As Spartans make their final preparations to welcome FC United of Manchester to Croft Park, assistant manager Tom Wade has stressed the importance of the Croft Park faithful to his side. With the teams set to face each other for the first time there is certain to be a big crowd to witness the fixture. The Rebels are well known for taking a large contingent of away followers to away grounds and Wade feels that Spartans own support can help their side make it eight games unbeaten on their home patch. He said “It’s a big game for everyone and we also have three massive games at Croft Park coming up. We need the fans behind us more than ever and we know they are always there for us. We need that to carry on and get a decent size crowd in there. The supporters need to know how vital they are to us all at the club.”
Wade praised the reaction of the Green Army in recent weeks and pointed to a reaction in adversity to show how the players and coaching staff have benefited from their backing. “The biggest indication of what they can do for us was the way they reacted to the defeat at Worksop a few weeks back. We came back expecting the crowd to have a vocal opinion of what happened and rightly so but they were tremendous and helped us get a result against Stafford. The reaction of the crowd settled the lads down, we all thought we would get a lot of stick and we deserved it but what we got was the complete opposite. The supporters were behind us from the first minute and I honestly think that’s the reason we have gone on a nice run at home. The players know the supporters are right behind them and that’s a big thing for everyone at the club.”
Wade did sympathise with the supporters after a turbulent couple of years at the club and with the festive period getting closer. “We need to get the floating supporters back and we can only do that by winning games in the right manner. We know it’s very hard at the moment for everyone. Christmas is getting closer, money is always tight and there are lots of games coming up but the twelfth man at Blyth Spartans is and always has been the supporters and we are desperate for them to get behind us and it is appreciated.”
Since Atkinson and Wade took over the helm at Spartans they are undefeated at Croft Park with Chorley the last side to leave with all three points in mid-September and Wade is keen to base a successful season on his side’s home form. Drawing on past experience as an opposing manager Wade knows how Croft Park can be intimidating for visiting sides and is keen to maintain that standard. He said “Croft Park has always been a fortress for the club, admittedly over the last two, maybe three seasons it has become a soft touch. When I was managing with other clubs it was always a fear of the crowd and you would say to your side we need to quieten the crowd to have a chance. At the minute the crowd are doing excellent things for us and we need to keep that twelfth man working.”