Sunderland legend Julio Arca has continued his love affair with north-east football after he signed for South Shields today. Arca who has played over 300 games in the northeast for Sunderland and Middlesborough will now be plying his trade in the northern league conference.
The Argentine, who was a crowd favourite in his spell at the Stadium of Light between 2000 and 2006, played Sunday League football for Wearside pub the Willow Pond last season. Julio who was tremendous down the left flank of Sunderland during his stay on Wearside has never fell out of love with the club and still lives in the area after retiring from the game in 2013.
The arrival of Arca will boost the revenue and attendance for South Shields, with the club averaging just 325 per game. Arca is hopeful of this too stating in an interview with the Sheilds Gazette,
“Me being here will hopefully help the club. I know South Shields is half Newcastle and half Sunderland, but hopefully the Sunderland fans who saw me playing will follow me here and watch the games. That would be excellent.”
Arca who scored 23 goals in his six-year stay at the Stadium of Light is looking forward to his new challenge in Shields. The 34-year-old said:
“I’ve been in talks with the manager, Jon King, and the chairman Geoff Thompson for a while, and they’re really excited about bringing the club up and progressing to make the club bigger.
“I want to bring some excitement to the club. The team is doing really well at the moment and are up near the top of the league, and hopefully we’ll get even more fans excited enough to come and watch the games. The aim is to win the league.
“I came here before the season even started, so they told me all about what they’re looking for and what the ideas are here. It’s a long-term plan, so everything looked exciting.
It appears that Sunderland fans now have a new 2nd team to support and a new result to look out for on a Saturday now that Julio is back in football.
