It was, to paraphrase Prince, a scoreline like it was 1999. It was Manchester United 2 Newcastle United 0 in a Wembley cup final, just as it had been when Sir Alex Ferguson got the second of his historic treble. Then, Newcastle’s wait for major silverware was a mere 30 years; now it is 54 and still more, 68, since they won anything at Wembley. Newcastle have had regime change, a transformation in the mood on Tyneside, their league form and expectations, but some things stay resolutely the same.
“We are desperate to get back here and win a trophy,” said Eddie Howe, the fifth Newcastle manager to lose a final since Joe Harvey prevailed in 1969. Two footballing realities collide, the sense that money always leads to success battling the notion Newcastle never win anything. It shouldn’t be another 24 years before a super-rich, ultra-ambitious Newcastle are in another final but Howe argued: “Nothing is guaranteed.” Certainly not for some of his team. “There will be some players that might not get back to Wembley,” he said. For Dan Burn, a graduate of the non-league, now in his thirties, the sort of player who could be sidelined for a glamorous upgrade, for Sean Longstaff, the local replaced at half-time, for Loris Karius, too, this might be it.
