Newcastle United's Dan Burn and Fabian Schar celebrate winning the Carabao Cup
Newcastle United's Dan Burn and Fabian Schar celebrate winning the Carabao Cup
Oh my, oh my. Hollywood forget Wrexham, forget Rocky, forget Fantasy Island. Forget a script writer to produce outrageous fiction. This is reality, true romance, this is what dreams are all about.
Wembley is a winter wonderland, the best place on earth right now . . . bar Newcastle. How we hoped, how we fantasised, and now how we party.
Honestly I could have jumped over Wembley's new arch which is 133 metres high and I'm no longer a young man of jaunty gait. I'm an old age pensioner but I feel like a bairn. Please, don't wake me up. I was there in 1969 and now I'm penning another tribute to new heroes. I have not only lived to tell the tale but to record it. Forgive my self indulgence because I know every Geordie will forgive me. This feels like the start of a new dawn because it is.
Wrexham and Hollywood superstar owners? Are you kidding me Tinsel Town? Big Dan Burn is your headline act. Write a tale around him. He's gone from an Asda trolley pusher who played low key football for Blyth Town, Blyth Spartans, Darlington, Yeovil and Wigan to, inside a few days, an England call up and a rare Newcastle goalscorer in a Wembley cup final. This man is our Angel of the North - big and brave but not bronze. A golden winner. Rocky wasn't real. This is.
Rocky was an ageing no-hoper who became a champion. Well, Big Dan is 33 very shortly and now goes off to join England. When queried on a shock call up late in his career Thomas Tuchel joked: "Burn is tall but apparently easy to overlook." Not any more he isn't!
Dan's savage header on the stroke of half-time deservedly put United on the road to glory and ripped the heart out of Liverpool, Premier League champions elect. Usually a man in sniper alley within six yards of the back post, he withdraw deeper and when Kieran Trippier's left wing corner flew into the box his running header carried all the power and direction of a missile.
He was the head master . . . and those who were aerial kings in black-and-white recognised it. Les Ferdinand in the TV gantry, Alan Shearer in the stand with the fans, SuperMac back home in North Shields watching it on telly. Burn did what Shearer and SuperMac failed to do in two Wembley cup finals with United and that was score.
59 incredible Newcastle Wembley pictures as United heroes celebrate emotional Carabao Cup win
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The sheer joy, the sheer disbelief, but we weren't done. No siree. Normal service was resumed. Regular scorer Alexander Isak had the ball in the net on 50 minutes only for Bruno judged to be interfering with the keeper's eyeline but two minutes later he majestically swept home United's second after another fine left wing soiree by Tino Livramento and a back post knock back from Jacob Murphy.
United were a team of heroes. A squad of heroes. Every man jack of them. Sandro Tonali was a thoroughbred, finesse mixed with ferocious competitiveness, Tino attacked repeatedly down the left where Mo Salah was on the missing list, Bruno played like he wanted the trophy even it it cost his life, but above all vying for the chief support role to Burn I have to mention Joelinton.
He was a colossus. He won every arm wrestling contest, swatted Liverpool's superstars out of the arena, and played like the Brazilian international he is.
Seventy years we've waited for a domestic trophy. Fifty six for a trophy of any description. So Howe's that, me bonny lads! Champion, just champion. Take a bow Eddie. You have just elevated yourself above Kevin Keegan and Bobby Robson in terms of winning the Geordies a trophy and I cannot pay you a higher compliment than that.
Now let me dream. We are cup holders. We are in Europe. May I never wake up. I need the international break just to rejoin the human race.
Newcastle United Carabao Cup WINNERS 2024/25
At last, Newcastle have their hands on silverware!
After an agonising 56-year wait, the Magpies' amazing army of fans can celebrate watching their side lift a trophy after their Carabao Cup final win. And to celebrate, the Newcastle Chronicle have produced this souvenir special, marking the Wembley triumph.
It is packed full of reaction, analysis and quotes as well as amazing pictures from the day, and a centre-spread poster.
It is the perfect souvenir of an historic day for Newcastle.
Buy now and have it delivered directly to your door. Alternatively you can purchase in most supermarkets, high street retailers and independent newsagents in the North East from March 20, 2025.