Gateshead FC, the 2023/24 FA Trophy winners, find themselves in a situation that few supporters would have expected just a couple of years ago.

The club struggled during the 2025-2026 and found themselves relegation threatened for most of the season, spending a lot of that time inside the bottom 4. 

Last season

It was only the combination of Rob Elliots shrewd management and clever signings that allowed the club to go on an incredible run of form that ended up leaving them safe of the drop by finishing 18th, 8 points clear of the drop. 

In the off season after saving the club Rob Elliot departed the club and joined Carlisle United, taking 3 of the Gateshead players along with him: Centre Back - Brad Nicholson, Versatile Defender Kenton Richardson (Captain) and Goalkeeper Adam Desbois. Along with those 3, Louis Storey also joined Rob Elliot as his assistant manager, bringing with his a huge amount of experience with him into the dugout. 

Carlisle United's gain was Gateshead loss, how big a loss those departures really were did not take all too long to find out...

Summer rebuild

Now with those departures the first one that needed addressing was the vacant Managers position. In June that role was filled as the club turned to former Middlesborough, Wigan and Sunderland midfielder Lee Cattermole, giving him his first ever managerial role on a 2 year deal with a task ahead of him that many would be apprehensive to tackle. 

Now the squad that was left to Cattermole was one which had a lot of talent within it, even with the 4 removed who had followed Elliot to Carlisle. However it was soon apparent that Cattermole very much wanted to put his own mark on the squad and bring in 'his' team. 

This is quite normal in a sense, but on the back of such a terrific run come the end of the season it was always going to be quite the risk to make too many changes too quicky. That is exactly what Cattermole decided to do and pulled the trigger on some massive changes. 

Fans favourite John Fenton (last season player of the season), David Ferguson (the new captain), Harry Chapman (Fan favourite) along with Billy Chadwick, Dom Telford and Sam Bowen were all made to train away from the first team in a radical step that seems a slightly extreme way of stamping your mark on a club and one that brings a huge amount of pressure to get results quicker than you might have had to otherwise. 

Season so far

Now at the time of writing the team have played 10 games and only picked up 4 points from a possible 30 which is a return which sees them rock bottom of the table, with a goal difference of -18 which was not helped by the latest 6-1 dismantling by Southend United last weekend and 4-0 beating away at Wealdstone yesterday. A quite demoralising set of performances for fans of the club. The season is still in its infancy and yes teams do take time to bed in but it certainly looks like there is only way this current form is going to take the club and it isn't upwards. 

Fans have been showing their disdain at games, with many already saying they have seen enough and calling for Cattermole to go, that doesn't seem to be forthcoming, but the pressure is certainly mounting and results need to change very very quickly it would seem.

One particular fan, Nathan (Fan for 12 years),  gave me his thoughts on last season, Cattermoles appointment and what he would like to see happen next. 

What are your thoughts on the job Elliot done last season.

Elliot was brilliant, but failed by the club. He departed because the board didn’t fulfil promises that they’d made to him. The win (3-1) at home to York is one of my happiest days as a supporter.

What did you make of the Cattermole appointment at the time

Cattermole seemed like the best that we could get, since everyone else already had jobs, as the hiring process began quite late. He spoke well in the summer but went back on everything he said very fast.

What do you think of his decisions to exclude certain members of the squad

His decisions to exclude star players are moronic. He can’t even force them out, as half of them signed new deals in June. They’ll have tenancies on accommodation, so they’ll not relocate. Some probably even have a mortgage up here (Fergie). They’re his best players and they’ve not been given a chance.

Would you like to see him given more time or the elbow?

I’d personally give him a boot, as opposed to the elbow.

The future

Gateshead are too big of a club to be looking at relegation into the National League North yet that is exactly what their current future has in store for them. Over the last 18 seasons only 3 of them have been spent outside the National League a statistic which tells you everything about the club, they belong at the very least in this league.

An argument could be made that at points, the 23/24 and 24/25 seasons, the club could have even taken a step into the unknown and gained promotion into the EFL. 

Now I never like to wish someone out of a job but the atmosphere combined with the results seem to be pointing to only one direction and that is the removal and replacement of Cattermole as soon as possible. 

Who that is, as always, is the ultimate question. Here are 3 potential options that I think the club could look at, should they pull the trigger.

Manager	Cost	Local connection	Experience	Why?
Rob Elliot	🟡 Compensation (unless relieved of duties at Carlisle Utd)	🟢🟢🟢	🟢🟢🟢	Proven at Gateshead and already knows the squad, club and setup. His previous spell produced a strong finish and FA Trophy success.
Ben Clark	🟢 Very cheap	🟢🟢🟢	🟡🟡	A genuine low-cost option who already knows the club inside out and could provide continuity without a major managerial restructure.
Mike Williamson	🟡 Compensation	🟢🟢🟢	🟢🟢🟢	A proven Gateshead manager who previously took the club back into the National League and understands the club's level and expectations.

 

What I think will happen

I think come 6pm on Monday 3rd October a photo of Gateshead corner flag will be posted onto their social accounts, following a loss at home to Worthing, announcing Lee Cattermole has left his role and Ben Clark will step in as interim manager of the club. 

I think this would be the best solution for the club and also for Cattermole as it seems it is highly unlikely he will be able to turn around fans opinions, especially after last nights post-match interview not featuring Cattermole and instead still popular assistant Ben Clark stepping up to the microphone. 

I personally really do hope the club can turn it around and start their climb out of the relegation zone as the fanbase deserves it and football in the North East deserve it too. 

I will be watching with great interest, Up the Heed! 

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