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Rushden & Diamonds - Away

Saturday 13th March, 3pm

Blue Square Conference Premier

Nene Park

Last time out...

Histon 0 Gateshead 0

Blue Square Conference Premier

Saturday 6th March

New stadium...

Dates for your diary...

Sat 13/03/2010 (3pm): Rushden & Diamonds - Away @ Nene Park

Tues 16/03/2010 (7:45pm): GFC v Forest Green Rovers @ Home - Gateshead International Stadium

Tues 23/03/2010 (7:45pm): GFC v Wrexham @ Home - Gateshead International Stadium

Sat 27/03/2010 (3pm): Oxford United v Gateshead - Away @ Kassam Stadium

Tues 30/03/2010 (7:45pm): Eastbourne Borough v Gateshead - Away @ Priory Lane

Links...

Redheugh Park

Date: Friday 4th May 2007, by Tynesider

The spiritual home of Gateshead Football Club.

When South Shields AFC moved to Gateshead in 1930 to become Gateshead AFC the council built a stadium on an old clay pit in the Teams district of the town, it was called Redheugh Park. Gateshead AFC played at Redheugh Park for over forty years into the mid 1970s when the then struggling club could no longer afford the Council rent and moved East to the then Gateshead Youth Stadium which later became known as Gateshead International Stadium.

Redheugh Park was demolished and lay there as a pile of rubble well into the mid 1980s when the area was partially redeveloped for the 1990 Gateshead Garden Festival. Further development in the 90s saw football return to Redheugh Park in the guise of the Pitz 5-a-side soccer centre, which occupies the site to this day.

Similar to The Chandless Estate, Redheugh holds two possible plots within the one location.

• Redheugh Field. The field to the north-east of Pitz which the previous Redheugh Park partially overlapped.
• Ropery Road. The empty plot on the South side of Ropery Road which was once a factory.

Redheugh Field

Redheugh Field offers ample room to build the size of ground we require at this time, along with room to expand.

Ropery Road

Again the Ropery Road site offers plenty of space to build upon.

Advantages:

• The spiritual home. The first location in Gateshead where football took centre stage within the town.
  Available space. Both plots offer plenty room to build and expand in the future.
  Road network. The A184 and A1 offer great links to getting to the location.
  Redevelopment. As with most of Gateshead the Council want to improve the area by attracting local business to it.
  Residential. To the north-east lays an ample size housing estate that could be possibly tapped into for a fan base.
  Self advertisment. The club are looking to attract new football fans, and what better way to do it than to build across the road from a busy football centre.
  NIMBYs. NIMBYs would be less of a problem because of the surrounding industrial estate.

Disadvantages:

• Location. Redheugh Park is a long way from the Town Centre, therefore the benefits that can bring to the club would be lost along with possible passing trade for a club house.
  Public transport. The Metro goes nowhere near to the location.
  Past failures. The past is the past, but unfortunately the location has failed once before. With it not being central it went forgotten when times were tough for the team and it was easy for the public to ignore.

Redheugh offers the best option of the three locations to get a stadium up and running in the quickest possible time. Add to it being the spiritual home of the club and it's not a bad location at all.

Our rating 4 out of 5