Ever since the Watergate investigation of the 1970s any major story is suitably christened with the word gate tagged on the end – and mine was dubbed Toongate.

Now I am not claiming I played a major role in the various articles as a whole but it was probably the busiest two weeks of my career.

I was working as a press photographer over a mid-March weekend in Newcastle when I got a call from The Sun’s north east reporter who said the News of the World was running an undercover investigation into Newcastle United FC (NUFC) the next day and he was following it up.

He said I should be at the club’s training ground to get pics and I got this shot of £16m Alan Shearer which was used on the back page of The Mirror the following day – I am assuming that my boss sent them all of the nationals and not just The Sun.

It turned out that the News of the World exclusive was an investigation by Mazher Mahmood – the infamous Fake Sheik – in which he exposed two of the club’s directors Freddie Shepherd and Doug Hall.

There was a mid-week home match that week and I was asked to get pics in the city’s bars of the fans enjoying themselves before the match for the Evening Standard. I never met the reporter who was travelling up for the game so I just sent the pics before getting back to rushing other photographers’ films back to the office for processing and transmission.

NUFC lost the game and the fans’ mood turned ugly – there were chants of sack the board outside the ground and I even saw a TV camera crew being attacked. I will admit it was a very scary situation and I definitely felt unsafe and vulnerable.

The following day we heard that the directors were meeting with their solicitors so we staked out the office – two or three of us being highly visible out the front and myself watching the back with a long lens from a neighbouring car park.

I was in position for two or three hours and it is amazing how quickly the cold seeps into your body when you are stood still for so long at that time of year. It was worth the wait though as I spotted Freddie Shepherd skulking out of the back door which was used in the following day’s copy of The Sun.

The picture from the bar was used quite well in the second weekend together with further lurid revelations and reaction.

Later that week the writing was literally on the wall for the club when angry fans daubed graffiti at St James’ Park – due to the language I quite like how the Daily Sport censored one of the more unsavoury words.