Colback's Pride At Magpies Bow

By Tom Easterby

Jack Colback has described his pride after pulling on a Newcastle United shirt for the first time at Oldham Athletic on Tuesday.

The former Sunderland midfielder crossed the Tyne-Wear divide earlier this summer to sign for his boyhood heroes and the midweek friendly at  the Sportsdirect.com Park proved a momentous occasion for the lifelong Newcastle fan who, along with fellow summer arrivals Siem de Jong and Ayoze Perez, made their Magpies bows.

"It was good," Colback told nufc.co.uk.

"Obviously it was just a friendly but it was still be a proud moment for me and for my family to see me playing for Newcastle.

"It's something I've always had in the back of my mind as something I'd love to do and wasn't sure if that opportunity would ever come, but it did and I was buzzing to play."

Twenty-four-year-old Colback came through the youth ranks at the Stadium of Light after joining the Black Cats as a ten-year-old.

However, with the Killingworth-born midfielder having swapped red and white for black and white, he knows exactly how much it will mean when he finally gets to run out at St. James' Park as a Newcastle United player.

"Regardless of where I was I'd always give 100 per cent for the team - I think you owe that to the club and to the fans who you're playing for - but being from the area I know what it means to people up here and to a lot of people, it means everything," Colback explained.

"The passion the supporters show is incredible and we've got to try and give that back. All I can do is give 100 per cent and hopefully we can get results on the pitch."

There is a busy programme of pre-season friendlies to get through before the 2014/15 Barclays Premier League campaign gets underway with the visit of Manchester City, and Colback knows there is a lot of preparation to be done before welcoming the champions to Tyneside.

With starting spots for August 17th's curtain-raiser up for grabs in the coming weeks, the flame-haired string-puller wants to set the standard and nail down a place in United's starting line-up.

"I think you've got to come in and try and make an impact straight away, try to show the manager that you can offer something that maybe he hasn't had, something different to the rest of the team," he said.

"I'll just be looking to get my fitness up and get my match sharpness back, and hopefully play in the friendly games.

"The biggest aim, the main aim, is to be in the starting eleven come the first day of the season.

"It's quite a way away at the minute, but the whole point of pre-season is building towards that and aiming towards that. That's the first game and it's the game you want to be starting."

Season tickets for Newcastle United's 2014/15 campaign are now on sale. To secure your seat at St. James' Park for the season, click here.