'Relegated Blyth will be happier place next year'
Blyth Spartans manager Michael Connor has promised a brighter future for the troubled Northern Premier League club despite their second successive relegation being confirmed on Saturday.Spartans have won just three of their 35 league games all season, losing 23, and their fate was sealed with seven matches still to be played.Famed for their success at amateur level during the 1970s and 1980s, along with a string of memorable FA Cup runs, Blyth's existence appeared to be under threat until a community interest company took over from previous chairman Irfan Liaquat earlier this season.The 126-year-old club, who dropped out of National League North last season, sit rock bottom of the NPL after Saturday's 3-1 home defeat by Warrington Rylands.However, Connor – appointed by the new owners in November after brief spells in charge for ex-professionals Nolberto Solano and David Stockdale – told BBC Radio Newcastle: "Four months ago we didn't have a club – this club was out of business."The board are working so hard to get this club right and they're doing a marvellous job. There's going to be a Blyth Spartans here, which was always the priority and it'll be balanced and organised, not how it's been the past two or three years."Because of financial restrictions we've had to send a lot of players back who've been on loan. Six of the team that started one game against Morpeth were gone within a week and a half, and you try to rebuild and bring lads in to fill gaps, but it hasn't happened."It's about rebuilding now, seeing out the season with a bit of pride and a bit of courage and we'll hit the ground running next year. This club will be a much happier place – and let's give the fans something to be proud of next season."Spartans, who won 10 Northern League titles between 1973 and 1988 and reached the last 16 of the FA Cup in 1978, were a National League North side for seven seasons from 2017 but plunged into the third tier of non-league football following Liaquat's takeover last season.They have continued to struggle at NPL level, amid fan protests, boycotts of matches and two fixtures being postponed due to concerns over "operational requirements".
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