Is John Beeby the oldest fan heading to Wembley this weekend to see his beloved Newcastle United play in the Carabao Cup Final?
The 93-year-old has been a Toon Army season ticket holder for 40 years and in that time has attended an impressive 1,726 games. He's been across the country cheering on the lads, seeing them play in matches such as the one-off Coronation Cup in May 1953 to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
But the former Swan Hunter's Shipyard worker says no words can describe the excitement of seeing Newcastle play Manchester United at Wembley on Sunday.
John, from Newburn, said: "It's been a long wait to get to a final. In the 50s I went to a semi final but I never got a cup ticket.
"I think we'll see a good game on Sunday. The team won't let us down, they've played well."
Asked how he was going to celebrate if Newcastle win the cup, John said: "I've got plenty of drink in the house… I'll be happy."
John has been watching Newcastle play since 1948 when he was 17 years old. His older brother, who was in the Navy at the time, invited John to join him at the match to see Newcastle take on Bradford.
John said: "It was a hell of a day. It was frosty so they had the pitch covered in straw and in the end Newcastle got beat 2-0.
"But once I got the bug for it, that was it. I'll not miss a game if possible."
John has only missed eight home games in his 40 years as a season ticket holder, including one due to his daughter's wedding. On another occasion he missed a derby day against Sunderland because his wife-to-be turned up to the ground late and they couldn't get in.
John said: "My future wife used to always come to the game with me but there was a derby match against Sunderland one day. I told her not to be late but she was so we didn't get into the game.
"We went to the picture house to fill the time in. I can't even remember the film now but when we came out the first thing I wanted to know was how Newcastle had got on. We won 3-1. That's the only derby game I've missed."
The avid supporter says he has attended "1,726 games and counting". But he came close to missing the final following a bad fall earlier this month that left him needing over 30 stitches to his face.
It was the day before Newcastle played West Ham when John fell down an escalator in Newcastle city centre and ended up having to miss the game.
John said: "I fell right to the bottom and when they picked me up the first thing I said was 'I hope I'm alright for the match on Saturday'. I was covered in blood and I'm still recovering.
"I didn't get to the West Ham match but I'm not going to miss Wembley."
Despite the fall, John is considering himself "lucky" because there were no broken bones which might have prevented him from attending the game. And now he's all set to catch a train down to Wembley on Sunday morning with his daughter to watch the game.
John said: "I can't explain how it will feel if they do win. I've seen some good games over the years but this one is exciting."
Reflecting on some of his favourite games over the years, he said: "We were playing Aston Villa in the 50s and we were getting beat 2-1 and they turned the game around to win 4-2 to get to Wembley that season.
"In those days there was a flag in the corner at the Gallowgate End called the 10 minute flag and when that went down Newcastle started to play. There was 60-odd-thousand people in the crowd, they were happy days."
He added: "I used to go to all the reserve games and when Jackie Charlton was manager I used to sit behind Jackie and he used to scrounge cigarettes off the lads. He was down to earth, he was a smashing bloke.
"When Willie McFaul was manager he invited us into the dressing rooms and I've been into the Director's box this season… I've been lucky.
"And I was lucky when I fell down the escalator and didn't break my leg because that would have knacked it."
John, who is originally from Byker, has a collection of hundreds of old programmes, including Newcastle v Manchester United in April 1969, a Burney v NUFC programme signed by Jackie Milburn and a 2009 programme signed by Bobby Robson for an England v Germany match at St James' Park.
And he's even had a personalised flag gifted to him from his friends Ian and Kate Marsden, who organised for the flag to be made by Wor Flags.
John added: "I've been to the ground when there's been 7,000 there and I've been when there's been 62,000.
"I'm confident they'll do well on Sunday. We've come a long way."
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