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IT’S been the cradle of generations of footballing stars.

But now the original building of Wallsend Boys’ Club, which produced stars such as Alan Shearer, has closed its doors for good after the it was deemed unsafe.

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Last month, strong winds caved in a brick wall at the centre, on Station Road, Wallsend, North Tyneside.

Bosses at the club were initially optimistic that rebuilding the wall would only take a couple of weeks.

They brought in a structural engineer who delivered the news that the whole 46-year-old building needed modifying to bring it up-to-date with modern building standards.

And the club simply can’t afford to meet the amount the huge project would cost.

Now, club chairman Steve Dale has announced the building will remain closed for the foreseeable future unless funding is found.

Mr Dale said: “It wasn’t just the cost of the wall that fell down. When a structural engineer came round he told us there was a problem with the whole building.

“Obviously, building regulations in 1965 weren’t what they are today. Basically, the whole building needs to be restored or pulled down. It would be a mammoth task and it would cost and awful lot.

“It doesn’t affect the new pitches and changing rooms that opened last year, they’re still up and running as normal.

“At this point we simply can’t afford it. We had to make the decision to close because the last wall fell down fortunately during the night.

“We have youngsters in there as young and five and six and we couldn’t risk anything happening while a session was on.

“The building is used by a great deal of people in the community. For the last 10 years, it has been a massive help to the police in curbing anti-social behaviour. All of that is in jeopardy now.

“We’re appealing to the council, stake holders or any organisations that may be able to help us out and come up with a solution.

“Even if we get the funding, we’d have to decide how best to proceed. Do we demolish the building and build something near the new football pitches and changing rooms and re-build on that site. Hopefully, we’ll be able to come up with something.”

A mum who has a young son that attends a youth club at the Station Road facility said: “After the damage caused by the wind, we originally got told it would be closed for a couple of weeks.

“Then, it got extended by another couple of weeks. The scaffolding had been up there for ages. My son goes to youth club there three to four times a week. For the last week or so, they’ve been using a portacabin-type thing near the building.

“But, last weekend, it was announced the club wouldn’t be re-opening because they’d had a structural engineer in and it was going to cost too much to fix or replace.

“My son was gutted, really upset. The staff there were crying too.

“It’s such a shame as the staff there are fabulous and it’s such a fantastic facility for local youngsters. I’m not sure what we’ll do now. It will be a big miss.”