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

I received an email about Pete Blakeman, a big Newcastle United fan and a really nice guy.

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

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

His friend Joe asked if I could find a copy of an article Pete had written for The Mag in 1994 to use as part of a Record of Remembrance.

This was in the old days of paper magazines and luckily I was able to find a copy of that issue and mail it out.

I was really sorry to hear about Pete, terrible news. He always came across as a very nice guy when I spoke to him and I asked Joe to pass on my deepest condolences to his family and friends.

I’m pretty sure the last time I saw Pete would have been before the game a few years ago, at the Trent House.

At the time, he had been a subscriber to The Mag for quite some time and wrote articles very occasionally.

The thing is, it’s not a case of claiming that Pete was one of my best friends, but that’s the beauty of football, both playing and supporting, so many people you get to know as football friends/acquaintances and never lose you for a chat with them, usually talking rubbish about Newcastle United.

So it was with Pete, who would occasionally come across him, on match day, in a pub, talking nonsense about Newcastle United.

When he re-read the article Pete wrote for The Mag in 1994, he talked about how he had a supportive friend from Dundee United who had moved to Tyneside and who he had converted into a supportive friend from Newcastle United. Dundee United had then reached the Scottish Cup final and the tables were turned: Pete Blakeman and another Newcastle United fan Trevor went to Glasgow to add their support to the Dundee United fan they were friends with.

Pete and Trevor watched a team they supported (on the day) win silverware, causing upsets with a 1-0 win over Rangers. Pete and Trevor persuaded each other after the match to forget about taking the train home to Tyneside and instead head in the opposite direction to celebrate the cup win in Dundee that evening!

As often happens in the world of Newcastle United football, you end up meeting new people and realizing that they know people you know, etc.

A nice piece after the 1994 Dundee United Cup win and Pete Blakeman’s article in The Mag. I started playing soccer with Trevor every week. It turns out that Trevor was the Trevor in that The Mag article and was still a great friend of Pete Blakeman. Small world. For quite a few years I played football with Trevor and Pete’s name was mentioned occasionally, I’m pretty sure I also saw them together at Trent House during that time, although memories can get confused as the years go by much faster than you realise.

It’s been 32 years since the Pete Blakeman article appeared in The Mag, we would both have only been in our 20s or so.

As always in these moments when you get this kind of news, it makes you think about your own mortality and the need to appreciate every day, every match.

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

I hope Pete had as much fun as I did when March 16, 2025 arrived.