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Opinion

A timely reminder of exactly why we follow Newcastle United

7 years ago
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Passing the (spluttering) Newcastle United torch…

We all remember where our love affair with things black and white started, for me it was being dazzled by a certain Mr Gascoigne at Italia 90 when my dad pointed out he grew up just up the road from my old man and he had represented the mags before heading south to north London, I was sold on the thought of following the Geordies.

What followed was a quarter of a century of joy, frustration and some damn near misses as fourteen different managers tried (and failed) to grab some of that elusive silverware…

Fast forward twenty six years later to this time last year and I was in a similar position as my father, as my six year old son started to take serious notice of the beautiful game.

Now living in the south has some major issues for a parent looking to pass on his love of the toon, to a lad surrounded by the colours of Gooners, Spurs, Man United and Chelsea, particularly when the missus is a life long blues fan!

Add to that the dismal performance from the previous Pardew, Carver and McClaren regimes had seen us flounder and eventually drop into the second tier of English football for the second time in seven years, making the task even more challenging.

Nevertheless, I was determined to get my case across to my son. So when tickets for the opening game away to Fulham went on sale a year ago, two were snapped up quickly.

My boy wasn’t too sure when I surprised him with a match day ticket and a much loved black and white scarf that had seen as much of the drama as I had, we hopped the train to West London.

I wasn’t concerned though, as I had an ace up my sleeve, or should I say many thousands of them…

As soon as we got off the tube at Parsons Green you could feel that familiar electric buzz in the air, we continued along the bank of the river Thames as a beautiful stream of black and white swept along, growing in mass with every step we took. As the toon army got bigger, my boy’s eyes got wider!

We passed through the turnstiles and headed to the food stall to grab a drink and as we negotiated our way through the crowd, the noise began. Geordies belting out songs about boot boys and Rafa at the usual fever pitch filled the air.

As usual I soaked it in and then noticed my six year old staring around with a finger in each ear. He looked up at me beaming “It’s very loud isn’t it Daddy!”…

…Got him!!!

As I’m sure you remember (or probably don’t in this case) the game was a drab one nil defeat but my personal mission was accomplished, I had added another member to our army!

We took in several more games last season which fed his new love and he is chomping at the bit to see his heroes compete at England’s top table.

Having witnessed some of the toss our lads have served us over the years, it’s a nice feeling witnessing someone watching our beloved Newcastle United with awe and pride, with none of the baggage the majority of us carry.

That will change over time no doubt but for now I will enjoy the pure joy he has in his eyes, every time he sees a black and white shirt grace a football pitch…

(All contributions from Newcastle fans welcome, send articles (as well as ideas/suggestions) to contribute@themag.co.uk)

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