Byker Books

You know how it is when your team has just survived relegation and probable bankruptcy by the skin of their teeth and

then spent a few quid in the summer on class players that you never thought in a million years would sign for them?

Yeah? You know that feeling?

Well after that do you know the feeling of winning your first seven games in a row, particularly against opposition that's expected to top your league - the likes of West Ham and big spending Derby County spring to mind - you know that feeling as well aye? Well if you do then you'll understand how I came to be in a transit van heading for a town I'd barely heard of, and certainly didn't know where it was, on a very sunny Saturday morning with a hangover that screamed 'kill me now and make it stop.’

Our season had kicked off so well and had gone so smoothly that as Newcastle fans we knew, we just knew, the wheels

would come off at some point and so we had to celebrate every weekend as if we'd just won the league before it all went to rat shit. Hence my hangover and my drunken insistence the night before that we go to Peterborough and support the lads - this wasn't an all ticket match as the authorities hadn't caught on yet and so you could still make these decisions when you were drunk on a Friday after you'd been paid. Col, as sympathetic as ever, obviously noticed my painfully contorted facial

expression as the sun beamed in through the van windscreen and lasered holes into my already aching skull and stated the

obvious.

'Telt you not to drink the drambuie didn't I?'

'Aye'

'Said you were making a knob of yourself didn't I?

'Aye'

'Do you want a can?'

'Aye'

I fucking love away games me.

When we got there I discovered that Peterborough is a nice place with a pleasant town centre and a ground by the river. I

also discovered that half of Newcastle had obviously had the same idea as me the night before and had mobbed the place.

We couldn't get into a boozer and get served to save our lives, you couldn't even get in the doors of most of them but

that was mainly because the tab machines and bandits were coming out. A lot of publicans made a lot of money that day

but I'm fairly sure a lot insurance companies made some big vending and gambling machine related payouts the following

week. We cut our losses, headed to a supermarket we'd noticed and bought some cans then laid down by the river and

bathed in the sunshine whilst necking them. The locals seemed entranced by our presence, it was almost as if they had

woken up that day and realised all the animals at the local safari park had got loose and were on the streets where they

lived.

Reports differed on how many Geordies were in town but you can take my word as gospel on this one - basically it was

all of us, there was no-one left in the toon at all. At about two o clock, Mickey, our more experienced travelling companion

and designated driver, decreed that we should head to the ground or we wouldn't get in. We obviously deferred to the

wisdom of the older man by moaning that he was being boring cos he couldn't have a drink but followed him anyway...I was glad we did. The ground was chocker, massive queues snaked back for what seemed like miles and they were all Geordies, going in all ends. We jumped in the van, drove to Aberdeen, joined what looked like the shortest line and started praying, luckily we had a couple of cans left to offset the fear of not getting in and even more luckily, we made it …just.

The turnstiles stopped behind us after about five more lads had come in and we took that as an omen and headed up the

stairs - it was bedlam. Our end was covered, a cow shed affair if you like and it was rammed, you couldn't move. The noise

was incredible and, I kid you not, the condensation due to our body heat was dripping back on us from the roof beams overhead. It was like being in a rave and it was fucking brilliant. The teams came out together, we were led by Barry

Venison and he came out with his fists in the air, his arms pumping and a look in his eye that said 'have you seen all them

in that stand - we're fucking having this today'. Obviously I'm paraphrasing, he might just have had a bit of grit in there or

something but you get the picture.The game itself wasn't brilliant, it didn't need to be. We won through a Sheedy goal from

an inch perfect pass by a recently acquired Robert Lee and that was enough. The team, the fans and, indeed our whole city, was once again fighting for each other and it had been demonstrated to the entire football world that day in a little Southern town in the back of beyond - and we were there, revelling in it.

Mind you me head was still knacking when we got back in the van like.