Meet the mum who tattooed Newcastle defender Dan Burn after her daughter, two, got her the gig

A tattoo artist was thrilled when she got to etch a design onto the leg of Dan Burn – after discovering their children were friends.

Abbie Graham, 34, owns 4th Avenue tattoo studio in North Shields, North Tyneside. The Toon defender visited her business on Wednesday and had a lion tattoo started on his right thigh.

Abbie, who lives in Gosforth, Newcastle, said it was her two-year-old daughter Fergie who got her the gig. The youngster made friends with Dan’s little boy at nursery.

Abbie said: “It was my daughter who got me this! My little two-year-old pulled this off for me.

“Dan Burn’s partner asked if I was the tattoo artist and if I could get Dan in. He’d already got a piece for his daughter – a mandala lotus flower – and he wanted a lion to represent his son.

“I was so nervous at first – and I’ve never been nervous in my whole career. But he made me feel at ease. He was just canny and so chilled.

“At first he was saved in my phone as ‘Dan Burn 33’ and now he’s just Dan – that’s how canny he was.

“It was his choice of lion, he knew exactly what he wanted. I could see people coming in and doing a double take thinking ‘Oh my god, is that him?’.

“He asked me what we had planned for Christmas. I said we were going to Disneyland Paris and he said he was going to .

“He let slip that he’ll be back playing before the Sunderland game!”

Abbie opened 4th Avenue tattoo studio on Prudhoe Street back in 2017.

She said club caption Jamaal Lascelles had previously visited one of the male tattoo artists at her studio and had little numbers and a scorpion tattooed onto his arms.

Abbie said Dan will return to the studio to have his lion design completed. She is expecting two more Newcastle footballers to make their way through the doors and is hoping to attract some local musicians.

She said: “We’re going to have four of them as it stands. Dan messaged me through WhatsApp saying the lads are asking (about the tattoo) and is it alright if he gives them the 4th Avenue Instagram.

“I’ve gone from just being a local tattoo studio, with a few bumps in the road after Covid, to getting celebs left, right and centre. At this point it’s doing amazing!”