A long bugler occasionally blasts out the right note. Maybe also the source of the odd native American war cry. The few hundred at Ashington are passionate in their support. Proud mining town, home of the Charlton brothers and Jackie Milburn. But nothing works. A first-half breakaway by the men from Yorkshire is enough. No […]

Jack, always the town planner, is interested in the wind turbine that can be seen from the ground as well as the old terrace houses, and fatalistic about the enormous estate pub boarded up for more than a decade. I’m more intrigued by the industrial railway line, its Semaphore signals, construction machines on the station […]

Greyhound track that separated us from our idols. Banging the corrugated back of the Shed. Boys’ turnstile. Rosettes, rattles, hot dog sellers, trains that rumbled behind the North Stand. One of the best matchday programmes in the world. The ‘lack of atmosphere’ the press always cited whenever we lost. The Headhunters made headlines at away […]

Ancient Chinese proverb: one football fan’s never-to-be-forgotten victory is another’s hardest-to-swallow defeat.

Always a lovely song that plucked at the heartstrings. But over the years it took on a melancholy, mournful note. So many disappointments, hands of God, penalty shoot-outs, racist abuse on social media. But that was then. That was the men. Now, at the final whistle, they’re playing our song, at Wembley! The gods have […]