All hail the Offside King - he was one of our own

IF YQU are so good that they have to change the very laws of the game to try to stop you then you stand alone.

- JOHN GIBSON

William McCracken on a Sport and Adventure Famous Footballers card from 1922

(STU FORSTER/GETTY IMAGES/HULTON ARCHIVE)

A pioneer, a law breaker, a dictator of fashion, rebel with a cause, master of all you survey.

Bill McCracken was that man. The daddy of all daddies. The original SuperMac and every inch a man of Newcastle United who sits astride the long history of this distinguished club.

He was the great exponent of the offside law and a crucial performer during United's domination of the Edwardian era when they hoovered up all the honours available, though he extended his playing career on Tyneside way beyond to more than 20 seasons.

Now, significantly in the 100th year since the Offside King changed football forever, Newcastle club historian Paul Joannou has appropriately published a book honouring our must-never-be-forgotten legend.

Paul has done a magnificent job in his meticulous research of a career beyond living memory. The tributes unearthed from the height of controversy, some grudging it must be said, are nevertheless fulsome.

‘Ace Derby and England striker Steve Bloomfield maintained: “It has been said Bill McCracken didn’t invent the offside game. Don't believe it. He was the inventor although it was not long before he had many imitators. I have yet to see a fullback who can throw an opposing forward offside so neatly, so cunningly, and so truly as the Irishman”