Dan Burn becomes the third former New Hartley Juniors FC player to win the League Cup
Dan Burn becomes the third former New Hartley Juniors FC player to win the League Cup
Dan Burn headed the opening goal on a famous afternoon for Newcastle United but for one Northumberland football club, it's nothing they haven't seen before.
The towering centre back becomes the third player with New Hartley Juniors FC on his CV to lift the League Cup Trophy. Burn follows Graham Fenton, who won with Aston Villa in 1994 and Ray Kennedy, who starred in Liverpool's victory over West Ham in 1981.
Brothers Mick and John Maley, who run the club, were delighted to see their former player lift the cup with the Magpies and have fond memories of the "gangly lad", despite him only playing a handful of games for the longest serving club in the Durham County FA Under 18's league.
Mick, 56, told ChronicleLive: "Dan came as a 16-year-old from Blyth Spartans. He played three or four games and was on the bench for a few, then he sprained his ankle and we carried him off the field.
"He was out for about six weeks and in the meantime he got the Saturday job at Asda pushing the trolleys. He wanted to earn a bit of money rather than sitting on the bench."
Dan, who is in line to be awarded the Freedom of Northumberland, was back at New Hartley the following summer and played in a couple of friendlies before being scouted by Darlington. Mick had hoped that Dan would be able to play in the North Tyneside International Summer Tournament in Whitley Bay, but his new club, with whom he'd signed a one-year deal, wouldn't allow it.
Mick remembers Dan being apologetic that he wouldn't play for New Hartley again, but he wished the youngster all the best. He said: "Darlington signed him and he played a friendly against Whitley Bay and he played that game like he did last night, actually - a big, old-fashioned centre back."
Despite only knowing Dan for a short time, Mick and John kept tabs on him as his career developed, from his transfer to Fulham; to loan spells with the likes of Birmingham City and Yeovil, the latter for which he scored a Wembley play-off goal. Following a spell at Brighton, he moved to Newcastle, and after three years at his hometown club, received his first England call-up aged 32 on Friday.
Mick added: "If anyone deserves all of this, it's Dan Burn. He's the nicest lad in the world, no airs and graces.
"He used to get little knockbacks but he'd keep going and going and going. He was big, gangly, lad, he never went to all these flash clubs.
"He just knuckled down, worked hard and played to his strengths. He played local football around here and got picked up that way."
Mick and John haven't had much contact with Dan in recent years, but the clubhouse erupted on Sunday as if he'd scored for New Hartley themselves.
John said: "When I saw Mac Allister was marking him, I thought Dan's going to score here today, I had a feeling in my water he was going to score. It was a great header, a great goal."
The Carabao Cup win came at a special time for Mick and John too. The following day, Monday, March 17, was the 14th anniversary of their dad John Maley Snr's death.
John, who set up New Hartley FC and served as secretary for 53 years, also followed Dan's career after he moved on to Darlington. Mick finished: "Dan first came to the club when my dad started to get poorly with cancer.
"He did like Dan, and he used to sit and read the Sunday Sun religiously, following the teams every week to see if he was playing. My dad would have been all over it, he would have absolutely loved all this."
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