Raising the Standard: Carl Magnay on Taking South Shields to New Heights

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Full time at the First Cloud Arena, March 16th, 2025, Kidderminster Harriers travelled back to Worcester fresh off a 5-0 dismantling of South Shields, boos rang out as fans faced their worst season in over a decade.

To make things worse, Shields would fail to win another game in the National League North. Though easy on the eye, Elliot Dickman’s Mariners would huff to a disappointing 17th placed finish – only a year on from taking their play-off push to the last game of the season, in what was their Inaugural season in the Sixth Tier.

Little did the Shields faithful know, change was coming, and it came from relatively close – Six metro stations down the yellow line to be exact.

“When we were at Gateshead, we were aware that Shields were sort of creating their own story at the time, and they made a significant leap from Northern League to, to the National League North. From the outside looking in, we knew the club had a lot of potential.”

Said assistant coach Carl Magnay who, after leaving a struggling Gateshead the season before, reunited with former Heed, and more recently MK Dons coach Ian Watson. “We Almost looked at it, enviously from an infrastructure point of view” Magnay added;

“At Shields, they (were) constantly getting over 2000 fans. So, we knew it had the potential to really grip the community and get the community on board with what we try to do. We knew that there were foundations in place to kick the club to the next level.”

Carl Magnay, South Shields assistant manager. Cred: Kev Wilson Photography

One thing the duo knew they had to do that summer was get recruitment right, with players like long-serving goalkeeper Myles Boney leaving, skipper Robert Briggs joining Hebburn Town, and more – they faced a huge turnover.

“Obviously with our style of play, we need players who can do it. There’s no point trying to implement a style where, players aren’t capable of taking on what we want them to do, so there was a huge focus on recruitment”, explained Magnay.

Trying to get players to buy into a new manager is an unenviable task at best, and with the added pressures like new surroundings, there was a huge emphasis on the personalities being brought in.

“We do quite extensive due diligence on players. Because one of Ian’s big things is culture. The feedback that you get from most players that have played with Ian and Mike and me is that they have enjoyed the environment that they’ve been in. (…) We don’t just bring players in who are good players, we bring good human beings in as well. That is a huge part of why they’re there at the club.”

Keen to share his thoughts, Northeast sports writer, Mark Carruthers said:  

“It has been one of the stories of the North East non-league scene and North East football scene over the last decade.  To go from second division of the Northern League to within touching distance of the National League is no small achievement and it should never be underplayed.  Perhaps more significantly, giving the region only it’s sixth full-time men’s football club has a more permanent impact on the region as it offers more opportunities to players inside and outside of the area.” 

Providing further analysis, Mark said: “I think what Ian Watson and Carl Magnay have brought is a system and a mindset that everyone has bought into.  Obviously, the new signings will do that because they will have been vetted before signing but perhaps more importantly the existing members of the squad have bought into that as well.  It’s almost a bigger picture focus rather than solely looking at results and that is what took them so far at Gateshead.” 

Full time, South Shields vs AFC Fylde

Currently, its AFC Fylde in pole position in the National League North, with The Coasters one point above Shields. With seven games left to go, its set to be hold your breath rally between first and second.

“The most important thing for us is not to be drawn into outside noise as we call it. At this stage of the season, the position wherein, there can be a lot of focus on what other teams are doing – and how that may impact us. But from our point of view, it’s purely managing our own expectations.” Proclaimed an adamant Magnay.

Yet It’s hard not to ignore what hangs in the balance, National League football, for the first time in the clubs storied history – a monumental feat for a club that once applied their trade in the ninth tier.

“That’s the next level and we feel like the club is ready for that. We feel like I said, the infrastructure that’s here at shields, it’s ready to go into the Football League.

“It just depends on what period of time that will happen. But obviously the position we’re in, everybody wants that now. Everybody sort of expects it as well as an expectation around it. We’re aware of that. We, there’s nobody who applies that expectation level of pressure more than ourselves every single day. We feel it, you know? But that’s how we thrive.” Added an assured Magnay, with a smirk painted across his face

South Shields top goalscorer Paul Blackett after scoring against AFC Fylde. Cred: Kev Wilson Photography

At Shields, there’s a sense it extends further than promotion, with every quote, every response being it’s a matter of when, not if. With such confidence, speaking on the fifth tier, Magnay said;

“We’ve gone through this before. When we got promoted with Gateshead, on a on a modest budget, a learning curve was we started that season poorly. The National League, it is a big jump. There’s a lot of quality in there – I think now, players from the Football League, there isn’t that sort of: view of the National League that it isn’t an attractive place to go and play football.”