'A massive honour' - Aidan Heywood proud to be named new Hebburn Town captain

Hebburn Town defender Aidan Heywood has expressed his pride at being named as new Hornets captain ahead of the new Northern Premier League season.

The former Team Northumbria defender returned to his hometown club from Shildon during the summer of 2023 as he become one of Daniel Moore’s first signings as he prepared for his second season in charge of the club. Heywood helped Hebburn to their dramatic Northern Premier League East title win during his first season in yellow and black and was part of the side that preserved their place in the Premier Division last season.

The departure of former captain and top goalscorer Amar Purewal to step three rivals Stockton Town last month left Moore with a big decision to make over who would be new skipper - and he has now handed the armband to Heywood after praising the full-back’s leadership skills.

The decision means the former Hebburn Town Juniors defender will complete the journey from representing the club at youth level to leading them in the Northern Premier League - and he reflected on where his career has taken him from his early years as a Hornet.

He said: “It’s a massive honour for me. This is my hometown club. Being named captain is a very proud achievement and I’m delighted to take it on. I feel like I’ve led on and off the pitch over the last two years without the armband. I’ve had that conversation with the gaffer - it’s important to have a lot of leaders within the squad and a lot of the lads have been captains elsewhere, so I think it bodes really well for us. Hebburn Town means a lot to me. It’s a community, from the first team to the juniors. It’s where I’m from and to now be captain, it’s a huge honour.”

“We want to be competing at the top”

Heywood will lead a Hornets squad that has already been boosted with the addition of three new faces since the end of last season.

Newton Aycliffe midfielder Ethan Wood become Moore’s first summer signing last month and he was quickly followed by former duo Gary Martin and Jack Foalle as they joined Hebburn from Bishop Auckland and Morpeth Town respectively. More signings are expected before the new season gets underway in August and Heywood is relishing the opportunity to guide his side into their second year as a step three club.

The Hornets skipper said: “We’ve made three good signings and I’m looking forward to playing with them. I’ve played against Ethan Wood and Jack Foalle a lot over the years. I haven’t met Gary Martin yet but I know a lot of lads at Bishop Auckland rated him highly. They’re three experienced players and they all bring different attributes which we probably lacked last year. We want to be competing at the top as Hebburn should be. I play football to win games and that’s the mentality this club has been built from over the last few years. We want to reward the supporters. We go to a lot of grounds against thousands of fans, but we enjoy that adversity and we want to win games together as a club.”

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