As Newcastle United prepare for their first League Cup Final since 1976, Tommy Craig, the captain of the Magpies that day sits at home and flicks through an old scrapbook. There are photographs of the squad together in the dressing room and that famous overhead-kick from Dennis Tueart that secured Manchester City the victory.
In that picture of Tueart - a Geordie - in midair, Craig is standing just yards behind him as the striker acrobatically fires the ball home. Nearly 50 years later, people still ask him about it - and it's a goal that still haunts Craig.
"It's funny," he tells Chronicle Live, "My wife is one of those people," he laughs. "After the game, when we went back to the hotel, my wife's first question was 'why didn't you stick your head on it when they got the free-kick?'"
"Looking at the photographs, I was quite close to Dennis but not close enough. The disappointing thing about it was I was close enough.
"Unfortunately, it's a split-second thing from me. From a City point of view, it was a terrific goal. From Dennis' point of view, it's obviously a terrific goal but from my point of view, I could have done better."
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It's brutal honesty from Craig who turned out more than 100 times for the club and spent time as a coach working under the likes of Kenny Dalglish and Sir Bobby Robson. That afternoon in the capital was the last time United made it to a League Cup final.
Led out by Craig - standing in as captain for the injured Geoff Nulty - the team made-up of Malcolm Mcdonald and Alan Kennedy were outdone by the blue side of Manchester.
Fast forward 47 years, it is the red side of Manchester that stands in the way of securing Newcastle's first major trophy since 1969. Yet far from fearing the opposition, Craig believes Newcastle have nothing to fear.
Speaking before United's defeat to Liverpool, Craig said: "Manchester United are playing well but we're playing just as well. It's very evenly balanced at this and there are goals in both teams.
"They might have the likes of Rashford and Fernandes but we've got our own players - the likes of Sean Longstaff, Callum Wilson and Kieran Trippier."
And it's Trippier who Craig has been particularly impressed with since the full-back's move from Atletico Madrid back in January 2022 - and Craig is hoping that Trippier goes one better than him in a League Cup final, and comes home with the cup.
"I certainly look forward to it," Craig admits. "To see Kieran doing what I didn't on the day, and that is lifting the trophy. I can see signs of togetherness and harmony within the players which is going to stand them in good stead, and I hope Kieran manages to do what I didn't.
"Kieran has been a great signing and is really happy to dish out instructions to his teammates. He's happy to support his teammates. He's happy to not just play right back but play right wing-back and he gets up and down that side remarkably well and he's got a free kick in him.
"We're lucky to have him and I know he's only a little guy like myself but he makes his presence felt. He's always going to be on the ball verbally making sure that everybody's up to speed, and if he sees someone flagging, he will give a little reminder 'hey come on, let's let's go again.'
"The other thing about him is that there are wide open spaces at Wembley and he'll revel in that, he will love it."
Craig remembers the 1976 cup final as if it was yesterday and despite the squad being struck down by a mysterious virus in the days leading up to the game, there was a strong belief Newcastle would return to Tyneside victorious.
"We didn't have to say too much [in the dressing room.]
"All the preparation has been done and we were ready, we're ready to go out there and we did think we were gonna win it to win it.
"You could just feel that electric atmosphere - a little look across the dressing room to another player and just a little nod of the head, 'are you ready?'
'Yes, I'm ready.' It gets right down to the nitty-gritty, this is the time, this is what've we prepared for over the last two or three weeks - to win this cup, and now let's go and do it. It was an amazing feeling."
Then came the armband on Craig's arm; "There's no feeling like it. Wembley with all its history can catch you up. It's an amazing feeling walking down the tunnel because initially, you can see a small light but the closer you get to the pitch, the more it opens up, and the feeling that I had when all of a sudden I see a sea of black and white - amazing. Absolutely amazing."
And it's within those first few moments of stepping out onto the turf - or 'bowling green' as Craig puts it - that he offers up a key bit of advice to today's captain, Trippier.
"Wembley can get you to lose your focus so what I would say is to get all the waving done before you leave home, and don't think you can look to the stands to see your family, there's no time for that! There's a job to be done.
"It's a normal thing, but it's rather difficult to see them. But you still get that temptation to get your head up but if you can hold that off until after the game when you might have more than your wife or your girlfriend or your uncle to look for, it'll be worth it because you could be looking at a silver trophy."
Tens of thousands of Newcastle fans were left heartbroken when they missed out on a ticket for the Wembley final with the club offering up a priority/ ballot system for fans who met certain criteria, and the very fact Newcastle could have sold Wembley out four times over is a sign of the excitement running through the fanbase. Tyneside has certainly been gripped by cup fever.
Craig knows the feeling well from the weeks building up to the 1976 final. "I'm not telling a lie when I say to you that there were women of a good age, 65, 70-year-old women, and all the buzz was the final, the game, 'are you going to the match?' they'd ask.
"I mean, it captures everybody's imagination. It's fantastic, fantastic news for the town, fantastic news for the club.
"Eddie has obviously worked overtime on what he wants to do and how he wants his team to play because there's a definite spark, as soon as Newcastle United get the ball, the crowd starts and you hear the roar. 'Come on, let's get moving.'
"You can see what he's trying to do - he's trying to make it as difficult as possible for the opposition to get nicely bedded in. From the first whistle at Wembley, you'll see people like Callum Wilson and Miguel Almiron doing a defender's job and actually defending from the front.
"And, that has a big appeal, for the Newcastle fans. They continue with their support, their vocal support, and they more than anybody deserve a little bit of success. These fans deserve some success and hopefully, it'll come this time around at Wembley, these fans have got to remember and I'm sure they do, how big a part they have to play in this game.
"It's a special club and the people within the club and the supporters out with the club, they'll just come together for that 90 minutes and they really do deserve it. I pray it works out for them."
Sadly, it didn't work out for the club in 1976 but if anyone ever needed reminding about the backing from the fans, Craig has the perfect anecdote as the Toon players returned to Newcastle the day after the final. Stepping out at the city's central station, Craig recalls: "It took us approximately two hours to get up to St James' Park and we were surprised when we got off the train at the crowd.
"I thought there was a brawl outside, but when we got outside we just found that the coach couldn't move, it was literally hemmed in and from the point of getting on the coach to St James's park, it took us so long.
"Then we went back to St. James's and lo and behold it was a full house. I can't express how warm and how humble the players felt because of the fans and that support continues."
And as Craig looks ahead to losing his title as the last man to captain Newcastle in the League Cup Final, his message to the current day Toon squad is a simple one - do it for the gaffer.
"I would say to the players, just look at Eddie, look at the job that he's done, he and his staff, and try and give them a little bit of a payback.
"This is one for the team to to to say thanks gaffer. Eddie, I'm sure will keep the mood quiet and calm until the point of kickoff.
"I just hope to God, I really, really hope that they can pull it off.
"It would be lovely to see Newcastle play in the jersey and the cup being held aloft. I wish Kieran Trippier all the best and all the rest of the lads."
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