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Originally a means of helping lonely sailors make it through long journeys on the waves, sea shanties have had something of a resurgence of popularity since the pandemic struck. Meet United supporter JONNY STEWART – one member of the ‘sea shanty supergroup’ known as The Wellermen…

Growing up in the shadow of Winchester Cathedral, I had few apparent reasons for becoming a Newcastle fan. The traditional option of a family team didn’t apply, as my Scottish parents had zero knowledge of football bar passing references to Hearts and Dunfermline Athletic. Although we had a local Premiership team, in the form of a Matt Le Tissier-dependent Southampton, I wasn’t to learn this until after I’d committed to Newcastle. Similarly, I was already emotionally invested by the time I watched my first football match on TV, aged six and shedding bitter tears as Arsenal lifted the 1998 FA Cup trophy in that 2-0 win. So... why then?

As a boy, my love of Newcastle stemmed from a combination of seemingly minor factors. A friend of my parents’, Charlie Davidson, was involved in building the Redheugh Bridge during the early 1980s, and lived up in Newcastle; one of my best friends at primary school, Suhael, was a Toon fan; I kept getting Newcastle items from Shreddies Promatch player cards and Sugar Puffs pencil toppers; David Ginola featured on the first football game I owned, FIFA 97; and, perhaps most importantly at the time, I think I fell hard for the 1995 home kit when I saw it in JJB Sports. Iconic to this day.

In retrospect, I can’t imagine supporting any other team. There’s something deeply romantic about Newcastle as a club – the city centre stadium, the distinction of the black and white stripes, the tantalising prospect of success oft unfulfilled, the quixotic attacking football of the Entertainers, the historic power of the #9 shirt – and, whilst all football fans feel the highs and lows of their team’s fortunes, being a Newcastle fan is an emotional rollercoaster unlike any other. The famous Bobby Robson quote says it all, really! My favourite memory watching the Toon has to be when Papiss Cissé scored two screamers against Chelsea in 2012 – I was meant to be revising for an exam the next day, with my best friend and fellow Newcastle fan Angus, but as might be expected we got somewhat distracted by those outstanding goals. Making the trip up to SJP for our most recent European match, at home against Benfica, was also a wonderful occasion despite being on the wrong end of the result. Although I’ve only been to a few matches at St. James’, and will never have the same understanding of the club as a born-and-bred Geordie, I’ve always felt welcome at matches and in the various online fan groups, and I hope this continues to be the case as our global fanbase inevitably grows.

Music has always taken centre stage in my life. I grew up singing in the great English choral tradition, initially as a boy chorister at Winchester Cathedral and later in professional choirs in London and the wider UK. More recently, I’ve been heavily involved in a cappella singing (yes, like the film Pitch Perfect) with forming London-based group NoVI, creating a TikTok account with over 200,000 followers, and forming a sea shanty supergroup of TikTok musicians known as the Wellermen. Singing with the same group of people day in, day out, and blending your own personal voices to form one homogenous body of sound, is a special experience, and it comes as no surprise that singing in the stands is a prominent part of football matches. There’s a strong sense of community present both in sports and in music, a shared power and bond between performer and spectator which goes largely unspoken – although they’re not completely analogous, in that you’d happily go to gigs by multiple different artists but you likely wouldn’t go to a non-Newcastle match out of choice, both activities capture parts of the heart and soul.

The impact of the past 18 months living with Covid-19 has been significant on all of us in our personal and professional lives. In order to prevent the spread of the virus – rightly so, it goes without saying – football and music fans hadn’t been able to attend matches or concerts, and musicians and sportspeople weren’t able to share their craft with those who love it most. To borrow from Joni Mitchell, “you don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone”, and we perhaps have a new appreciation and respect for the things we love doing after having been denied them for so long. Hopefully I’ll be able to make it up to St. James’ Park again before too long!

As I write this, the club have announced the appointment of Eddie Howe as our new manager. With no disrespect intended to the previous regime, I’m excited to see what Howe can do with our current crop of players, after all the tactical and technical developments he oversaw during his time at Bournemouth. Given the limitations of the updated UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations, the new owners won’t be able to spend their way up the table in a manner comparable to Chelsea and Manchester City after their respective takeovers, making it important to maximise the considerable talent we already have. Whether this means investment in the training ground and recovery facilities, in the youth academy, or in coaching and sports directorial roles, the club needs to build a structure from within before looking for players outside, and the appointment of Eddie Howe is a commendable first step in doing this. It’s clear to see that they’re committed to success, which is all any of us could want from a club ownership team. Looking to the future, I’d love to see us challenge for a domestic cup in the next few seasons – although it should never come at the expense of stability in the league, our major trophy cabinet’s looking a little dusty since the 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. We’re not counting the Intertoto. Howe-ay the lads!

The Wellermen’s new single, Silent Night, was released on 18th November. Check it out here.