South Shields chairman opens up on Kevin Phillips' exit, budget talks and Julio Arca appointment

Just under a month has passed since Sunderland legend Kevin Phillips led the club to a long-awaited Northern Premier League title win in his first full season in charge at the 1st Cloud Arena.  However, just days after bringing the season to a close, the Mariners confirmed they had mutually agreed to part company with the former England striker in a move that surprised many onlookers from outside of the North East.

Speculation over Phillips future had been ongoing for a number of weeks before the final decision was made to bring an end to his 15-month reign.  Thompson revealed the duo had held an ‘amicable conversation’ over what would lie ahead for the club before parting on good terms when it became evident their views on the next steps differed.

He told The Gazette: “I’ve said already what happened with Kevin and rightly thanked him for what he achieved for us last year.  But we had an amicable conversation and there was a view that Kevin perhaps wanted a little bit more than I could deliver for next year.

“I’ve been trying to say publicly that doesn’t mean we’ve lost any ambition somehow, it’s not that at all.  It’s just that there was a bit of a gap between what I could deliver and what Kevin was looking for.  It’s quite clear Kevin’s star is in the ascendency and I am sure there are other opportunities for him.  I don’t think that was a driver for him to go but I just think for all of those reasons combined it was time to shake hands and part as friends.”

A number of factors led to an influx of applications to fill the vacancy left behind by Phillips’ departure.

During Thompson’s eight-year ownership of the club, successive management teams have always been well-backed in the transfer market and have been handed budgets in excess of their league rivals at several levels of the non-league pyramid.  The decision to move to a full-time, professional status last year and the impressive infrastructure now in place at the club will also be attractive features for possible candidates.

Despite receiving applications from around the country and worldwide, Thompson opted for familiarity, as former Mariners star Julio Arca was handed the chance to get his managerial career underway at a club he helped to three promotions and six trophy wins during a three-year spell at the end of his playing days.

Thompson explained: “When the news was announced about Kevin going, I was absolute inundated with applications and expressions of interest and I went on record thanking all of those individuals.

‘It would be wrong to name them, but there was a myriad of very capable candidates that expressed an interest from far and wide, even internationally, which was quite staggering.  I think it was just timing, I’d kept in touch with Julio, he’d seen a few games here, we’d spoken about a role in the academy, so there were already discussions so when Kevin and I decided to part company, he was the natural first-choice.  

“His connections with the club, the North East and all of the characteristics and attributes he shows.  Time will tell, but I am very confident him and Tommy will be a great team and we have a very exciting season ahead of us.”

Thompson had only been Mariners owner for a matter of months when then-manager Jon King made the surprise move to persuade Arca out of retirement and make him part of a squad that was then competing in the Northern League’s second tier.  But the Argentinean and Mariners supremo forged a strong bond in the years that passed that has left the latter in no doubt he has made the right move in appointing Arca as his club’s new manager.

“Obviously I knew him as a player and what a real talisman he was for us then.  Then and now, he has a real level of professionalism, he’s very thorough in how he conducts himself and how he behaves, he’s a real perfectionist and again, as with Kevin, he hasn’t had managerial experience yet but we are going to support him with somebody who has.

“The combination of Julio and Tommy will be a really strong combination and I am sure, going back to Julio, all of those characteristics he has shown as a player will be shown as a manager.”

Arca’s first steps in management will see his side compete alongside a whole host of former Football League clubs in the National League North as South Shields take their place alongside the likes of Kidderminster Harriers, Hereford and Boston United in non-league’s second tier.  Local derbies against Spennymoor Town, Darlington and a Blyth Spartans side managed by Arca’s former South Shields boss Graham Fenton also in wait.

The second tier of the non-league game is notorious for big budgets and big-name clubs and the move into the division means the Mariners will not start the season as a favourite for promotion for the first time under Thompson’s ownership.  

Ambition and a drive to succeed remain strong at the 1st Cloud Arena and the Mariners owner insisted the club will be ready to compete and continue their remarkable journey up the non-league system when the new season gets underway in August.

He said: “We have a sensible budget available, which has been agreed with Julio, and there is money available to bring in new talent and clearly there will be some of that during the close-season.

“For a number of years there has been an expectation from Shields fans that we would win the league, and yes, we have spent time getting out of this league, but there was always an expectation that we were the big fish, a big club, a big budget and we would always get promoted.

“A lot of those conditions no longer apply.  There are big clubs in the National League North, a lot of big clubs with bigger budgets so yes, we have that ambition and desire to succeed.  There will be no lack of effort, there is a sensible level of financial resource.  We won’t have the biggest budget, but that doesn’t mean we won’t give it our best shot next season.”