Cry me a river, says Villa's banner king
Seven years may have passed but one banner has lived long in the memories of Newcastle United fans from the day they were relegated at Villa Park in 2009.
'SOB ON THE TYNE' screamed the painted bedsheet draped from the Holte End to taunt the Toon Army, who had just gone down under the brief managerial reign of returning hero Alan Shearer.
And if that wasn't enough to enflame Magpies' fury, a bright orange message twisted the knife, asking: 'Who's your next messiah Ant or Dec?' But in football, what goes around, comes around.
And the man who created them, self-confessed 40-year-old 'big kid' Leighton Castle, from Walsall, can't wait to see the riposte from Newcastle fans now the tables are turned.
The Geordies are still deep in danger but the signs are their hordes of travelling fans can't wait to make their feelings known at Villa Park with a few messages of their own.
But Leighton remains unrepentant, laughing: "I'm the man who did the David O'Leary one that said 'We're not fickle, we just don't like you' so I've got a bit of history.
"There was loads of stuff going on at the time about Shearer and I thought it was a bit much so I made the banners.
"The Sob On The Tyne one is the one that always gets brought up when we play Newcastle. But this season even more so because we're already down.
"To be honest, I'm looking forward to seeing what they do but the ones I've seen so far on Twitter aren't very impressive.
"There's one that says 'Glum In The Brum' and one about Prince William, but they're rubbish."
He added: "For me, football is all about the rivalry as long as it doesn't go too far. I don't mind seeing Blues fans carrying a Villa coffin around because it's a good laugh. I get it.
"I actually work a lot in Newcastle and spend three or four days at a time up there, I stay right in the shadow of St James'Park and I always have a little chuckle to myself.
"A lot of my customers there are Newcastle fans and they know it was my banner and we have a laugh. The proper football fans get it. The ones who aren't what I call proper fans are the ones who get wound up."
The sales manager continued: "I can't wait to see what they do but no matter what it is, they can't take the mickey out of us as much as us Villa fans are doing to ourselves.
"Villa fans have been brilliant this season, we've got it spot on terms of having a go at the players but keeping a sense of humour."
As as for tomorrow, Leighton has another surprise up his sleeve with a message to Toon fans ready to be unfurled in Villa's final home Premier League match for some time.
But they will have to wait until tomorrow for that one.
