Michael Hudson
@michaelhudson76
Geordie guiri in La Gomera, language school owner, ELT teacher trainer, football fan (#nufc), very lapsed blogger / fanzine writer and occasional scribbler for When Saturday Comes, IBWM, World Soccer Magazine, Sabotage Times, Japan Soccer and more.
Devastated, like everyone, at the news, and also sad and angry that he never got the chance to come back so we could say a proper goodbye. RIP King Kev. Thanks for making us dream again.
People rave about him. But then they never saw this bloke, did they?
I had to click for the laugh. So his main rationale for moving was apparently that he didn't play regularly enough but he's now desperate to play for Carrick and understudy Luke Shaw? Aye, right.
No longer have the energy to get worked up about players we don't sign, but I was very annoyed when we lost out on this bloke in 1994 after a month of the Sunday Sun telling me he was definitely on his way. Even worse than the Chronicle splashing "YURAN" across its back page the summer before.
The calm of a Canarian sunset (post-listening to two people talking loudly about Leeds in between dive bombing the deep end)
Haha! If last year fizzled out like 1990-91, this year must be our...
Great trip out on the Atlantic today: saw a turtle, two dolphins, a whale, about a dozen flying fish, and - most unexpected of all - a Hellas Verona fan who's been to SJP for a pre-season friendly.
Avoiding transfer window nonsense: worked some of the day, popped down to the beach for food, then into the tub.
Perk of the wife's job is occasionally getting free nights away. Will spend the next three trying to avoid doing a homage to the Still Game caravan episode while nipping downstairs for wine.
Romano reckons #NUFC have already made an official bid for Muňoz, but Osasuna's local paper says the club have "assured them" they have zero knowledge of anything we (el equipo inglés) are up to. Sounds like someone's agent wants to speed things up a bit...
And while I'm on about Metz, it's not only Bruno and Matt Ritchie who do things with corner flags. Also, that first leg in France was the coldest my feet have ever been at a game besides Dunston v Spennymoor and my first visit to Zimbru Chisinau.
If you're wondering about players moving in the opposite direction, well let's just say it's not the highest of bars.
Hoping we do get Arthur Atta this summer as it's a continuous upward curve on #NUFC signings of people who used to play for Metz.
Coffee in the garden (not mine (!) but really lovely to have this place under 200m from my front door)
Finally, here's a photo I took of @rungeordierun.bsky.social in Kyiv in 2018, after he'd spent around 80 days pulling his hotel on wheels there from Belgrade. He's currently running a bit closer to home - half a marathon every day - for a cause well worth some of your time and money.
It's Kyiv Day, which this year is 1,544 years since the Ukrainian capital was founded and almost 19 since my first visit there to see this team come back from 2-0 down in the Champions League. Wooden benches, 100,000 crowd and John Beresford outscoring Andriy Shevchenko.
40 years since Mexico '86 kicked off. Can't remember what happened in the rest of the tournament, but this was undoubtedly the highlight of the whole thing.
Typo there: centenary of birth. Most Spanish reports say he went to school in the NE, but it was actually Stockport then Fleetwood. As his family had business in Newcastle, it is very likely he visited the city, though.
In 1994, on the centenary of Pepe's death, the remaining youth sections of SC Victoria signed a twinning agreement with NUFC. In 2022-23, Las Palmas wore the stripes as their second kit in homage to the man who was inspired by the Magpies.