Michael Urwin is a typical ‘Geordie’. Born in bread on Tyneside, he is 55 years old and supports Newcastle United all his life, along with his three sons. He is a season ticket holder for the last 30 years, and gives a lot of money just to see his beloved team flirting with relegation for the last couple of years. But, he was lucky and received a notable gift two weeks ago, by non-other than Newcastle star Allan Saint-Maximin, who gave the man a 300 million Ksh watch. Unlike Urwin, young George Howe, a disabled youngster got a coin in the head on this first ever Manchester United match, but thanks to Diogo Dalot’s Twitter activities, will be an honorary guest at Old Trafford soon. There are still good news in football. Ibra: ‘Manchester have a small club mentality’On Saturday 20th of November, before the home game against Brentford, Urwin was at his usual place, near the official entrance to the Newcastle stadium, where players would come in after stepping out of the team bus or their cars. “I’m on cloud nine. For every home game we go down to the entrance where the players take in their cars, just hoping to get a picture or autograph. They don’t normally stop these days because of COVID but on Saturday, Allan did. He got out of his car and came over to where I was standing and handed me a box and said ‘This is for you’. I was shaking, to be honest with you, but he was pretty excited and was just saying ‘Open it, open it!’ It’s an absolutely incredible thing to do. I just asked if I could have a picture as well and he was happy to do it. I really just couldn’t believe it” explained Urwin what happened that day. I’ve been coming to st James park for nearly 30 years and never been as happy as I am today thanks to this generous man @asaintmaximin walks over and gives me this watch! Absolutly dumbfounded lost for words!! ❤️❤️ maxi is a true geordie good luck today my friend for life 👍 pic.twitter.com/YaFQTpsrRQ— Michael Urwin (@michaelurwin14) November 20, 2021 Newcastle supporter didn’t want to leave the gift in the car, and while sitting inside St. James Park before the match, somebody Googled the watch and found out its real value. “I was shaking even more then. I just thought: ‘I’ve got a very expensive watch here’. I think I was in shock the whole match, to be honest. I’d love to know why he picked me – but I’m really pleased he did. I didn’t even realise it was worth £2,000. It’s not about the money anyway, to be honest it’s something we’ll keep and cherish forever and pass down to my kids. I just wanted him to know how humbled and appreciative I am that he chose me” said the lucky Geordie. Urwin’s 10-year-old son Kian usually accompanies him to the match and has been desperate to get a picture of autograph from Saint-Maximin – but on Saturday he was late as he had been sitting entrance exams for school, and just couldn’t believe what he missed. ##NAJAVA_MECA_6035627##Unike Urwin, young George Howe didn’t have such luck. In fact, it was totally opposite. Young Howe (12 years old) came to Old Trafford for his first game as a Red Devils supporter. And instead of enjoying the victory over the Gunners, Howe suffered a gash to his head while he was sat in the disabled stand and had to be taken to hospital. The youngster, who has epilepsy, brain scarring and autism and suffers from seizures, was treated by medical staff at the ground before his father took him to A&E, as he was struck by a coin which came from the away end, where Arsenal supporters were stationed. “It was disgusting. You could just tell before kick-off it was going to be one of those games. You could sense it in the atmosphere. After about 20 minutes they started throwing bottles, bottle caps, full pies. They were landing right near where George was sat, so I swapped seats with him to try and stop him getting hit. For the whole of the second half I was getting pelted with coins, then with about 15 minutes to go, one hit George on the top of his head. It left a hell of a gash. And with him suffering seizures it’s not ideal for him to be hit on the head” Howe’s father told the Manchester Evening News. I’m sorry to hear that your son had to go through all that.. Hopefully he is okay now! I’m more than happy to invite you both for our next home game so your son can really enjoy what football is about ❤️Can you provide me a contact so I can speak with you? https://t.co/mHAQdf7f6a— Diogo Dalot (@DalotDiogo) December 7, 2021 Quite logically, he was angry and shared his story on Twitter, where United’s full back read about the incident, and apologized to Howe, offering him to visit Old Trafford again, but with him as a host. “I’m sorry to hear that your son had to go through all that… hopefully he is okay now! I’m more than happy to invite you both to our next home game so your son can really enjoy what football is all about. Can you provide me a contact so I can speak to you?” tweeted Dalot back to the unhappy dad. Manchester United and Arsenal are working together to check CCTV footage and identify the culprits, who will likely be banned from attending future matches.
