A LIVING legend of North-East football has been immortalised with a huge mural on a fish and chip shop wall.

Fans donated thousands of pounds to have the eye-catching frieze of Robbie Dale painted outside the ground where he was near-worshipped.

Mr Dale retired from Blyth Spartans AFC last October as the club’s all-time record appearance holder with 680 games and captained the side from 2014 to 2020.

Scoring a hattrick on his debut against Wakefield and Emley in 2005, he went on to play in 17 consecutive seasons and scored 212 goals.

He won club and individual accolades at local and national level and was named second in the Northern Premier’s greatest-ever players – pipped to top spot by Premier League striker and former England international Jamie Vardy.

The Northern Echo:

To honour his service, the club and a group of supporters – headed by PHD student Simon Needham – organised the mural and raised about £5,000 to have it created.

Sunderland-based artist Frank Styles spent a fortnight painting an image of Mr Dale, based on a picture by club photographer Kris Hodgetts, outside Gino’s Fish Bar near the club’s Croft Park ground.

Mr Styles said: “It is always a pleasure painting these sort of murals.

“I didn’t really know anything of the club or Robbie but after working it, I felt part of the community.

“I’d be up the cherry-picker and people would take pictures, say it was looking good. I’d get there at 7am and there’d already be guys out walking and having a look, a lady from the supported living place opposite would sit and watch and everyone had really positive words about what I was doing.

“And nobody had a bad word to say about Robbie. He is a humble guy who just likes playing football, he could have gone pro and moved up but he stuck with Blyth Spartans and everyone loves him for that.”