North East non league clubs leading the way again. Once upon a time this signified how strong we were as a football region, now I'm not so sure.

Fookin Stockport and Leyton Orient, I thought they were in the shit as well? but could still end up at Wembley , just like Darlo and York

The Buildbase FA Vase semi-final draw
1 Marske United v Stockton Town
2 Thatcham Town v 1874 Northwich

The Buildbase FA Trophy semi-final draw
1 Stockport County or Brackley Town v Wealdstone
2 Bromley or Spennymoor Town v Leyton Orient or Gateshead

The idea that the NE is a hotbed of football is complete nonsense. Compared to say the South coast, a coldbed of football, the region is rubbish and has been for decades. To deny this is a case of self delusion.

The title of the post was taken from a book written in the early 60s The hotbed of football by Arthur Appleton. He really thought it was a footballing hotbed, and to be fair in the years that preceded the book it could be argued it was, our big 3 mainstays in the 1st Division, Newcastle serial cup finalists, Sunderland bank of England club, and Middlesbrough, well they were just Wilf Mannion. The North East was booming, an industrial powerhouse and all big 3 clubs drew big crowds. Hartlepool, Darlington and Gateshead were all league clubs, and in the past even Durham, Ashington and South Shields had previously been in the football league. The area exported players all over the country, in fact I'm sure I read once that in the 50s it was said a fifth of all players playing league football originated from the North East. The areas non league clubs, in particular Bishop Auckland , Crook and Willington regularly played at Wembley in the FA Amateur cup.

Ironically at the time the book was written the NE industrially and as a region was in decline, and its no coincidence that its football clubs went into decline also. In that time Newcastle have only won the fairs cup in 1969, , Sunderland a one off cup win in 1973 and Boro finally winning their first real trophy in the form of the league cup in was it 2006. Since then Newcastle appear to be perennial premier league strugglers whilst Sunderland and Middlesbrough have become just yo-yo clubs. Gateshead lost their league status in 1960 and Pools and Darlo are now also non league clubs.

Has politics and economics got anything to do with football?

Clearly for obvious reasons we are not the force we once were, but to be honest, even during the heady days after the Second World War our supposed dominance didn't yield the success on the field it maybe should of. The jury is out on that one, but its certainly not the hotbed of football nowadays.

Look at some of the best and most successful managers of the 1960s and 1970s - Brian Clough, Don Revie, Harry Catterick, Bob Paisley, Bobby Robson etc. All North Eastern lads.

Around half a century ago maybe we were a hotbed of football but it is 2018 and things change.
North West and London are the only regions/areas worthy of the hotbed title.

The economic argument is part of it, I think part as well is the abolition of the maximum wage for players in the late 50s - up to that point, there was less motivation for players to leave for richer clubs/areas - if anything the opposite, as it would be cheaper to say live in Preston than London, so the likes of Tom Finney would stay there. Similarly in the North-East -the only motivation to move would be better chance of winning medals.... Also the clubs held the whip hand in terms of player registration until about the same sort of time - they couldn't even force moves by refusing to play (Mannion tried this, and was fined by the League....) Once these were less of a factor, players began to move more and staying in the NE became less attractive; the collapse of industry then meant fewer wealthy benefactors, less gate money etc. How many fans did Boro have just before they went pop in '86? Well under 10,000 attendances....

Newcastle really should be competitive given their fanbase, but the rest....

We're sort of a hotbed in some senses, but there seem to be some natural limits to that - listening to the Non-League Show the other week, they were talking to the chairman of Morpeth - the Northern League is being told that clubs won't be allowed to turn down promotion to Northern Premier 1, but the increase in travelling distances and hence budget are so huge he's worried that promotion will basically put them out of business. So you end up with a competitive league in the area, but clubs running into trouble if they climb higher up the pyramid - wasn't this one of the reasons the NL refused to join the pyramid for many years? We've got good grass roots football, but it all tails off once you get into NPL - only the bigger clubs (or with a backer) can survive there. Below Conf National, there are three in NL North (plus Harrogate and York), just Whitby in NPL Premier, and even NPL North 1 only has two NE teams....

not just london but the south east in general is the boom area for football. plenty clubs down there in all leagues with big financial backing. its just that all the wealth is down there and the north east in serous decline even before the 60,s.

I read a book last year called Up There which is s much more up to date version of events and a good read.