Makes you think about your own mortality and the need to appreciate every day, every match

I received an email regarding Pete Blakeman, a huge Newcastle United fan and a really nice bloke.

It wasn’t the kind of email you want to receive.

The email was from a friend of his and informed me that Pete Blakeman had suddenly passed away.

His friend Joe was asking if I could track down a copy of an article that Pete had done for The Mag back in 1994, to be used as part of a Record of Remembrance.

This was back in the olden days of paper magazines and thankfully I was able to find a copy of that issue and have mailed it on.

I was really sorry to hear about Pete, terrible news. He always came across as a really nice bloke whenever I spoke to him and I asked Joe to please pass on my deepest sympathies to his family and friends.

Pretty sure the last time I saw Pete would have been pre-match a fair few years ago, in the Trent House.

He was a long-time subscriber to The Mag back in the day and very occasional article writer.

The thing is, not a case of claiming Pete was one of my best mates, but that is the great thing with football, both playing and supporting, so many people you get to know as football friends/acquaintances and never lost for a conversation with them, usually talking nonsense about Newcastle United.

That was how it was with Pete, bumping into him occasionally, on a matchday, in a pub, talking nonsense about Newcastle United.

Reading back through that article Pete wrote for The Mag back in 1994, he recounted how he had a Dundee United supporting friend who had moved to Tyneside and who he’d converted into also supporting Newcastle United. Dundee United had then reached the Scottish Cup Final and the roles were reversed, Pete Blakeman and another Newcastle United fan Trevor, heading up to Glasgow to add their support to the Dundee United fan they were friends with.

Pete and Trevor seeing a team they were supporting (on the day) winning silverware, causing an upset with a 1-0 victory over Rangers. Pete and Trevor persuaded after the match to forget about heading home on the train to Tyneside and instead headed in the opposite direction to celebrate the cup triumph in Dundee that night!

As often happens in the Newcastle United/football world, you end up getting to know new people and realising that they know people you know etc etc.

A fair bit after that 1994 Dundee United cup win and Pete Blakeman’s article in The Mag. I started played football every week with Trevor. Turned out that Trevor was the Trevor in that article in The Mag and still a big mate of Pete Blakeman’s. Small world. Quite a few years I played football with Trevor and Pete’s name would be mentioned occasionally, pretty sure I also saw them together in the Trent House  during that time, though memories do get confused as the years pass by far quicker than you realise.

It is 32 years since that Pete Blakeman article featured in The Mag, we would both have still been in our twenties just about.

As always at these times when you get news like this, it makes you think about your own mortality and the need to appreciate every day, every match.

Like myself, Pete Blakeman was on this earth back when Newcastle United won the Fairs Cup, but at an age too young for us to appreciate it.

I hope Pete took as much pleasure as I did when 16 March 2025 came along.