Walker Dan – Newcastle fan. One perspective of the changes in elite English football during the 1990s

It has been argued that the structural and cultural changes experienced in the 1990 s by elite English professional football were the most sweeping of the twentieth century. This paper charts a number of the most significant shifts through the eyes of fans of Newcastle United Football Club (NUFC). The data presented is derived from NUFC’s fanzine The Mag drawing on fans letters, editorial contributions and principally cartoons featuring the archetypal traditional NUFC supporter ‘Walker Dan – Newcastle Fan’ who was a prominent feature in The Mag throughout the period. In its original use of empirical evidence the work seeks to reverse Peter Millward’s observation that football fanzines have been neglected in cultural studies despite being a rich and varied data source.