As Newcastle United prepare to kick off their Hong Kong Soccer Sevens campaign on Saturday, the club will be backed by a group of Magpies supporters based in the country this weekend’s competition will be held.
Tammie Cheung, Ivan Sum and Ashton So, members of the Hong Kong Newcastle United Supporters Club, were invited to attend the young Magpies’ training session on Thursday morning, gaining photographs and signatures from the squad and had also eagerly waited at Hong Kong International Airport to greet the team following their long flight over to Asia.
Cheung, who has been following United for three decades, told nufc.co.uk: “It’s absolutely fantastic to have Newcastle United over here in Hong Kong this week. Because of the pandemic, they haven’t been over for the last three years but they’re now back and defending champions so we’ve been really excited for them to come over. Hopefully, they can win the trophy again.
“We follow the team from top to bottom, so we want to show our support for the young lads too. With the takeover happening, I think we can start to see some exciting players with bright futures ahead of them and the club have been signing some players from different teams.
“We were at the airport for about an hour before meeting them when they arrived. Newcastle was the only team that had supporters waiting for them. It was great to see them all and the staff too.
“I started supporting the club when I had to choose between Barcelona, London, Paris and Newcastle for a school trip. For some reason, I chose Newcastle and my first match at St. James’ Park was against Plymouth (Argyle). We won and the atmosphere was amazing. That was the beginning for me in supporting this club."
Sum added: “It’s always good to see the first-team players but also the youth players to come over and visit Hong Kong, allowing us to get the chance to watch them.
“I began supporting Newcastle in 1995, the year before we signed (Alan) Shearer and when we had the likes of Les Ferdinand and Andy Cole. The reason is when I was a kid, I used to watch matches on TV and I just fell in love with Newcastle and the black and white stripes and their attacking football.
“My first Newcastle game was in 2017 when we played Brighton before the New Year, which was part of my honeymoon with my wife over in Newcastle. It was freezing cold and I remember Tim Krul was part of Brighton’s team. It’s a lot of money to spend on travelling to England, the other side of the world, to watch a game but I’ve been there three or four times because I love Newcastle!
Ivan Sum (left), Tammie Cheung (middle) and Ashton So (right)
So said: “I’m a fan of Matt Bondswell as I know he played a friendly this season against Benfica. He’s fast and very promising so it’ll be exciting to watch him play this weekend!
“The club is so special to me because of Shearer! He brought us so much joy growing up. I played football as an attacker when I was very young and he was amazing! My first game at St. James’ Park was against Wigan when we were in the Championship. I will now support them forever!"
The last 19 months have seen Newcastle avoid relegation from the Premier League to clinching a top-four finish in the English top-flight as well as reaching a first domestic cup final since 1999.
The club's transformation has been a one Tammie, Ivan and Ashton could not have envisaged before the compeltion of the takeover in October 2021 and reflected positively on the current campaign.
Cheung said: “I actually couldn’t believe the news when we got taken over - it was a miracle. We had heard many rumours for years and just getting new ownership was amazing. I was so excited and put a flag on my car in Hong Kong, doing a parade around my neighbourhood to show my love for this club.
“I’m not expecting money will buy results but at least we are playing like a team. We’re trying and even if we would lose, we appreciate the way they play. The takeover has been important for us as fans and, of course, the club.
“A few of us flew over to London to watch Newcastle play in the Carabao Cup final,” Sum added. "On the way to Wembley, we even met Shola (Ameobi)! We saw lots of Newcastle fans from all over the world, from Chile to the United States to Portugal, to watch the game.
Cheung said: “We arrived on the morning of the final. I’ve been to London several times and it was the first time I saw it flooded with black and white tops. It was so special!
“This season has been incredible. The way we played in the second-half of last season was really good and then with the addition of (Alexander) Isak, (Sven) Botman and (Nick) Pope, I was expecting Newcastle to finish in the top half, around seventh or eighth, but now we are in the Champions League which is fantastic."