Past master’s only thinking of future

May 2 2008 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

A once-proud North East football club are on the verge of a decisive step in their mission to play league football again. Mark Douglas talks to former Newcastle United midfielder Ian Bogie, the man rejuvinating Gateshead FC

IAN Bogie was hailed as the ‘new Paul Gascoigne’, played in front of his beloved Gallowgate end, scored a promotion-clinching goal at Wembley and was capped for his country.

But it is a measure of the importance he attaches to his role as manager of Gateshead that he believes taking the Tynesiders into the Conference North would top any of the achievements on his not inconsiderable footballing CV.

Bogie leads his team into the UniBond Premier League promotion play-off with Buxton Town tomorrow knowing a victory would begin a new chapter in the turbulent history of a team who have spent the last generation in the sporting wilderness – and enhance his burgeoning reputation as one of the non-League game’s brightest coaching prospects.

The Walker-born former Newcastle wonderkid is taking his first steps into management after a playing career that spanned 15 years, but ranks his part in the renaissance of Gateshead as one the highlights.

His team – which boasts the highest goals per game ratio of any club in England – are odds-on favourites to secure promotion against a side they beat 4-0 in the league a fortnight ago, but Bogie refuses to tempt fate.

“I have had some really great times in football but this will beat every single one of my achievements,” he said. “I was a professional footballer until I was 33 years old and enjoyed every single moment. I played at Wembley for England schoolboys, scored for Port Vale and achieved my ambition of playing for Newcastle, which was the thing that inspired me when I was a boy.

“They were all great moments but I honestly think this would beat all of it – that is how important it is to me that we complete the job and win. It’d be the pinnacle.

We’re not taking anything for granted though. I’ve been in the game long enough to know it has a habit of kicking you in the teeth if you get carried away. There has been much more media attention and focus on the players in the run-up to this game but I’ve told them we’ve achieved nothing yet. As good as our season has been to this point, it’ll count for nothing if we don’t win on Saturday.”

His route into management came via a career that began at Newcastle before successful spells at Port Vale and Preston among others. A silky, ball-playing midfielder, it was at Vale Park where he made his biggest impact.

But he was once the teenage wonderkid of St James’s Park and was earmarked as the man to fill the boots of another Wallsend Boys’ Club alumnus in Paul Gascoigne. His reputation was enhanced by an England Schoolboys call-up, a cap that won attention when Kevin Keegan travelled to his school in Walker to mark the honour. Bogie, who believes he shares a similar philosophy when it comes to attacking football with the United manager, has retained strong links within St James’s Park.

And a man who is also head coach of Tyne Metropolitan College’s football development programme is now focused on the job of delivering Gateshead chairman Graham Wood’s vision of returning League football to the borough.

Forty years ago, the one-time FA Cup quarter-finalists were a considerable presence on the North East football map but they drifted south after failing in their bid to be re-elected to the fourth division in 1960 – a decision that still rankles among committed Tynesiders.

They drifted around the non-League scene after that, failing in their bid to be absorbed into the Scottish league pyramid and slumping into liquidation before being reformed in their current incarnation. The club has spent the last 10 years in the UniBond League after falling out of the Conference, but under the stewardship of the ambitious Wood they appear to at last be on their way back.

“The eventual aim is to get back into the Football League and it’s something that everyone connected with the club wants. But we must win on Saturday first,” said Bogie. “The chairman has given us fantastic backing and there is huge potential at this football club.

“There are nearly 200,000 people in the borough and I know it is a source of frustration that we don’t get huge crowds. The crowds we do get give us tremendous backing but if we were to get a big crowd on Saturday it’d be a huge boost for the players and prove the appetite of the borough for its football team. I’m convinced it’s there, we just need to unlock it and hopefully that’s what we’re doing.”

The rejuvenation of the club began when Bogie, who initially joined as assistant manager after a stint at Northern Alliance side Walker Central, took the helm from Tony Lee almost a year ago to the day.

His elevation prompted a 12-match unbeaten run at the end of last season which secured him the job on a full-time basis. A summer of astute recruitment followed as Bogie leant on his football contacts to bring in a mix of experienced players with time at League clubs and non-League performers.

The policy of bringing in players like well-travelled former team-mate Paul Musslewhite, former Newcastle striker Paul Brayson and ex-United reserve team skipper Kris Gate has paid dividends and not blown apart the Tynesiders’ budget either.

Gateshead play a brand of attacking football that has seen them rack up 17 goals in their last five games, and won admirers in the UniBond League.

“It’s like the old Kevin Keegan philosophy: ‘You score four goals and we’ll score five’,” he joked. “But we like to think we play the game the right way, we will attack teams and pass the ball. If we do get new fans coming to see us on Saturday I think they’ll be pleasantly surprised at the standard of our football.

“But we’re not kamikaze and all-out attack. I believe in building from the back and the fact that we’ve had five clean sheets in a row speaks volumes for how solid we are at the back. Paul Musslewhite is a terrific goalkeeper and he’s played a big part in our success.”