Alan Shoulder - A Boy’s Own Story!
After the sad death of our ex player, Wallace Wilson reflects on a different type of player from a different age.
The late 1970s were not a good time for Newcastle United or its supporters. Relegated from Division One in 1978 with just 22 points from 42 games (the equivalent of 25 points with three points for a win over 38 games), only 7,986 supporters bothered to turn up for the last home game of the season against Norwich, a 2-2 draw.
Despite the signing of Peter Withe from league champions Nottingham Forest for a record (for us) £200,000 in the summer of 1978 the team suffered a hangover the following season, struggling to get out of mid-table.
We needed a hero and we found one by the old-fashioned method of whistling down a pit shaft (okay, some poetic licence there…).
Alan Shoulder had made his name the previous season, playing for Blyth Spartans as they marched through to the 5th round of the FA Cup, setting a record for a non-league club.
He had been around the non-league scene for a while, working permanent night shift at a succession of pits to allow him to play more football, first of all as an 18 year old with Bishop Auckland, his home town club, before moving to Spartans just in time to take part in their historic cup run in 1977-78.
Shoulder scored the goal which beat Enfield 1-0 in the 3rd Round having been signed by Spartans for £150 from Bishop just before the game and was in the team which beat Stoke City 3-2 in the 4th. A 5th Round draw at Wrexham’s Racecourse Ground brought the Welsh side back to a ‘home’ game at St James’ Park in front of 42,000 supporters.
Shoulder didn’t score but he caused Wrexham all sorts of problems so it wasn’t really a surprise when Newcastle paid Spartans £20,000 to bring him to SJP on a permanent basis to play alongside Withe.
Alan was 25, going on 26 when he made his debut in a 2-0 home win on 9 December 1978 against Stoke City. He scored his first goal playing in the number 7 shirt he made his own over the next four seasons in his next game, a 3-1 away win at Fulham.
Peter Withe got one of the others and it was the start of a partnership which would flourish over the next 18 months until Withe departed for Aston Villa and European Cup glory. Withe was a class above the second division as he demonstrated at Villa.
He scored 16 goals on his 39 games for us that season but Alan Shoulder actually averaged more goals per game in his first season, 11 in 24 games.
Alan scored 21 in 44 games in 1979-80 and for a time it looked as if he and Peter Withe would push us to promotion. We were top of the table over the new year which included a joyful 3-1 win against the mackems in which Alan scored a trademark penalty.
He’d assumed responsibility for taking them just after arriving from Spartans which gives you some idea of the cojones he had. Of the 21 goals he scored that season, 9 were penalties. In the end we finished 4th (no play-offs then) and Alan was named the club’s Player of the Year but Withe’s departure at the end of the season to Aston Villa for £500,000 broke up the partnership.
Withe’s departure really damaged the team and particularly Shoulder’s goal scoring opportunities. He only managed 6 goals in 36 appearances in 1980/81but was still second top scorer behind Bobby Shinton who managed 7.
The arrival of Arthur Cox heralded the beginning of the end for Alan, as the new manager brought through another non-league player, Chris Waddle from Tow Law. I wonder if that would have happened if Alan hadn’t already blazed a trail for non-league talent?
However, it was another Cox signing who would take his place, Imre Varadi signed from Everton for £125,000.
Alan left Newcastle in 1982 and signed for Carlisle United. The goals kept coming though, 32 in 112 appearances as they did when we moved to Hartlepool United (24 in 66 appearances).
He went on to manage a number of non-league clubs including two he played for, Bishop Auckland and Blyth Spartans. He died on 2 February 2025, just two days before his 72nd birthday.
He was the epitome of a football man, never gave less than 100% and his Boy’s Own story helped Newcastle United through some of their darkest days.
We should remember him.
Wallace Wilson
Excellent tribute! My first ‘real’ season of watching us was 78-79, so the Withe & Shoulder partnership were my first ‘heroes’ in our shirt! Though what Withe was doing playing for us has always been beyond me! Alan Shoulder was an excellent foil to Withe & gave his all for the club when we were pretty average & only had a couple of other decent players - Mick Martin, Stuart Boam, possibly Peter Cartwright. Great times to be 8 years old though! Superb Bukta kit ( ‘you look like a stick of Blackpool rock!’, said my primary school football teacher in the Boro heartland of Redcar!), watching ‘Shoot’ & Monday night ‘Look North’ & ‘Northern Life’ for brief highlights . Then, occasionally, the huge excitement of us being on ‘Match of the Day’ or ‘Sportsnight’!Which then evaporated immediately when we got hammered 6-0 away at Chelsea & 4-1 by bloody Exeter City. Alan Shoulder brought some excitement to the club & is a great mam to remember. R.I.P.
Great tribute. Not many if any will do what Alan done n basically come from nowhere so quickly at the highest levels of our pyramid. All credit to Alan. He done the north east proud. “They never die who live in the hearts they leave behind”!