The 31-year-old is, like his beloved club, now playing at the highest level. It is a transition he has managed with ease, given the North Shields native has always possessed a large sound and adapting ...

The Mercury prize almost always produces surprises – among them, Gomez not The Verve in 1998, and English Teacher not Charli XCX in 2024 – but perhaps the biggest surprise is that the prize has ...