Raising the Standard: Carl Magnay on Taking South Shields to New Heights
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Md2-2GGE9Y Word count: 1,008 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 […]
Fanzines: Dissecting Football’s Forgotten Era of Literature.
In the 1980s/90s football fanzines were common place at football grounds with 1,816 having been produced at some point. Now the 75 that are left continuing the tradition are facing an uncertain future. In this article, Spark’s Ciaran Myers speaks to those involved in fanzines to find out why they were so important and what […]
Sunderland’s ‘adopted Mackem’ Lynden Gooch talks through his 17-year Sunderland Career
Lynden Gooch first visited Wearside at the age of 10 years-old, 17 years later he departed widely known as an ‘adopted Mackem’, representing Sunderland 247 times, scoring the winning goal in Sunderland’s first Wembley win since 1973 and restored the club back into the second tier. Spark Sunderland has had the opportunity to speak to Gooch and talk through his […]
Review: Blood Brothers at the Sunderland Empire
Willie Russell’s world renowned musical Blood Brothers visits the Sunderland Empire this week, running from 17th March to 21st March. Since its debut at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1983 it has been a fan favourite, running in London’s West End for over 24 years and touring the country numerous times. It includes iconic heartfelt songs […]
Waitress celebrates its 10th year of production at Sunderland Empire
The hit musical Waitress is coming to Sunderland Empire from 4 – 9 May, 2026, to celebrate its 10th year of production since it first opened on Broadway on April 24, 2016. Producers Barry & Fran Weissler and David Ian have recently announced their brand-new cast. Mark Wilshire will reprise his role as Earl from […]