Newcastle United's future chief financial officer was driving back down the A1. Simon Capper had just watched title-chasing Leicester City comfortably swat aside the Magpies alongside fellow Foxes director Ian Flanagan. The clubs were moving in very different directions at the time, but that trip to St James' Park in 2015 stuck with the pair - and not just because Jamie Vardy had equalled the Premier League record for consecutive goals at St James' Park.
"I remember coming back from that 3-0 game with Simon," Flanagan recalled to ChronicleLive. "We were saying, 'Newcastle have so many of the fundamentals, so many of the ingredients in place, to be a huge success. If they could only get it right.' It was the classic sleeping giant of a club. If it had the right backing and things started going right on the pitch, the sky was the limit."
The last 18 months have proved that, all right, taking Flanagan right back to his days at CSS Stellar Sports, when he looked after Sir Bobby Robson, who was 'phenomenal when he got going on Newcastle'. For the first time since Sir Bobby was in the dugout, Newcastle have finished in the top four and Capper will have a seat in the directors' box for those Champions League nights.
