Today we close the book on ' Chronicled ' our 30-chapter podcast walk through the entire history of Newcastle United.
(What do you mean you've not got round to listening to any of it yet!?)
Luckily, all episodes can be found HERE, and they're also available for free on all major podcast platforms.
Go here for more Newcastle United history content
It was early 2021 when I first pitched the idea for a history series to the club's official historian, Paul Joannou. Paul is the author of 'The Ultimate Record', a volume of NUFC books that records every single match Newcastle United have ever played - even the ones before they re-branded as NUFC in 1892.
He is the ultimate expert in all things historical to do with Newcastle United, so he couldn't resist the prospect of a 30-episode walk through club's 140-year story.
It's been a labour of love as they say, but a dream to do it all the same. I thought I knew my NUFC onions prior to recording Chronicled, but this series has been an eye-opener.
For example, now I know about the club's life before 1892 (they were formed by cricketers in 1881, built a fan base and won trophies). I learned about the club's Edwardian era FA Cup curse (three final defeats in five years). I now know that their first FA Cup Final win in 1910 saw them become the last team to lift the original FA Cup trophy (Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan bought the cup from David Gold last year for £760k).
There's been stories like the one of Rex the Great Dane who was the club's unofficial Edwardian mascot until he invaded the pitch during a match and was given a stadium ban by Newcastle's then trainer Frank Watt (who also happened to be Rex's owner).
We've welcomed 20 incredible guests onto the show across the 30 chapters, from local authors like Paul Brown, Dan Jackson, Harry Pearson and Michael Chaplin, to lifelong fans like Alan Candlish who attended the first ever game played under floodlights at St. James' Park and Bill Swann who was at St. James' Park the day the 1951 FA Cup winning team brought the trophy home to Newcastle.
We've covered mysteries like the ' over-the-line ' FA Cup Final win, the ' lucky penny ' supposedly carried by three separate Newcastle goalscorers in three separate FA Cup finals, and countless stories like that of Jack Thomas, a former Newcastle United reserve who became a Durham miner then a secret agent during World War I. We dispel the myth that Lennon and McCartney were ambivalent towards football and discuss their individual obsessions for Newcastle players in the 40s and 50s.
Bob Moncur told us how he was almost killed during Newcastle's 1969 Fairs' Cup homecoming. We spent an entire afternoon in the company of Malcolm Macdonald and John Gibson for the 'Supermac' chapter. Dr Alex Jackson joined us from the National Football Museum to take us through the First World War period, discussing players who lost their lives at war like Tommy Goodwill, Dan Dunglinson and Donald Bell (the latter was posthumously awarded a Victoria Cross).
We put allegiances aside and invited Paul's equivalent from Wearside onto the show: Sunderland AFC Historian Rob Mason. We gave Lee Clark goosebumps when we read out some of Kevin Keegan's old programme notes, Warren Barton practically apologised to listeners for not winning the league in 1996, Keith Gillespie transported us back to THAT night v Barcelona in 1997 and Olivier Bernard explained to us (in beautiful French-Geordie) the time he told Bobby Robson he wanted to be Newcastle's next No.9.
We welcomed listener contributions and some that came in were genuinely amazing. Like the listener who had audio of their grandfather describing what life living next door to Albert Stubbins (legendary Newcastle United striker of the 30s and 40s) was like in the war years. And the supporter who told us about the Malcolm Macdonald goal that genuinely saved their fathers' life!
I hope the series has given listeners a better understanding and appreciation for this mad, bizarre, beautiful club. I'll miss doing it but I have an acorn of an idea for some special edition episodes further down the line, so keep an ear out for those.
It's not quite the end of the series either. Myself and Paul will be back next Wednesday for a special bonus episode of Chronicled that will be the official full stop.
Paul has shortlisted 60 former United players from which you are invited to select an all-time Newcastle United XI - not easy! Pick your team (and manager) below and the fans' ultimate XI will be revealed in due course.
In next Wednesday's episode we'll go through the shortlist and Paul will reveal his Ultimate NUFC XI.
Thanks for listening to Chronicled: The History of NUFC, with me Matt Ketchell, Paul Joannou and all our special guests.
