Mark Carruthers: North East Non-League Christmas chaos – titanic clashes and relegation drama

The Northern Premier League East Division always looked like it was going to be an intriguing division for North East Non-League fans.

With compulsory promotion now in full swing for a number of years, representation from the region in Non-League’s fourth tier has increased and there are now as many as nine North East clubs in the division.

To their credit, Redcar Athletic appear well on their way to following the likes of South Shields, Darlington and Morpeth Town in making a quickfire jump from Northern League to Step 3 in consecutive seasons.

That should be no surprise given the high calibre squad assembled by Carl Jarrett, one of the region’s best Non-League managers over the last decade.

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Promising

Many will point to the established players that have been tempted to Redcar by Jarrett – but that ignores the underlying current of promising youngsters who can develop with the club and push their way up the Non-League pyramid.

I’ve never been short in eulogising over Dunston UTS and Heaton Stannington, two clubs well known for their hospitality and warm welcome – but also two sides that have enjoyed historic success in recent years.

It is no surprise to see Dunston in the promotion mix as they look to make it third-time lucky after suffering penalty shoot-out defeats in the last two East Division play-off finals.

However, to see The Stan now within touching distance of the top five could be considered something of a surprise, as the momentum caused by a historic season last time out has spilled over into the current campaign.

Bleak

Yet elsewhere in the division, the picture is as bleak as the winter darkness for the North East, with six clubs from the region now occupying places in the bottom seven.

All four relegation spots were taken up by North East clubs ahead of this weekend’s fixtures and it seems all but certain that a number of them will fall back into the Northern League this season.

There are reasons behind their struggles and they range from an ongoing struggle to arrest an almost unstoppable downward momentum to questionable recruitment and naivety in key moments of games.

The second half of the season will not be for the faint-hearted, with as many as 12 clubs in the mix for relegation and some truly titanic clashes are on the horizon over the festive period.

Blockbuster

Unsurprisingly, during that time, several major North East derbies will take place, and that includes a historic start to 2026 as current basement club Blyth Spartans face second from bottom Blyth Town in a league fixture for the first time.

It is hard to know whether the derby fixtures involving the North East’s relegation battlers can be viewed as a Christmas treat – or something akin to waking up to a sack of coal under the tree on Christmas Day.

Yet what we do know is that we will know a lot more about the prospects of those clubs at the bottom end of the table once the decorations come down and the darkness of January envelopes us all.

Settle down and get comfortable because this potentially defining period of the season is going to be more dramatic than any blockbuster shown on our television screens this Christmas.

READ MORE: Mark Carruthers: Can Marc Nash restore Blyth Spartans’ lost aura?