UNITED MIDFIELDER SEES ANOTHER SIDE TO THE TOON Needy’s plight gives star Isaac food for thought
A MILE and a half from St James’ Park, midfielder Isaac Hayden is dishing out sausage, mash and cups of tea.
One of the recipients is called Michael.
A couple of years ago, he was a Newcastle United season ticket holder, until illness struck.
He lost his job, after 16 years as a landscape gar- dener. Money troubles drove him into debt and poverty, and that’s why he turned up here at the West End Food Bank.
Ordinarily, there would be no obvious link between the gleaming football temple of St James’ and a pocket of Newcastle where 3,000 families fall within the most deprived 0.5% in the country.
Head east along Benwell Lane and players earning £30,000-plus a Isaac in action against Queens Park Rangers week live in a different world to Michael, in need of £30-a-week food handouts to keep his two kids fed.
But Toon fans have created the unlikely bond.
Before three home games, fans have collected food. They’ve mobilised, promoted, cajoled — and it’s worked.
The response has been overwhelming: 3.2 tonnes before the Derby match. Next home game, Bristol City, 2.3 tonnes. Last time, before Fulham visited, 2.7 tonnes.
Donations from each home game have kept the food bank running for a week.
That means 750 people, half of them children, get either a food parcel or a hot meal each week.
This is a part of town Hayden’s never seen before, but volunteered to visit to recognise the collections organised by the Newcastle United Supporters’ Trust and