Geordies go viral!

Hanwell Town are this morning the most followed Pitching In Isthmian South Central Division club on Twitter, after close on five thousand Newcastle United fans decided that our Geordies were their new second-favourite team.

The West London Geordies, so named because they were formed by railway workers from the North East of England just over a century ago, first came to the attention of Newcastle United supporters a year ago, when the BBC's Look North programme- broadcast across Tyne and Wear- featured the club, along with a cameo appearance from Alan Shearer. That exposure brought with it a whole host of new admirers and club shop orders, but yesterday's follower explosion was rather less likely and relied almost entirely on the power of social media.

Yesterday lunchtime, Elsa Jones, who looks after the club's social media offerings (and much else besides), retweeted the Twitter image which you can see, acclaiming the number of followers the club had attracted over the last two and a half years. Little did she know that this image would be seen by a number of Newcastle United fans who would send news of our club once more into the stratosphere, to the extent that the five thousand five hundred followers gained within two and a half years has almost been replicated in less than twenty four hours.

Elsa explained:

'It’s all sort of exploded! I think the Newcastle United fans set themselves a challenge of getting us to be the most followed club in the division, which we achieved this morning.

We’ve gone from eight thousand, eight hundred and fifty three to over thirteen thousand four hundred. On average we’re gaining a hundred followers every thirteen to seventeen minutes. Last night it was every six to eight minutes. Club shop orders have gone crazy too - we’ve run out of envelopes! We’re sending items to all round the country and also overseas to Norway, US and Cuba!

We’ve also gained some season ticket holders too. It's been a very successful couple of days for the London Geordies.'

Over the last two seasons Hanwell have worked very hard to promote their connection with their North-East cousins, and have produced some fine merchandise. You can order some of it- from shirts, to scarves, to t-shirts, tote bags, magnets and notebooks here- and we suggest you get your orders in quickly before they are all sold out. We're sure that Elsa will get some more envelopes as soon as the shops open!

As we write, the number of followers has reached thirteen thousand, eight hundred and twenty. We do hope that the London based Newcastle United following might want to pop along to the Powerday and take in a match, very soon- and perhaps that the Northern hordes might want to do the same the next time they're in town?

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