Newcastle United fans were forced to complain on social media on Wednesday night after a beloved St. James’ Park tradition was tampered with once again.
It was a great night at St. James’ Park on Wednesday, as Newcastle United cruised to the Carabao Cup quarter-finals with a 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur.
A controversial Fabian Schar opener and a cool Nick Woltemade header secured the win for Eddie Howe’s side and set up a tie with Fulham next.
That made it three victories in a week as Newcastle took a step closer to retaining the trophy.
However, some supporters were left raging before the game started after the players once again didn’t come out to the club’s traditional matchday anthem.
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Newcastle United fans have Local Hero complaints for the second game running
The melodic instrumental, with its romantic saxophone solo, affectionately known as ‘Local Hero’, traditionally welcomes Newcastle players to the field before kick-off, but that didn’t happen before Wednesday’s game.
Instead, the song was played several minutes earlier and was followed by Hey Jude by The Beatles and an unpopular version of the Blaydon Races.
At least it was played, though, as apparent technical issues meant the song wasn’t played at all before Saturday’s victory over Fulham, with the two sets of teams walking out to relative silence.
Newcastle supporters are fiercely protective of their traditions and were left frustrated that the song was not played at the right time once again on Wednesday night.
@TheVocalHero described it as an ‘absolute travesty’ on X formerly Twitter, while @JoelBlandSport asked in dismay: “Why is Local Hero being played 7 minutes before K.O, again??”
An annoyed @officialboetie told the club directly: “Stop mucking about with Local Hero!”
While @leaszesender_ pleaded: “Yes. @NUFC please sort it out. Hey Jude means nothing to the supporters. Local Hero is our song. We identify with it and it should be played when the players have ran out and had the Premier League or European anthems.”
What’s the song Newcastle United play before games called?
Though it has become known as simply ‘Local Hero’, the excellent song Newcastle players typically charge out on the field to is actually called ‘Going Home: Theme of The Local Hero.’
The song was written and performed by Dire Straits star Mark Knopfler, who grew up in Blyth, for the 1983 movie Local Hero.
Though an exact date or game has not been determined, the club began using the song consistently as their pre-match anthem at some stage in the early 1990s.
Knopfler performed the song live when Shearer’s Bar was relaunched in 2022 and the song was recorded in 2024 alongside music stars such as Sam Fender, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Roger Daltrey, Ringo Starr, Pete Townshend and Ronnie Wood to raise money for Teenage Cancer Trust and Teen Cancer America.
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