Non-league club put up for sale by owner due to cancer diagnosis… but he still sacked ex-Premier League star
A HEARTBROKEN non-league owner put the football club up for sale following his diagnosis for cancer.
Now he is hoping Taylor Swift or Beyonce make a takeover swoop.
Geoff Thompson sacked his manager and ex-Middlesbrough man Julio Arca on Wednesday.
The Argentine – who replaced Kevin Phillips in the summer – had managed one win in his last seven games in charge and was given the boot following the Boxing Day defeat to Blyth Spartans.
But Thompson, 61, had already decided to prioritise his health and family as he now listens to offers for the National League North side who have enjoyed four promotions in eight seasons – plus another curtailed by Covid.
The local businessman, who founded energy broker firm Utilitywise in 2006, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in March after being called in for a routine check-up at his new doctor’s surgery.
Thompson, who took over at South Shields in 2015, told Yahoo Sport: “I’m doing it with a heavy heart.
“We have made good progress with promotions and investment in infrastructure but, unfortunately, I got a cancer diagnosis this time last year, completely out of the blue.
“I had surgery in March. I’m not completely out of the woods. I hope the surgery has been a success, but I’m still being tested and there is always the risk of a recurrence. I hope not.
“When I found out the predicament the team were in 2015, homeless, exiled to playing our games in front of 200 people in Peterlee, which is 30 miles south. The club was on the brink of extinction. I couldn’t stand by and let that happen.
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“We’ve had four promotions, we have saved the club from oblivion.
“We’ve invested in infrastructure. We’ve got a 3G pitch, a separate training ground, and a new stand built. Emotionally and financially I’ve been totally invested.
“I have to recalibrate and rethink how I’m spending my time and what my priorities are. I’m hoping I’m going to be cured, but you don’t know for sure. It’s made me reassess my life I suppose.
“I do feel my health and my age, I’m coming up to 62, it’s time to hand the baton on to someone else.
“I would have given it a few more years but I’ve got to be loyal to my wife, Andrea, my kids and my eight grandchildren..”
Thomspon was born and raised in the north-east and stayed local by attending both Sunderland and Newcastle Universities before setting up his business in the area.
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And though he is desperate to see South Shields’ football team continue to thrive, he recognised he had to hand over that responsibility for his own good.
Thompson publicly put South Shields on the market in October but, despite some interest, the right offer has not come in yet.
He added: “It’s about that cliche I suppose. I’m a local businessman who has done pretty well and I wanted to give something back to my local community.
“Unfortunately, I’ve had the rug pulled from under me. I’d like to think we have a club that is worth buying.
“My view has always been that the club belongs at the very least in the National League and possibly the EFL. It was never some blind ambition or ego trip, it’s about getting to where I felt we belonged.
“We’ve had a couple of approaches. But what grabs the headlines is what has happened at a club like Wrexham.
“I’m not talking to a Ryan Reynolds type, unfortunately, but there is a lot of interest in English football clubs in America.
“But, no, we’re not talking to a Beyonce or a Taylor Swift, although we’d be more than happy to do so. That would be wonderful.”