Back issues are available from The Back Page, Newcastle upon Tyne.
Highlights of recent issues: |
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Issue 24 - 100% |
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King Al gets
his (count ‘em) fifth cover shot as a slightly nervous new issue is
inflicted on the public on the day The Mackems came to town. Of
course, 83 seconds in and the world was a better place, but these
pages reflected a sense of worry at our indifferent start. We
reflect a growing interest in technology, with a few posts nicked
from the toontastic (RIP) message board. Also, there was a growing
undercurrent of boredom and distaste with the England team and
International football in general. Two and a bit years later, the
situation certainly hasn’t got any more patriotic amongst those of
us who know. |
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Issue 23 - Good Times Around the Corner |
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Season
2002/2003 kicked off with a 4-0 thumping of West Ham in front of
the Sky cameras. Slightly less predictable was our choice of cover
star; Lord Bling Bling, with the strap line (taken from Factory
Records, natch) Good Times Around The Corner though to be fair there
was still a fair bit of goodwill to our legendary underachiever,
especially as his previous campaign had ended in that disgusting
foul by El Khalej away to Soton. Between the covers, we’d gone up to
40 pages and were chock full of new season optimism and predictions
for Mackem relegation. One stand out article was football poet Keith
Armstrong’s homage to Albert Stubbins. |
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Issue 22 - Running Man |
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Bearing in
mind his features, it’s no surprise Craig Bellamy had to wait until
the last issue of the season to get his dial in print. Perhaps more
surprising, he was out injured for the rest of the season after the
Mackems’ game, bar a few minutes as a sub at Blackburn. That was of
course the game that qualified us for the Champions’ League and the
celebratory tone was kept on for the Charlton home game, in which
Shearer notched his 200th Premiership goal. Life was pretty good in
the summer of 2002. Most of us had to keep rubbing our eyes to make
sure it was true, but yes, we’d gone from being mid table
non-entities to being European contenders in one season. It’s such a
shame we’ve not made the reverse journey. |
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Issues 48 - 46 |
Issues 45 - 43 |
Issues 42 - 40 |
Issues 39 - 37 |
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Issues 36 - 34 |
Issues 33 - 31 |
Issues 30 - 28 |
Issues 27 - 25 |
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Issues 24 - 22 |
Issues 21 - 19 |
Issues 18 - 16 |
Issues 15 - 13 |
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Issues 12 - 10 |
Issues 9 - 7 |
Issues 6 - 4 |
Issue 3-1 |
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