It seems like some kind of practical joke that Newcastle United’s shirt sponsor is a Far Eastern gaming company called ‘Fun.’
There’s not much of that in this place and it is with a sense of longing for the values this club’s owners used to hold dear that they were pushing tickets for an evening with Bob Concur, legend for 12 years from 1962, on the stadium screens.
It started out like a Groundhog Day. Another sell-out, same old weight of Tyneside expectation, a manager making little pretence in the build-up of the dysfunctionality of life behind the scenes.