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Following Monday night’s match away to Plymouth Argyle, which saw Newcastle United secure the championship and a return to their rightful place in the top flight of English football; Greggs are planning to mark the club’s promotion in a unique way for this week’s home game against Ipswich. The Newcastle-based bakers are creating 100,000 specially designed Greggs bags, printed upside down with the message “Congratulations Toon Army, The League Champions!”
The reason for this particular choice of bag design came from the incredible scenes of jubilation amongst the Newcastle fans at the end of the match against Plymouth, where hundreds of shirtless Geordies fans were spotted wearing the iconic Greggs bags on their heads and singing "Geordie Pasties!" from the tops of their voices.
Tales of the Greggs ‘Bags On Heads’ phenomenon came to the attentions of the nation’s favourite baker through its staff the morning after the game. This was swiftly followed up by an email from a man calling himself Geordie Carl, who explained how the bags had come to be at the Plymouth Argyle match. Knowing the Toon Army was visiting a club sponsored by rival bakers, Ginsters, Carl called in to a Greggs store on the way to the match and charmed his way into obtaining hundreds of the empty bags, which he proceeded to hand out to the Toon Army and led them in their celebratory chants of ‘Geordie Pasties!’
Now, the specially-commissioned, limited-edition bags will be given out to customers at Greggs shops across Newcastle city centre this Saturday with their freshly-made sandwiches and savouries, as well as around the stadium. Geordie Carl (real name Carl Philipson) has also been signed up by Greggs as their official match day Pie-d Piper on Saturday, equipping him with his own supply of the bags and a year’s supply of his favourite sandwiches, pastries and freshly ground coffees.
The bakers will also be presenting Newcastle United with a specially created celebration cake to mark their return to the Premiership but have pledged to keep it a level playing field by doing the same for the other great clubs in the region when they have a similar reason to celebrate success.
Wayne Elliott, Retail Support Manager at Greggs North East and an avid Toon supporter, explains: “Here at Greggs we’ve got more than our fair share of United fans and there’s been a real air of celebration in our bakeries, shops and head office this week. After seeing the Toon Army singing our name and proudly wearing the bags at last week’s game we wanted to find a way of congratulating the club on its incredible achievement, so what better than to put it on our bags. It’s always fantastic to hear about real fans, whether its football or food, so it seemed only fair to give Geordie Carl a year’s supply his Greggs’ favourites.”
Carl comments: “I couldn’t believe it when I got a reply back from Greggs to my email and to be honest I was sure it was just a prank from one of my pals! I’ve already agreed to help hand out the hat bags tomorrow amongst the Toon Army and I’m made up with the year’s supply of food from my favourite baker! I also really want to thank the Plymouth Argyle fans for making last week such a fantastic atmosphere and for showing the spirit of the game is still alive and well. I’m already looking forward to taking Greggs on tour to the Premiership teams next season.”
