Gateshead have had their Fifa-imposed ban on registering new players lifted.

The ban had been imposed last month and concerned a historic transfer issue, but it has now been resolved, the club has said.

"I am now pleased to say that official confirmation has been received from Fifa and we are good to go with registering our new signings," said, external chairman Bernard McWilliams.

The club can now step up preparations for the National League season under new manager Alun Armstrong, which begins on 9 August.

Chesterfield 5-0 Burton. Over 2k fans and a cracking friendly. Bonis looks a beast, Dibley Dias looked terrific and Stirk looked a good addition. Big problem recognizing all the new faces as the wire squad numbers that didn't tally with the team sheet but who cares .

Grimsby Town boss David Artell has signed a new deal to keep him at the club until the end of the 2027-28 season.

The 44-year-old former Crewe Alexandra manager took over at Blundell Park in November 2023 after Paul Hurst was sacked.

He led them to ninth in League Two last season, two points off a play-off place.

"We've made great progress, and I hope we can continue this positive trajectory into the new season and beyond," he told the club website.

See the BBC still has a sense of humour, Wayne Rooney taking over from Gary Lineker as presenter.
Wayne bloody Sleep has more personality and can at least speak English. Glad I don't watch it.

Albion kicked off their pre season friendliest today at the training ground in Walsall.
We played league one Port Vale behind closed doors, it finished 2-0, Bany scored the first, can’t remember the second. Ryan played 24 players, mixture of both senior and junior players in both halves. Nat Phillips made his debut.
Hopefully he got a good look at what we have.

To complete the record, Issac Price feed Bostock for the second.

Morecambe owner Jason Whittingham has sacked the club's board a day after they said they would place the club in administration if it was not sold.

The beleaguered Lancashire club's board put two statements out on Tuesday that gave Whittingham's Bond Group Investments until 18:00 BST to complete a protracted sale to Panjab Warriors.

However, the deal was not finalised and Whittingham has now said he has "started the process to dismiss the board of directors with immediate effect in order that we can take control over the situation".

He added this would give the Bond Group "the required additional time to ensure that the club has the best chance to avoid administration".

The Shrimps will play in the National League next season after they were relegated from League Two.

Morecambe's MP Lizzi Collinge said on Monday that Bond Group should "get on with" the deal to sell the 105-year-old club.

On Tuesday the directors initially released a statement saying they would give Whittingham until 16:00 BST, before allowing an extra two hours after "new information came to light".

This second deadline passed without the sale going through and in a third statement of the day, the board said that they would be contacting administrators "at the earliest opportunity", external on Wednesday.

Whittingham, who said the club was at a "crisis point" but denied claims he was stalling on the deal, said there would be further communication on Thursday.

Morecambe misery continues
Whittingham, who oversaw the takeover of the club in 2018, previously told BBC Radio Lancashire that he "could not wait to get out" of the then League Two club in an interview in January.

Since then the club, which reached League One in 2021, have been relegated from the English Football League (EFL), meaning they will play in the National League next season for the first time since 2007.

The deal to sell the club to Panjab Warriors was approved by the EFL earlier in June.

Panjab Warriors said last week they had already paid £3.8m to Bond Group, alongside a separate payment of £630,000 to clear outstanding loans against the club.

The group claimed they had also loaned a further £1.7m to the club over the past 14 months to "ensure its ongoing survival".

Mansfield Town manager Nigel Clough has signed a new two-year contract at the One Call Stadium.

After arriving in November 2020, Clough guided Mansfield to League One in 2023-24 before securing a 17th-placed finish last season.

Owners John and Carolyn Radford said they were "delighted" the former Derby County, Sheffield United and Burton Albion boss has committed his future to the club.

"The progress the club has made during his time as manager is unparalleled in the modern era at Mansfield Town and we feel that we're building something special with Nigel at the helm," they said, external.

"He is a man of principle and integrity and his drive, determination and will-to-win for Mansfield Town is relentless.

"Nigel has helped foster a remarkable spirit within the club and is someone with whom the supporters connect.

"We will continue to offer all the support we can to help him and his staff in our pursuit for progress."

Forest Green Rovers have appointed former Wales midfielder Robbie Savage as their new manager, after Steve Cotterill was sacked last week.

Savage, who played for Leicester, Derby, Blackburn and Birmingham among others during his career, has been managing non-league side Macclesfield FC since 2024.

Cotterill's departure from the National League club was confirmed on Thursday, after the side missed out on promotion through the play-offs last season.

"I feel I have an opportunity to develop a squad to create an attacking brand of football - an aggressive form of football to try and get Forest Green back into the EFL," Savage said in a club statement.

"I want a fast, exciting style but the most important thing is to win games."

Forest Green finished third in the National League last season but were beaten by seventh-placed Southend in the play-offs on penalties, to miss out on a place in the Wembley final.

Savage links up with former Wales team-mate Mark Bowen at the Bolt New Lawn, who was appointed Forest Green's director of football last month. They have not disclosed the length of his contract.

His son, Charlie Savage, also had a spell on loan at Forest Green during the second half of the 2023-24 campaign, scoring one goal in 15 games.

The appointment is the 50-year-old's first in management in the top five tiers of English football.

However, last season he won promotion to the National League North with Macclesfield - where he has had an association since 2020 - during his first campaign in charge, with the club clinching the Northern Premier League Premier Division title with six games to spare.

Savage said at the time it would take "an awful lot" for him to leave for another club.

A Macclesfield statement, external said the departure of Savage was "disappointing" but that he leaves with "our very best wishes and eternal gratitude for everything that he has done for our football club".

Savage won the first of his 39 caps for Wales in 1995 after beginning his playing career at Manchester United, although he failed to break into the first team at Old Trafford.

He went on to play more than 600 games across the EFL and Premier League in a 17-year career, which began at Crewe, before he signed for Leicester in 1997, where he played more than 200 games and won the League Cup.

He played for Birmingham before joining Blackburn in a deal worth £3m in 2005 and ended his career at Derby in 2011.

Aged 45, Savage made a brief one-game comeback for non-league outfit Stockport Town in 2019 but has predominantly been working as a media pundit.

Savage becomes Forest Green's seventh manager since 2022, following Rob Edwards, Ian Burchnall, Duncan Ferguson, David Horseman, Troy Deeney and Cotterill.

Emley today. Anybody going?

June 28: Emley (a)
July 8: Barrow (Canalside)
July 16: Young Boys (Austria)
July 19: Furth (Austria)
July 26: Burnley (Accu Stadium)

Not enough stripes let alone blue dye in my opinion. Why we have to have a different shade of blue every season beats me. Royal Blue please and stick to it.

https://www.htafc.com/news/2025/june/27/...unveiled-/



What do you think?