A modern romance with Newcastle United | OneFootball

I remember going back a decade or so and talking to some Scottish lads offshore about English football, they asked me how did I feel about the lack of Newcastle United success from the 1970s onwards.

I explained that it was something we had unfortunately had to live and get on with.

The feedback I got back from them was that Newcastle United were seen as a sleeping giant, that there was much more romance attached to our club than local rivals Sunderland.

Some would say that Newcastle is a more fashionable football club and city but that one word ‘romance’ conjures up totally different emotions and feelings.

I have always felt a great connection to Tyneside. I consider myself a true Geordie, having been born half a mile from the River Tyne.

As a young boy I would take pride watching grainy footage of the Animals, when me and my Dad watched the old 1960s re-runs on our black and white television. I still get a tingle up my spine when I hear Eric Burdon’s unmistakable voice.

‘Whatever happened to the Likely Lads’ was also essential viewing in our house in the 1970s.

During this period my mates and I had also fallen head over heels in love with Newcastle United. My first black and white heroes were Supermac, Terry Hibbitt and John Tudor.

I was always enamoured by the uniqueness of our black and white striped strips from the off. Everyone else seemed to play in red or blue, apart from Leeds in their all white kit.

Loads of teams seemed to play in red and white stripes, the likes of Southampton, Sheffield United and Sunderland. Even Stoke City had a dabble if I remember correctly.

Nah, Newcastle United were always the team for me.

What more could a young fan want than a swashbuckling centre forward, with a supporting cast of geniuses and mavericks like Jinky Smith, Tony Green and Terry McDermott. Jinky in fact was in Tynemouth Club the other day but I just missed him.

So half a century later and here we all are, older, if not too wiser. Our football club on the other hand, is now on a firm financial footing under new ambitious ownership.

My mate Colin got married four years ago to a Teesside lass and moved down there. He’s Toon daft and a bit of a cool customer is Colin, who tends to make friends rather than enemies. He gets on well with his new neighbours and says that he hasn’t encountered one bit of animosity. He has also stated that there hasn’t been any anti-Saudi sentiment from the Boro supporters he knows.

That’s refreshing to hear because some of the things said by supporters of other clubs in the last three years have been nothing short of a disgrace (pure jealousy and blatant hypocrisy). Many within the various media outlets have been even worse.

Newcastle United are and always have been, the biggest and most famous club in the North East. That probably does come down to that beautiful word ‘romance’.

The time has now almost arrived to fuel all of that Tyneside history, energy, camaraderie and romance together, push for a very real and ultimate glory.

We don’t just owe it to ourselves, but to the whole region from North Yorkshire to the borders near Berwick on Tweed, and across the country as far as Carlisle.

For too long the Home Counties and the North West have thought of the far north of England as a footballing backwater.

I have more than a feeling that Newcastle United are going to shake the EPL football foundations to their core in the next few years. That can only be good for our other clubs too, as the region will be completely regenerated.