Behind Milburn’s magic: Wor Jackie was a pit village hero and ‘everybody’s friend’ in Newcastle | Newcastle United

Of all the footballers who have worn the black and white, that possessive geordie pronoun “Wor” (our) was unique to Jackie Milburn; for he was a man of the people as much as he was a great sportsman. In that respect, his birthplace of Ashington in Northumberland only added to the mythology.

“The biggest pit village in the world,” as it was known, was the north-east in microcosm – a…