Spennymoor Town Supporters observed a minutes silence in memory of life long fan David Linford on Saturday ahead of the home fixture against Chorley.

In addition to the minutes silence a small plaque (see photo above) was affixed to the perimeter fence close to the area where David liked to park his scooter on home games.

Supporters Club Chairman Norman Dale on behalf of David’s family and friends would like to thank the football club for the opportunity to commemorate David’s life in this way.

A generous gathering of Spennymoor Town Supporters lined the pavement outside Wood View as their friend and fellow supporter David Linford passed the Brewery Field for the final time.

The cortège included a striking white carriage carrying David’s coffin which was draped with a flag bearing the colours of his beloved team, the carriage pulled elegantly by two beautiful black & white horses.

The well attended, standing room only service held at the Wear Valley Crematorium near Coundon told of  David’s passion for sport, sharing anecdotes of a lifelong commitment to Cricket, Football & Horse Racing.

As a Spennymoor Town Supporter David remained loyal right to the end, so it was fate perhaps, due to bizarre circumstances Spennymoor Town played on the evening of David’s funeral, with a 3-0 away victory a fiiting tribute to his legacy.

God bless you David, rest in peace and thanks for the memories. ⚪️⚫️

Spennymoor Town FC Supporters Club

We were devastated to learn of the passing of our good friend David Linford who died from a heart attack on Saturday.

Never has the term lifelong supporter been more fitting. For around 70 years Dave followed Spennymoor both United and town and rarely missed a minute. He’d been attending games from the age of 5 years.

In later life illness resulted in Dave losing both of his legs, yet still with the help of his Supporters Club friends remained a regular attendee at Spennymoor Town fixtures both at home and away regardless of the distance.

As a Supporters Club member Dave contributed kindly to all of our activities, will be much missed and forever remembered.

Everyone associated to STFC Supporters Club send our heartfelt condolences to Dave’s wife Heather, their family and friends at this time of grief.

We will update members on funeral arrangements as soon as they become available.

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A recent members vote polled unanimously in favour of releasing funds to the sum of £600 which will cover pitch fees and refereeing costs for this season. They recently expanded by introducing a competitive overs 50’s team and continue to grow their profile within the community also offering non-competitive sessions for all abilities three times a week.

The Walking Football Club are part of the Moors in the Community / Academy Programmes and the Supporters Club have now donated for two seasons running, despite this the Community / Academy Programmes have failed to acknowledge these contributions formally.

SWDN Managing Editor Archie McKay joined us at our August meeting and provided members with an overview of his ambitions and how funding from organisations such as ourselves is critical to the longevity of the publications under the umbrella of SWDN which includes The Spennymoor News. We are grateful for the exposure we have received to date and we’re  happy to extend our sponsorship further by rubber stamping a £40 monthly donation to support the ever increasing running costs of the community based publication.

We wish Archie and his small team of volunteers every success for the future.

Our end of season Party Night was a huge success as 220 people left standing room only at Spennymoor WMC.

As well as performances from 2 excellent vocalists, those present got to see the all conquering Walking Football Team receive their medals from departing Moors legend James Curtis.

James was joined by his family for the evening and went on to received a special award from the Supporters Club in recognition for his long service to the football club. As well as receiving our unique hand made statuette he was awarded with holiday vouchers for him and his family.

The Supporters Club thank James for accepting the award and joining us in person for the evening, a gratitude demonstrated by an overwhelming standing ovation as he left.

We also thank our Members, our friends from the Walking Football Team and all associated with Spennymoor WMC for their continued support and for making it such an enjoyable evening. 👏👏👏

you can view more photos from the evening on our Flickr page by clicking here

We take the time to thank Nikki Hughes who has donated a fantastic £1000 to the Supporters Club funds. The donation is in honour of Nikki’s late Grandfather Fred Hughes who passed away on Christmas Eve last year. Most of you will remember Fred was a more than regular presence at matches both home and away and a staunch believer in the work of Supporters Club.

We can’t thank Nikki enough for the donation. 

Fred’s legacy was immortalised in Supporters Club history when his name was added (alongside his late partner Connie Wailes) to the Player of the Year Trophy awarded annually to the Supporters Club voted best player.

Lebrun Mbeka won the Connie Wailes & Fred Hughes Memorial Player of the Year Award voted for by Supporters Club Members. Mbeka is a popular presence at the Brewery Field and a worthy recipient of this prestigious award. He follows previous winners Joe Tait and John Lufudo.

Recently crowned league champions Spennymoor Town Walking Football Team travelled to Glasgow this week to take part in a competition against teams from Scotland. Despite needing to adapt to some differences in rules from their standard competition, they put on a good show winning 1 game drawing 2 and losing 2.

The Supporters Club are proud to sponsor the team and hope to collaborate more in the future.

Well done lads 👊🏻

Farsley fans pictured enjoying our welcome and hospitality on Saturday.

Spennymoor Town FC squeezed the brakes on their play-off charge after defeat to South Shields in the seaside sunshine.

We had every reason to be optimistic, going into the game on the back of 7 straight wins and in front of what was to be an expected strong away support. 300 to 400 Fans rattled in on trains, busses and cars hoping to be served a classic encounter from 2 of the leagues in form teams. 

Away fans were housed in a corner of the ground too small for the numbers limiting the view for many, the stadium was awkward looking, difficult to access, with catering equipped for only a small gathering rather than a thirsty army of supporters looking to make the most of the bank holiday.

The game was like the catering, luke warm and bereft of any real quality. Such a lack lustre performance from Spennymoor meant Shields needed to do very little to win comfortably thus increasing their own aspirations of a place in the play-offs.

It’s hard to criticise the team, given what we’ve seen in recent weeks, but we are fans, we pay our money, we are greedy. If you went to a restaurant, ordered steak but were served corned beef, you’d be less than pleased, no!

All is not lost however, a performance and a win on Monday against Farsley Celtic will rekindle the hope for end of season knockout football, but remember if that does happen we will come up against teams with similar qualities to Shields and a repeat of the levels shown today will definitely not be good enough. 👊🏻

The appointment of Graeme Lee is shaping up to be a shrewd piece of on field business at the Brewery Field. It was reported that Lee was a man in demand around the NLN towards the end of 2023 and no doubt the emotional connection (Graeme’s late father Tony had previously managed the Moors) played at least some part in him opting for Spennymoor ahead of the other potential suitors involved in the mid season managerial merry-go-round late last year.

As supporters or followers of football you can often sense if someone is a going to be good fit very early in to their tenure. That sense of optimism was never evident, to me at least, whilst Miller, the Salford Duo or Dickman were at the helm. Now this is not a criticism of the aforementioned or their ability, Bern and Jonno are now lifting up trees at Radcliffe, and Dickman & Miller both highly respected capable coaches quickly found themselves back in work at the same NLN level. However we only ever looked like a settled side when Jason Ainsley stepped back in to steer the ship.

Now under Graeme Lee, we are seeing shape, energy and most importantly results both welcome and deserved. Even after falling behind in games we see a response. Chances are being created, goals being scored, our goal difference is now neutral and achieved without talisman and captain Glen Taylor. Lufudo often erratic or unpredictable is now operating as a disciplined full back. Staunton has put in performances that sees him a Player of the Year candidate. A sustained run in the starting eleven has brought the best out of an often too shy Corey Mckeown. The arrival of Matty Dolan brings much needed midfield experience, he has hit the ground running, organising the younger players around him and dictating the play. The solid Pollock / Mbeka central defensive partnership instils confidence for others to take risks further up the field and the form table provides proof that Graeme Lee’s work in progress is taking shape quickly and effectively.

For much of the season fans had endured aimless performances with an expectation we’d lose creating in-house conflict between knowledgeable critics and staunch protectors of the football club. Now we enjoy a collective on field appreciation of Lee’s approach, with visits to the Brewery much less of a chore.

On behalf of Spennymoor Town FC Supporters Club and in acknowledgement of the work Graeme and his coaches have done so far, thank you for the football 👏👏