9 Newcastle Fans Who Should Have Played For The Club

2. Norman Hunter

Norman Hunter was not a pretty footballer. The Leeds centre-half was not one that kids would go to bed dreaming of emulating or practising his rush-and-thunder tackles in the park. For heaven’s sake, if they did without adult supervision, someone’s ankle might get snapped. This was a man whose nickname was ‘Bites Yer Legs’. He might not have been everybody’s cup of tea, but did he give a damn? Not at all.

Don Revie’s Leeds team were a snarling, brutish outfit but they produced results and when someone tried to change their make-up (*cough* Clough *clough*) that did not sit too well with them. Anyhow, Hunter was born in Gateshead and was a diehard Newcastle fan growing up. He only had eyes for the Magpies, with any prospects of beginning a career with another team alien to him.

“I would have gone there on my hands and knees.” - Norman Hunter, November 2009.

When Sunderland beat Leeds in the 1973 FA Cup final, Hunter described it as ‘the worst day of his career’. It's fair to say that if he were to lose an FA Cup final in shock circumstances, the footballing Gods quite possibly hand-picked the cruellest opponent to do so against.