Not even 48 hours on from Newcastle United’s victory in the 2025 Carabao Cup Final and most Geordies are either: still drunk or recovering, as the dust settles, and the weight of history has been lifted off the club and the fanbases collective shoulders.
From San Diego to Melbourne, back to Tyneside and beyond again, there has been a lot of love for Newcastle United’s thoroughly deserved dispatching of the champions-elect on Sunday and the ending of 70 years of hurt. Although, it seems that that spirit failed to reach a certain ex-Man Utd player.
Speaking on the latest episode of The Overlap, Paul Scholes, when asked whether Eddie Howe deserves to be lionised on Tyneside, simply responded with a derisory: ‘It’s only the League Cup, f***** h***, everyone tries to get knocked out of it all year.’
Now, whilst the framing of the question presented the idea of an Eddie Howe statue, something which I personally feel is a tad premature, Scholes’ lack of understanding of the context of what Sunday meant for generations of Newcastle United supporters highlights just why you should take no notice of anything he says as a pundit.
“Eddie Howe… Does he deserve a statue?” 🤩
With silverware secured, is Newcastle’s gaffer heading for legend status at St. James’ Park? 🎖️ pic.twitter.com/PBgG2AwGnZ
— The Overlap (@WeAreTheOverlap) March 18, 2025
It will clearly be poorly researched, poorly conceived and poorly presented. His words aren’t worth the breath with which they are spoken. (And yes, I realise the irony in writing this article in response to worthless words, but howay.)
Context is everything in discussions around how people react to events and situations; a Man Utd fan with decades of success behind them probably does consider the League Cup small time (although I’d kindly remind Scholes of how it was their only trophy two seasons ago) whereas a Newcastle United fan with nothing to celebrate for 70 YEARS will undoubtedly cry and feel numb with a feeling they have long been without.
You often find the same dismissal in historical contexts, with say the witch trails, when modern observers look back and say how could the people then be so barbaric, when in the context of the time the fear of witches was very real as were the threats they posed to your way of life.
Historical allusion aside, clearly, Scholes does not wear bitterness well as his team struggle against relegation and will end the season with a well-deserved nothing to show for it.
Perhaps, a kinder fan would ask Scholes to cast his mind back to when he was 18-year-old and his club broke their 26-year duck without a league title (1967-93) after watching a precession of Liverpool title wins and to consider how he felt, a meaner fan would kindly ask that he stops sucking on his own daughter’s toes (allegedly) as it clearly does funny things to the mind.