A devoted Newcastle United fan has sold his car to pay for a flight home from Australia so he can see cheer on the side at Wembley.
Dan Gordon proved his undying loyalty to the Magpies by selling off his Vauxhall Corsa so he could buy a plane ticket from Sydney to Heathrow for the Carabao Cup final. The 22-year-old from Whickham has been travelling around Australia since last August and is currently working on a remote farm.
But despite living thousands of miles away, he has been following Newcastle United's progress in the League Cup and knew he wanted to be back to see the club in its first final since 1999 - at any cost.
Dan tasked mam, Jeni Gordon, with selling his car to raise the funds and was so confident the side would make it to Wembley that he booked his flights before they even played in the semi-final against Southampton.
Jeni, 53, said: "He is crackers! He had paid for his flight home before they won on Tuesday.
"I said, 'what happens if they lose' and he said, 'they'll not!' I said, 'Dan, it is a big risk to take that, it's a lot of money to lose.'
"But he was confident and it has paid off for him."
She continued: "He stays up to watch all of the Newcastle matches in Australia. The farm is in the middle of nowhere so he has to drive himself 40 minutes to the nearest town to find a pub with the match and then go to work the next morning."
With Dan set to spend another year in Australia, he asked his mam to sell his car and send him the money for the flights.
"His car has been sitting on the drive since August waiting for him to come home. He told me to sell it so he could buy a plane ticket," Jeni said.
"I took three photos of it and went to the pub to watch the Manchester United game by the time I went to the pub my phone was red hot with loads of calls and messages about it.
"Some bloke rang me and said he was coming over with the cash and before half time I had the money in my hand and by the car was gone."
Dan is set to arrive in London on February 23 and had planned to visit his family in Newcastle before the match just three days later. But with train tickets now said to be sold out by Newcastle fans travelling to the game, Dan is set to have an extended stay in the capital with his mates heading down early to meet him.
However, mum Jeni admitted the likelihood of Dan getting a ticket to the match was unlikely - especially as he lent his season ticket to brother Dale Gordon while he is away.
"There is only one snag to it - since he's left his brother has taken over his season ticket and he's paying for it so he's saying, 'I'll get the ticket if we go to Wembley,' but Dan's saying he's had it for 12 years! So God knows what's going to happen," Jeni laughed.
But either way, Jeni said her son will be delighted to soak up the atmosphere with Newcastle looking to win their first major trophy since 1969.
"My brother, my nephew and my elder son David have all had their hotels booked for weeks, "Jeni said.
"They're all going to London, regardless of whether they get a ticket."
'Our 48-page Carabao Cup final special is available to pre-order now! Click HERE to get your copy as Newcastle United prepare for a historic day out at Wembley. Also available to purchase through local participating retailers from February 15th.'
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