Wembley has been booked with a glint of silver in the eye and the last throw of the transfer dice has been completed with the flourish of a £40m recruit Anthony Gordon.
A month of bubbling excitement is over and it is back to the rank and file of the Premier League. Except that for Newcastle this is very much the real deal - third top of the most competitive league in the world with Champions League football unbelievably within touching distance.
United resume where they want to be, at home to West Ham with the opportunity to fully open the throttle once more and roar off into the distance.
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By the high standards demanded at the top of the PL the Magpies have taken their foot off the accelerator a little - three 0-0 draws have resulted in only six points being claimed out of the last 12. That needs to be boosted by a maximin return come early Saturday evening no question.
Of course United must battle through their next three Premier League fixtures, carrying nine points of which every one is crucial, without their most influential player Bruno Guimaraes but then life is never straightforward.
Will we see Gordon to heighten hope and expectation? Probably, though, when is the moot point. From the start or from the subs' bench? But for Bruno's suspension there is no doubt in my mind it would have been a late introduction and probably still will be given his lack of playing time of late but there is a wide left place up for filling and that changes everything.
Ironically United's other major January signing is from West Ham, right-back Harrison Ashby, who could sneak onto a nine-man bench because no other No.2 is available to understudy Kieran Trippier.
If United have problems they are up front. Both top scorers Miggy Almiron and Callum Wilson are going through a worrying dry spell while the other man of a trio will almost certainly be newly promoted with Joelinton falling back into midfield.
Wilson's barren run is now into double figures, dating way back to October 29, while Almiron has not scored in his last six-and-a-half matches, the half being a sub appearance in the FA Cup.
United desperately need them to recapture their finishing form. There are three matches to do it before Wembley but with Europe also on the agenda the need is actually immediate.
The Hammers are now a different proposition to what David Moyes had previously achieved. A seventh place Premier League finish last season and a run to the semi-final of the Europa League has been replaced by a team struggling at the wrong end of the table with just one league win since October.
What is more West Ham had splashed the cash in an effort to force a major breakthrough at the top but three players brought in to score the goals - Gianluca Scamacca, Maxwel Cornet and Danny Ings - have all been injured.
Consequently former Sunderland boss Moyes is under the cosh and in need of what all managers require as a staple diet - positive results.
He still possesses dangerous individuals who seem to have settled down after the uncertainty and chaos of the final days of the transfer window. Michail Antonio is staying and he promptly shot West Ham into the fifth round of the FA Cup along with Jarrod Bowen, back to his goalscoring best after wallowing in the disappointment of failing to make the World Cup finals. Then there is Declan Rice having his last hurrah as a Hammer before switching to a Champions League club.
Perhaps surprisingly this is Newcastle's first meeting with West Ham this season, the away match in the smoke still awaits a date, and so there is no guide line.
All that matters is the right United triumph and we all know who that is. I am anxious for Newcastle's assault to continue on two fronts, League Cup and Premier League, and there is little wiggle room for hiccups. Bruno or not, goals have to come and with them points.
John Anderson will be sharing my excitement and apprehension pre-match at Pumphrey's. Come down and join the party.
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