Monday, Dec. 25
The tour members tear themselves away from their family Christmas celebrations to depart the USA from their gateway cities.

Tuesday, Dec. 26
Seven of the members arrive in Amsterdam (the Anwar brothers, the Maine members, and Dan Murphy). Unfortunately, Jason's flight has been delayed (he'll catch up later) so the Magnificent Seven fly on to Newcastle without him. We arrive safely at 10:00am, the Anwars being met by their uncle, and the four (Pat, Mark, Rede, and Dan) of us take a taxi to the Royal Station Hotel, where Pat, Dan, and Jason will be staying during the tour. We all crash for an hour, the three of us watch Football Previews on the box, while Dan sleeps trying to overcome flu symptoms which almost kept him from making the trip. At 12:15pm, we leave the hotel looking for lunch on the way to the ground (stadium). I follow my historical route to the ground, leaving Central Station (next to the hotel) and heading up Pink Lane. A Fish n' Chip shop appears on the corner in the vicinity of Westgate Road, and this becomes our lunch stop. While we tuck in to fish n' chips and fishcake n' chips, Jason calls me from Newcastle Airport (I had left word with KLM staff at the airport to give him a message to call as soon as he got off the flight); he has arrived safely, and I instruct him to get a taxi to the hotel, check in, and get himself to outside the SJP Club Shop by 1:30pm. We continue to the ground, and while the other 3 go into the Club Shop, I pick up the tickets for today's match against Leeds United and the Saturday match against Manchester United. Upon my return, our group is joined by the Anwars, Jason, and Pete Wilson. I give everyone their tickets to both matches, and some of us go to the Strawberry to make contact with Allison. At about 2:30pm, we make our way to Turnstile 84 and up the 16 flights of stairs to the top of the Milburn Stand Upper Tier. I had been here for the first home game of the season with Pat. It certainly gives a wonderful view over Tyneside, but it is difficult to pick out the numbers on the shirts on the pitch.

The match kicks-off, and as most of you will have seen or read the report, I won't go into details. Suffice it to say that when Leeds scored after 10 minutes when a controversial refereeing decision moved their free-kick into the Lads' penalty area, I believed my worst fears were being realized, that the Shearer / Lee-less (not to mention the other absentees) Magpies were about to be beaten by a star-studded, expensively-put-together Leeds team. The fact that the only other dangerous Leeds shot came in the second half when they hit the post when we were 2-1 up, still amazes me. The Lads pulled off a fully-deserved, amazing victory.

We trooped away from SJP our heads held high back to the hotel.

Wed. Dec. 27
A rest day for the Three Musketeers at the Royal Station. Dan continued to fight the flu (he stayed in most of the day fully medicated) while Pat and Jason explored the Toon. I took Rede to a Goalkeeping Course, put on by Simon Smith, NUFC's Goalkeeping Coach, at Killingworth. In the afternoon, Shay Given and John Karelse came to talk with the 50 youngsters on the course and sign autographs.

Thu. Dec. 28
The Anwars and Allison meet me and the Three Musketeers at the Royal Station, and the eight of us travel to Chester-le-Street by private hire coach (bus) to watch the First Team Squad train. We arrive just before 11:00am, and are directed to behind a fenced-off astroturf area, as the regular fields are covered with a couple of inches of snow. About 30 players take the field and are divided into 6 teams of 5 players each, and proceed to compete in a round-robin 5-a-side competition. On occasions, we are literally inches away from the players as they stretch against the fence and you can hear smatterings of Spanish (Solano, Cordone, Gavilan, Acuna, and Bassedas). John Carver tells them to speak English only......but they laugh and continue in broken Spanish. There seems to be a good spirit following the Leeds win.

After training, I manage to pull some strings and we are invited into the players' pavilion, where only the privileged and far-traveled are allowed. As we pass Mr. Robson, I ask him if he can say a few words to our American supporters. He duly obliges and spends a considerable amount of his valuable time telling us about the time he was in the USA with the England team, Terry Butcher, and Co. Alan Oliver, a reporter with the Newcastle Evening Chronicle, wants to interview Bobby in the run up to the Man. Utd. match, but it is difficult to get him away from the Americans. He finally says his goodbyes, and we wish him the best of luck on Saturday. Several players take the time to sign autographs and have their photos taken with our band of fanatics......and we return to Newcastle with fond memories of our visit to the training ground. A few inches of fresh snow fall tonight. The horrific thought of the match on Saturday being postponed crosses my mind........

Fri. Dec. 29
Another rest day........Patrick goes to Edinburgh for the day; Dan continues to fight the flu; and Jason contemplates renting a car to travel to Barnsley to watch them play Watford (he decides against this because of the inclement weather).

Sat. Dec. 30
Can the Lads possibly get a result against the Champions? We certainly feel more confident than we did before the Leeds match. We meet outside the Club Shop for a SJP Tour at 10:30am. We meet Jeremy from Bermuda for the first time. A family from South Africa joins us for the tour, and Bob, our tour guide, does a great job showing us around the corporate-hospitality-laden stadium. We pick up a copy of the Saturday Evening Chronicle in which Alan Oliver has written an article : "We follow your stars in stripes" which briefly documents our visit. We split up for lunch, with some of the group going to the Wor Jackie Statue for a photograph.

We return at various times to enter the ground.......most of us are in the Sir John Hall Stand, a few rows up from the pitch, near the corner flag, and where the two goals will be scored. Again, the Lads perform magnificently to earn a share of the points, and a happier group of fans meeting up outside the shop afterwards to join Phil LeMarquand of Club United in the Berwick Suite you couldn't meet........Jason was looking forward to following the Lads to White Hart Lane with Allison, Dan's flu was improving and he was very happy he had managed to make the trip, and if you had told me before the tour, we would beat Leeds and draw with Man. Utd..........I don't think I would have believed you!

Sun. Dec 31
The Anwars, Pat, Dan, and me and Rede meet at Newcastle Airport, praying that the weather on both sides of the Atlantic co-operates (it does) for our return to the USA. Looking forward to the next Toon Army USA (& Canada) Tour.......