Are you a true Newcastle United fan? Take this test to find out | OneFootball

The question I am asking today is – Are you a true Newcastle United fan?

This has been inspired by a number of things.

In the past, I have read and heard some ‘interesting’ opinions from many Newcastle United fans, about who is (and isn’t) a proper Newcastle United fan.

I have direct personal experience of hearing some weird and wonderful views on this, as well as what I have heard through others, also stuff I have read.

The most widely shared of these views is where you were born and/or brought up.

So if you were born and/or brought up in Newcastle Upon Tyne, then pretty much everybody I think, says you have the right to call yourself a Newcastle United fan.

However, where does that end?

The actual City of Newcastle Upon Tyne for administrative purposes, local government and so on, isn’t actually that big, both in terms of population and area.

In reality, I think for most people, what we know as the conurbation of ‘Tyneside’ is what we equate to Newcastle and Newcastle United.

So all the way along the Tyne, both sides, I personally can’t see why anybody could argue with why these people shouldn’t automatically support Newcastle United.

Whether you are from Hexham or Whitley Bay/South Shields, Newcastle Upon Tyne (and Newcastle United) are your nearest big city and football club that you identify with, if you want to.

If you then head north and (especially) south of Tyneside, further away from the Tyne, then it becomes more ‘interesting’, where you then also get more into the argument of who can and can’t call themselves a Geordie.

Anyway, geography is widely accepted as the biggest factor in how most people come to support Newcastle United.

The next biggest and most accepted factor by most, is family ties.

A bit like players deciding which international side they will put themselves forward for, if you weren’t born and/or brought up on Tyneside (or nearby…), what family evidence can you put forward to support your claims to be a true Newcastle United fan?

If one or more of your parents was born and/or bought up in the Newcastle Upon Tyne region, then I think most other NUFC fans would back their claim.

One or more grandparents I think gets the vote of most by all as well.

What about beyond that though, if your great great great great great grandfather once drank a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale (when it was Newcastle Brown Ale and not brewed in Yorkshire or wherever…) does that qualify you?

Then we come to those who weren’t born and/or brought up in the region AND also have no family ties.

Those who claim to have fallen in love with Newcastle United for some other reason.

What do they need to do to ‘prove’ they are a true Newcastle United fan?

I find it all a bit strange whenever anybody claims somebody is a ‘glory hunter’ because they have chosen to support Newcastle United.

If they are indeed a ‘glory hunter’ then they aren’t very good at it!

Unless you are knocking on 90 now and decided from afar to declare yourself a Newcastle United fan after those early 1950s FA Cup wins at Wembley, then what are you thinking about if you decided ‘you know what, I am going to be a Newcastle United fan because they look like they are going to win it all!’

Yes NUFC won the Fairs Cup in 1969 and yes our hopes and expectations were raised in the Kevin Keegan and Sir Bobby Robson eras, just as is happening in this Eddie Howe era, BUT honestly, even now, if you were thinking about which club to start supporting because they think winning trophies is all but guaranteed, then surely there are a number of other very much obvious choices than Newcastle United, as things currently stand.

I was also struck by something somebody said to me years ago when discussing this subject, it isn’t when you start supporting your football club, it is when you stop!

In other words, if somebody for some strange reason started supporting Newcastle United in the past because they thought we were a great choice due to trophies imminent, then the important thing is whether they then continued to support Newcastle, once quickly realising this wasn’t the case!

Put it this way, if say somebody started supporting Newcastle United due to the KK or SBR eras, or because Alan Shearer dazzled them with his goals, fair to say that if they continued to support NUFC through a decade and a half of Mike Ashley, then they are ‘one of us’, at least they are in my opinion.

Anyway, I have came up with a foolproof way of deciding who is and isn’t a true Newcastle United fan.

If you can answer YES to 12 or more of the 14 questions then for sure you are a true Newcastle United fan, answer YES and I (we?) will give you the benefit of the doubt. Less than 10, must do better!

Here is that simple test to decide once and for all, if you are a true Newcastle United fan

Can you name a Newcastle United eleven from the current squad?

Can you name the United greats who have two statues located directly outside St James’ Park?

Can you name at least two of the bridges which cross the Tyne?

When the next season’s fixtures are released, do you feel like that is the next year of your life mapped out?

Can you name a Newcastle United eleven from players who previously played for NUFC?

Do you know what Viz is?

Do you know the result of the most recent Newcastle United match?

Can you name the Newcastle United great who has one of the stands (West Stand) named after him at St James’ Park?

Do you know who Newcastle United play next?

Can you find Newcastle Upon Tyne on a map of England?

If Newcastle United lose, do you wake up the next morning in a bad mood, before you even realise why you are in a bad mood…?

Can you name the closest pub to St James’ Park?

Do you know which of these two companies has their HQ in Newcastle Upon Tyne – Greggs or Pret A Manger?

For me personally, I cant comprehend why anybody from Newcastle Upon Tyne, Tyneside, surrounding areas, wouldn’t automatically be a Newcastle United fan. For me, pride in Newcastle Upon Tyne as our city, is impossible to separate from pride in Newcastle United.

As for those from elsewhere who choose Newcastle United as their club, then I think it comes down to just how much they buy into our football club AND our region, our identity, our culture and so on.

If distant Newcastle United fans have visited and loved Newcastle Upon Tyne and/or dream of coming here in the future, if they know loads about our team, club, history, region, people and the NUFC results and performances make them happy or sad in equal measure, then that is good enough for me.

If anybody has just come along and decided to support Newcastle United because they wanted to count the trophies coming in, well, maybe this might not be the club for you (at the moment…).