Wor Flags paid tribute to Allan Saint-Maximin before Newcastle United took on Crystal Palace at St James’ Park. The Frenchman was the focus of the group’s latest display on The Gallowgate.
A golden number 10 and a flag of the Frenchman were flown by fans in the moments before the game kicked off. Newcastle were looking for their sixth home win in a row, a feat not achieved since 2004 under Sir Bobby Robson.
Volunteers from the group were working long into Tuesday evening to ensure the display went up without a glitch. Hundreds of gold foil flags were placed on seats, while others went around all sides of the ground placing black and white flags on seats.
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Speaking about the display to Chronicle Live, Wor Flags’ member Thomas Concannon said: “A lot of people have asked why we’ve never had a Maxi flag? Now we’ve got a Bruno flag and Joelinton one too but Maxi, in my opinion, is by far the most technically gifted player we have at the moment who can just set the game alight if he wants to.
“I know some people find him frustrating but we just hope that this gives him the lift going into the end of the season. We’ve seen that a little bit of criticism from some is creeping in, now is the time to be proper fans and get behind the lad.
“We saw against Wolves, the impact singing his name had just before we scored! It gave him a lift, imagine what this could give him!”
The rest of St James’ Park - including the seat of co-owner Mehrdad Ghodoussi - had black and white flags dotted around seats as the group continued with what they term ‘flag chaos.’ The Saint-Maximin display follows on from Sunday’s tribute to David Kelly’s strike against Portsmouth back in 1992.