A history lesson

The Toon PR machine in action: the club pumps out a story trumpeting the discovery and reinstallation of the "iconic" and "historic" gates at St James' Park, the media (both national and local) eagerly lap it up and regurgitate it in glowing terms, even the representative of a fans' group waxes lyrical about the move.

There's just one small problem, though: the facts simply don't add up. It turns out that the gates in question were originally installed in 1989 and removed just nine years later. Hardly "iconic" or "historic", then. Here's Jackie Smithfield of the Mag to explain.

Personally I'm increasingly suspicious of the word "iconic" - much like its near-homonym "ironic", it's grossly overused and abused these days.