Did you know?
Their badge is inspired by an Ancient Greek myth. Or is it Roman? Etruscan? Phoenician? It’s on their logo, anyway.
The crest on the famous black-and-white shirts is inspired by the city’s coat of arms, and features two grey hippocampuses – or it could might be hippocampi – on either side. The creature is depicted with the upper body of a horse and the lower body of a fish. “Err, so a sea horse?” we can hear you ask. “We have those already.” But no, this is (apparently) different.
As well as Newcastle, hippocampi feature on the lampposts of Dublin, on the logo of Air France and at the base of the Trevi fountain in Rome. Talk about range…
Newcastle walk out to a Dire Straits number – well, almost. Mark Knopfler was brought up in Blyth from the age of seven, forming the world-famous band with his younger brother David and going on to sell more than 120 million records.
But by 1983 – just two years before the release of the legendary Brothers in Arms – he was developing his own music on the side, and composed the soundtrack to Scottish drama Local Hero. The eponymous song is now played before every home game at St James’ Park, with Kopfler re-recording a special version in 2014 for charity.
Alongside Local Hero is the Geordie Folk Song Blaydon Races, which greets the sides as they emerge. ‘Ahhh me lads, ye shudda seen us gannin’ and all that…
Match details
- Saturday, 30th November
- 15:00 GMT
- Selhurst Park
- Live audio commentary on Palace TV+
