premier League. Winger/full back Gee Baltazar was picked up by West Allotment Celtic, where he’d played previously. Defender Niall Brookwell who featured late in pre-season is till seemingly without a club, as are former NUFC defender Harry Barclay and Middlesbrough forward Joe Ridley who trained with the club late on in pre-season.