As regular message board users will know, I recently set up a TOTT fanzine twitter page which I ocassionaly mention! http://twitter.com/TOTTfanzine , if you’re interested.

In just a couple of months we have built up a following of over 130 people, most of whom are real Newcastle supporters.  TOTT is also followed by a couple of North East journalists and a Scouser of the red variety.

Having interaction with these other people is great and there is a pool of probably 15-20 who message TOTT regularly.

One such poster is @goalie22.  Reading some of his ‘tweets’ it became obvious to me that he was based in the USA.  As it turns out his name is Larry and he is from Indianapolis and as you can see from the picture above, his whole family support the Toon.  So I had to ask, how the hell did he become a Newcastle United supporter?!

As it turns out it’s a great story and one that will make you proud to be a Geordie.

Larry:

My love affair with NUFC started in early 2006.   I’m a neophyte as far as fans go.   I’d heard of NUFC, as I loved playing football growing up, as well as the FIFA video games.  I was in Hong Kong for work, and one Saturday evening I was out in Lan Kwai Fong, the party district of Hong Kong which was the afternoon in the UK.  Newcastle were playing and I had a few pints in me.  I wandered over to a group watching the match.   There were a number of Geordie lads, and other Newcastle supporters, and  the second half had just begun.  I think we were playing West Ham, but I could be wrong as I was pretty pissed in all honesty!

We were getting the better of all the chances, but couldn’t get anything to go down.   There were a couple of the other teams supporters who were looking a truly deflated lot.  I start cheering along with the Newcastle supporters.   Low and behold, someone picked up on my Midwestern American accent.

He looks at me and says “Hey… you’re a yank!”

I looked at him and said, “yeah… I am.”

He looked back at me and said… “and you like football?” The look on his face was absolutely priceless.

I said “Yeah mate and it looks like Newcastle is kicking the other teams arse all over the pitch.”

This lad looks at the other team’s fans, points at me and says

“Hey….   This lad’s a yank… and even HE knows Newcastle are better!”

I was greeted by a group of lads, none of whose name I remember.   A few rounds of shots came around soon after!!

TOTT:

So what did you make of the Newcastle supporters in the bar?

Larry:

The crowd of lads there in LKF were all giving the other team’s supporters all they could handle with loud chants of  “We are mental, and we are mad.  We are the loyalist football supporters the world has ever had…”

I got in on the action, and watched Newcastle win the match with a brilliant goal though I can’t remember who scored it [ed- one for Rexn to work out I think]

I just felt really welcomed by the group of individuals whom I met that night.    I had never expected to be accepted into a group of football fans.

TOTT:

So what happened when you returned back to the USA where football isn’t really covered at all?

Larry:

I started reading some of the online fan stuff including Talk of The tyne.  I managed to watch a few matches at a local pub called the Union Jack whenever they would show a match on Setanta or Sky.  Apart from that I wasn’t really sure how to get myself involved otherwise.  Though I must confess I admit to watching GOAL! a few times!  I loved re-acquainting myself with the sites of Newcastle and who doesn’t love seeing St James’ Park.

However I really started getting into NUFC in the 2007-2008 season when I discovered justin.tv and sopcast.

TOTT:

So do you have an ambition to fly over to England and see Newcastle play in the flesh?

Larry:

I already have!  I actually had a lot of frequent flyer miles and quite a bit of cash from my bonus at work.  I decided to take some of each and I got a flight to London.

I decided to come for the Tyne Wear derby at St James’ Park.  If I was going to go to one match, this was the one to go.  I spent a day in London before taking  a red-eye coach up to Newcastle.   We had this mackem git as a driver.  We gave him all sorts of grief on the way up though!  He was determined to take us up to the NE landfill known as the Stadium of Shite.  Thankfully for the  coach’s schedule it didn’t permit such a detour and I damn near got booted from the coach for saying “mackems are tossers”.

TOTT:

Well it’s good to see you’re already trained so well!  So what did you make of Newcastle?

Larry:

Well coming over the hill from the South at six in the morning and seeing St James’ Park and the Toon rise as we drew nearer was a majestic site.  I went on the St James’ Park tour and then spent the rest of the day with a couple from the ‘heed that I had met on an IT Related website as I work in IT.  They too showed the warm, and wonderful hospitality of the Geordie people and they showed me around the Toon.  I truly felt very welcomed, almost as if it were a second home.

TOTT:

How was your first ever match day?

Larry:

Gameday was nothing short of great.  A few pints before the match and cheering with the Geordie boys up on level seven was an incredible feeling.

The atmosphere before sporting events here in the States is never quite as charged as football matches in the UK.  I also happened to choose one of the more bitter rivalries in all of football to watch!  The incredible feeling was brought to front by hearing ‘I’m Coming Home Newcastle’, the Blaydon Races.

And to cap it all off Owen scored those two brilliant goals so we could rub it in the faces of those dirty monkey mackem’s!

I love it that someone brought a blow up beagle and a Keano mask for “Keano, he wanks his dog!”

I stood with a number of lads for about 20 minutes chanting and taunting those sad mackem bastards before they had to muster up some semblance of manhood and walk out of our hallowed ground and face the onslaught of the Toon Army downstairs!

TOTT:

What do you make of the goings on at the highest level of the club?

Larry:

Well don’t even get me started on Ashley.   He was actually heckled in maxim magazine for the amount of money he’s lost in the past year.  He’s a laughingstock wherever he goes.

I’m very happy with the success we’ve had on the pitch, aside from the fizzy pop emblem on our shirts.  Unfortunately, we’re a victim of our own success when it comes to getting someone to buy the club.   Ashley knows he’ll make more money off of selling a Premier League club versus a Championship outfit.   My opinion is that he wasn’t going to sell even if moat came up with the money.  He was taking the piss at our expense.

My belief is that the good people of Tyneside, the Toon Army, The Ultras, NUSC/NUST, and publications like The Mag and True Faith, are the heart and soul of Newcastle United.  And I believe  that we must stick together in order to salvage any semblance of a future for our beloved club.

Picture courtesy of Tony Monteleone – tamonteleone@indygirlfriday.com

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