Time to Heed back where we belong
GATESHEAD star Greg Olley is determined to help the club return to the National League at the first time of asking.
The Heed looked set for a second season in the National League North when they were sat just outside of the National League North play-off places as the season was brought to a pause by the coronavirus epidemic.
However, Mike Williamson’s side were handed an unexpected opportunity to return to nonleague’s top table by the National League’s decision to finalise their standings based on a points per game average.
That decision allowed Gateshead to leapfrog North East rivals Spennymoor Town and set up an elimination round play-off tie at Brackley Town.
It is another twist in the remarkable turn of events that has played out at the International Stadium over the last two years.
There were question marks over the club’s future last summer as they teetered on the brink of going out of existence following the error-laden tenure of former owner Dr Ranjan Varghese.
A supporter-led consortium rescued the club, but they couldn’t prevent Gateshead being forcibly relegated into the National League North as punishment for financial irregularities.
Former Newcastle United Under23s midfielder Olley revealed that he is using the events of last summer as motivation ahead of their bid to come through a tough-looking play-off schedule.
He told The Sunday Sun: “We were all devastated by what happened at the end of last season and we didn’t think it was what we deserved.
“But it happened, and to have the chance to go straight back up is so important for the club.
“If we do manage it, it will be even sweeter because of what happened last year.
“That is what we will be aiming to do, we want to get this club back into the National League.
“We know it’s not as easy as that, we have a very tough game ahead of us at Brackley They finished fourth for a reason. We beat them earlier in the season, but it’s a very different game and we are very different teams now.
“That is all we are focused on right now.”
If there is one drawback for Olley and his Heed team-mates, it is that Gateshead supporters will be unable to attend the game at St James’ Park.
The play-off fixtures across all of the National League’s three divisions will be played behind closed doors in line with government guidelines.
However, there was some good news for the Heed faithful after the league confirmed that the tie will be streamed live via a pay-per-view partnership with BT Sport and Sportsradar.
Olley praised the supporters for getting behind their side throughout a period of contrasting emotions and expressed his desire to give them something to shout about this afternoon.
“We want to do it for the supporters because they are always behind us,” he said. “It’s all credit to them because they keep coming to follow us every week and it’s such a shame that they can’t be at the game on Sunday.”