 | ||
| Full name | West Allotment Celtic Football Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Nickname | Allotment | |
| Founded | 1928; 97 years ago (1928) | |
| Ground | Craik Park, Morpeth[1] | |
| Capacity | 1,500 | |
| Manager | Reece Chapman[2] | |
| League | Northern League Division One | |
| 2024–25 | Northern League Division One, 19th of 22 | |
West Allotment Celtic Football Club is afootball club who based at East Palmersville Sports Pavilion, Palmersville, nearNewcastle upon Tyne,England, but are temporarily playing at Craik Park, Morpeth.[1] They are currently members of theNorthern League Division One.
Formed in 1928 inWest Allotment, a village inNorth Tyneside, the club played in junior leagues for their first 55 years. They then joined theNorthern Alliance in 1983 and won the title eight times before joining theNorthern League in 2004. The club then won the Northern League Second Division at the first attempt, gaining promotion to Division One, where they remained until 2011 when they were relegated back to Division Two. West Allotment have participated in theFA Vase since the mid-1980s and have reached the 4th round (the last 32 stage) twice in their history, in successive seasons 2003–04 and 2004–05. They entered theFA Cup for the first time in 2005–06.[3]
The club went on to achieve their highest ever finish in the English Football Pyramid following the conclusion of the 2022–23 season with the club finishing 5th in the Northern League Division One.
On 14 November 2024, the club issued a statement confirming that they were 'on the brink of folding', issuing a plea for investment.[4] Following a two week suspension of fixtures from the Northern League, the club announced that following a strong response from the community, they would be able to resume fixtures.[5]
In 2001, the club moved to Whitley Park in Benton, North Tyneside after having acted as tenants at Hillheads inWhitley Bay (also in North Tyneside) from 1995. Allotment were to stay there until the end of the 2016/17 season. The club subsequently found another new home, this time outside North Tyneside at Druid Park,Woolsington inNewcastle upon Tyne, formerly the base of the long defunctNewcastle Blue Star. The move caused the financial situation to worsen and the club nearly withdrew from the Northern League as a result.
For the beginning of the 2020–21 season, West Allotment would play their home games at Newcastle Benfield's Sam Smith's Park. Shortly into the season, West Allotment announced that they would be moving to East Palmersville Sports Pavilion which would be their new permanent home. A ground that they would share with Northern Alliance club, Forest Hall.
Due to the 2020–21 Northern League season being curtailed early due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this meant that the club would have to wait a little bit longer to play their first game in their new home. However, it was announced that the club would be promoted meaning that Allotment would be returning to the Northern League Division One for the 2021–22 season. West Allotment Celtic would go on to play their first competitive game in their new home againstThornaby in the Northern League Division One in August 2021 - A game that finished 5–3 to Thornaby.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)55°0′35.197″N1°33′49.342″W / 55.00977694°N 1.56370611°W /55.00977694; -1.56370611