It was strange being at St James’ Park to watch the England versus Albania game last night. I now fully realise that football is purely a TV event. We’ve become so accustomed to the post match analysis, the action replays, the adverts, Alan Hansen [et al] banging on about poor defending and the media hype surrounding individual players, that the experience of the event at first hand is almost a let down. The atmosphere was amazing though, and fortunately, there was no sign of the mindless hooliganism that often casts a shadow over English football.At half time, Norman Wisdom came on for a penalty shoot out. He’s a national hero in Albania y’know.If you’re wondering about the title of this post, here’s some Geordie-speak:‘Howay!’ = ‘Come on!’ or ‘Come here!‘‘How!’ = A contraction of ‘Howay!‘‘How man!’ = ‘Come on man!’ [Geordies put ‘man’ after almost every sentence]McManaman = An England playerthus:‘How man McManaman man!‘The English to Geordie Translator