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The National League Side Who Are Sleepwalking to Relegation

Gateshead FC have had a difficult few years, and this season faced an uphill struggle to consolidate their place in the National League following a failed takeover which left them in limbo.

But even with such a difficult situation on their plate, nobody anticipated just how badly the campaign would play out for Alun Armstrong's men.

Today Gateshead lost yet another game, a home fixture against Eastleigh which saw them fall, with little but a whimper, to a 3-1 defeat with 10 men for the majority of the second half.

And with that, The Heed are currently second from the bottom of the division, a point off Brackley Town and the safety that encompasses that position, albeit with a game in hand.

But if the current form is anything to go by, that game in hand will mean absolutely nothing.

The Tynesiders are in a dismal spell which sees them without a win in nine games in all competitions and on a nine-game losing streak in the National League.

Dismal Reading, Dismal Performances

It was well documented that it was going to be a largely gritty battle if Gateshead were to do anything.

Senior players left in the summer with the uncertainty around the club, meaning it was impossible to justify staying, and those leavers were replaced most commonly with inexperienced youngsters receiving their first taste of professional football.

This has seen the thin squad struggle to provide the quality needed to put together any sort of points-worthy performance at any point, which is reflected in the table.

For the fans, it has been an absolute embarrassment, and although those other factors have been at play, a lack of fight, desire and effort has characterised the on-pitch showings.

Armstrong Under Pressure

Manager Alun Armstrong's position is a difficult one to quantify, mainly because he was one of the only men willing to take on such a hostile and unstable environment after Carl Magnay's departure at the end of last season.

Getting rid of him is, as you'd imagine, becoming an outcome growing in size on the horizon.

The lack of tactical positives that come when analysing Gateshead will, of course, be weighing in the minds of the higher-ups tasked with taking action.

But would changing him for someone else at this point of the season actually have any impact, or could it actually make the situation worse as the players try to adapt to a new system in an already desperate position?

Relegation A Disaster

The situation becomes of even greater jeopardy when you look at the effect that relegation would have on the club.

Already in a precarious financial position, with that mentioned failed takeover causing chaos, a relegation to the National League North could be disastrous.

With a large stadium providing hefty running costs and a wage structure which would need to be dropped to survive, there is a well-documented chance that a relegation could see the club cease to exist altogether.

Similar problems to this are littered throughout Gateshead's history, all of which the club have managed to recover from reasonably well.

But this time feels a little different, and the anxiety around the club's future should the current trajectory continue is of a serious nature and is growing by the day.