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Life in Toon Army Malaysia

9 years ago
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Hi, my name is Tan Jay Ween of Toon Army Malaysia, part of a strong 1000+ crazy Malaysians supporting Newcastle United.

Yes Malaysia …John Alder & Liam Sweeney and 43 Malaysians were on that tragic Malaysian plane MH17. We are truly sorry for that tragic event.

I’m so proud to be part of this group. No disrespect to other club’s fans, but I’m sure most of us feel we are the most loyal kind of supporters . None of us were born in the Fairs Cup year, let alone the Milburn glory years.

We Malaysians are born some 6559 miles away from Tyneside .Yet we somehow found our way to fall in love with this club. We are certainly not GLORY HUNTERS aka the arrogant Man U fans , the boastful Liverpool fans , or even the newly converted Chelsea + Man City fans .

Some of us got hitched with the club during the Ardiles time, most of us fell in love during the Keegan era , some of us became adopted Geordie when Shearer waved his hand at Gateshead , some of us registered Toon as our favourite because of the bald heads of Ketsbaia and Asprilla ,  some of us started bleeding black and white when Albert’s lob flew over Schmeichel’s head and more recently some of us became Toon for that Cabaye goal at Old Trafford.

(To feature like Tan, send in your articles for our website to contribute@themag.co.uk)

For me , it was that magical moment when Keith Gillespie sped past the Barcelona defence to deliver that cross to Asprilla. VaaVoom , it’s Newcastle ever since .

It’s not easy being a Newcastle fan in Malaysia. Year after year, we the Toon Army Malaysia have received so much criticism and sarcasm over so many dramas on and off the field, never mind we never win anything …

The Gullit spat, the Dyer + Bowyer brawl, Sir Bobby’s sacking,  the relegation, that Dennis Wise joke , Joe Kinnear .. And in recent times how the club was handled under Fat Mike. Yet, none of us shifted clubs. If the same thing fell upon other club Malaysian fans, they will surely swerve to the Man Cities or the Barcelonas now.

In this part of the world, following of the English leagues is huge. We watch in awe every year the ‘big teams’ fans organise match view parties to see their clubs fight for the title or the cups, yet we gather together to see if we scrape enough points for safety .Yet, we never stop believing .

Yearly trips are organised to St James . Every year, we spend thousands of UK pounds to buy the Club official merchandise. Also. we are not born Geordie, we want to be part of the club .

For we know we are nothing without Newcastle and Newcastle United are nothing without us the fans!

The good times will come , trust me.. be it next year, five years or twenty years , I’m sure we will live to the day all of us Toon Army Malaysia shall gather to see either Coloccini hold aloft a trophy, or a certain Will Shearer brings a trophy back to Tyneside in 2024.

For now, I’m proud to tell all other club’s fans..’I am a Malaysian Geordie .. a Toon Army till I die’!!!

PS If there is any rich investor reading this, please note that Newcastle is a special club. It has a huge following even in places like Malaysia and Singapore.

Please save us from Mike Ashley. I’m sure you won’t regret it.

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