How Whitley Bay's part-timers beat Manchester City to a record Wembley hat-trick

Ask which men's club sides have won three successive finals at the new Wembley and most people would reach for Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, who lifted the League Cup in 2018, 2019 and 2020 before adding a fourth in 2021.

But another club got there first — and did it with part-timers. Whitley Bay, who play in the ninth-tier Northern Football League, won three successive FA Vase finals between 2009 and 2011, an achievement without precedent in non-league football. More than half a century after the Vase was established as a national competition for amateur teams in 1974, The Seahorses remain the only club to have won it four times.

And they did so under the eye of an unassuming IT manager from Sunderland, who used "quiet moments in the day" to plan historic cup success.

The reluctant interviewee

Ian Chandler, who had three spells at Whitley Bay as a player, became manager in 2004 and spent a decade in charge. It was no mean feat, as any non-league manager will tell you. Instead of focusing on work meetings, Chandler says he spent more time sorting hotel bookings or discussing scouting reports.

His team were inspired by missing out on Wembley in 2007-08, when Whitley Bay reached the FA Vase semi-finals. They lost 4-0 to Lowestoft Town in the first leg and, despite going 3-0 up inside 20 minutes of the return fixture at Hillheads Park, were unable to overturn the deficit.

After that elimination, Chandler developed a superstition of never again giving pre-match interviews — the last time he had done so was before the 4-0 defeat. Whether because of his renewed focus, or because of a desire among players to make amends, it steeled the group to make history.

"It's the hardest thing to keep a team together — as soon as players get noticed, they get picked up at higher level," Chandler tells BBC Sport. "But after we got to the Vase semis, players wanted to stay and prove what they could do. Then the lads wanted to do it again."

And again.

Entertainment first, even above winning

Chandler played for Barnsley, Stockport and Aldershot before a successful non-league career, and although a lifelong Sunderland fan he admits basing his team on Kevin Keegan's Newcastle — with entertainment placed even above winning.

"There was a standing joke in the team, two or three at the back? One time we chased a game with two at the back," he says. "The Premier League can be so boring; fans want to be entertained, that's what we promised."

Chandler was already a Whitley Bay hero when he was appointed manager by chairman Paul McIlduff, having scored the winner in the 2002 FA Vase final against Tiptree United at Villa Park. After a slow start as the then 35-year-old with no prior managerial experience found his bearings, he built a talented team which became the envy of non-league football nationwide.

"We played good football. We had pace on the wing, fantastic midfielders, and strikers who were deadly," says McIlduff, who has been Whitley Bay chairman since 2001. "When we brought them in, it was about fitting the psychology of the dressing room. No-one thought they were better than anyone else, they played for each other."

The 'Whitley Bay Maradona'

A growing influence in the side was the man nicknamed the 'Whitley Bay Maradona'. Paul Robinson came through Newcastle United's academy before a career spent across various non-league clubs in the north-east — including Whitley Bay from 2007 to 2013. Like several other players and staff, he worked with Chandler both in his day job at software company Sage and at Hillheads Park.

"He was my manager at work and football, I was sick of him," Robinson tells BBC Sport. "But it helped get time off for matches."

And it meant he also had an understanding boss if his mind drifted at work.

"Zoning out happened regularly, picturing scoring and winning, what the opposition would be like — hoping they were rubbish so we could have an easy stroll," he says.

Perhaps Robinson's greatest Whitley Bay moment came in the 2010 FA Vase semi-final second leg, when his last-minute diving header in the driving rain secured a 6-5 aggregate victory over Barwell, sparking a pitch invasion.

"Everyone goes to the finals, you were there, you could enjoy it," says Robinson, who is now academy head at South Shields. "But the rounds before were the bigger games. At home, we would get 2,000 or 3,000 at every game. You felt like a real player. You associate those memories with 90s FA Cup — you never think it will happen in non-league."

'Teams were turning up afraid of us'

Chandler knew all about cup runs as a player, too. He played in a 2-0 win over Preston in round two as Whitley Bay reached the FA Cup third round for the first and only time in the 1989-90 season, and the club also progressed to round two the following campaign.

Those seasons of success made The Bay a feared side for non-league clubs across England, and meant they were ready for the big games in a way most amateur sides are not.

"One quarter-final against Biggleswade [in 2009], they turned up in suits and ties," says Robinson. "We thought, this is their day out, their cup final. We won 5-2. By the end, teams were turning up afraid of us. We had it won beforehand."

Robinson scored the fifth goal in Whitley Bay's 6-1 win over Wroxham in the 2010 FA Vase final.

A town swept up in blue and white

Off the pitch, the team's success had an influence on the whole of Whitley Bay — a working-class town near Newcastle which had its heyday as a Victorian-era holiday destination, where sporting success brought local pride to the north-east coast.

Like any lower-league club, that success could only be supported by dedicated volunteers, who went into overdrive before the Vase finals. They went door to door across shops in Tynemouth, North Shields and Whitley Bay to raise support, and a van selling tickets was parked outside Woolworths on the high street.

"There was such excitement around the whole of Whitley Bay — every shop had things in the windows, the blue and white stripes," says volunteer Jenn Robinson, who got involved because her late husband Mike was a club board member and, if she wanted to see him, she "had to go around there".

"Everyone wanted to come and watch, we got so many local sponsors," she adds. "I still do buffets and things for players and long-standing fans. We have a game tonight, and I'm making the sandwiches now."

Newcastle United helped out with selling tickets for the finals, while North Tyneside Council provided security services as thousands flocked to Hillheads Park for big cup games.

But even the best-laid plans can go awry.

"We organised a train down to London, the guarantee was that it would go straight to Wembley," says McIlduff. "The first time it worked, second time they were taken to Kings Cross — we had to organise taxis up to Wembley."

By hook or by crook, The Seahorses' army made it three times to the national stadium. Some even got the royal treatment.

"It was absolutely surreal, and a delight," says Jenn. "The first Wembley final we played at, it had just opened. My husband being on the board, we sat in the royal box, which was fabulous. One of the security guys showing me to our seats said, 'Miss Robinson, this is Prince William's seat'. He hadn't even sat in it at that point."

Three trips, three wins

Thousands of fans travelled from Whitley Bay to London across the three finals. Chandler, whose son Benjamin was a mascot at all three, said it was an overwhelming experience at times for the players too.

"The first year was crazy, everything was brand new," he says. "The first year the bus driver scraped the side up of the bus driving into the ground. The second year we tried to take everything in, all the lads had their mobiles. Then the third year, it was just a case of can we do it, win three in a row."

And three times, Whitley Bay rose to the occasion. After beating Glossop North End 2-0 in 2009 in front of 12,200 supporters, Whitley Bay returned a year later to thrash Wroxham 6-1, with the opening goal scored by prolific striker Paul Chow.

The third triumph completed the hat-trick — a feat no other men's club had managed at the new Wembley until Guardiola's Manchester City matched it with their League Cup three-in-a-row, years after The Seahorses had shown everyone the way.