Non-Geordies, why do you support Newcastle United?

[jrcarn]

I was born in Sussex in the mid-80s. Family are all from the north-east (Sunderland actually...) and moved south in the late 70's.  I only started getting interested in football around '93 or so, when I was about 8, and wanted to follow a north east team just to have some connection to where my family were from.  By this time two of my grandparents had died, one was in a home and the other wasn't far behind so football was the only chance to grab a link to our family 'home'.  Why didn't I support Sunderland?  I guess I can only assume that Newcastle was more exciting to an 8 year old in 1993.  We also always stayed in Newcastle when we went up to visit grandparents and I really liked the city. It happened and it stuck. 

 

My parents are still Sunderland fans but there is no strong rivalry amongst us.  Since moving down south they have always taken the approach of rooting for any one of Newcastle, Sunderland or Middlesbrough whenever they play anyone outside the north.  

 

We live in north London now and I'll be honest, I'm gently encouraging my son to be an Arsenal fan. London is home for him.  It'll be nice for him to support a local team and actually be able to go to a game without having to spend silly money on train tickets.  

[gbandit]

1 minute ago, BennyBlanco said:

Grandad was French and came over from Marseille in the 50’s to find work. Settled in Newcastle for 6 years before moving to Manchester when he got a promotion. He used to go to SJP every week though when he lived in the toon and never stopped supporting them. My mum and dad died when I was 4 so he and my Nan raised me - I never had a chance to support the teams my mates were supporting when I had that little toon mad Frenchman indoctrinating us. Miss him everyday and my support for the toon is my link to him that will never be broken.

Beautiful post this

[gdm]

From Airdrie Scotland. 
 

1994/95 season, my aunt from Newcastle would come and visit and me being a cheeky little 13yr old shit would say Newcastle are shit etc. she bet me £20 Newcastle would finish in top 6 and another £20 Andy Cole would score more than 20 goals. Obviously we know Newcastle finished 3rd and Cole smashed past 20 goals but what it did was got me watching out for the Newcastle results and watching the games.

 

and secondly my dad worked in medical physics in the hospital and there was a guy from Newcastle that would travel to Scotland maybe once a fortnight who was medical part salesman or something like that and when he heard I liked Newcastle he’d bring programs, newspapers, the old black and white magazine and he got me tickets for my first game in jan 95 v Blackburn in FA cup. All I had really known was a small club in Scotland with a small ground with wooden benches as seats at that time and sitting in St James park felt like a different world to me and I was instantly hooked. I’d Sadly after a few years we lost touch with that guy always wonder what happened to him 

 

my dad being worried about our Scottish accents joked if anyone says anything just mention Hughie Gallagher he played for Airdrie & Newcastle

 

 

Edited January 18, 2023 by gdm

[nortoon]

33year old Norwegian. Godfather followed Newcastle so when I was a kid I kind of just went with that, also never liked going for the standard "best teams" like most of my friends who follow Manutd/Liverpool. Loved playing them in Football manager from an early age (martins/owen combo was amazing at one time ). 

 

Got really into football at the least perfect time. The season Keegan came back and we got relegated under Ashley, been shit since then but I have managed to get to St. James twice. Once in the champo and I saw Ben Arfa score a screamer live against Villa when we went on to sign nobody on deadline day after qualifying for europe if my memory serves. 

[nufcjb]

In September 1992 when I was 6, I moved to Newcastle from my homeland as my late dad was going to do his PHd at Northumbria Uni.

 

I caught the 7-1 win over Leicester in the old Division 1 on tv but it was the 7-1 win over Swindon in our first PL season, which I just happened to hear on the radio, that made me interested in football and NUFC. Goals and goals and goals went in during that match and I have supported us since that day.

 

 

Edited January 18, 2023 by nufcjb

[Pixelphish]

I fall into this catagory. I was born in Hexham and we lived in Prudhoe for the first 3 years of my life before my family left the area for my Dads work. Mum is a born and raised Geordie and we were back multiple times a year to see extended family who live in Newcastle proper.

 

While I don't consider myself a true Geordie as I didnt grow up in the area, the sense of belonging and 'home' I get whenever i'm back in the area gives me a great deal of happiness. I don't think i'd be allowed to support any other club.

[KingArthur]

33-year-old from Finland. Saw the UCL game against Feyenoord from Finnish Tv for some reason, cannot recall if it was highlights only, but I guess it was full match. Just somehow started to support from that, and of course couldn't see the games very often, but managed to talk my dad into paying for football channels so could watch almost every game. Have seen pretty much all the games since 2005. First and only time that I have seen Newcastle live was at Craven Cottage during Rafa's Championship season. Huge and loud away support btw. Of course we lost 0-1... Been reading this forum for a long long time and nufc.com match reports and other interesting thing. Took me a while to figure out what "wor" means lol.

edit. I was staying at Edinburgh the season when we played Europa League with Pardew, and was hoping to get to game that weekend, but of course we had EL game that Thursday and the game got postponed to Sunday, when I was flying back already..

No one supported Newcastle where I am from. Father thought Shearer was a great player obv tho, but all were Arsenal, ManU or Liverpool fans, and pretty much still are here. 
 

Souness' time, Kinnear, Bruce, Carver. Through a lot of shit for team thousand miles away. My local team plays in black and white also, so funny coincidence.

 

 

Edited January 18, 2023 by KingArthur
adding extra text

[kingxlnc]

I got into football aged 10/11 in 1994/95. I was at a relative's house and at the time a Newcastle game was on Sky Sports. I forget which. All of a sudden my older cousin said 'I went to school with him' - he was talking about Andy Cole. Needless to say I didn't believe him but then he told me all sorts of stories about him and it was true, he was actually in the same class. My cousin was a die-hard Man U fan, but I had picked my club from that day on, the club that Cole played for. As I got more into football, I really liked Keegan and the all-out-attack of the whole entertainer's era which reeled me in further. I also became a huge Alan Shearer fan - so it was perfect when he signed for Newcastle. As I'm a bit of a contrarian, it also suited me that whilst everyone at school supported Forest, Man U or Liverpool (with the odd Arsenal thrown in), I was the lone Newcastle fan - which got me defending the cause and got me hooked! 

[Kid Icarus]

22 minutes ago, Mike said:

 

You've called me a lot of shit over the years but Theater Kid is too far. Goddamn.

 

 Tbf, it's regularly cited as the hardest accent to do and I'd say that's the case when writing as well. There are actors and actresses from around here who can't do it properly  

[BonesJones]

Grandmother fancied the pants off Shearer, showed me him playing, Blackburn at the time, 95/96 i think just before he moved. Which obviously eventually led me to the greatest club I could've hoped to support. No connection to Newcastle whatsoever.

 

Other clubs seem boring in comparison. Ours is like a story, always something to talk about good or bad we never know what the toon has in store for us haha.

 

 

Edited January 18, 2023 by BonesJones

[Dr Jinx]

I was brought over to a match when I was about 13/14 years old, away playing Aston Villa, (94/95 season) first PL game (in the Villa section) and we won 2 or 3 nil, Andy Cole scored and that was it pretty much. I was bitten.

[Dyeyzzon]

1 hour ago, TheBrownBottle said:

I wonder if cinematic classic 'Goal!' tricked anyone into B&W fandom?  Dreaming of being Santi and scoring against Foolham.  There has to be someone!

 

All these stories are great - but you're all bastard mad as far as I'm concerned  - supporting Ashley-era NUFC was like being repeatedly kicked in the bollocks.

I've not posted here since 2015 apparently, but I found the opportune post to make a return after years of lurking. Hi everyone. 

I find 'Goal' cringeworthy to watch now, but believe it or not, it had quite an impact on football fans on my Americanized side of the world (Philippines). In a time when there was no All or Nothing or any football documentary, that was the Hollywood-football crossover that we craved. Of course we were terrible after that thanks to the Ashley, so naturally, most people who watched Goal picked up one of the 'big four' of that time, but I stuck to NUFC. First game I properly watched is a 2-2 with Man United with David Edgar scoring () and just like that, it's been 16 years of me just: staying up till 1AM here, finding just about any way to see a Newcastle match, being unable to sleep two hours later due to the Ashley era brand of football, get stick from my friends at uni/work, and repeat every weekend. I don't know how I lasted, but seeing the team now makes it all worth it. 

As a physics lecturer real life, I've passed the bug to some of my students. They probably fear my mood could change with every bad result. 

[Mike]

13 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

 

 Tbf, it's regularly cited as the hardest accent to do and I'd say that's the case when writing as well. There are actors and actresses from around here who can't do it properly  

 

I'd be chuffed to bits if I wasn't from South Shields, me.

[Lenny]

The old man had a passing interest in football and liked Keegan's team as I was really starting to get into football. As the ever impressionable good son that I was I followed suit, and here I am nearly 30 years later...

[54]

1 minute ago, Lenny said:

The old man had a passing interest in football and liked Keegan's team as I was really starting to get into football. As the ever impressionable good son that I was I followed suit, and here I am nearly 30 years later...

And then this impressionable good son, left an impression when his younger brother came around 27 years ago

[Darth Crooks]

Dad is from Shields but I guess that sort of thing is quite typical. Nephew and niece were mascots with Bruno and Callum Wilson on Saturday so its keeping on down the generations.

[Darth Crooks]

46 minutes ago, adamjk007 said:

My parents and grandparents are geordies, I was born in the midlands. Followed the Toon for 35 years and always will, my sons who are 12 and 7 both also big Toon fans! You'd be suprised how many Newcastle fans live in the midlands! Geordies and non geordies.

 

I'm from Atherstone near Coventry. You far?

[Pixelphish]

4 minutes ago, Darth Crooks said:

 

I'm from Atherstone near Coventry. You far?

Im in leam.

[Miercoles]

When I was in highschool, around the turn of the century, pro evo was serious business and Newcastle were my favorite team in that. They were good enough to beat any team in the game, this was with shearer, kluivert, Solano, and Robert, but they weren't considered one of the "good" teams, so it was a good choice for bragging rights as no one could say "you only won because you're playing Madrid" or whatever.

 

I watched some games back then but it wasn't on TV much until the NBC deal which was during Pardew's tenure. In a way that's nice because I didn't really experience throwing away the title etc, just the normal experience of following a shit team.

 

It was the characters of that era that got me really invested, Ben Arfa was my first favorite player, then cabaye, tiote, Jonas, there were a lot of likeable players in that team. Then when things went shit I was too far gone.

 

I also wrote my master's thesis about this forum, so even when the team was shit and the footy wasn't worth watching I spent a lot of time here. Now it's nostalgic for the old days of Web 1.9 before YouTube and Facebook ruined everything 

[madras]

7 minutes ago, Miercoles said:

When I was in highschool, around the turn of the century, pro evo was serious business and Newcastle were my favorite team in that. They were good enough to beat any team in the game, this was with shearer, kluivert, Solano, and Robert, but they weren't considered one of the "good" teams, so it was a good choice for bragging rights as no one could say "you only won because you're playing Madrid" or whatever.

 

I watched some games back then but it wasn't on TV much until the NBC deal which was during Pardew's tenure. In a way that's nice because I didn't really experience throwing away the title etc, just the normal experience of following a shit team.

 

It was the characters of that era that got me really invested, Ben Arfa was my first favorite player, then cabaye, tiote, Jonas, there were a lot of likeable players in that team. Then when things went shit I was too far gone.

 

I also wrote my master's thesis about this forum, so even when the team was shit and the footy wasn't worth watching I spent a lot of time here. Now it's nostalgic for the old days of Web 1.9 before YouTube and Facebook ruined everything 

Go on.......

[Kid Icarus]

23 minutes ago, Mike said:

 

I'd be chuffed to bits if I wasn't from South Shields, me.

 

See, that just reads like suspect #3 who's being interrogated by Vera

[adamjk007]

16 minutes ago, Darth Crooks said:

 

I'm from Atherstone near Coventry. You far?

Not far from me I'm in Tamworth

[Mike]

3 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

 

See, that just reads like suspect #3 who's being interrogated by Vera

 

Ouch man. Goddamn.

[McCormick]

35 minutes ago, Dyeyzzon said:

I've not posted here since 2015 apparently, but I found the opportune post to make a return after years of lurking. Hi everyone. 

I find 'Goal' cringeworthy to watch now, but believe it or not, it had quite an impact on football fans on my Americanized side of the world (Philippines). In a time when there was no All or Nothing or any football documentary, that was the Hollywood-football crossover that we craved. Of course we were terrible after that thanks to the Ashley, so naturally, most people who watched Goal picked up one of the 'big four' of that time, but I stuck to NUFC. First game I properly watched is a 2-2 with Man United with David Edgar scoring () and just like that, it's been 16 years of me just: staying up till 1AM here, finding just about any way to see a Newcastle match, being unable to sleep two hours later due to the Ashley era brand of football, get stick from my friends at uni/work, and repeat every weekend. I don't know how I lasted, but seeing the team now makes it all worth it. 

As a physics lecturer real life, I've passed the bug to some of my students. They probably fear my mood could change with every bad result. 

Mabuhay!

[Groundhog63]