Gateshead FC could leave International Stadium to avoid repeat of EFL promotion exclusion

Gateshead FC is considering a move away from the International Stadium to avoid a repeat of the situation that saw the club denied a shot at promotion to the English Football League (EFL).

The club were blocked from entering the National League play-offs at the end of last season as they could not meet an EFL requirement for aspiring members to have a 10-year lease on their home ground secured.

There is uncertainty surrounding the future of Gateshead International Stadium, with Gateshead Council warning it can no longer afford to run the site and is in the process of seeking an outside operator to take it over.

In an open letter to fans, chairman Neil Pinkerton has now said that the club is “working tirelessly” to ensure that fans, players, and staff are not left disappointed again by a promotion bid derailed by the stadium questions – and revealed that a “plan B” is being developed for a move to another ground.

Mr Pinkerton accepted that there was a “need for clarity” over the stadium’s future to deal with the “understandable concern and a burning desire for further updates”.

He wrote that the club, which recently lifted the FA Trophy at Wembley, had received “unprecedented support” at the National League’s AGM last weekend and that the league was working with the EFL to change its entry qualifications “in the very near future”.

Mr Pinkerton added: “The Board are working tirelessly to ensure that we will never be in that situation again, and we are working with Gateshead Council to ensure that any new criteria would be acceptable to them.

"We are also working on a plan B, which could see a move away from Gateshead International Stadium, but would ensure that our club, players, supporters and fans alike would be able to be part of a club that should we reach promotion in the future, we would be eligible.”

Last month, Gateshead Council’s Labour administration voted down a call to guarantee The Heed a 10-year tenancy at the stadium.

The town’s Liberal Democrats had urged the council to compel any external operator who might take over the stadium from the local authority to keep the football club as a tenant.

But the idea was branded “ridiculous” by council leader Martin Gannon, who claimed that such a move would risk exposing the council to legal action.

Cllr Gannon has said that the stadium is running at an £860,000-a-year deficit and is no longer affordable for the council, which shut down both Gateshead Leisure Centre and Birtley Pool last year due to budget cuts.

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