A three-hour drive south-west, the Conservative party conference was drawing to a close. Much of the talk in Manchester centred on the supposed demise of the Northern Powerhouse project but little did the delegates realise that, 150 miles up the road, the concept is alive and kicking.
If, in a political context at least, levelling up seems an increasingly empty slogan, the events of Wednesday night in the north-east confirmed Newcastle United’s emergence as a rising force to be reckoned with.
