Gateshead FC is delighted to confirm the appointment of Jamie Buchanan as Gateshead Ladies manager.
Buchanan joins the club ahead of the 2025/26 season, which will see Gateshead Ladies compete in Durham FA Women’s League One from September 2025.
The Gateshead-born manager will take charge of his hometown club after most recently acting as manager of NERWFL Northern Division outfit Wallsend BC Women’s Reserves from October 2024, who ended last season in seventh place.
He arrives alongside Ben Sayers, who joins Gateshead Ladies as assistant manager having previously held the same role alongside Buchanan with Wallsend BC Women’s Reserves during the 2024/25 season.
“I am delighted that Jamie has come on board as Gateshead Ladies manager, as we start to strengthen our links within the club and with Gateshead College,” said club Chairman, Bernard McWilliams.
Buchanan added: “As a local lad who grew up in and around Felling, it’s a privilege to be part of the local club.
“We all have the aspiration of getting the club to bounce back into the NERWFL.
“It’s going to be tough, and we’re going to be introducing a new style to what some of the girls are used to, so it will take time to build.
“Ultimately it’s high intensity, high tempo football that I like to play. I like my teams to cause chaos for the opposition, where we’re constantly moving and always playing forward.
“When I say constantly moving, it’s not about sprinting around the pitch for 90 minutes but to always be looking for the next space to occupy or create.
“Ben was my assistant at Wallsend – we went through our UEFA C licence together and we just hit it off.
“He brings a lot of good tactical knowledge to the team, and we bounce off each other really well.
“Hopefully we can also develop some of the players coming through from the 16 to 18 age group and integrate them into the team.
“The link with Gateshead College and the Junior Academy is important, because we can promote women’s football to a lot of girls who are from the Gateshead area, and the club’s vision is to push the ladies section as high as it can go.
“Having that pathway is instrumental to how the club is going to progress – whether that’s training with the senior team or looking to give those who impress game time.
“We want to finish as high as possible and potentially look at promotion, but also have good cup success.
“It shows you can mix it with some of the best teams around the area and the whole country, so that will be instrumental for next season whether we get promoted or not.”
