Blyth Spartans and Non-League legend Robbie Dale has signed on for his 17th season at Croft Park.
Honoured as one of The NLP‘s Non-League Icon this year despite Spartans struggling in the National League North drop zone, Dale committed to another campaign on Thursday.
The 35-year-old told fans he’s looking forward to adding to his club-record 680 appearances and 212 goals since his making his debut over 15 years ago and scoring a memorable hat-trick against Wakefield and Emley.
Dale told blythspartans.com: “It’ll be nice to see everybody and play some games – hopefully that will be a sign of when life is back to normal. Last year wasn’t good enough. From top to bottom, we’ve got a lot of things we need to put right and we’ve all got a responsibility to make that better.
? Robbie Dale has extended his stay at Blyth Spartans into a 17th consecutive season
?? https://t.co/zu4jeMyRDM#HowayBlyth https://t.co/9h9cJoMgxx
— Blyth Spartans (@Blyth_Spartans) June 10, 2020
“We can’t go through what happened last year. It is not nice for anyone involved – that includes fans, players, board and management. We’ve got to take it on the chin and come back stronger.”
The forward pledged his future to Spartans alongside Rhys Evans, Kris Thackray and Corey McKeown as the club awaits confirmation of its league status for next season.
He added: “It’s awkward to try and prepare for next season but I’ve been impressed with Micky. He seems like a good man and he’s got ideas.
“Hopefully when we get back to training, everyone will come back focussed and get off to a good start – whenever the season begins.
“We didn’t do that last season during the first 10 games and we were playing catch up. We can’t afford to do that.”
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