THE HEEDBANGERS 1. THE TOON 1 *** FRIENDLY FIXTURE

 PPosted ‘high noon 🕛 🛎️ bells’ Sunday 26th July 2026

“FAREWELL KING KEV!”

The Toon’s first public game of the new season, woz a mile across the Tyne bridge from SJP, to the Gatesheed International Stadium yesterday dinnaatime!

A somber mood woz in evidence before kick off, az a minutes silence woz impeccably observed for Special ‘K’, in wor first game followin hiz passing last Munday! 

It woz one of those games that you will forget by next Saturday, az The Toon huffed and puffed kickin towards the goal at the east end of the stadium!

NUFC wore the new dark blue away kit, while The Heed played in black n white halfed shirts!

Sean Steur woz makin hiz Toon debut in a fairly strong line up!

Make nee misstayk we had a boat load of chances to take the lead, but luck and good fortune for The Heedbangers, kept the score at nil-nil!

And then a rare Heed attack in the 34th minute resulted in the first goal!

A free kick on the edge of the box deflected off The Toon waall and The Pope in wor goal woz too slow to get the defection before Luke Supyk who slotted the baall into the net to give the home side a 1-0 lead!—-To the delight of the 1,000 or so Heedbangers in a mixed 7,000 plus crowd!

Thats the way it stayed til the break!

We were nee better in the second period az withoot a proven striker on the pitch (still absent due to World Cup duty) we couldn’t find the net!

Just when it looked az though non leegue Gatesheed would pull off a shock win, a Lewis Hall cross hit Heed defender Ben Williams who inadvertently put the baall into hiz own goal to level the score in the 79th minute! (It shud be noted that the smaall seated area behind the west goal woz closed)

There were outings for Matheos Ferreira, Mason Miley, Miograg Pivas and Vakhtang Salia who aall came on az late subs (Hope av sppelt their names reet?🤔)

There were nee more goals and quite a few in the crowd had left before the full time whistle in a somber occasion followin the death of King 👑 Kev!

Attendance: 7,195 (6,000 Toon fans in the home and away sections!)

GATESHEED PUB CRAWL PIX TO FOLLOW LATER⬇️

THE NUMBERS GAME!

 Posted ‘high noon 🕛 bells 🔔’ Friday 24th July 2026

ROKER BEACH—-BELIEVE IT OR NOT!

The new season iz now just under a month away and wor forst public friendly takes place tomorrow dinnaatime at Gatesheed International Stadium v Gatesheed FC

It iz sure to be a somber occasion az this will be wor forst game since King 👑 Kev passed away on Munday!— Black armbands and a minutes silence/applause? (we arnt sure which?) will then follow before the ‘12:30 bells 🔔’ kick off!

The imminent signing of Akashi Bamba from ASMonaco iz expected today, for a reported fee of £35 million!—We are aall nervous now az previous deals have been hijacked by the Cartel clubs—-so until he iz actually seen wavin a Toon scarf above hiz heed,then—and anly then, will we believe it!  —He’s signed this mornin and will wear the number 8 shirt!

Meanwhile the other squad numbers for the new season have just been released! ⬇️

DUNBAR UNITED 1. HEATON STAN 1 **** FRIENDLY FIXTURE

Date of First Visit: 18th July 2026

New Countess Park, Dunbar, Scotland

Dunbar United 1 (Craig)

Heaton Stannington 1 (Giraud)

Friendly fixture

Attendance: 300 (estimated) includin aboot 25 Stan fans

“THEY DON’T LIKE US!”➡️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

“WE DON’T CARE!➡️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

We decided to dee a bit of ‘groundhoppin’ and heed north of our the border to watch non leegue Heaton Stannington (from the Toon’s east end) play Dunbar! 

We let the train 🚂 take the strain and caught the 9:17am bells 🔔 train from The Central (station) and arrived well before opening time! 

Had a quick look aroond the harbour where aall the fishing boats and smaall yaughts were anchored, before heedin for the toon centre to dee some much needed tonsil ticklin’ in 'The Castle'! 🍺

The 2nd boozer we went in caalled 'The Eagle', had flags of aall the teams in the World Cup hangin off the walls!—-Apart from one!

“Where’s the England flags!?” ‘Tex Taylor’ asked the barmaid!   

“A customer came in with a pair of sizzors and cut them down!”, she replied!

Who says the sweaty socks divvint like us?🤔

Anyway!--- we left there and heeded for the groond---or more importantly to the Dunbar clubhoose next door, for the final few liquid lubrications before the match!⬇️

REDUCED FROM £10 APPARENTLY ↖️(I wonder why?🤔)

It woz a fairly hot day and we took up a space near the halfway line, with a great view of the East Coast main line behind the lefthand goal!

A bit of groundhoppin & train 🚂 spottin’ at the same time!

The 25 or so Stan fans (Heaton) were behind that goal and they had a big England flag draped on the fence behind!---The forst England flag we'd seen so far!---Much to the annoyance of some of the locals!---Hopefully ‘Sizzors Man' woz there? ⬇️

Both teams home colours are black n white stripes (A very good reason to come here!)

But both played in their away strips! Dunbar in yellow and Heaton in blue! Err! sorry! Dunbar in blue—Heaton in yellow!

The forst half woz just like watchin the forst half of the Argentina v England game the Wedinzday before, with nee shots of any note from eethaa team!---It woz soon time to heed back to the clubhoose for the half time 'hydration break' where we consumed more golden liquid!-

We got back and stood behind the 'Train line goal' and just when it looked like it would end goalless, a Dunbar striker caalled Craig, wellied the baall into the net, givin The Stan goalie Lewis Brass, nee chance, to put the sweatie socks one nil up with aboot 10 minutes to gan! 

It wozzint until the dyin embers of the game that Heaton were given a lifeline and were awarded a penalty in the 93rd minute, when Morris woz fouled in the box!---Giraud took it and sent the Dunbar goalie the wrang way to level the score!----Immediatly after this the ref blew for full time!

We heeded back to the train station, but not before a final 'gargel' at 'Station Yard' micro pub reet next to the station entrance! 

When we got back,  we heeded for The Bodega on Westgate Road for the final 'Liquid refreshments'  WE were well into double figures now, but somehow aa managed to find the bus stop and heed yem after a couple more! 😵‍💫(hic!)

“WE WOZ THERE!”. (The proof)⬇️

BACK OF THE MAIN STAND

FOOTNOTE: SORRY FOR THE VERY LATE PUBLISHING OF THIS MATCH REPORT, WHICH WOZ PLAYED LAST SATURDAY—-BUT WE HAD OTHER THINGS ON WOR MIND, FOLLOWIN THE UNTIMELY DEATH OF KING 👑 KEV!

READ TIL THE END! RIP 🪦 KING 👑 KEV

 Posted 7:00pm bells 🔔 Wedinzday 22nd July 2026

SPECIAL ‘K’. LOST BUT NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN BY THOSE WHO SAW HIM PLAY AND MANAGE WOR GREAT CLUB!

RIP 🪦 KING 👑 KEV!

 POSTED ‘4:14pm BELLS 🔔 MUNDAY 20 th JULY 2026

Very sad news that Kevin Keegan haz passed away reaches us!

A TRUE LEGEND!

RIP 🪦 KING 👑 KEV (Lost but will be never forgotten by those of us who saw him play and manage ⬇️

 ‘THE NUFC ‘ENTERTAINERS’!

HOW IT ALL BEGAN 44 YEARS AGO IN 1982 ⬇️

Special thanx to The Silver Fox for the Ronny- Gill headline aall those years ago!

And for this tribute below! ⬇️

Some more bad news!

Just heard that Toon away traveller Brian Ormiston haz passed away az well. Brian had travelled to NUFC away games for ower 50 years!

RIP 🪦 BRIAN

THE TOON 3 DARLO 0 ***FRIENDLY BEHIND CLOSED DOORS!

 Posted '12:47pm bells' 🔔 Munday 20th July 2026

The Toon's forst pre season friendly took place at the newly named Knox trinin groond on Saturday---A game we couldnt gan tee, coz it woz behind closed doors!

NUFC won 3-0 playin 2 entirely different teams in the 1st and 2nd half!⬇️

Joe Willock, Will Osula and Sean Neave scorin wor goals!

Sorry, there are obviously nee pix of the game, but we went to Dunbar in Scotland instead to dee a bit of new groundhoppin---to watch Heaton Stannington for the east end of the Toon, play Dunbar United 

FT 1-1  match report AND PIX on that game on Wedinzday at high noon bells' 🔔 

THE UNDERTAKER AND LIAM FROM THE LAMP *** LOST BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN!

Posted '2:00am bells' Friday 17th July 2026

THE 'ALDER SWEENEY' MEMORIAL GARDEN' AT ST. JAMES' PARK

On this day 12 years ago John Alder 'The Undertaker' and Liam Sweeney 'From the Lamp' were on their way to New Zealand to watch The Toon in pre season friendlies.
They never got there az their plane waz shot doon ower The Ukraine and they perished alang with nearly 300 others!


They may be lost but they will NEVER! be forgotten by those who knew them well (like me) and those who had never met them!

RIP Lads!

ING-ER-LAND V THE ARGIE BARGIES *** WORLD CUP SEMI- FINAL 2026

 Posted ‘high noon bells 🔔’ Wedinzday 15th July 2026 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Updated the morning after the night before!🙈

8 bells 🔔 kick off GMT 

(Geordie Meeen Time!)

Well! here we are on semi final day in the World Cup and Ing-er-land are nearly there!

The anly problem iz dodgy decisions from the ref and VAR and a certain Messi of course!

Big Dan Burn 🔥 iz in the squad again, but we envisage that he will anly be used if the 3 lions are winnin, to stop gap the defence!

So let’s hope he gets at least a little bit game time!

Let’s aalso hope there iz nee controversy and that they reach the final against Spain, who beat France 2-0 last neet!

We will aall be glued to the telly, come the 8 bells 🔔 kick off time in the UK

Howay the Lions! 🦁 🦁 🦁 yee can dee it!

Updated the morning after the night before

They hoyed it away in the dyin embers of the game by tryin to defend a 1-0 lead by takin the goalscorer off and packing the defence!—It didn’t work— that’s why they lost 2-1!🙈

NUFC 8th IN THE PREMYAA LEEGUE PECKING ORDER!

 PPosted ‘high noon 🕛 bells 🔔’ Tuezday 14th July 2026

THE CARTEL SIX!—PLUS VILLA!

News that £50 million transfor target Johan Manzambi, who NUFC have been after for months, haz been hijacked by Aston Villa, iz yet anothaa reminder of just where we are in the top flight pecking order!  

This follows Liverpool, who hijacked Victor Munoz last month, after agreement woz reached!

Add on (deep breath!) Hugo Ekitike, Joao Pedro, Ben Sesko and James Trafford, who have aall been hijacked by the Cartel Six, in the last 12 months, —-with Villa now 7th in the pecking order!——that makes us the 8th in line for star player, who will come to us!

It’s like vultures, hovering over their prey (NUFC) and diving in to steal ‘the prize’ at the last minute!

Add in that Isak 🐀, Gordon, Tonali and possibly captain Bruno, have aall departed, PLUS Elliot Anderson, who we were forced to sell!—then the ‘vision’ of bein “Number One!” by 2030 looks ridiculous and laughable now! 

Although Toon fans are definitely NOT laughing at wor inability to keep or sign star players!

ING-ER-LAND EXPECTS. SEMI FINAL AT STAKE!

 Posted ‘high noon bells 🔔’ Saturday 11th July 2026 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿   Updated ‘1:20am bells 🔔 Sunday 12th July

The qwaataa final of Ing-er-land’s game v Norway takes place tooneet at 10:00 bells 🔔 UK time in Miami —and we can anly hope that they can dee it, to set up a semi final against The Argie Bargies’ or The Swiss Rollers’?

Big Dan Burn 🔥 iz the last Toon player standing in the World Cup and IF he iz selected, he will need doubt mark Irling Haarland—A player who haz anly scored just once in 8 games against us while playin for Man City, when Big Dan haz marked him! (See top photo!)

Come midneet 🔔 bells’ we shall naa the outcome! 

Posted 1:20am bells Sunday 12th July* ⬇️

“NOR-WAY THE LADS!”

FT after ET 

NORWAY 1. ING-ER-LAND 2 

Into the semis v The Argie Bargies or The Swiss Rollers!