Highwaymen travelled long way in short space of time

IT is a straightforward question that should require a simple answer. Do you miss life in the Northern League?

Yes or no would suffice, but Morpeth Town chairman Ken Beattie always strives for more.

“I do, if I am honest, I do,” said Ken, who had been a fervent critic of the Football Association’s decision to enforce promotion on Morpeth and Marske United.

“We have good friends in the Northern League, people that we have known for years. It was and still is a bit like a big family and it was great to be part of that.

“Clubs that have shared in our highs and lows, and there have been plenty of those.”

Beattie is right. It is just under a decade since the Highwaymen finished bottom of the Northern League’s second-tier, with a negative goal difference of just under 100. They won just four of their 38 games, taking 15 points from a possible 114.

The appointment of Seaton Delaval Amateurs manager Nicky Gray proved to be the catalyst for positive change and within two years they were a Division One club. For another two seasons they held firm amongst the Northern League’s elite, with Gray working hard alongside Jon McDonald at first and then Dave Malone in the Craik Park dugout.

The squad was improved on a regular basis, not through revolution, but as an evolution, as Gray remained loyal to long-standing players, but added genuine quality.

That all culminated in the greatest day in the club’s history when over 46,000 supporters were at Wembley to see the Highwaymen romp to a 4-1 win over Hereford FC in the FA Vase Final in May 2016.

Just over five years earlier they crashed to a 5-2 home defeat against Thornaby in front of less than 20 paying customers at Craik Park. The journey has been “remarkable” according to Gray.

He said: “It was a very different club when Jon McDonald and myself came from Seaton Delaval. It was a challenge, sometimes you forget how far we have come in a short space of time.

“It hasn’t been easy, there have been some testing times and moments of doubt.

“But we have stayed honest and stayed true to the way we wanted to do things.

“It’s remarkable thinking where we are now compared to where we started.

“We have had great support and we make the most of that because not every management team gets what we do.”

That is a pointed reference towards the drive and commitment of Beattie. The club is “his life” says Gray. “Ken is a demanding chairman, but he has every right to be because he puts a lot of work into this club,” explained the Highwaymen manager.

“He’s there every day, taking care of any job that needs doing.

“He’s a Morpeth lad and it’s his club, it’s his life. We are where we are because of him, the club and the town owe him a great deal.”