Newcastle fan left red-faced after premature tattoo

LONDON : Newcastle United fan Kris Cook was so convinced his club was going to win a first domestic trophy for nearly 70 years that he had a tattoo celebrating the fact on his leg.

The problem was Newcastle ended up losing 2-0 to Manchester United in Sunday's League Cup final at Wembley.

Cook had the popular club chant "Tell me ma me ma" complete with "NUFC Cup winners 26/02/23" etched on to his skin but it proved somewhat premature as Newcastle's wait goes on.

"I asked the lass who does my tattoos: 'Can you put cup winners on my leg?'," he told the BBC.

"I think she was thinking it was a bad idea at the same time, but I got it done. I think my mam is still a little bit livid, my grandma, she went ballistic - apart from that, all my pals think it's funny."

Asked by a BBC Radio Newcastle reporter whether one solution would be to change the N to an M for the sake of accuracy, Cook said he would rather wait for a Newcastle win.

"I wouldn't have that on my leg - I would rather have one leg to be fair," he said.

"(It was) dedication or stupidity really, I have always loved (Newcastle) but I didn't think I'd be walking around with that on my leg for the rest of my life.

"As long as they win something I don't care, so I can kind of get away with it a little bit."