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| South Shields playing Solent in 2017. Picture: Lucy Evans/Solent Creatives/Flickr |
The defeat meant the end of the road for manager Julio Arca who was sacked after the game, with Shields 8th in National League North.
While sacking a manager whose team is just outside the play-offs might seem unusual, the club's chair Geoff Thompson has told the Telegraph that he believes the club can push towards the Football League.
The lofty ambitions of the club, which has had an average gate of 2,194 so far this season after being promoted, appear to be backed up by a huge playing budget.
Taking to X, formerly Twitter, Thompson said "unacceptable!!!!" after his side conceded three goals within 35 minutes on Tuesday.
He then said he was "happy to share all the numbers with the fans", saying the playing budget was around £1 million.
He claimed that's "roughly three times the vast majority of our competitors".
That figure is similar to what King's Lynn Town's owner and chair Stephen Cleeve said his club had when in the National League.
Thompson is still looking for a buyer for the northeast club though after his treatment for prostate cancer.
He also said: "I’m not interested in resale value - this performance has nothing to do with my decision to sell.
"Players budget has been totally unaffected - leadership is required nothing more nothing less!"