Gateshead players plead for club owners to sell up amid strike threat
JJ O'Donnell: "We don't want a miracle, we want to be treated with some decency. We want the current regime to go and the new one to come in."
Wednesday 3 April 2019 16:13, UK
Gateshead captain Scott Barrow and midfielder JJ O'Donnell have pleaded with the club's owners to sell up amid the threat of a player strike.
The Gateshead squad are threatening to refuse to play against Ebbsfleet in the National League on Saturday and are reporting the situation to the FA.
Players and staff have not been paid for March despite a promise they would be paid by April 1.
Club owner Dr Ranjan Varghese put Gateshead up for sale for just £1 last month and a takeover deal with former Rochdale chairman Chris Dunphy was agreed in principle last week - but Dunphy pulled out on Tuesday afternoon.
"We're a group of lads who are trying to get into the play-offs, we've done tremendous for nine months. The ultimate goal is Wembley, we want to get this club promoted," O'Donnell, who is also the club's kitman, told Sky Sports News.
"We want to finish these last six games strong and get this club into League Two."
Club captain Barrow added: "It's difficult, ultimately we want this club sold.
"We want someone who cares about the players and the staff who are there every day. That's all we want, we want people who are going to help us achieve our goal of getting into the Football League and do it in the right way.
"I just don't think they [current owner] care at all. We've struggled all season, not on the pitch but off it.
"Waking up at six o'clock in the morning to go down south for an away game with no pre-match, it just gets tougher and tougher.
"It is a tough decision [to go on strike] because we are in a great position at the moment just outside the play-offs. We just feel like enough is enough, we can't take it any more."
O'Donnell is hopeful the takeover bid by former Rochdale owner Dunphy can be revived because he feels it could give Gateshead a platform to get into the Football League.
"We've got these people from Rochdale who are interested. They are people who care about a club and know how to run it. Rochdale have done well for themselves recently because they care," he said.
"These people from Rochdale can take us up to a new level, that's what we want as players. We are not asking for miracles, we just want to be given a chance.
"Waking up at five for a game in London, having no food on the way there or way back - that's not caring for people. We aren't asking for a lot.
"It's just got too much. I was at the launderette this morning because I do the kits as well now.
"They've helped me out this season, they've been brilliant but we owe them over £1,000. For a little launderette that's a lot of money. It's all [added] up to the point where now the players haven't been paid.
"All we want is what we are owed. We don't want a miracle, we want to be treated with some decency. We want the current regime to go and the new one to come in."
O'Donnell added: "The staff and the supporters deserve credit for sticking by us. The core nucleus of the club has been outstanding and will keep battling for us."
