Rohit Sarkar

Newcastle Roasted Over Cringe Atmosphere Stunt At St James’ Park

Amazon Prime, Champions League, Matchgoing Fans, Newcastle United, St. James' Park

St. James’ Park was gearing up for one of its biggest European nights in nearly three decades as Newcastle United prepared to host Barcelona in the Champions League round of 16 first leg on 10th March 2026.

The game meant something real; echoes of Faustino Asprilla’s 1997 hat-trick still run deep on Tyneside, but the build-up went sideways online before a ball was even kicked.

Before the game, the club appeared to have something planned; a deliberate, coordinated stunt designed to fire up the crowd and build atmosphere around the occasion.

A large man decked out in the iconic 1995-97 Newcastle home kit, the retro Adidas shirt with the blue star Newcastle Brown Ale crest across the chest; standing in the upper tier of the Leazes End, high enough to look directly across the pitch towards the Gallowgate. With an earpiece attached, he delivered a monologue in full voice:

“The steps have been thundered. Hands have been gripped. This is where dreams are realised. This is not just a game of football. This is passion. This is the noise. Dan Burn towering over PSG. Craig Bellamy at the death in Rotterdam. Keith Gillespie whipping it in for Tino. All fuel for this Geordie fire. This is St James’ Park. This is pride. This is belonging. Newcastle United in the last 16 of the Champions League. Howay the lads!”

He finished his speech to the indifference of an entire stand going about its own business, and that gap between his performance and reality became the whole joke.

When Amazon Prime posted the clip on their official accounts, fans flooded the comments with utter disgust at the proceedings.

That fan is Taylor Payne, host of the Pod on the Tyne podcast, an award-winning show dedicated to Newcastle United.

His presence in the clip sharpened the criticism considerably, because several supporters dredged up a Kickstarter campaign Payne had previously run for a Newcastle-related film project.

The campaign raised roughly £8,000, spent across nearly a year of production, before the production company involved pulled out, and the whole thing folded with nothing to show for it. No refunds followed.

Payne has argued publicly that anyone backing a Kickstarter project goes in knowing it might not work out, and that most contributors accepted the situation, but the people who put money in and got nothing back have not forgotten it.

Meanwhile, Newcastle ultimately drew 1-1 with Barcelona, Harvey Barnes putting the hosts ahead in the 86th minute before Lamine Yamal converted a stoppage-time penalty, awarded for Malick Thiaw’s foul on Dani Olmo, to snatch a draw that sent Barcelona to the Camp Nou as favourites.

Check out the fan reactions to Newcastle’s pre-match crowd hype stunt featuring Taylor Payne before Barcelona clash –

@Jonathanlufc64 Football is finished. I’m surprised this happened at Newcastle a club that doesn’t need gimmicks to get the atmosphere going. If someone did that at Leeds that would have been their last performance.

@cyp_toon 10/15 years ago if I was sitting next to him I’d have chinned the fcker

@Mickyjay87 I hope we get relegated after this. Zero shame

@toonchick40 I thought it was fake 🤣

@Ronsta650 My eyes were bleeding with cringe. Unnecessary and quite embarrassing tbh.

@MaryTheGeordie Im so glad I wasn’t the only one! Nearly died from cringing so much 😬

@JimHearns131711 Is that Taylor Payne?

@whild13 Yeah don’t do that again. We may aswell have Jimmy Nail singing ‘Ain’t No Doubt’ from the top of the Leazes.

@TeesBoxingGym And the crowd goes mild

@TraMufc 🤮

@ToonArmyHalifax A bit cringey like. @TaylorandPayne has had a few extra pies at the match lately. 🥧

@PaulDav86486288 Totally ! And angered me a little considering the back story ! Sometimes the club clearly don’t read the room

@BPete1970 Sadly people would volunteer to do this at old Trafford / Anfield & even ellland road pal. The battle has been lost

@Lee_Frost Never do this again #nufc. Cringetastic

Leave a comment