Craig McFarlane, Whitley’s longest serving player who first arrived at Hillheads twelve years ago, has been discussing the club’s plans for the future under new management duo Derek Forrest and Tony Fawcett. The popular 32 year old defender, also very effective as an attacking wing back, has made 370 appearances for the club, scoring 33 goals, and was named club captain at the start of last season.
Clearly disappointed with his 2019/20 campaign, he is looking forward with much more optimism to when football eventually returns. “I’m delighted to have agreed my one year option for the coming season. having spent some time on a Zoom call with Tony and Derek, it was clear to me that their plans were something I wanted to be part of.
“Last season for me was a particularly poor one having endured a number of injuries and missed a few games through weddings and holidays, so it was difficult to get in any sort of rhythm. So when I heard the season would be cut short it was a relief to me if I’m honest.
“It’s promising to see that Derek & Tony have already made the move to bring in some additional experience who have had success at this level and know what it takes to win the Northern League, which is something the team has lacked in recent years in my opinion.
“We have a lot of exceptional talent such as Lewis Orrell, Dan Lister, Luke Taylor & Michael Colquhoun who will certainly benefit from having these sorts of players alongside them just as I did with the likes of Leon Ryan, Damon Robson & Paul Chow.
“The club is certainly taking the right steps on getting Whitley Bay FC back where we belong and that’s challenging higher up the table and winning trophies, and I believe this coming season (whenever that may be) will be the start of this.
Fitness should not be a problem for Craig when training resumes as he is currently in the middle of a fundraising cycling challenge to complete 500 miles in a month. Raising funds for the Alzheimers Society in memory of his Grandad, Craig is well on the way to his target having completed 306 miles with two weeks still to go. He has set up a Just Giving page and would be extremely grateful for any further donations.
