Now some Newcastle United fans might not like this.
In fact, some readers of The Mag may have total contempt for it. You are all entitled to your opinion of course.
It’s obviously a bit of down time for us NUFC fans following the end of an underwhelming season and the prospect of the most indifferent world cup to get through before we get back to business.
So here it is. I have a confession. I cheat on Newcastle United with not one second team but two.
Now before you call me names, I am still 100% Mag. Since 1987, I have watched the ups and downs of our great club. Much more mismanagement then anything else. McKeag, Hall, Shephard, Ashley and now the current lot.
I used to be a season ticket holder but unfortunately kids, finances and work conspired for me to spent that small fortune of pounds sterling and time elsewhere. I blame my Dad, now passed. He was a Mag since 1960 and went to Wembley five times with us and saw……two goals. Of course we would finally win something after his passing.
However, he is also to blame for my cheating.
We would be at all matches at St James’ Park but on away days he would take me to see Northumberland’s biggest club: Blyth Spartans. This could be home or away to such exotic places as Whitley Bay, Bishop Auckland, Morpeth Town, Spennymoor and on and on. In fact the first match of any sort I ever visited was at Storey Park, Morpeth.
I have followed the Spartans ever since and there has been some great times. The two promotions as Northern Premier League champions to the Conference North in 2006 and 2017. The near miss of losing the play-offs to the Conference (National League now) in 2018. The FA Cup has of course provided some famous moments in my time. Beating Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth in 2009. Watching the awful Allardyce squirm as his Premier League Blackburn scraped a 1-0 win in the 3rd round the same season. That cup run paid for a ground renovation. Beating Hartlepool (Hartlepool fans pictured below) in 2015 then to go 2-0 up against Birmingham was amazing.
Unfortunately, the 2024 takeover by Irfan Liaquat and his “Worldwide Winners Ltd” (really?) led to a disaster of financial mismanagement and two consecutive relegations. In August 2025 we nearly couldn’t play fixtures and were within a hair’s breadth of going extinct. On New Year’s Day 2025, we lost a home derby to Blyth Town and I swear it was the coldest I’ve ever been at a football match. The wind blowing straight in from the North sea over Croft Park in such a way even the gulls were sitting in the clubhouse with a mug of Bovril. The defeat left us 15 points adrift of safety at the bottom of the league and staring a third relegation in the face. Enter Marc Nash, a proper non league manager who galvanised a young honest team and we survived with six points to spare after an incredible second half of the season. Onwards and upwards. I regularly visit Croft Park every season and away games to places like Heaton Stan are just mint.
My second affair is my Scottish team. Quite a few people seem to have this affliction whether it is religious or family connections. Mine is a bit odd though, it’s Ross County from the lovely town of Dingwall just north of Inverness.
It’s my Dad’s fault again. Along with football, my big love is walking and scrambling over mountains. The Cheviots is my backyard but the Scottish Highlands is an incredible place with huge variety. Any trip up there is special. So my Dad wandered around the hills with me and being a football family, we would drop into a few Highland League games at the time. Inverness Thistle, Clachnacuddin, Rothes but it was Ross County that got me. They started to cause upsets in the cup then in 1994 came the momentous occasion to be elected to the Scottish League. This was in the days before the pyramid system and it took a lot of work to convince the old fuddies to give us a chance!
What followed was incredible. Promotion to the SPL by 2012 via an incredible 38 game unbeaten run to win the second tier. Three Challenge Cup wins was great but to see them win the League Cup at Hampden in 2016 vs Hibs was brilliant. The biggest memory though was to be at Hampden six years before to see a then second tier Ross County (pictured above playing away at Queens Park in April 2026) not just beat Celtic 2-0 but totally play them off the park. It was Neil Lennon’s first game as Celtic manager and to watch his face turn in horror as the second went in was comical lol. Don’t see them that often but there is a return trip to Queen of the South next season as well as Hamilton.
So there you go. Make your own assumptions. Do you sneer or do you have a second team?
Make no mistake, I am and always will be a Mag, even if these current Newcastle United owners try their best to force me away. However, grass roots football helps puts things in perspective. Canny pint and a bit craic in the clubhouse before strolling out to stand and watch the match is now a bit refreshing. You can hear the players communicating, you can hear the managers shouting and you can also hear the officials which is really interesting. No replays. No mobile phone distractions. Proper football.
It helps you remember what is important. It helps you appreciate the good times. I’m a bit indifferent to the all glitzy world cup but the prospect of an away day to Morpeth or Heaton in August? Bring it on!
PS Heaton Stan clubhouse has the best pint of ale in any football ground in the country.