The part-timers who won three Wembley finals in a row

Question: Which two men's club sides have won three successive competition finals at the new Wembley?

You probably knew Pep Guardiola's Manchester City won three League Cups on the bounce between 2018 and 2020 before adding a fourth in 2021 – but another side did the silverware hat-trick first.

Whitley Bay, who play in the ninth-tier Northern Football League, won three successive FA Vase finals between 2009 and 2011 – an unprecedented achievement in non-league football.

The FA Vase, a national competition for amateur teams, was established in 1974; and in more than half a century The Seahorses are the only ones to win it four times – including those three on the trot.

And they did so under the eye of an unassuming IT manager from Sunderland, who used "quiet moments in the day" to plan historic cup success.

Ian Chandler, who had three spells at Whitley Bay as a player, became manager in 2004 and spent 10 years in charge.

It was no mean feat, as any non-league manager will tell you. Instead of focusing on work meetings, Chandler says he spent more time sorting hotel bookings or discussing scouting reports.

His team were inspired by missing out on Wembley in 2007-08, when Whitley Bay reached the FA Vase semi-finals. They lost 4-0 to Lowestoft Town in the first leg, and despite going 3-0 up inside 20 minutes of the return fixture at Bay's Hillheads Park stadium they were unable to overturn the deficit.

After that elimination, Chandler developed a superstition of never again giving pre-match interviews - as the last time he did so was before the 4-0 defeat.

Whether because of his renewed focus, or because of a desire among players to make amends, it steeled the group to make history.

"It's the hardest thing to keep a team together - as soon as players get noticed, they get picked up at higher level," Chandler tells BBC Sport.

"But after we got to the Vase semis, players wanted to stay and prove what they could do.

Ian Chandler played for Barnsley, Stockport and Aldershot before a successful non-league career

Despite being a lifelong Sunderland fan, Chandler admits basing his team on Kevin Keegan's Newcastle - with entertainment even placed above winning.

"There was a standing joke in the team, two or three at the back? One time we chased a game with two at the back," he says.

"The Premier League can be so boring; fans want to be entertained, that's what we promised."

Chandler was already a Whitley Bay hero when he was appointed manager by chairman Paul McIlduff, having scored the winner in the 2002 FA Vase final against Tiptree United at Villa Park.

After a slow start as the then-35-year-old with no prior managerial experience found his bearings, Chandler built a talented team which became the envy of non-league football nationwide.

"We played good football. We had pace on the wing, fantastic midfielders, and strikers who were deadly," says McIlduff, who has been Whitley Bay chairman since 2001.

"When we brought them in, it was about fitting the psychology of the dressing room. No-one thought they were better than anyone else, they played for each other."

A growing influence in the side was the 'Whitley Bay Maradona'.

Paul Robinson came through Newcastle United's academy before a career spent across various non-league clubs in the north-east – including Whitley Bay from 2007 to 2013.

Like several other players and staff, he worked with Chandler both in his day job at software company Sage and at Hillheads Park.

"He was my manager at work and football, I was sick of him," he tells BBC Sport. "But it helped get time off for matches."

And it meant he also had an understanding boss if his mind drifted at work.

"Zoning out happened regularly, picturing scoring and winning, what the opposition would be like - hoping they were rubbish so we could have an easy stroll," he says.

Perhaps Robinson's greatest Whitley Bay moment came in the 2010 FA Vase semi-final second leg, when his last-minute diving header in the driving rain secured a 6-5 aggregate victory over Barwell, sparking a pitch invasion.

"Everyone goes to the finals, you were there, you could enjoy it," says Robinson, who is now academy head at South Shields.

"But the rounds before were the bigger games. At home, we would get 2,000 or 3,000 at every game. You felt like a real player. You associate those memories with 90s FA Cup you never think it will happen in non-league."

Chandler played in a 2-0 win over Preston in round two as they reached the FA Cup third round for the first and only time in the 1989-90 season, and they also progressed to round two the following campaign.

Those seasons of success - made The Bay a feared side for non-league clubs across England, and meant they were ready for the big games in a way most amateur sides are not.

"One quarter-final against Biggleswade [in 2009], they turned up in suits and ties," says Robinson. "We thought, this is their day out, their cup final. We won 5-2.

"By the end, teams were turning up afraid of us. We had it won beforehand."

Paul Robinson scored the fifth goal in Whitley Bay's 6-1 win over Wroxham in the 2010 FA Vase final

Off the pitch, the team's success had an influence on the whole of Whitley Bay. A working-class town near Newcastle, which had its heyday as a Victorian-era holiday destination, sporting success brought local pride to the north-east coast.

And like any lower league club, that success could only be supported by dedicated volunteers, who went into overdrive before the Vase finals.

They would go door to door across shops in Tynemouth, North Shields and Whitley Bay to raise support. A van selling tickets was parked outside Woolworths on the high street.

"There was such excitement around the whole of Whitley Bay - every shop had things in the windows, the blue and white stripes," says one of the volunteers, Jenn Robinson.

She got involved because her late husband Mike was a club board member and if she wanted to see him she "had to go around there".

"Everyone wanted to come and watch, we got so many local sponsors," adds Jenn.

"I still do buffets and things for players and long-standing fans. We have a game tonight, and I'm making the sandwiches now."

Newcastle United helped out with selling tickets for the finals, while North Tyneside Council provided security services as thousands flocked to Hillheads Park for big cup games.

"We organised a train down to London, the guarantee was that it would go straight to Wembley," says McIlduff. "The first time it worked, second time they were taken to Kings Cross - we had to organise taxis up to Wembley."

By hook or by crook, The Seahorses army made it three times to the national stadium. Some even got royal treatment.

"It was absolutely surreal, and a delight," Jenn says. "The first Wembley final we played at, it had just opened. My husband being on the board, we sat in the royal box, which was fabulous.

"One of the security guys showing me to our seats said, 'Miss Robinson, this is Prince William's seat'. He hadn't even sat in it at that point."

Thousands of fans travelled from Whitley Bay to London across the three finals

Chandler, whose son Benjamin was a mascot at all three finals, said it was an overwhelming experience at times for the players too.

"The first year was crazy, everything was brand new," he says. "The first year the bus driver scraped the side up of the bus driving into the ground.

"The second year we tried to take everything in, all the lads had their mobiles. Then the third year, it was just a case of can we do it, win three in a row."

After beating Glossop North End 2-0 in 2009 in front of 12,200 supporters, Whitley Bay returned a year later to thrash Wroxham 6-1.

The opening goal was scored by prolific striker Paul Chow after only 21 seconds. At the time this was the quickest goal in a Wembley final and was only surpassed 13 years later when Ilkay Gundogan scored for Manchester City inside 13 seconds in the FA Cup final.

The hat-trick was completed in 2011 with a frantic 3-2 win over Coalville Town, who equalised twice before Chow was again the hero with an 86th-minute winner.

In total, nearly 30,000 fans were in the stands across the three finals.

After each final, Whitley Bay celebrated in The Green Man pub just 15 minutes' walk from the famous Wembley arch.

"In the first year we just went back to the bar and it was an anti-climax," Robinson says. "The second and third years the club got their act together and we rented a room; families, friends and fans were invited, they were brilliant nights.

"In 2010, we actually spent 10 days together - the week of the final we spent as a squad preparing, then we went to Marbella for five nights. Best 10 days of my life!"

The 2010 trophy lift was perhaps the most emotional though, as the players were joined by former team-mate Mark Taylor. He had played in the previous year's final, before being diagnosed with motor neurone disease, forcing an early retirement.

"Mark used to come on the away trips after he got diagnosed, he just wanted to be Mark - we had a good laugh everywhere we went," says Chandler. "He's still knocking about, abusing me on Facebook. He was the core of our second and third year."

Whitley Bay lift the trophy in 2010, joined by former team-mate Mark Taylor (left)

Success ensured the lives of Chandler and his team were never quite the same again. Reporters turned up to Sage to speak with the manager and his players; even Chandler's mum was interviewed by BBC Radio Newcastle legend Paul Dixon.

Chandler - and his wife - even got up close and personal with managerial icons.

"I was invited to the annual sports awards in Manchester. There were people there like Sven Goran Eriksson and Sir Alex Ferguson [and] numerous others," he says.

"I had my wife with me and Sven came over gave her a peck on the cheek - she wasn't aware of who it was until I told her later that evening."

Robinson admitted that going back to work at an IT company after Wembley glory was a "massive comedown".

"One year I got a standing ovation when I walked into the office, but after that it was just back to normal," he says.

"People wind you up about it - 'are you talking about Wembley again? Give it a rest Robbo!"

Like all good things, Whitley Bay's golden era came to an end. Chandler departed in 2014 after a dip in form; the club have not won a major honour since the 2011 FA Vase and remain in the ninth tier.

But the memories in the football-mad north-east remain.

"Me and my wife went out on a Sunday at a pub in Durham just a few weeks back, and this guy came up out the blue and asked, 'Are you Ian Chandler?'" he laughs.

"Then he started talking about that team; in the north-east, everyone follows football. It was so lovely."