Eddie Howe has admitted that ending Newcastle United's trophy drought is a 'huge driver' for him as the Magpies boss looks to one day make history.
Supporters do not need to be reminded that it has been 53 years since Newcastle won the Fairs Cup. You have to go back even further, to 1955, for the last time the club lifted a domestic cup.
However, ahead of Wednesday night's Carabao Cup third-round tie against Crystal Palace, Howe has again made it clear that it is his 'dream' to one day bring silverware back to St James' Park. Newcastle still have a lot of work to do, of course, to realise that ambition but rather than viewing the club's long wait for success as a 'burden', Howe feels it has given his side the chance to 'create some of our own history'.
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"Without a doubt that's a huge driver for me and the players," the Newcastle head coach told reporters. "Wherever you go, you want to leave your mark in a positive way for the club and for the future because Newcastle will live on for many years.
"You want to be remembered as someone that cared for the club and, hopefully, left the club in a better place than when you entered. Your legacy, whether you're a manager or player, is to try and leave your mark in a positive way."
In some ways, Howe has already done that after taking over a winless side who were in deep relegation trouble a year ago and leading Newcastle to safety. One year on from his appointment, however, Howe feels he is only getting started and the Magpies boss is 'desperate to progress' in the cup.
So many of Howe's predecessors shared his desire to attack the cups, but Premier League safety was too often prioritised in the Ashley era. That policy has obviously now changed under the club's current owners and, just last month, chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan wrote about how 'each season is a building block towards our objective - to challenge for trophies both domestically and in Europe'. It has been a while since Newcastle did that, but Howe has already given his players a talk on the club's history to challenge them to write their own chapter.
"We did a presentation on the history of the club and we made references to how long it had been since we had won a domestic cup competition," he said. "That's something we want to change in the future so it's there for us.
"We know it's in the subconscious that we're working towards that, but I don't think I can place too much emphasis on it. It's about our performance tomorrow. It's about our mentality to try and win again and progress through the next round."
Newcastle are currently flying in third place in the league, ahead of a huge game against Chelsea on Saturday, but Howe intends to name a strong side against Palace at St James' tomorrow night after reiterating there are 'no dead games here'. Matt Targett, Allan Saint-Maximin and Chris Wood are among those pushing for a start as Newcastle bid to defeat a fellow Premier League outfit in the Carabao Cup for the first time since 2014.
Howe is 'reluctant' to look too far beyond Wednesday night's game but rather than talking down Newcastle's prospects of one day winning silverware, the 44-has visualised that moment himself in a bid to believe it is possible.
"You have to," he added. "I couldn't sit here and say we don't want to progress and we don't want to win. That wouldn't make sense to me or my players.
"If I'm putting very high expectations on them in terms of their performance and what I want them to deliver then I have to do the same myself. I'm not making any promises or pledges. That's the key thing. I'm not saying we will; I'm saying we will give our very best every game to try and win."
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