Blyth Spartans look to spark revival – with help from Viz

Inspired by the punk era and adult comics such as “Fat Freddy’s Cat”,  was created by Geordie brothers Chris and Simon Donald in 1979. The first 12-page A4 fanzine priced 20 pence – 30 pence to students – sold out all 150 copies in a Newcastle pub.

In 1985, Viz and its characters Roger Mellie, Biffa Bacon, Sid the Sexist and Billy the Fish went national and signed with Virgin books. Parodying kids’ comics from the 70s, but with toilet humour and profane language, Viz attracted criticism for that and for characters including The Fat Slags and the caricature of a feminist “Millie Tant”.

But by 1991, Viz was selling 1.2 million copies an edition. It made sense for Viz to become Blyth’s kit sponsor. The club have always punched above their weight because of their famous giant-killing FA Cup runs, having reached the third round proper four times, as well as their welcoming atmosphere, and during that first sponsorship deal, their distinctive green-and-white striped shirts had VIZ on the front.

They even tried unsuccessfully to include the slogan “Drink Beer, Smoke Tabs” on the shirt front.

One of the comic’s editors, Graham Dury, said: “Viz was very proud to sponsor Blyth Spartans back in the 1990s. But since then, we have taken the decision to sell nowhere near as many comics as we used to, with the result being we’re now a bit skint.”

In the past couple of years, Spartans fans have needed a sense of humour – and know a bit about being skint. Relegation from the National League North into the Northern Premier League two seasons ago was followed last October by the club coming within hours of going out of business after 125 years.

The decline had been gradual, but during the ownership by Tyneside businessman Irfan Liaquat, decline had turned into crisis.

Kevin Miles and his family moved to Blyth in 1967, so close to Blyth’s Croft Park home that “you could see the turnstiles from our front gate”.

He has been the chief executive at the Football Supporters’ Association of England and Wales since 2012 and led its work on the Football Governance Act. The FSA also campaigns for supporter-led fan ownership of clubs, so Miles was keen to help out at Blyth.

As was building company boss Steve Southern, whose aunt used to do the teas and coffees at Croft Park, and local businessman Peter Saleem, whose father “took my mother to Blyth beach in 1988 and fell in love with the place”.

Both are successful in their own fields, but did not know how to run a football club. “We both decided after meeting Kev that if he’s in, we’re in,” said Southern.

They formed a not-for-profit community interest company (CIC) in November 2024, with the aim of eventually handing it over to the people in this part of Northumberland. Back-to-back relegations could not be prevented, but the club were safe... for the time being.

Spartans were on course to finish the season £200,000 in debt after it was discovered 135% of their income was being spent on player wages. A “sensible” proportion is considered about 40%, but few clubs achieve that. “The club was being run unsustainably,” said Miles, now the club chair.

A GoFundMe page raised £25,000 and Kansas-based company QTS, which is building a huge cloud-computing data centre in nearby Cambois, offered a significant donation so the Spartans lived to fight another day – albeit in the Northern Premier League Division One East. The club formed a women’s team, appointed a new men’s manager – Colin Myers – and held fan forums.

At one, the full accounts were presented. “I wasn’t sure what to expect – it was a 20-minute video – but you could hear a pin drop,” said Miles. “They could see what we’re up against – some fans might disagree with decisions we take but at least they know why we’re making them.”

Jeff Young is the club’s 59-year-old fixtures secretary and has clocked up 2,019 successive Spartans matches, last missing one – away to Bath – in 1987. His favourite game so far? “Northern League against Murton in 1993. We won 3-2 but we played for over an hour with nine men.” The low? “Hard to pick, but pretty much any game in the last two seasons.”

The dawn of a new era can take many forms, but for Spartans it came on a damp August evening last week under the ground’s new floodlights, against Newton Aycliffe. Blyth had already lost the first two league games and the once-proud FA Cup giant-killers had been knocked out at the preliminary stage by Pontefract Collieries. That night’s tense 2-1 win over the Cliffe wasn’t just their first of this season, it was the first since January, 206 days earlier.

“When the final whistle went, nobody quite knew how to celebrate, it had been so long,” said Miles. On the club’s Facebook page, fans talked about open-top bus parades and if Blyth now had a chance to stay up.

Watching was Clarke Carlisle, the former Burnley and QPR defender who is voluntarily leading the club’s Spartans in the Community charity.

“With Newcastle and Sunderland down the road, Blyth is a club that could get lost in the megalomania that is the Premier League,” he said. “But this community saved the club, so now it’s the football club’s time to return the favour.”

Back in January, the club announced they were reuniting with Viz to commemorate coming under the CIC. The comic produced matchday posters to be raffled and special-edition artworks that could be used on mugs and T-shirts –which are selling well.

Last bank holiday Monday, an encouraging 1,227 fans turned up for the local derby against Ashington (a club also supported by QTS).  Neatly for the sponsors, but frustratingly for the hosts, the game finished in a diplomatic 1-1 draw.

Providing a soundtrack to this new era is the Blyth Valley Samba Band. Though there were no Brazilians in either team, Blyth’s goal was scored by an international, Paddy McClafferty, who as the name would suggest plays right-back for… Gibraltar.

Shoots of recovery are usually green – the right colour for Blyth – and they prove that not all comebacks take place on the pitch.

Photograph by Paul Scott