Coaching Huddersfield Giants in Magic Weekend at the home of his football favourites, it doesn’t get much better for Chris Thorman.

The 37-year-old from Wallsend is a lifelong Newcastle United fan and captained Michael Carrick at school, so the venue holds special memories as he prepares to take charge against Wakefield Trinity on Sunday.

It’s unlikely new head coach Simon Woolford will get his visa in time to fly from Australia for the 3.15pm kick-off, so Thorman hopes he can guide the Claret and Gold to a third successive victory.

“As pretty much the only Geordie to play Super League and definitely the only one to coach at this level, it’s an enjoyable occasion to look forward to,” said Thorman, whose two brothers and his father also follow The Toon.

“I’m biased, but it’s one of the best sporting arenas in the north of England, the people are brilliant and they really embrace rugby league by turning up in big numbers.

“When you are born in Wallsend, if you are not a Newcastle United fan then you’d be castrated and sent to Australia! It’s impossible not to be a Newcastle United fan.

“I went to Wallsend Boys Club [Alan Shearers' old club] and captained Michael Carrick at high-school level and I keep a keen eye on the results, although I can’t go much because in rugby league you just don’t have the time.

“I think we’ve done really well this year. The last couple of years we’ve been in a relegation dogfight and in the Championship, so having consolidated our position in the Premier League this year hopefully the mood will be a lot more positive.”

Thorman revealed his boyhood hero was Colombian star Faustino Asprilla.

“Back in the day, capacity at St James’s was around 33,000 or 34,000 and season-tickets were pretty expensive – if you got one of the Thorman boys a ticket you would have to get all three, plus dad,” he said.

“At the same time I was back and forth to Yorkshire all the time to play in the Yorkshire League from Under 9 to Under 15, so we didn’t got to matches all the time, but we would get the train to Durham quite regularly and watch them train.

“My claim to fame with Newcastle United was that I waved to Faustino Asprilla and he turned around and gave me a wink!

“Asprilla was one of my favourites as a kid growing up.”

So what about Alan Shearer, or his own mate Carrick?

“Michael and I have a lot of mutual friends and he has had a fantastic career and is now about to go into coaching,” said Thorman.

“At Burnside we had a very good football team, getting to national finals a couple of times, but I never got to tread the hallowed turf at St James’ Park.

“Unfortunately, as a rugby league player, I played at Magic Weekend in Cardiff and Murrayfield, but never at St James’s.

“The first time I went there was as assistant to Paul Anderson and I was on the field in the yellow shirt – but even that was pretty special to get on the field!

“When Alan Shearer was signed for Newcastle, me and my brothers got the Metro to St James’s and it was absolutely insane how many thousands of people were on the streets of Newcastle.

“But I was there and hanging off a lamppost when Sir John Hall announced the signing. That was quite a memory.”