Another final; another tale of black-and-white misery. But, also, a key motivating factor ahead of the latest attempt to end 70 years of heartbreak.
“The pain started straight away,” said Howe, when asked to reflect on the aftermath of the 2023 final, which saw Newcastle fail to lay a glove on Manchester United as they lost 2-0. “I remember the night of the final, I was not in a great place, not too happy.
“I went to spend the night with my kids because I think they take you away from things. You can just live in rethinking the game, rethinking everything that you’ve done and so they take you into a much healthier place.
“Hopefully, I’m not in that mindset again this weekend, but I think straight away, you have to go, ‘Right, let’s get back to work. What could we have improved? What could we have done better? What can we do to have success in the future?’ There is always hope, there is always another game. That is how I look at it.”
Perhaps this year’s game will finally be the one. Newcastle have not won a domestic trophy since 1955, when goals from Jackie Milburn, Bobby Mitchell and George Hannah secured an FA Cup final win over Manchester City. Their last major silverware of any description was lifted in 1969, when Ujpest Dozsa were beaten over two legs in the final of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.
Since then, they have been beaten in three FA Cup finals and two League Cup finals at Wembley. They have also lost an FA Cup semi-final at the ‘old Wembley’ and been thrashed 4-0 in the Charity Shield. Prior to losing in their first final at the ‘new Wembley’ two years ago, they even managed to suffer two league defeats to Tottenham while the national stadium was Spurs’ temporary home.
It is safe to say that Wembley has not been a happy hunting ground, but within the current first-team group, any talk of a Gypsy curse or fate constantly conspiring against Newcastle is hastily dismissed. Different year, different team, different game. So what if the script might feel depressingly familiar? There is always the chance to rewrite it.
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“I don’t subscribe to that way of thinking,” said Howe, when asked whether Newcastle’s dreadful Wembley record weighs heavily on his mind. “There isn’t always a negative outcome.
“I understand the finals record isn’t great, but I take us qualifying for the Champions League, when we had to go deep into the season (as a real positive). It was nip and tuck if we were going to qualify and we got over the line.
“So, there are examples where we have been really successful, and even getting to the final isn’t a given. They are very difficult to get to. Now we are there, we just want to play to our true maximum and capabilities. We felt the last time, against Manchester United, we didn’t do that. It was an okay performance, but okay doesn’t win you trophies.
“Our destiny is in our own hands, I’m not even going to use the word you mentioned (curse), because we are not in that mindset. It’s about us delivering a great performance if we can, and talking about the other outcome (winning), that is exciting.”
To that end, Howe has attempted to make some clear changes from 2023. Whereas reaching the final two years ago was celebrated as a huge achievement, a weekend-long party in the capital, the message this time around has been very much ‘business as usual’.
Unlike two years ago, Newcastle opted against holding a pre-final media day, with Howe instead sticking to his usual pre-match timetable of a routine Friday-morning press conference at Darsley Park. Newcastle’s players have trained as usual this week, with the club having relocated from the Hilton Hotel, right next door to Wembley, where they stayed ahead of 2023’s final. This time around, the squad will be based at a hotel out of London on Sunday night.
“It does feel different,” said Howe. “I think the whole thing this season has felt different, in the sense that I think we’ve just gone about our business in a really calm, controlled way. We’ve had a really hard run of fixtures in the Carabao Cup, but we’ve gone from round to round and now we’ve ended up in the final. There’s been a lot less emotion, a lot less noise. Hopefully, that helps us in our performance in the game.”