The boys club alumni
THERE are few community football teams which can claim to have made the same indelible mark on the game as Wallsend Boys’ Club. The North Tyneside team has nurtured some of the finest talents in English football and watched its graduates climb up through the ranks to represent England at World Cups. It’s an incredible story and some of its key graduates are still major figures within the sport today. Here are eight of the club’s most famous alumni and a look at what they’re doing now.
He’s a controversial figure in the North East but the respect he’s earned across the world of football is in no doubt.
Corbridge-born Bruce’s career started Wallsend Boys Club before he got his first professional contract at Gillingham.
After a spell at Norwich, he became a titan at the back for Manchester United – but was bizarrely overlooked for England throughout his career.
He’s managed 10 clubs and provoked the ire of Newcastle United fans when he put his boyhood support for the club to one side to take the Sunderland job in 2009. He recently took up the vacant role at Sheffield Wednesday following a wellearned break off the back of his sacking from Aston Villa, which coincided with personal tragedy and health problems off the field.
Born in Wallsend to a father (Vince) who volunteered with the team, the Boys Club played a pivotal role in Carrick’s development.
But for so many Newcastle fans, he’ll always be the one that got away.
Snapped up by West Ham at 16, he went to play for Spurs before making more than 460 appearance for Manchester United – and picking up a fair bit of silverware in the process.
Now you’ll see Carrick studiously watching the game from the dugout on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s coaching staff.
Given the uncertainty behind the scenes at Man Utd, who knows where he’ll be in six months, but he looks destined for a career in management.
Despite coming up through the Wallsend Boys Club system, Big Al’s career path took him away from the North East – but thank God he came back. Southampton’s scouts spotted him playing for the Tyneside youth side and took him down to the south coast. After a title-winning spell at Blackburn Rovers,