The passion inside me.

Aside from my wife and family, there has only ever been one real passion in my life. There has been, only one, that I have carried with me since before my cousin passed away many years ago. This affair has given me many wonderful moments, and along with many others this affair was one that we were never more faithful toward.

Newcastle United. Now finished with the English Premier League, relegated after 16 years to the Championship.  My love, my pain, and now my sorrow. A year of ultimate frustration has lead us to the end of our life in the Premiership. In truth it has been a club in decline for the past few seasons. Still there was a grit, a fight in them that always kept us in the mid-table, and we had hoped for so much more. The Newcastle fans, known throughout the world as the "Toon Army" are some of the most passionate in the world. I often told my son that it takes real "cajones" to support a team like Newcastle. It's easy to support the Manchester Uniteds, Liverpools, Arsenals and Chelseas, because they don't understand struggle. They don't understand support. They don't understand pain. 40 years without silverware. Try and do that.

So, as we found yet another loss today, my son said to me. "Who will you support next year dad?"

"Newcastle United" I replied. "until I die."