Former Newcastle United academy star set for release after explosive interview slamming club takeover

Gateshead started 2025 just two points off the top of the table and comfortably inside the play-off places in the National League. But a run of five wins in their final 22 games saw The Heed drop out of the play-offs with a 0-0 draw at home to Southend United on the final day, confirming an eighth-placed finish.

Gateshead started the season in excellent form under former Newcastle United goalkeeper Rob Elliot. But The Tynesiders ended up losing Elliot and his coaching staff to Crawley Town as well as several key players.

A potential takeover from a consortium led by former Sunderland and Everton striker Victor Anichebe has had an unsettling impact behind the scenes at the club. Unfortunately, it reared its head on the pitch.

Last season, Gateshead finished in the play-off places but were denied from competing as they had not met the Football League’s ground ownership requirements. The club had not secured a suitable agreement with Gateshead Council over their tenancy at the Gateshead International Stadium.

While that situation had since been resolved, it ultimately didn’t matter as the club missed out on a top-seven finish despite spending the vast majority of the season inside the play-off places.

And Gateshead captain Greg Olley, who has been injured for the majority of the campaign, expressed his frustrations in an explosive interview with the club’s official media channel.

Assessing the issues at Gateshead, Olley said: “I think you could go back to the end of last season with the Council debacle and that I probably know fine well that it wasn't the Council's fault as to why we didn't get in the playoffs.

“Stuff was out of the Council's hands, and they didn't want to budge and give us the lease because of the relationship they had with Gateshead FC.

“At the end of the day, the Council took that on their back and probably took the weight off a lot of the people at this club's shoulders. So that's the start of that.

“Then we obviously win at Wembley [in the FA Trophy] and that's probably the best day of our careers but that just is a big shadow over what happened two weeks prior. It's hard to get your head around because obviously we as a changing room and the staff work so, so hard to get where we are but there's really no help from anywhere, it's just us.”

A club ‘meltdown’

Olley joined Gateshead back in 2018 and has since made over 200 appearances for the club. After a difficult first season that saw Gateshead relegated for breaching the National League’s financial regulations, the club were taken over by a consortium led by Neil Pinkerton and Gateshead Soul Supporters Society in 2019.

The takeover led to arguably one of the best periods in Gateshead’s recent history as they won the National League North to secure promotion before reaching the FA Trophy final twice in two seasons, winning the competition for the first time last year.

“Unfortunately that's just the way this club's been for the last six, seven years since I've been here,” Olley said. “Obviously the ship got steadied at the start after [Former Gateshead de facto owner Joseph] Cala and stuff like that but this season I've never seen a club meltdown as bad.

“The season starts and then we're obviously flying, we've got some amazing players, the team's gelling, we're playing some really good football and then January comes along and obviously there's sniffs with different managers at different clubs and it's kind of always expected that bigger teams are going to take your bigger players and that is football.

“But I genuinely felt like we had something special and you don't need to get rid of those players or lose those players. Callum Whelan was huge, Owen Oseni was huge. I think both probably would have wanted to stay but have decided to leave and that's just the nature of football which is hard because why can't we keep good players?

“At the end of the day losing those players in January really has killed us and then can you say we've reinvested that money? I don't think so, I don't know where this money goes we've never had like a major signing come in, we've never really bolstered the squad and then obviously Carl [Magnay, manager] has been left with all of this too.

“Obviously he's my gaffer but I'm talking to Carl as a friend here, he has been through the mill this season, fans won't understand, they won't see the backlash he gets on Twitter, it's just not justified at all, his hands are firmly tied behind his back, he has no help from above, he's got the new takeover lingering which I'll get on to, so he's getting pressure from all angles.”

Gateshead’s proposed takeover by former Sunderland striker

Olley went on to hit out at the potential takeover led by Anichebe for causing a ‘divide’ in the squad. The takeover was expected to happen quickly, but the situation remains uncertain now that the season has ended.

“This has been lingering over us for four or five months now,” Olley added. “We were told at the start this was going to be the fastest takeover ever in football history, which obviously if you hear rumours of a takeover, your interest spikes, but obviously the club managed to hide all of that and no one really found out until about a month ago.

“You talk about contributing factors to why players aren't playing well, why the club's not thriving and yeah it's a massive factor, after two or three months of hearing whispers about it happening and it's still not happened and it's still not happened, you've got new owners bringing lads in, speaking to players and then you've also got the people at the top right now trying to potentially stay on and you just hear so many different rumours and potentially being lied to constantly about what's happening.

“Then the new owner coming into the changing room when he hasn't officially took over the club and talking to all of us as a team, saying what he expects, what he wants, but the fact of the matter was he hasn't even taken over yet, so how has he been allowed to come in, unsettle the dressing room, to then talk about who he's wanting to keep on next year, who he wants to build around?

“There's almost been a little bit of a divide in the camp until the last few weeks when we've tried to resolve it and bring us all back together but it's been tarnished for a while now, for a few months.”

Greg Olley set to leave Gateshead as things stand

Olley is hailed as a Gateshead legend by supporters, but is out of contract and set to leave the club as things stand with no talks over a new deal taking place.

The 29-year-old explained: “As I'm speaking right now, I’m officially out of contract, along with probably 10 or 12 lads. A few have options that the club hold, but there has not been one single talk between me and this football club to continue at this football club.

“I've been here seven years now, I've given my all, I've ruptured ligaments in tackles, I've broke my leg, I've won at Wembley, won the league, took wage cuts the first two years I was here, just to help the club survive.

“Now I'm being treat like probably something on the bottom of your shoe, and I won't swear. I've asked the question however umpteen times, what is going on, haven't had a proper answer yet, so yeah at the minute this is where we're at, I've tried my best for the other lads in the team to know what's going on, I haven't had the answer.

“Who is going to give me the answer, I have no idea. Is it the new owners, is it the old owners, no idea. So yeah, at the minute it's been a pleasure and I've loved playing for Gateshead, I'll probably be a fan for life but there's a very sour note in the air at the minute.”