This young Newcastle United fan went viral after an image of him celebrating on TV during the Arsenal match was spotted by his school.
Sammy Scott, nine, was seen celebrating at full time as the Magpies beat the Gunners 2-0 in North London, in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final. The youngster from Forest Hall went viral after his ‘Geordie Joy’ was caught on TV and led to his family receiving an email from his school saying his absence was being marked as ‘unauthorised’ after he had been spotted.
His dad Mark Scott shared a copy of the email and his son’s image on Facebook which then went viral and was circulated across sites. Football stars, including Peter Crouch and former Newcastle player Warren Barton, shared the image.
Mark, 39, said: “He was obviously supposed to be at school and then got caught out on the TV. It was an actual email the school sent out.
A young Newcastle United fan, known on social media as ‘Sammy’, who was spotted celebrating on live TV
(Image: Away Day Tours on Facebook)
“We got the email yesterday (Wednesday) morning but were a bit shocked as he has only had one day off since September. He has outstanding attendance.
“We are big Newcastle fans and obviously thought as parents it is a semi-final that doesn’t come around too often. We are big Newcastle fans so we decided to take him out of school.
“It was ITV and Sky when Anthony Gordon scored and we were celebrating as we were right at front.”
The email in question from the school reads as follows: “Dear Parents, just to let you know that Sammy’s absence from Tuesday 7th January 2025 will now be marked as unauthorised.
“This is due to media footage showing him away in London at a football match. Please contact us at school if you wish to discuss this further.”
Mark added: “My wife took him into school this morning and his teacher is a big Newcastle fan as well and his teacher made a joke of it today. In all the comments I saw most people were supportive of it. We weren’t expecting it to go so big.
“He thinks it is great. When he was walking into school this morning one of the dads shouted ‘Can I get your autograph?’ People have been sending us screenshots, it has had millions and millions of views. We can’t believe how much it blew up at the time, it just went massive.”
The post was shared by football fan pages and Newcastle United fan pages around the country.
The Away Day Tours Facebook page shared the image, saying: “This young lad was caught out on live TV last night celebrating Newcastle’s win over Arsenal.
“He had missed school that day, leading the family to receive the below email, a memory like last night will last a lifetime, I don’t think he will be too upset. It was a geography trip!”
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