Dan Burn feared his football dream was over when he was earning £9 an hour collecting shopping trolleys in an Asda car park.
Even when he got a break at Darlington aged 17, it was on a £55 YTS scheme. “It was costing me £80 a week in petrol to get to training! So I crammed three or four of the lads in the car for lifts so I could take £20 quid off them.”
Eddie Howe has players who have worked their way up from the bottom to get their big day at Wembley on Sunday, when they’ll try to lift the Carabao Cup and a first domestic trophy since 1955.
Thirteen years on from shopping trolleys, junior football with Blyth Town and Blyth Spartans, Burn is appreciating his rise, but also treating the game like any other to relieve the expectation.
He is one of the senior group of stars who decided there will be no special cup final suit. And he has vowed the dressing room dance he did live on TV after scoring in the earlier rounds won’t be repeated!
Burn also did a decent mimic of Gazza on TV to keep the fans and his team mates entertained, and show why coach Howe loves his infectious personality. Tracing his journey to Wembley, 6ft 6 defender Burn said: “I have had a roller-coaster career, ups and downs.
“I was an 11-year-old who thought he was going to be the next Alan Shearer and the best in the world. Then I wasn’t invited back to academy training. Knowing you are not at Newcastle anymore does have a big effect on you.
“At 17 I was playing football at a level where I could just enjoy it. I played for Blyth Spartans. I also played for New Hartley on a Saturday and even then, I was not really getting a kick.
“I needed money to go and do things with my mates, like the cinema. I was only working Saturday. It was £9 or something. When I went to Darlington, it was YTS at £55 a week.
“All these things which got me to the stage I am. They pushed me more. I had grafted and felt that helped. I was released by Fulham at the age of 24 too. I went from getting my Premier League debut to two seasons later, being released. There were not a lot of clubs coming looking. Wigan were the only team who came with a contract.”
Burn says he’d be in the crowd with the Toon Army if he wasn’t a player. He’s watched great Newcastle teams of old try and fail to land a cup.
He added: “Once the takeover happened, I thought the chances of me playing for Newcastle were done. But football works in strange ways. Amazing teams in the past, Kevin Keegan’s era, Bobby Robson’s era, were full of amazing players who did not quite get there. To have the opportunity to do it… I feel very lucky.”
Burn has scored, and won, at Wembley - for Yeovil in the 2013 League One play off final, a vital experience.
He added: “You do not realise how big the stadium is and how huge the pitch is. It is an energy-sapper. After 10 minutes, I was absolutely dying because of the occasion. So I will pass that experience on to the lads who have not played there, little tips.”
As more businesses and homes fly Toon flags and banners as the weekend approaches, Burn has noticed the fervour building. There will be a celebratory atmosphere all weekend.
Burn said: “Everyone is buzzing about town. I see a lot of people out and about and everyone is talking about it. But, we must not get complacent. I would like this to be a stepping stone towards bigger things.
“This is my first major final and the first win will be huge for the club. But I do not want it to be a one-off. I want it to be a catalyst for more.”
