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.”
