Laying The Eggs – N1

“Each of the circles in the painting represents a magpies nest which in turn represents one of the early Tyneside football clubs that played their part in the formation of Newcastle United. The river Tyne runs across the scene into the North Sea which has two seahorses pointing in opposite directions to represents the not yet united Newcastle. The circles are roughly positioned as the early clubs would appear on a map of Newcastle. Different clubs faded and merged and eventually became one at St James Park. The two sets of magpies flying out of St James park represent some heading south to face the teams of England and some heading over the sea into Europe.”

The North East region was one of the country’s late developers and not until around 1890 did Tyneside see rapid progress made, several years after other parts of the country had seen football flourish. Even then support was a trickle compared to the 65,000 crowds that were to roar encouragement to Newcastle United in their heyday and the 51,000 that watch the Magpies at the new St James Park in the Millennium.