Sunderland and Newcastle United offer support to stricken Gateshead captain after horror injury

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The Gateshead legend suffered a broken leg, dislocated ankle and severe ligament damage in last weekend's win at Woking.

Rob Elliot has revealed Sunderland and Newcastle United have offered to support Gateshead captain Greg Olley as he recovers from a serious injury that has brought a premature end to his season.

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The Heed talisman was the victim of a reckless tackle from Dion Kelly-Evans during the opening quarter of an hour of last Saturday’s 2-0 win at Woking and has since underwent surgery on a broken leg, dislocated ankle and severe ligament damage. Olley is now back in the North East and Gateshead confirmed they will be without the man that led them to the National League North title and the FA Trophy Final win over Solihull Moors for the remainder of the season.

Generous Heed fans have launched a fundraising page to aid club legend Olley during what will be a lengthy recovery process and was given support on social media by former Newcastle trio Ryan Taylor, Paul Dummett and Andy Carroll over the weekend. Speaking ahead of Saturday’s 3-1 home win against Yeovil Town that preserved his side’s unbeaten start to the season, Gateshead manager and former Republic of Ireland international Elliot has confirmed both clubs on both sides of the Wear-Tyne divide have also come forward to support his captain on the painstaking road to recovery.

“It’s a really lovely gesture from the fans to do that for him,” he said of the fan-led fundraising effort. “To the people that set it up, we obviously say thank you and it’s just another type of support that shows it’s not just the club that are going to support him in terms of everything he needs for his recovery. We’ve had Newcastle and Sunderland in contact saying they’ll help with any facilities, equipment or anything that might be needed in the process, which is brilliant. It just shows that sometimes when things happen, it brings the community together and you realise there’s a bigger picture than just football.”

Gateshead are back in action on Monday when they travel to Oldham Athletic looking to stretch their unbeaten run into a fifth game.

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