Newcastle Mascot backs ‘Ashley out’ bid

Sep 21 2008 by Rob Pattinson, Sunday Sun

NEWCASTLE United mascot Maggie the Magpie has got Toon bosses in a flap.

A United fan photographed Maggie before last week’s game against Hull City holding a poster which gave the bird to owner Mike Ashley.

The day had seen a wave of protests against the owner after Kevin Keegan quit the club.

Newcastle United insists the pic is a fake.

But two independent photographic experts confirmed to the Sunday Sun it was genuine.

Season ticket holder Jeff Taylor actually took three pictures of the Toon mascot holding the leaflet.

He believes the image has as much impact as the thousands of anti-Ashley and Wise posters, banners and T-shirts on show at St James’s Park last week.

The dad-of-three, of Denton Burn, Newcastle, was sitting in the East Stand for the game. He said: “It looked like even the mascot’s turned against the board.

“Someone told Maggie to take the poster, and because I had my camera I took a photo. The mascot didn’t have any problem picking it up, it just took it without looking and held it up. It must be used to doing that kind of thing.

“It was when I got home I just thought, this is silly . . . it speaks volumes. I’m sure lots of fans will be the same as me and think, even the mascot was demanding ‘No More Geordie Cash For Ashley.’

“I’m sure it will amuse plenty of people, it certainly has comedy value.”

Jeff gave the picture to a pal who put it on his computer and emailed it to us. We then sent it to Newcastle and the club claimed the picture had been doctored on a computer.

However, the club spokesman has not seen the original picture or two similar shots taken within seconds of one another showing Maggie holding the leaflet slightly differently.

To check the image was genuine, we approached independent photography experts for their views.

A design expert on behalf of Durham Centre for Advanced Photography Studies (DCAPS) said: “We applied a grid and search for any pixel duplication and also extracted the channels colour information to compare the tone composition and the pixel composition.

“In applying both techniques it is possible to see how the pixel information is, in some cases, broken or repeated. This is not the case with this photo, which appears untouched.”

The photography department at Newcastle College also agreed the snap is real.

Lecturer Paul Spillett said: “We got together a few of us and enlarged it. We had mixed views at first but after much discussion we all decided that it is a real photo and is not a fake.”

And Sunday Sun photographer Adrian Don said the image data revealed that while the picture may have been resized using the computer software program Adobe Photoshop, the leaflet had not been inserted at a later stage.

He said: “There are three similar pictures of the mascot holding the leaflet on the camera’s memory card. In my professional opinion, they are genuine.”

A spokesperson for Newcastle United said: “Both staff members who carried out matchday duties dressed as Monty and Maggie last weekend have confirmed that at no time did they hold any such leaflet.

“The image sent to us has its origins in the Adobe Photoshop program which leads us to believe it has been altered in some way. The club won’t be giving it any more thought.”

:: Did you witness the mascot snap being taken? Tell us what you saw at www.sundaysun.co.uk/forums

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