 I worked on the door for 80 years in the castle city center. I also worked at the ministry of sound in London, and I worked in Ibiza as well. You'll find out soon enough, one way or another. No problem, okay. Would it look electric or manual? What did you do last time? Petrol chainsaw. Get dressed, now. We're short staffed, Tommy Broderin. A you even know his name? Felly, mae'n ddigonwch am yr ysgol. Felly, mae'n ddigonwch. Steve, mae'n cael ei wneud? Felly, mae'n cael ei wneud. Mae'n gweld yn y gweithio. Mae'n cael ei wneud yn y gyfanyddio. Mae'n cael Chris. Mae'n cael, mae. Mae, yn ymwng yw'r cyfrifio a'r cyfrifio mae'n cyfrifio a'r cyfrifio mae'n cyfrifio, cyfrifio, cyfrifio, cyfrifio a'r cyfrifio, wrth gwrs, mae'n ddim fel'n dweud. Mae nhw'n meddwl. Felly, mae'n ffasonatio'n gweithio. Felly, mae'n rhaid o'r ffilm oed y cwrs sy'n gweithio, dwi'n rhaid i'n cael ei gweithio, maeth yr afael. Felly, fe? Io, fe. Roedd gennym o'r ladlau yng Nghym. Felly, mae'n gweithio. felly ond yn ymwneud, ychydig yn ymwneud, yn yma un o'r rhan o'n bwysig, yn ymwneud, yn ymwneud, yn ymwneud, yn ymwneud, fel y lads. Wel, dyma'r ymdiannig yma yn ymwneud, ac oherwydd, ymwneud, yn ymwneud, yn ymwneud, yn ymwneud, yn ymwneud, yn ymwneud, yn ymwneud. Mae'r hynny'n amser yn ymwneud. Felly, mae'r yw ddweud yn ymwneud hynny, I was proud, I just did what lads did up here and I started to go off down the wrong path really. I wasn't a particularly bad individual, I wasn't getting involved in crime but I was getting involved with the wrong types of football, going on away trips and stuff like that. Me, me dad clashed over this quite a lot. I was still living at home at the time as well so going in at all hours and bringing the police to the door and that kind of thing. It wasn't me really but it was part of growing up and I decided to self-discipline myself and the way that I thought would be best would be to try and find something that I could do that would give us that discipline. I always rebelled against discipline when I was at school. I wasn't the greatest of scholar. I always wanted to be an actor, that was always the dream and I just felt that you didn't have to listen to those in a higher role. I enlisted for the TA. I often thought about doing it. I was always very fit as I say, played football four or five times a week, played Saturday mornings, Sunday afternoons and then Sunday mornings and I was playing five sides during the week as well as training. Fitness wasn't an issue and I started googling up where I could go to and I found the Royal Engineers which was based at an army reserve centre in Newcastle. It was a field squadron 71 engineer regiment and I just gave them a rinx, asked them what the situation was with regards to potentially enlisting and coming along. The point of this is in the direction of the website, went on to the website and then basically went along for an interview and a chat with the people there and it didn't take long to get enlisted. I was clearly somebody who was enthusiastic. They weren't particularly interested in the reason I wanted to enlist but they were quite happy to take me on board. The meetings in those days were on Thursday nights basically going along and doing drill training and just learning about the army person and what you had to do. Subsequently from there it was all about getting to know the people, getting to know the different things that I needed to do and going on weekends away. It had the desired effect Chris, it definitely made me disciplined because I was turning up, I was going there, I was attending every Thursday and doing what I was supposed to do. But then obviously going on to these trips away, weekend trips and learning how to be a reserve soldier. I was a reserve because obviously that's what it was, it was tier. I got the discipline I needed by being in there but again at the age of 21 which is what I was at the time. I didn't enjoy the discipline, I didn't like being shouted at, I didn't like the fact that they tended to pick out people including myself for ridicule or for trying to try them. I was screening now as a 50 year old man looking back, I know what they were trying to do, I've watched many programmes on it but the cajole that they're trying to find a weakness, they're trying to find a breaking point. And for me at a 21 year old I still wasn't mature enough to accept that was what they were doing, that's why they were doing it. I didn't struggle on the fitness side of things far from it but they really pushed you and as I found on the trips away going to places like Caterwick and the weekend camps that we went on. We were doing 15, 16 hour days, a lot of it was psychological as well and probably sounds a bit weak compared to the people who you usually have on your show but for somebody who's an ordinary bloke from City Street essentially is not used to this. It would get you out and do your three miler on the morning, you would do all your stuff during the day, your battle training, your class work where you'd possibly be talking about different parts of military training, you'd be doing your weapons stripping and stuff like that and all of these different things that we were taught but then you go out at dinner time on your three, another three miler, the same three miler and obviously you're getting timed, making sure that you're hitting the correct time you've got a set period to come through and then at the end of this long 16 hour day when you just want to hit the sack and go to bed, they're getting you back out again to do that same three miler and I've got to be honest that really did that got to me because I was shattered, I was tired and I thought I was fit but it was that psychological thing of doing that same run, knowing when the incline is, knowing when you can grab your breather and it was bloody hard and for me as I say I keep saying this word civvy street but for somebody who was off civvy street who was trying to discipline himself from that moment on I had nothing but respect for anybody who was in the military because I know how tough it was and the obstacle courses, I've watched programmes about P company and stuff like that in fact I loaded that documentary on the YouTube many years ago and it had over a million views because people loved it and clearly people who'd been in P company wanting to relive the torture that went through it was nothing like that of course at the TA but just that reminded me of the obstacle course we had to do and I remember the very first camp that I went on, I wasn't the most agile on my feet, balance was okay but again when you're going through the long drawn out days that you do when you're in any kind of military training they always seemed to pick the worst time to do these kind of things and I just remember going over this obstacle course and there was a water crossing where there was a plank from bank to bank over this big muddy water crossing and I was the last person to go over and essentially lost me all the wetness on the log that we crossed over, a plank we crossed over sorry led to me falling in you know so I had to do the rest of the obstacle course soaking wet you know me boots squelching blisters coming up on my feet and yeah it was a proper that night I remember going to bed it was picking the blisters of it was a proper woe is me moment you know but I enjoyed it it's bizarre as it sounds it was I enjoyed it it gave me a glimpse into it I wasn't in a massive amount of time I did eight months which a lot of your viewers will probably laugh at eight months but you know it was eight months of my life which changed me for the better and it did it for the right reasons and you know subsequently I saw people go on to do great things you know a lot of my friends went on to have great military careers you know a lot of my mates went into the marines some of them went into the parachute regiment others went into just the you know the engineer regiment but full time and you know graduated from being an army reservist and going into the army full time and yeah you know I'm glad I did it because for me in life Chris experiences is all you know and at least you know I can talk about I can talk about it and and what and what did I learn I mean I learned a lot about I learned more about me self and what I learned about me about the army I didn't I didn't you know I didn't go in to learn about the army I learned I wanted to learn about Steve Wraith what makes me tick and I think me dad in particular respected the fact that I'd actually gone and done that because he he you know clearly saw a change in me after that and I kept in touch with a couple of the people from the from the army reserve centre after that you know and most of them stuck around most of them stayed there and and you know enjoyed the time there and yeah it's it's something I'm proud to say that I've done and although I never served never you know never went never never went any further than that never went abroad with with with the engineers at least had the experience of doing it and it's it's boarded well I've you know I've been in a couple of films in you know in my 10 year career as an actor and you know which which is involved you know that kind of thing and I can draw on that experience you know if that opportunity comes up again. Yes may we don't judge anyone on this show well I mean probably some subscribers do but I always say to everyone don't know where you serve how long you did it everyone's role in the military is in integral to everybody else's you know if you need someone I don't know let's say back at base stacking blank you know that it's a role and. What what what I mean what I'm interested in what year was this Steve. Well it was what 29 years ago now so you know 30 years ago you're looking at 1991-92 so. Did they give you the SLR back then or did you get the SEAT? It was a SLR mate yeah that's what it was look from from from my point of view was it was just all one big learning curve because I went in with no military experience and no no military knowledge Chris you know what I mean I hadn't gone and researched it it wasn't me sitting at school wanting to be you know wanting to be a soldier that never came in in mind. And some people would think that's a crazy thing to do to go into the you know to go into what type of military organization just because you need to you know get yourself back on track and so you're discipline out but. I just thought it was the only way you know I had no you know no desire to be a you know like a police officer or go into the fire brigade or maybe the you know be a prison officer you know thinking of other things where you have you know uniform and you have maybe a degree of discipline and you have to be fit. It was just that felt like the right thing to do at the time and because it was the army reserves you know that was that was it. You know stripping a weapon and putting a weapon back together was was something which I never thought I would ever you know do in me in my entire lifetime and you know to go and do that kind of to go and do that kind of thing was was but I think I got a realisation that you know what what you know what a soldier is trained to do you know and was only that small glimpse of. What it's all about that it makes you realise you know how life changing it can be for somebody who actually goes on to serve. You know for Queen and country and that's why I have the utmost admiration you know it's why I've gone on to do you know maybe it's fundraising for you know for various you know for various military organizations those to help people who you know come back home. You know with PTSD was the first film I did was a film about a woman coming back from Afghanistan with PTSD and you know it's it's just an awareness as I say it gives you that you know when you when it's nice of you to say that whenever you serve that small amount of time you know that you don't judge anybody. In that period of time there was a lot of judgment. For instance you know couple of lads who I knew who were serving in the parrotry present at the time when I told them what I was going to do they were going well that's just playing it as you know what I mean and there was that there was that like you know that narrative coming from even your mates that you know you just playing just playing soldiers you guys you know but in reality is time progressed I guess you know as government cuts hitting it became more important. To have you know to have the army reserves because you know that could be called up certainly certain quarters could be called up at any time if there was conflict on the horizon you know and. I think that was one thing that really upset me mom at the time you know that that I would consider doing that she you know she didn't want me to do it really she she said you do realize that you could you know if you stick at this and do this you could be taken away and you know you could have to go and fight for your queen and couldn't you're ready for that. So it was something that she didn't like you know but me dad was me dad was quite you know me dad was quite happy for me to be involved and it was funny because they were complete complete opposites was some of the other things that I did in my life but you know that's that's that's your parents they're there to guide you they're there to give you know they're there to give you advice. And you know it's up to you whether you take it you know we all have our own minds and we all have our own ways of you know of dealing with things you know. Yeah mate it's all the rich tapestry of life isn't it all these experiences your parents try and tell you but. I've always found you just end up doing what you want to do anyway don't you and then you look back and go oh thanks mum dad I should have I should have listened to you. Getting back to the SLR just just briefly and just for me personally I was never the I was never the greatest scholar and I've just explained that to you at the start of the podcast about. Schooling and you know I'd always wanted to be an actor and I wasn't thinking about that but you know from my perspective you know it was. I did take a lot of instruction and I had to get an instructor and I was always one to ask a question if I didn't know and that of course is you can imagine didn't go down well with you know depending on who you were dealing with at the time you know if you were dealing with a sergeant or or whoever you know you know it made you an easy target are you not listening you know. You know you deliberately being this thick and you know and yeah I took a lot of stick for that I took stick for me haircut I didn't. I used to have a bit of hair on top and have me hair shaved round the back and sides and you know my my haircut became a target and you know for the sergeant on duty you know and each time I went to the barracks you would hammer me for it you know don't do people don't like people you know fancy heck and stuff like that. I can hear him now you know what I mean and yeah I mean we got on really well we both had it you know away from the barracks and away from that we got on really well we both had a love for boxing and you know we enjoyed you know I was training I was sparring at the time and you know I enjoyed I enjoyed training aspect of boxing and yeah we both had a lot well at least we had something coming away from it we both like a pint of log and we both like talking about boxing so it wasn't it wasn't all such an nightmare with him but. But yeah it's what I tell you the other thing I struggled with was was eating because I'm quite a creature of habits you know what I mean and I get up at me breakfast in the morning at me dinner at 12 o'clock at me tea at 6 o'clock and that's that's me done kind of thing and I found that quite difficult and as a youngster as well you know that you know that massive calorie intake before you went out to have a day and then. I never exercise well on on a full stomach and I really really struggled with that Chris you know especially going when we're going away to camp food was excellent you know the food in the British army certainly better than what I was getting at school and it was it was just just the amount that you had to have and I tried both ways I tried not to have too much. But then of course you end up in that situation where you're literally starving which affects your performance you know me and your weak energy levels on right and then other times where you're doing stuff and you just you literally just want to be sick you know so it's fine in that it's fine in that balance because everyone's everyone's body and everyone's metabolism is different you know me and and again that was that was one of the things I did like struggle with quite a bit but. Well the whole boys own adventure kind of stuff which I thought it might be some of it was some of it was there you know it was there but it was yeah it was an enjoyable experience looking back on it certainly gave us what I wanted out of it and I don't regret not carrying it forward and doing it because otherwise I wouldn't have led the life that I've led but at the same time there's always in the back of your mind you just wonder I wonder what I wonder what would have happened if I had stuck it out if I had kept it and if I had done it would have gone into the full. You know what I've gone into the full you know the full British army you know I don't know is the honest is the honest answer but my life wasn't mapped out that way and I'm a great believer that your life is already mapped out you know that you know you go in a you can you can all of the other roads that you go on but eventually it all leads back to the road that you set on that's that's the way that that I believe life is you know. Mate I'm fascinated to ask you about door work and I've done a bit of it limited bit of it I was I was I'm going I'm going to say quote unquote doorman on three clubs in Hong Kong. The reason I say that is you know there's two kinds of door work there's being a diplomat and almost like literally the guy that opens the door hello sir hello madam have a great. You know and then there's the physical kind of side from it I like fell somewhere in fell somewhere in the in in the middle. But yeah I have a fascination with it Steve can you tell us how did you get into that and how come you you did it for a number of years. 18 years I did doors in Newcastle London and in Ibiza and that was really after I'd left the TA and you know got back out to drinking with me mate but I wasn't being a I wasn't being the you know the the idiot that I had been previously I was you know I was calming down a bit I'd grown up a bit the military training had certainly given us that and it was going into a bar called Masters which was at the bottom of the big market which which basically I could do. The attention of the head doorman there Gary and my mates were still continuing in the same vein they were still fighting they were getting thrown out the club and you know causing trouble people were you know people fighting and I kept jumping in the middle but pulling me mates out and pulling me mates away and it was coming towards Christmas and Gary the head doorman said Steve could have a word with you and I went yeah yeah he says how do you fancy working on the door. I went what me and he goes yeah yeah he says he said you know I've watched you the last few weeks and he says I've noticed that you're not getting involved in trouble he says you're trying to sort it out and he says we've we've got a doorman who is you know isn't going to be able to work over Christmas he's broken his arm and he says that we've got four shifts over a weekend Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday 25 pound an hour if you fancy doing it you know and I thought wow 25 pound an hour that's not mind blowing that. I was single at the time and I was thinking about the women who got in the bar and you know I was thinking this could be an opportunity for me so so I agreed and cause I got a lot of stick off the lads were going you couldn't you know you couldn't fight your way out of a paper bag and all of that kind of stuff but you know I just said yeah I'll do it you know and I went down on the very first night with the following Thursday. I was told to go down for seven o'clock and be shown round the venue and Gary was there and you know I had a black suit on white shirt black tie black shoes and he just said this is you know this is the fire exit that's the light system if it's red it's a front door if it's green it's the middle of the bar if it's amber it's the back door says that's where you'll be working on the back door he says if I send anybody if there's anybody who needs to jump the queue while sending them round the back door you just need to let them in. And that was it and took about 15 minutes you know there's the fire escapes this is the manager and that was it and the manager said look lads be quiet at the minute if you want to come back about eight o'clock. He says you know I'll pay you from then so this was before the days of before the days of licensing it was before the days of going through the book so it was all cash in hand. And we just went off to the local pub with Gary who had an insatiable appetite for Guinness before he started work which I found out to me detriment because we got down to the bar which was only two minutes away from where we worked at 20 past seven. And we went back to Masters which I was working at 20 past eight we'd had six pint of Guinness each and I had not a Guinness drinker he was do you want to pint of Guinness and I just thought well I'll just say yes do you know what I mean because you know that's what you do you're trying to impress it your first night six pint of Guinness later that was the worst night I've ever worked on the door in 18 years. I was backwards and forwards the toilet my stomach was going 20 to the dozen because of this bloody Guinness which I'd never really drank in you know drank before and you know then I got the hangover about halfway through me shift because I wasn't we was just ridiculous and it told me a valuable lesson at a point where I never ever ever drank on the door and it was coming practice back in those days to start you know to have a drink on the door and I didn't do it. The second night at Masters was was probably another wake up call because Gary was quite a provocative person on the front door and you know we in those days there was quite a quite a team of dormant we all worked for the same guy a guy called Paul Lister. He was an Xboxer and he basically you know ran most of the bars leading in the big market and leading down to our bar which was just at the bottom of the big market across the road. And essentially you know we've had each other's backs there was no police radio in those days but there was a radio that linked our bars and there was a group of lads were standing outside. The red light went for us to all go to the front door there was eight of us working on the night we're all standing there and there's a group of about nine or 10 lads from Gateshead all shouting and bawling and Gary shouting and bawling back and these lads have said they're going to come back the next night and they're going to be tooled up you know. Anyway the end of the shift Gary says to us right lads so you heard what they said tomorrow night everyone needs to bring something in. Now I'm like looking bring something in and he's going right so just make sure you bring a tool in lads and I'm like this can't be serious. Is this like the start of the job where you get sent for tartan paint or sent for a long walk you know off a short pier but they will be entirely serious. So I got there the next night and these guys did turn up and our lads did they were tooled up. It didn't end up going anywhere because the police actually turned up they must have a tip off of somebody but the police turned up. The lads were all told to move away there was a kick off between the lads and the police the lads got nicked and nothing actually happened thankfully for us but it was a bit of a wake up call for me. Look door works door work you know you deal with your mouth in your hands but clearly not back in the 90s in Newcastle that wasn't the way but that Christmas period was fantastic. I loved it I enjoyed it and there was a lot of bother in that ball but I knew because I drank there but the back door working on the back fire exit was quite good for me because you know people did get sound down the back door but it gave me an opportunity to make a few quit because a lot of them were footballers who played for Newcastle who I knew anyway. They were heroes people like Steve Watson, Lee Clark, Steve Howey all the youngsters would get in there so they'd bungers of fiver as they were coming in the door so I was making a bit extra money on top and it was just it was great. I just loved the kudos and you know I had some some enjoyable nights with some young ladies after hours and it just became it just became a great job but of course after Christmas. Shift's cut and it's last man in first man out and that was it. I was no longer no longer needed there and it was me who had to make way so I started and I had a thirst for it and wanted to continue so it was really then a case of just going round bars or ringing up a few of the lads and asking if you could get as any work. And because I'd done such a good job at Masters and you know I got the opportunity to go and work elsewhere and me next job was a was a head doorman's job which was fantastic so early in me in me doorman career and was at a place called Scruffy Murphy's and the filament in Fergan which was the same brewery but two bars next door to each other and me and this guy called Paul Tinion got got joint head doorman. He was head doorman at the filament. I was head doorman at Scruffy's and you know we just worked as a team and it was it was a lot different to working at Masters. It's funny you mentioned about doorman saying hello good evening and open the door and closing the door while George me manager there was very much a pioneer in that in Newcastle. He wanted politeness on the door he wanted the customer experience to start and end with the doorman and he you know he was a bit of a stickler for that and if he came if he came along and and you know surprised he one night and you he'd seen you open in the door or not open in the door then he pulled you and he'd say look you know that's not what I pay you for standing looking on your phone or that's not what I pay you for standing just looking out over you know I pay you to say hello and good evening and it did it pained us a little bit at first but. When I saw the reason behind it and understood the reason behind it I thought you know what the guys got out the guys got you know the guys got it right here and you know the kind of clientele we got in there was was good as well obviously we were in charge of who came in and out but. You found that the good manners from us and then the good manners from inside you know it just benefited the overall behaviour within the bar and it was fantastic it was it was a great it was great to have a head doorman's job and now. You know I just enjoyed having that little bit of that little bit of authority at the place you know and you know the bar staff were the bar staff were great the customers were great the manager was great but. You know everything everything you know everything changes at some point you know so many bars so many bars change or you change and I got the opportunity to go and work at a nightclub in Newcastle and you know that took us in a different direction. What. What affected it was at the SIA license is have I got that right SIA. Yeah I mean basically the SIA license came in in the north east I think was Middlesbrough I first came in and it was a lot to do with crime and gangsters in the north east and it was a lot to do with the. You know the fact that drugs were starting to increase in the in the region and there was a belief that doorman were you know what were taking drugs in the clubs or selling drugs in clubs or turning a blind eye for people to come into clubs and sell drugs in there and from my perspective I was like you know really keen to stay and do the job and it was no hardship to me to go and do a course which is what you had to do. And which was at that time taught by the police police in the council and then pay a percentage for your badge and it was something which I think it you know caught the eye of those down in London because I think it wasn't sure that surely after the north east had happened that it it started to take off in London and and you would have to have different licenses for different area so if you did your license with Newcastle City Council you couldn't go down the road and working. South Shields or Sunderland or Gated you have to get a license for each different area so that was that was to be a local authority license and bit like a taxi drivers license if you like so yeah I got one and but what you found when the si a came in which was a few years later was that the government realized that was an opportunity to make money from licensing doorman and they wanted to do it on a national scale. And when they brought that license in it was at the detriment to the to the industry as a whole because it meant that there was a lot of doorman who'd had past issues and maybe it's a criminal record. Let's just for argument say that somebody being convicted of I don't know stealing led off a church roof for example 20 years ago. They suddenly found that they weren't allowed to do the doors in Newcastle anymore be or anywhere in the country because they've had a criminal record and that was that was ludicrous. It should have been it should have been certain crimes that each record should have been taken into consideration you know someone's got a record for violence and you know A by H, G by H then yeah fair enough I understand you don't want somebody on the door someone's got a conviction for selling drugs or trafficking drugs and you know fair enough I can understand why you don't want them at no but if someone's someone's got a criminal record for shoplifting some you know something out of a shop or whatever. 1015 years ago. That's ridiculous you know and we lost a lot of good doorman through that period but you know from my perspective it was you know I've got a clean record I didn't have anything to worry about. And I did find the training beneficial to a degree although you know when you know when it came to what they would take you through basic first aid they would take you through and the you know the various types of drugs that people could be taking in clubs and what you have to look for. The ludicrous parts of the course were like self defence or how to choke somebody out of the venue because you know the restraints that they were trying to teach you just don't come into ordinary life you know what I mean grab someone's wrist twist it like that and then try and walk somebody out with your hand up like that it's just it was just ludicrous Chris you know the. In a one on one with a big bloke who's had 10 pints you know what I mean who's 10 stone heavier. The last thing you're going to be able to do is grab his wrist and ask you know guide him out of the club or you know get him in you know I always found a good choke hold was the best way to get a hold of somebody you know you have to do it right but you know I always felt there's you know there's less damage. People don't know where the hell they are and as long as you're capable of getting somebody in a choke hold they don't like it because they're automatic responses to put the hands up on their neck and just guiding them out like that and you know walking them out of the club was was was probably all I ever needed to do and you mentioned about being a you know somebody like yourself just talking and communicating. That's what I was capable of doing and I would often take pride in the fact that I could calm the problem down with me mouth rather than escalate it and there was a lot of doleman who just weren't capable of doing that and that's why I found over the 18 years that I was predominantly on the front door because. the front door, because as a person, the way I look, I still train to this day, but as somebody who trained religiously, somebody who was six foot two, I look the part, but at the same time I'm also capable of talking to somebody and not talking to somebody as well. If you've got a confrontation in front of you and someone's going na na na na na na na na na, and you're standing and you're seeing nothing and looking, it's actually more intimidating to somebody than you shouting and bawling back. You've lost your cool and you've lost you've lost you've lost the argument. So for me, sometimes silence was golden, you know? And being a head doorman, you know, you knew who to have on the front door with you, you knew who was going to be beneficial if there was a situation. The last thing you want is somebody who's going to go out and smack somebody in the face. You want somebody who's going to be able to calm it down, you know? But yeah, it was fascinating. I mean, in 18 years, I actually hit two people. That's all I hit. I hit two, and then both of those were in self-defence. The rest of the time, yeah, I had to drag people out, I had to get involved, had some pretty hairy situations. But in all, am I proud of the way that I did the door? Yeah, 100%. Would I do anything differently? No, definitely not. There's nothing that I would change. The reason that I walked away from the job after 18 years is because I had family and with doing the door comes a lot of pressures, a lot of threats to you and your family, you know? Death threats, threats of violence, and there comes a lot of stress. I was doing 36, 37 hours a week. Sometimes the biggest stress comes from managing other doormans and their egos, you know? The doormans ego is a pretty fraught thing at times because, you know, some of them feel that their experience means that they should be working on the front door with you and not working inside. And that's a big thing to a doorman. They feel as if, well, I'm the main man because I'm on the front door. But if you're the boss and you're sticking somebody inside and you're asking them to rotate it like everybody else, to take that as a bit of a slight. So it was just the stress of something's running all those doormans. I mean, the place that I worked at, Taiga Taiga, we had, when I started there, I was in charge of another 12 doormans. But the bureaucracy of breweries and the owners as well is a nightmare because the capacity of the venue was 2,000 capacity. By law, you're supposed to have one doorman per 100 punters in. So, you know, do the maths, we should have had 20 doormann in on a Saturday night. They brought the smogun banning, which was an absolute nightmare because that suddenly meant that me and the head doorman had to have somebody on the front door with a stamp on people's hands. So that automatically put three on the front door. And then they started cutting the doorman. And we ended up with a situation on a Saturday night when we had 2,000 people plus in the club because they're always trying to squeeze a few more in. We had three people on the front door and they cut the doorman down to four inside. So, we had four doormann looking after 2,000 people inside a venue. It's absolutely ludicrous. And I'm thinking, if this kicks off, if we do make a mistake, if we do get it wrong, it's the public who's at risk. You know, we've got three people on the door, but even us three running in, seven of us in the club are trying to deal with a big, cool-scale kickoff in the venue. And then having to get them down three flights of stairs, which were happy with that venue, it was just, it's asking for trouble. It's asking for trouble. But that was more or less the reason, family coming along. And then just things changing to make the job more and more impossible just made me think I just don't need the stress anymore. And I'm just going to walk away from it, you know. Steve, have you noticed how much less footballers drink these days? Is that a thing? Yeah, footballers still go out. You know, when I worked on the doors, I mean, it's 10 years now since I hung up my black coat and gloves, but the, you know, the footballers were still going out then. I think there's a tendency more for them to go out for meals and stuff. It depends which football club it is, of course. But, you know, they still have their annual Christmas due or, you know, the annual end of season due when they'll still go out. But yeah, there was a lot of footballers went out in Newcastle. And that's because it's in the top five parties in the world. So, you know, there is an encouragement for everyone to go out and have a good time in the party city. But yeah, I've found, you know, 10 years ago that they were still going out. And I mean, I'm a Newcastle fan, big Newcastle fan, and obviously our biggest rivals were Sunderland. You know, they've obviously been in the lower divisions for the last few seasons, but they've always been our rivals locally. And on a Monday night or Thursday night, there was big student nights, which is the nights where you tended to find that the young footballers would come in. And on one occasion, the Sunderland team came to the front of the queue and tried to get in. And obviously, I knew them because they've been in the venue one more than one occasion. There was a guy called Darren Bent, who ended up playing for England, Lee Catamull, who was Middlesbrun, Sunderland. And they came to the front of the queue and I went, Steve, any chance we can get in? And I went, can you just hold it there, lad? This is because it's a busy night. And I says, you know, I've got these queues to get in first. These people have been queuing well. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no problem, no problem. Danny Dickie was there as well. I remember kid with the big pony tails. It was about 11 or 12 with these Sunderland players. So two minutes or so had passed and then in the distance, I can see this kid walking awards us straight down in the middle and it's a footballer from Newcastle. It's Shola Ramiobi and his younger brother, Sammy Ramiobi. So they come straight to the queue and I'm still dealing with letting the students in. And Shola goes, hi, Steve. Everything all right? And I went, yeah, yeah, no problem, go straight through. And of course, the Sunderland players say this and they went, Steve, what's going on? And I went, sorry, lads, I've got to let the footballers in first. That went down well with the Sunderland team, but a few of the locals who were watching it did laugh out loud and the other dolemen did. But yeah, I mean, some of these footballers just didn't look after themselves. There's one in particular, I'll not name him, but he was a Newcastle player. We got a lot of money for him when we sold him a few years back. And I still say that his career would have been a lot better had he not gone to excess when he went out on nights out. He used to drink a lot, used to go out and drink a hell of a lot. And from my perspective, it's sad to see people who could have been better not maintain the discipline when they're not playing football, because you've got some consummate professionals like Peter Beasley, for example, who never drank a drop. He's completely teatotal. His biggest vice was dairy milk chocolate, I think, and it just goes to show he went on to play for so many clubs, represented these country many times and is a true legend of the game. So yeah, you see it, and when you see it, you've just got to deal with it. I think the much publicised story of stories of Gaza, a heart wrenching, I've known Paul the best part of 25 years now. It's never nice to see the rise and fall and then rise again of Gaza. He's in a good place at the minute, but it's never nice to see him when he's on a downer, when alcohol ravages him and he's not himself. So it's not nice at all. But yeah, you see all of that when you're doing the doors and you see the other temptations for the footballers, you see the young girls. And I was always very particular on the door with girls coming to the club. I had been, as a young man, victimised by Dorman. I always looked quite young, and the Dorman would always stop me and ID me. If I didn't have any ID, I'd get turned away. I'd get turned away for having a skinhead as well. I'd get turned away for having white socks on. So when I was a Dorman, I was always very particular about women in particular, girls. I didn't want to be hoodwinked by a girl and letting a 15-year-old in, for example. So I did virtually every single person who came into the club on my side of the door, whichever place I worked at. And I stopped a lot of girls getting in. They didn't like it. But it was me doing me job. And subsequently over the years, things changed. The breweries were eventually getting fined for letting young kids in. They were sending mystery drinkers in who were underage. And the brewery was testing its own managers and bar staff. And it's just the way of the world. You had to do your job properly when time pushed on. Steve, have you ever met Ant and Deck? Yes, luckily I met them a few times. I mean, they're great ambassadors for the north-east Ant and Deck. Ant likes to drink a little bit more than Deckling. They both had their moments. I've seen Ant on the drink a few times. But yeah, look, they're both great lads. Decks just lost his brother, Father Dermott, Donnelly, which is such a sad loss for not just him, but the family, but for the north-east in general. But yeah, they looked great ambassadors. They started off as kids, in Byter Grove, and became legends. They filled the gap for entertainment on a Saturday night, which had been vacant since the likes of the two runnies and Mortem and Wise had disappeared. I don't want to do them a disservice because they'll never be able to tie the boots of Mortem and Wise or the two runnies. But that's their job. They are good frontmen for Saturday night TV. They get away with this cheaty-chappy look, and they present a lot of programmes. I would say 20-odd years of experience now, but 20-odd years of awards to go with it. It tells you that the general public do like them and love them. But yeah, they're very careful. They don't get out too much in Newcastle. They'll probably pick and choose the venues that they go to. But Newcastle is such a cosmopolitan city now compared to what it was 20-odd years ago, and it's got so many different places for people to go and places for people to eat, restaurants, cafes. It's a much-developed city compared to what it was probably when I was growing up. You go down to Newcastle quayside. It's a wonderful place to visit now, whereas when I was a kid growing up, it was all wooden staves and warehouses. It wasn't a nice place. It was dilapidated. That's the word I was looking for. It was dilapidated. Now it's prospering. The whole city is. It's really good. The atmosphere in the city only improves when the football team does well. Of course, the last 40 years, it hasn't, but with a recent takeover at Newcastle, things have changed with the football team as well. We're hoping that the future is not just bright, but it's black and white. Steve, what about the boat, the nightclub that was on the boat? The Tuxedo Royale? Am I getting my names confused? No, no. There was the Tuxedo Princess and there was the Tuxedo Princess and the Tuxedo Royale. There wasn't just one boat, there was actually two. One was moored underneath the time bridge and one was moored in Teyside and then got moved up to Edinburgh, I think, or Glasgow. It was famous because it had a revolving dance floor, so anybody used to stand on the dance floor. It was quite unique. It was on the gatehead side of the town as well, but that was in the late 80s and early 90s. Michael Cordrini's idea of having a float nightclub was one which clearly grasped the public's imagination on Tyneside. It made the Keyside flourish. Lots of bars opened up down there. I mean, I've worked as headdoman at a place called Chase on the Keyside, which was on the other side of the boat, but then there was other places opened up next to the boat. There was Barhaw Beach Club, then Buffalo Joes opened up, but eventually the decline on the Keyside and the rise of a different part of Newcastle, which is the Golden Strip, as they call it, Cullanwood Street, along from Seltner Station. It just meant that those places got quieter. The boat eventually was shut down because there had a spestos on it, which had been discovered. The boat was taken away, decommissioned and eventually cut up for scrap. The other clubs didn't last much longer. Barhaw Beach Club closed, and then Buffalo Joes closed because people stopped going to the Keyside. They were going to different parts. That's what happens. You go through waves of different parts of the town working. One of the very first headdoman manager, George, who'd asked us to open the door and close the door, which I mentioned earlier, he said it goes in cycles. This place, I'll have a bit of a boom, and then it'll be that part of the town, that part of the town, and how right he was. A lot of people have got a lot of happy memories. On my podcast, on my YouTube channel, we actually discussed that a couple of weeks ago on the football show, somebody was asking about the boat and then we ended up with a load of people's different stories. Some people met there and ended up getting married. Some people had a fight on there. Everybody remembered the revolving dance floor. But yeah, I think there's so many stories out there about that particular venue. It's one, I guess, which is iconic and steers in the mind of people who probably visited Newcastle in that period. Steve, you've starred in two films that I've really enjoyed. Rise of the Foot Soldier 3, and also recently I watched The Crazed Dead Men walking, and you've starred in that one as well. What came first? I'm guessing the fascination with the interesting crime, should I say? Yeah, I mean, when I was a kid at school, I picked up a copy of a book called Professional Violence by John Pearson, which was about the career twins. I read it in a couple of days, and my English teacher allowed me to study that book as part of my GCSE coursework towards my final exam. So I passed my English exam with my English language B and English Literature C, thanks to reading that book and doing such good coursework. So I decided to write to The Crazed as a 16-year-old. I wrote to Reggie Cray and Gartry and Ronnie Cray in Broadmoor, and I got letters back from both of them. And I pursued it a few months later when I saw an article in a magazine called Take a Break, which my mum had, about a young guy called Brad Lane, who had been adopted by Reggie Cray, and he was calling himself Brad Cray. So I wrote to them, they wrote back, and they said, if you're ever down in Doncaster, pop in and see us, and I had friends in Scumthorpe by this time, I was like 17 coming on 18. This is how long this had developed. And I just went down to see Brad and his mother, Kim, and they had like a, it's almost like a museum in the, in this house of Cray memorabilia. They had some of Reggie's old suits. They had the wedding photographs. They had Francis, Reggie Cray's wife's engagement ring. And there was just, you know, it was just amazing. And on this particular visit and the phone rang, and it was Reggie Cray. And once Brad and Kim had spoken to them, they said, Reg would like to speak to you. And I, you know, I picked the phone up and spoke to Reggie Cray for the first time. And I was, I was blown away. His final words were, you'll have to come down and have a visit, you know? So it was a couple of weeks later, I was put on a visit in order to go and see Reggie Cray in Garterie Prison. And the rest is history. A couple of weeks after that, I was down at Reggie's insistence to go and see Ronnie and Bloodmore. And at the time I'd left school, I was working in the family post office. And I was also making t-shirts in my spare time. So I was putting t-shirts together with Peter Beardsley, Chris Waddle, Kevin Keegan on. So in my dialogue with Reggie Cray by letter, I suggested that we did a t-shirt with the image from Professional Violence on the Front with Ronnie and Reggie Cray and the Words Professional Violence on a white t-shirt, but like this. And they said, yeah, great idea. We'll go 70, 70, 30 with you on it, which meant I was putting all the money up, made me mate who were doing the t-shirts. But they would, you know, they would get 35% each and made me mate would get 15% each. But seemed seemed like a good deal to me because, you know, we're getting something for nothing. And I went into business with a craze as an 18-year-old man or an 18-year-old boy, however you want to say it. And yeah, we never looked back. We made a lot of money. My dad at the time was a lecturer at Sunderland University. He was doing spreadsheets and he was doing, you know, basic computing at the time, but teaching people how to do not only spreadsheets, but, you know, lists of names and addresses and, you know, databases. And I suggested to Reg, I said, look, you're getting a lot of, you're getting a lot of fan mail. Why don't we, why don't we start putting together this database for you, you know? He was averaging some weeks, 400 letters a week. And, you know, we said these are all potential customers. So we started putting the t-shirts out into shops. We started in Newcastle. We got into Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Harlepool, Darlington, York. And then, you know, the orders were just coming in thick and fast. And then with the people who essentially had, you know, got the letters to Reg, we were building up that database. We were making flyers and sending the flyers out to these people. And I wasn't the only person doing this. There was a couple of people. There was a woman in Nottingham called Steph King who was doing exactly the same. But I became a small cog in this network of the Korea's Empire Behind Baws. And it was a suitable arrangement for me. And I looked back now and people said, you're not regret doing that. Well, I go, well, no, because ultimately my life experiences have all developed through, you know, through this particular, you know, this particular experience, this particular story. And, you know, I've gone on to set up a couple of businesses myself. And I always say, if you can do business with the Korea twins, then you can do business with anybody, Chris. And I've definitely been proved right, I think, with that. But yeah, I mean, to go through that whole, you know, that whole experience is something which I'll always be thankful for. Because how many people do you know, get a chance to pick up a book, read it, and then walk into the book, go through it and meet all of those characters that you've read about. And, you know, thanks to my relationship with Charlie Cray, the twins older brother, who was on the outside. I got to meet a lot of other famous faces. I got to meet, you know, the train robbers, you know, Bruce Reynolds, Tommy Wisby, Buster Edwards. I got to meet Freddie Foreman, of course, Brownbred Fred, who was, you know, one of the Cray's best friends over the years. I got to meet Mad Frankie Fraser, who was part of the Richardson gang. I got to meet the Richardson's both Eddie and Charlie. I got to meet the Ben Uggle Boxers, Roy Shaw, Lenny McLean. And the list, you know, the list goes on and it's subsequently developed through, you know, through no planning. It just developed because, you know, I was just myself. I wasn't pretending to be somebody I wasn't. And because I guess I was valuable to the twins while they were inside, you know, I was somebody here, as I say, it was a small cog in a big machine, who, you know, rightly or wrongly was making themselves some money, but also making themselves some money as well. The whole train robber thing is a tragedy, wasn't it? I met Buster once on, I think it was a chair and cross platform. He was selling flowers and he committed suicide. And when you look back at the enormity of what they pulled off and then you looked at the reality of what they then had to live with because of what they did, it wasn't a result that they all hoped for, was it? No, I mean, you know, it's a fascinating crime. I mean, it's a crime against the, you know, a crime against the Queen, really, in the Royal Mail. But such an amazing story. But yeah, they were undone really by the amount of people who were involved in the robbery. And the fact that, you know, that the person who was paid to set fire to Leather Slade Farm didn't do it. And, you know, planning the job and the execution of the job couldn't have gone any better for Bruce Reynolds and the guys. But there is always a weak link in that kind of organisation. And having too many people involved proved to be it. Had Bruce decided, we're going to keep it a small level, we're going to do the job and we'll burn the place down myself. And that's it. But it wasn't meant to be. You know, it was their fate. And, you know, the story ran and ran because, you know, obviously the main players, if you like, went on the run. You know, yeah, Bruce Reynolds and you know, your Ronnie Big story, which is fantasy island, really. You know, he did get caught and he did get sentenced and he did get, you know, arrested and charged and put into Wyrmwood schools, but then pulls off the great escape on top of the furniture van and he's away, you know, and lives out the rest of his life on most of his life in Rio de Janeiro. He was cocking a snoop at the law, up until he had to return home for health reasons. And yeah, it's a fascinating story, but it's a sad story. As you say, the Buster Edward story is very sad. And, you know, that it's that old adage, isn't it? You know, crime doesn't really pay. And, you know, a lot of these former villains who I've met will always tell you the same thing, you know, don't follow in my footsteps. Don't don't get involved, you know, and it's that old adage again. If you can't do the time, then don't do the crime. And a lot of these former villains, although they can, you know, the road books, they did documentaries, you know, I think a lot of them regret the time that they had in prison and also regret the time that they, you know, that they lost with their families. One or two of them, I know don't regret a single thing, but I think a few of them really did. And I think Buster is probably one of those who did. Another crime that public's fascinated with, or certainly a percentage is the the Rettondon murders. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Six boys. Yeah. Why do you think that still holds such fascination? I think it's just because it's been, you know, the subject of not one or two, not three, not four, but probably five or six films and numerous books. And there's a lot of people won't let the story die. And, you know, there's lots of theories, I think, because there's never been a there's never been a conclusion to it. I think that's why it remains open for speculation who did it. You know, people may say that, well, people were arrested, charged and served sentences, but a lot of people don't believe that was the real killers. You know, and I just think that it will run and run and run, but it's fascinating. Obviously, you mentioned earlier, Rise of the Foot Soldier III is a film that I was in, you know, I played Steamboat in the third film, thoroughly enjoyed it. It's become a really successful franchise, you know. Yeah, did you act alongside Sean Ryder in that? Did you not? Or am I getting many of these confused? Yeah, Sean Ryder of Happy Monday's fame. It was his first and last acting job. I mean, I knew Sean from Newcastle, and we had done security for him a couple of times when he visited Newcastle, but I'd also been a big fan of the Happy Monday's and been to a lot of their gigs, but Sean and I knew each other before we came on set, but on the day that he came on, he had his script in his hand. He didn't know his lines, and anybody who knows Sean personally will tell you that he doesn't even know the words to his own songs with the Happy Monday's, put it down to a bad memory or maybe put it down to a little bit of extracurricular activity. When he's off stage, it could be a little bit of both, but ultimately for Sean, he struggled a bit with the lines, but it was great fun working with him. I thought he came across brilliantly on screen, and he was just a lot of fun to work with, but when we finished and we did the rap part, he just said, look, Steve, I'm never doing this again. I don't know how you do it, and that was it. It was the shortest acting career, I think, in living memory, but it was great. It was me that was Sean Ryder. Obviously Craig Fairbrass, it was great to work with Craig. I had to do two fight scenes with Craig, which for me was a great experience. Eddie Weber as well, fantastic to work with Eddie. He's been in so many of these films over the years, and he did the business, for example. He don't know the shows about the retin, the murders, but he's such a great professional. I've subsequently gone on to work with him on the, what was dubbed as the new quadrophenia, to be someone that Ray Bird is directed. Me and him did a few days together on that as well. For me, it's great because I always wanted to be an actor, but I just got out with it at a young age. I got ripped off when I was 17. I'd acted from the age of seven until I was 17. I got ripped off doing a tour in Panda Mine. We did 60 shows in just short of four weeks. Sometimes we're doing three shows a day, putting the set up, doing a two-hour show, taking the set down, travelling at the next venue, but for those 60 shows, I only got paid 500 quid. I got promised an equity card and I didn't get it, and I just thought, if that's acting, you can stick it. I walked away and I went into the family business. It wasn't until I was 30 that I got a phone call from a good palomine who'd gone on to do very well. John Altman, who played Nick Cotton in EastEnders, was also in quadrophenia. Nick's character was something which I'd always fancied. I would have looked to have played myself, that kind of part that I enjoyed playing. John was on the phone. I was working on the door in Newcastle. He said, I'm doing a play called Bouncers. He says, is there any chance that I can come up to Newcastle because I'm looking for some lodgins when I'm up there. I've got to come up anyway. He says, I'm just wondering if I can come and spend a night on the door with you to get a bit of a feel for it. I went, yeah, yeah, no problem. That's fine by me. He came up and he did a night with me. The manager was over the moon. He had a celebrity club on a freebie for a night. He got some publicity out of it. Then about six weeks later, he came back up. He did the play. I took my wife and my mother along to watch him. Then we had a night out. His fellow actor was a Geordie actor called Chris Connell, who me and him had been on the same course back when I was a kid because when I left school, I went on to do a BTEC diploma, but I walked off it after that bad experience. He just said Steve used to be an actor. John went, I knew, and then they both started seeing you should get back into it. Anyway, cut long story short, Chris Connell had an agent. He suggested that I go and see her. I went to see this agent in Newcastle and she said, look, why don't you try your hand at being an extra? She says, start off being an extra. Get the experience, see if you like it, and then we can talk and see how things progress. I did six years as an extra. I enjoyed it. I did bike and grove probably four or five times. I did wiring the blood, but I did a few other little student films, which were good to do. I did Goal in Newcastle, the football-related film. I played Barthes in that. I got a chance to play on St James's Park, which for me was fantastic. Getting to five or six years in, I thought, I'm going to pursue the acting side of it. I went back and did the GCSE when I was 35 in performing arts at college. The lecturer who took it was actually a friend of mine from the people's theatre where I'd gone as a child. I did that. That was my first bit of drama on stage for 17 years. I played a part called Mickey in a play called Your Home in the West, a bit of a psychopathic evil man. I thoroughly enjoyed it, learning the lines. I managed to do it. There was no problem. I said to my lecturer, my mate Steve, I said, what do you think I should do next? He said, you should do the degree. I said, well, how long is it and how much is it? He said, it's three grand a year and it's three years. I weirded up, sported with the misses, continued to do the doll and got involved in doing a degree. I graduated when I was 39. That's when I became a professional actor. The next stage was trying to get some work. I didn't have an agent, so I went to get some work. It was a film called In Our Name, a low-budget film which was about a young woman coming back from Afghanistan with her husband. They both served and they both had PTSD. It was how the relationship broke down between the two of them because of this, because of PTSD. Joanne Froggett, who she's gone on to do Down and Abbey, but she was just doing coronation stupid at the time. She was the main star. I went along. I put a submitter there and I said, I haven't got an agent, but I've got a custom for it. I got a custom as a Sergeant Major in the film. I got a chance to play alongside Joanne. That scene actually got cut, but the scene at the start of the film is me. I'm basically running the squallies across the moors and I'm running her and I'm giving her a load of grief shouting and bawling at that. That's it. It was me first to actually move the credit, but I did a lot of help for the director. I got him some extras. I got him some venues. I got him some locations. At the rap party, he said, Steve, is there anything I can do for you? I said, could you get us an inflow to the casting director? I said, I believe she's an agent. She's called Sam Clarepool and he went, yeah, yeah, he says I can. He introduced me to her and the rest of the history. She took me on after an interview the following year. Went down to hers after round of a Christmas time, would finish the shoot. I went down in January to a place in Darlington. Went for an interview with her and she says, you're rough around the edges, but I'll take a chance. She took me on her boops and I'm still with Sam. I've got a London agent as well. To get that opportunity for somebody to see something in me was great. It's difficult. Anybody, you say you're going to do your first act in part. It's a great career, but it's not a career that you can make millions at unless you're very lucky. My CV is good. I am DB. I'm probably up to 22 cast roles now. A lot of good films, Rise of the Foot Soldier of course. I did Vera on ITV. I did 55 degrees north on BBC. I did two series of that. I've had some highs and I've had some lows. To be someone was a great film to do because I was working with a lot of the cast of Quadrophemia. I got to work with them and got to know them well. I've just done my first lead role, which comes out in Boxing Day. That could change things again for us. Just in a film called Trafficked, which I play the lead villain in it. And then in October I'm filming another lead role in a film in the northeast, which is based on the Sears family. At the moment I seem to be on a bit of a run, but you can be six months away from doing nothing. You've got to have other irons in the fight. You've got to be doing other things to keep paying the bills. It's just a great achievement. Is it IMDB? Always get that messed up. It's very impressive folks. Go and check it out. Steve's had quite a few roles now. For my upcoming experience, mate, for me it's just to tick off the list. I'm honoured that my mate has cast me. This is what I live my life for, mate. It's just different experiences. Different experiences I'm quite. It's that thing is that you always won there. How would it be as an actor? So we're going to find out. Just be yourself, Chris. I'm sure you'll be fine. It does get a bit addictive. It does get a bit addictive. Once you've done one and you see yourself on screen and you get people going, oh, you were great and that wins your next one. You'll find that you may want to do another one. Oh, you could be like Sean Ryder and decide one's enough. Steve, it wouldn't be right to finish without talking about your passion, which is Newcastle United. Yes, an outstanding team. Over the years it goes back to what, 1893, I think the league was. 1892 for Newcastle. They had two teams, Newcastle East End, Newcastle West End, and then they merged together to form Newcastle United. How come they produce so many good players over the years? Actually, I mean Newcastle itself. It's down to the boys clubs in the area. Wolff's End Boys Club probably takes the pride of place in Newcastle and in Gateshead, it's probably Red Hoof boys. So from Red Hoof boys, Paul Gaskine was spawned and from Wolff's End Boys, Alan Shearer was spawned, two of the biggest names in world football, not just football in the UK. And it's always been the connection with the boys clubs and Newcastle United that's seen players come through the ranks. I think over the last 14 years, with the ownership that we had under Mike Ashley, things stagnated a lot and the connection with the community and the football club was spoiled a little bit by his ownership. The new owners, the soundly backed owners, PIF, who are also involved with the Reuben family and Amanda Stavey, Amiradad Gadouci and PIF. They all have a better understanding of what is needed at the football club and for me, I think they understand the value of the community and the supporters and have done so much in a short space of time to work with them. Succes isn't something which we're used to. Newcastle United's last domestic trophy was 1955 when we won the FA Cup with the likes of Jackie Milburn playing. Our last European trophy and last trophy full stop was 1969, which was the first cup, which is now the Europa League. So we are used to disappointment. There's been plenty clubs though who have had worse times than Newcastle United. I can think of Burry who went out of existence. There's been many teams who've gone out of existence, but Newcastle fans are just realistic. I think all we want is an opportunity for us to have a bit of hope at the start of the season and we haven't been able to have that under the previous owner. So this new owner is coming in. They've got money to spend. They're giving us a little bit of hope back now. It's just nice to see that I'm willing to work with the people in the community. It's all changed, Chris. People are more inclined to buy replica shirts. People are more inclined to buy tickets for games. People are more inclined just to support the team in general. Like I mentioned right at the start of the show, when the team is doing well, the city is more vibrant. The city is doing well and it's a big thing. It might sound weird to some football fans that, but I think it's just because of the closed proximity to the city centre and the club. The club is slap bang in the middle of the city centre and it's surrounded by those pubs and bars and restaurants and coffee shops that I mentioned. It's why it's such a big thing for the community. Newcastle win. The rest of the week is very upbeat for the people of Newcastle. Newcastle lose. It does affect the mood on that Monday morning when everyone goes to work. So it's very much part of the city's sinew. It's the bloodline of the city, the football club and it's very much a religion to the people up here. So that's why people do get a little bit aerated when the club's attacked or the fans are attacked. So it's something I'm immensely proud of to be involved with. I've worked for the club but I've commented on the club for many, many years and it's a club I've supported since 1984. So yeah, it's a big part of my life and I think a lot of us who are up here if your cutlass would be black and white, not red. Steve, it's been an absolute pleasure chatting mate. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Thanks mate, it's been a pleasure to come on as well. Mate give my love to Newcastle. You meet lots of Jordies when you're in the forces. It's quite an experience the first time you meet one. You ain't got a fucking clue what they're saying. I do tend to speak a bit slower when I come on here but yeah, I mean the connections between the northeastern army as well. Nigel Ben, probably one of the best boxers, greatest boxers of our time. He was stationed up at Catterick and whenever I've put him on I promote up here. I put a lot of boxers on up here. Nigel loves it up here and there's always a lot of his former squally mates are always at the do's. So yeah, the connections are great mate. But if anybody wants to check out my YouTube it's Steve Wraith pot on. A lot of it's Newcastle United stuff but I do do military interviews as well. I've had Andy McNab on there. I've had Peter McElize on the show and I've also had Nigel Ealy on which goes live in a couple of weeks but I've just searched Steve Wraith on YouTube and you'll be able to find it on there. Yeah, Spud's a good mate of mine. We're going to put on a Falklands Memorial show together later in the year. We're going to do a public Q&A night so the public can come along and, you know, ask these guys questions. Yeah, he's always a good chat, Spud. Well, give me a shout about that because if that can come along I will be good to see that and supported. Yes, very kind of you mate, very kind of you. So Steve, massive, massive thank you friends at home. I hope you've enjoyed this as much as I have. Steve's got books out on Amazon so go and check them out, check out Steve's YouTube channel and Steve, we hope to have you back at some point. Take care, best of luck Chris and I hope everybody watching enjoyed it and best of luck to everybody out there and yeah, thanks to everybody who served. It's a big thing for me and Civvie Street, you know, when you see what's going on, especially in Ukraine at the moment, you know, often think about what's going on out there and, you know, it's, you know, from our perspective, we're just proud. You're proud to be British, but you're proud to have the British Army, you know, protecting it. It's a big, big thing for us in Civvie Street. Thank you Steve. Stay on the line, mate, so I can thank you properly to everybody at home. Massive love to you all. Please look after yourselves. If you can like and subscribe, that would be really kind of you and we'll see you next time. Thank you.