The St James' Park side waved goodbye to the three-man committee of Allan Wilcox, Darren Middleton and Mac Belisle at the club's AGM on Sunday. Their departure brought the curtain down on a collective affiliation with the club spanning more than 50 years.

Long-standing manager Mac, who has taken his seat in the dug-out for the last 16 seasons, has been part of the club for 35-years, while Darren has been secretary for 10 and Allan chairman for six.

Over recent years, the trio have had to battle against debt and a lack of resources but managed to keep the St James' Park ship afloat.

Their work was recognised at this year's Alnwick and District Sports Awards and Mac was crowned with the Service to Sport accolade. He was also short-listed for the Gazette's Sports Personality of the Year Award.

Looking back over the years, Mac, 59, who has managed in both the Northern League and the Northern Alliance, said: "I've got some great memories and I hope that I have given any lad with enthusiasm and talent the chance to play for Alnwick Town.

"A lot of lads have come through the books and some have gone on to play at a higher level and I am proud of that fact."

Mac particularly recalled the pre-season friendly at home to Newcastle United in 2000 when his Town side were 2-0 up at half-time before losing in the second-half.

He said: "I remember thinking 'this should not be happening'. I never thought I would be giving the half-time team talk I gave. For 45 minutes we were beating Newcastle United!"

Meanwhile, Allan admitted he was sad to leave the St James' Park club. Speaking after the AGM on Sunday, when the new 24-man committee took over, he said: "I would like to thank all my sponsors over the years, especially Dave Blackshaw, all of the football players, the darts players who were part of the club's darts team, and Norman Laidler for all his help and everyone else who has been involved. I have really enjoyed being part of the club and I will miss it. Sunday was a sad day."

Darren, who admitted he had planned to call it a day from the beginning of the season, praised his two colleagues.

He said: "They did the bar, cut the pitch, washed the strips. They made time for the club and put whatever else they were doing on the back-burner. Their lives revolved around the club when they weren't working."

The players made a presentation to the leaving committee stalwarts on Saturday night. They paid their tributes to the trio.

Captain Bryan Murray said: "Mac has been a great and loyal servant to Alnwick Town.