Newcastle v Athletic Club: Inside bond that turned Magpies fans red and white

The feeling was mutual.

Newcastle may have been knocked out, on away goals, but fan Tony Waters still speaks fondly about this particular trip because of the reception locals gave the travelling support.

“They wouldn’t let you spend anything,” he said. “I’m not joking. I’ve followed Newcastle all over Europe and I came back with as much money in my pocket as I went with [on that trip].

“They were so kind and laid the red carpet out for us. They wouldn’t let you buy a drink.”

The seeds had been planted on Tyneside a couple of weeks previously after Newcastle supporters gave their Spanish visitors a warm welcome.

It was so memorable, even Athletic players like Suances later learned how the fans had “bonded very well there”, which led to Newcastle supporters being “repaid for everything they had given”.

And it is easy to see why they got on.

Both Basques and Geordies have a proud local identity and are immensely passionate about their football clubs.

Bilbao is also a “very British city”, in the words of Athletic supporter Mikel Izagirre, the father of Julen.

“You hear that comment all the time from different fans, different places,” the 72-year-old said.

“You can see it if you walk through the city and if you visit San Mames and watch an Athletic game. Bilbao has a very strong British cultural influence.”

That influence, which can still be seen in the architecture in part of the city, is a product of the industrial revolution. In the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, British ships would bring coal to Bilbao and return with iron and steel.

Alongside came thousands of miners and engineers, many of them from north-east England, who brought with them one of the country’s greatest exports – football.

At the same time many students travelled the other way to study. When they returned, they too had caught the bug.

Which is why, when the club were founded, it was decided to use the English word ‘Athletic’ in their name rather than the Spanish ‘Atletico’.