Where were you when we were shit?

I had an interesting conversation on Saturday afternoon – I’ll let you lot answer the question it raised.

The basic premise was that I, as an exiled geordie, was less of a Newcastle Supporter than a couple of people who live in Wallsend (which is outside of Newcastle incidentally) and as they were at the match and I wasn’t they were in some way superior to me. Let’s look at the evidence shall we?

I went to my first Newcastle Match at the age of six. I started going on my own from the age of eleven and travellling to away games at age fourteen. I was there on the terraces in the rain when we were bottom of division two under Ossie Ardiles. I’ve been chased around Stanley Park by knife wielding scousers, I’ve traded punches on the terraces at Rotherham and I’ve been pissed in glamorous places like Barnsley, Bournemouth and Tranmere whilst engaged in the cause of following my team. I have attended well over 500 matches in my supporting career (not including reserve games which I used to attend regularly back in the day) In short, it has been a lifelong passion of mine, not something I joined in with during my thirties and when the team had become good.

Now, my detractors. Well one of them was a Man United ‘supporter’ until about three years ago – loudly decrying Newcastle in favour of his ‘own’ team until one day he realised that he was actually allowed to go to matches as well as watching it on the telly but it would be cheaper for him to go to Newcastle. He has since re-invented himself as ‘Mr. Magpie’.

The other one was a well documented Liverpool ‘supporter’ during his schooldays and was not seen at a Newcastle match until his friend harassed him into going a few years ago.

These two plums also defended the fat pikey Shepherd vigorously, using the short sighted, not sure how football really works, johnny come lately’s claim of ‘He always backs his managers’.

Now I throw it open to you, my regular readers, who’s the proper Mag here?

Rivs

Ps – I would have given them some shit at the Fulham match in London on Dec 15th but they’re not going as ‘It’s on the telly’.