macca

NOLBERTO SOLANO on his first proper drinking session with Newcastle teammates Steve Howey and Duncan Ferguson: “They called themselves ‘The Heavyweights’. They said, ‘Hey, little Peruvian, want to come for a pint?’ Of course, why not? I’m sociable. “In Peru, the tradition is that you get a bottle of beer and share it with everyone in little glasses. Here, we went to the Pitcher and Piano. We were only there for about 45 minutes and it was bang, bang, bang with the pints. “We went to the next bar, then the next. At one point they bought some whisky and I was saying, ‘No, no, no, no, no mixing. Only beer.’ “I was mullered. We came out of the bar, I didn’t know where I was, it was dark and my watch said four o’clock. I rang my wife to apologise and said, ‘I’m so sorry, I didn’t realise it was so late.’ “She said, ‘What are you talking about?’ “I thought it was four in the morning. It was four in the afternoon.” Quite the introduction to English football.