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‘Imagine what this place would be like if we actually won something?’ Thanks to Eddie Howe and his Newcastle United players, we no longer have to.
Less than a fortnight after Newcastle United’s historic Carabao Cup win over Liverpool at Wembley Stadium, the city of Newcastle upon Tyne celebrated in the only way it knew how.
From St James’ Park to the Town Moor, a great river of celebration flowed through the city - 300,000 strong. An ocean of black and white brought with it a tide of emotion and Geordie joy. It was Newcastle, but like we’d never seen it before.
March 16 was Newcastle United’s day at Wembley but March 29 was Newcastle upon Tyne’s day - a pure coming together of supporters of all ages and backgrounds united by one common cause, Newcastle United.
A day to remember for Newcastle
We’ve seen many memorable games at St James’ Park over the years. The 4-1 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last season, even the 2-0 Carabao Cup semi-final win over Arsenal less than two months ago that left the stadium and city rocking.
But for every win like PSG, there was always that lingering feeling of what Newcastle would be like if the club actually won something. On Saturday, that dream became a reality, and it did not disappoint.
From car park balconies to lampposts, rooftops to the Central Motorway, the people of Newcastle found their vantage points however they could. Gallowgate, Percy Street and Great North Road became the highway of legends as the open-top bus parted the black and white sea.
Eddie Howe stunned by NUFC parade
Eddie Howe was the man at the centre of it all, his image unfurled in towering form down the Sandman Signature Hotel opposite St James’ Park.
“The flag was amazing - and I can’t thank the people involved enough for doing that for me,” said Howe. “I’m not happy with many pictures of me, but I was happy with this likeness; it was blurred enough!
“We hoped a few people would turn up. But wow.”
But Saturday wasn’t about the numbers, it was the Geordie devotion, history in motion - fans holding out their arms for a bus they had been waiting a lifetime to arrive. And it was worth the wait.
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Newcastle United’s Town Moor celebrations
Yet all of that was just the pre-show to the main event on Newcastle’s Town Moor.
Geordie presenter Ant McPartlin was beaming as he stepped off the open-top bus at the Town Moor and exclaimed: “That’s one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life.”
The buzz of success and what it meant to the city was palpable. Newcastle legend Alan Shearer, a man who had once carried the hopes and dreams of a city on his back, toasted Howe and his players for doing something he and many others couldn’t.
As he gate-crashed Newcastle captain Bruno Guimaraes’ post-parade interview, laughing and embracing the Brazilian, it felt like a passing of the torch from one legend to another.
“I won the Premier League with Blackburn Rovers, but nothing will compare to Wembley,” Shearer said on stage. “It was the best feeling I’ve had in football on a football pitch or off a football pitch. I was lucky enough to share it with 32,000 Geordies.”
Guimaraes is often the orchestrator of things on the field for Newcastle, so it was fitting that he orchestrated the Town Moor celebration too. The midfielder started several chants on stage, though his expletive-laden rendition of Sandro Tonali’s chant, which was broadcast live on the BBC News, may not have won him many friends down at Portland Place.
Alexander Isak, a man so frequently linked with a move away from Newcastle, showed the 300,000 Geordies where his home is by stating ‘alreet wor kid’ with a near-perfect Geordie accent. The crowd exploded with laughter and pride - one of their own and forever part of the club’s history.
Newcastle had waited 70 years for this - as a city, as a club. But now the ‘sleeping giant’ has awakened with the this is only the start.
The cup had come home. And Newcastle will never forget it.
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