Hallelujah, John Tudor, John Tudor!

The Newcastle United family has lost another favourite son … Wallace Wilson reflects on a Mag hero.

It was with great sadness that I read on Sunday 9th February of the death of John Tudor at the age of 78.

John is best known as on behalf of the partnership with Malcolm Macdonald who, between them, cut a swathe through First Division defences from 1971 to 1976. John contributed 58 goals in 187 appearances for the Mags while Supermac notched 121 in 228 games over the same period.

John was actually signed from Sheffield United half a season before Supermac in Jan 1971 (Supermac signed in the summer of that year) and had already managed 5 goals in his 16 appearances before they first played together against Crystal Palace at the start of the 1971/72 season.

He was on £85 a week plus £25 appearance money, a bonus depending on the size of the crowd and another bonus for being in the top 5 in the League. By my reckoning he received that final bonus 19 times over the four and a half seasons he was at St James’s Park!

Although Supermac would attract most attention because of his eye-catching style and cavalier personality, John was a very good striker in his own right.

Hardworking and an excellent header of the ball, he was the perfect foil for Macdonald but he was a lot more than a support act. In 1972/73 he scored 18 goals, all of them coming in the First Division at a time when defenders were given a good deal more leeway with their challenges for the ball.

The likes of Chelsea’s Ron Harris and Liverpool’s Tommy Smith didn’t bother with the niceties of the game when trying to subdue the opposition attack.

The goal that John scored that he is best remembered for in the end didn’t even count! Nevertheless, it was instrumental in taking us to the 1974 FA Cup Final. It was in the Quarter Final tie against Second Division Nottingham Forest.

There was a pitch invasion after a series of decisions by the referee led to Forest taking a 3-1 lead and the players were taken off for their own safety. When the match restarted after the delay, with the crowd going crazy, Newcastle went at Forest like a rabid dog and were rewarded with a penalty which Terry McDermott converted.

What happened next will never be forgotten by those fortunate enough to be there. Minutes later, Terry Hibbitt crossed low and hard from the left wing and it was met by Tudor, diving full length to smash a header past Forest goalie, Jim Bannon.

It was a wonderful goal. But John wasn’t quite finished. With only a few seconds remaining he crossed the ball from the right to a waiting Supermac who headed back for Bobby Moncur to volley into the roof of the net. 4-3 and cue bedlam at St James’s Park!

Unfortunately, the FA declared the game was null and void because Forest complained that the pitch invasion had materially affected the result. In the end it took us two replays, both strangely at Goodison Park, before Newcastle settled the tie 1-0 through a Supermac goal.

John went on to score another 15 goals in 36 for the Mags in 1974/75 season but a knee ligament injury and the arrival of Gordon Lee and Alan Gowling signalled the end of his time at Newcastle United.

He continued to struggle with injury after leaving Newcastle only managing 30 games for Sheffield United and 40 for Gent before calling time on his playing career.

Malcolm Macdonald always maintained that John Tudor was the best partner he played with.

In his later years John’s health suffered. He had a heart attack in 2014 before being diagnosed with dementia, the disease which afflicted him as it has so many footballers of his era. He died on Sunday 9 February 2025, aged 78.

But in the memories of those fortunate enough to be in St James’s Park on Saturday 9 March 1974, John will always be flying headlong to get on the end of a Terry Hibbitt cross in front of the Leazes.

If immortality means that you are not forgotten then John Tudor is an immortal.

Sing ‘Hallejuhah, John Tudor, John Tudor!!'

Wallace H Wilson