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Everything it means to live, sleep and breathe Newcastle United could be about to change. They are 90 minutes away from banishing a 70-year cloud that has consumed us all.
Immortality awaits the 11 men Eddie Howe will send into battle for Newcastle United today.
Liverpool, the all-conquering, universal behemoth who have the Premier League sewn up with 10 games remaining, stand between black-and-white pandemonium or another Wembley heartbreak. For those who believe the task is too tall for Alexander Isak and Co, let me show you Wigan Athletic in 2013, Wimbledon in 1988 or, dare I say it, the 1973 Sunderland team who, despite languishing in the second tier, upset the apple cart against the mighty Leeds United.
But what on earth happens if Newcastle actually achieve the unthinkable? Does time stand still? Is that the moment World War III breaks out? How will those fabled travellers who, according to Tyneside myth and legend, cursed the club in 1955, react to the ground-shattering news?
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A staple of Geordie culture is being wedded to a team that, each week and every season, are destined to fall short. There is even a terrace chant about how “we’re going to win **** all again”. The world-renowned supporters who follow Newcastle via land, sea and air, no matter where the fixture is held, boast stock so high because they root - through thick and thin - for English football’s greatest underachievers.
Within living memory, the halcyon days of Kevin Keegan’s “Entertainers” are underpinned by that infamous 12-point surrender. Icons like Alan Shearer and Sir Bobby Robson are cast in bronze outside of St James' Park yet even they, despite their greatness, could not get Newcastle over the line.
Nine consecutive Wembley defeats is an English football record - with five of those in cup finals since Jimmy Scoular proudly lifted the FA Cup high into the London sky 70 years ago. For context, Liverpool, a modern-day juggernaut, won their first FA Cup 10 years later.
The Reds have since won eight - alongside the countless league titles and European cups - while Newcastle remain on six. Yet an army of hopeful Toon fans have descended on the capital this weekend with hope and optimism, obstructing any visceral negativity until 6pm Sunday.
But these players - and their measured, meticulous manager - have the power to change it all. Howe, who stands 90 minutes away from a lifetime of free beer and after-dinner speaking, is certainly talking the talk.
"The destiny is in our own hands," he claimed at Friday’s media briefing. "I'm not even going to use the word (curse). It's not in that mindset.
“It's about us delivering a great performance if we can and, then, talking about the other outcome and the other possibilities that exist. That's exciting. That's what we're here for."
It is up to his on-field gladiators now to walk the walk. For some, that pressure may weigh like an albatross around their neck. A burdensome, relentless obstacle that a minority genuinely believe is down to 70-year-old dark magic.
But this lot evoke a different swagger. The cold-blooded killer in Alexander Isak, widely viewed as one of the world’s best strikers. Bruno Guimaraes, the emotionally invested Brazilian who will sweat blood out there to, in his words, etch his name in the club’s history.
Sandro Tonali and Kieran Trippier have featured in some of football’s biggest battles and in Joelinton who, like Newcastle, was also considered a Premier League laughing stock, they have a general-like bulldozer to bully that midfield.
The build-up, however, is over. Now it is time to deliver. Go out there and grab it. You are a skip away from legendary status. The vision of Geordie joy emanating around Wembley is all the motivation you need.
Fortiter. Defendit. Triumphans. Win today, and live the rest of your life as a champion.
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