You can still glimpse it occasionally in India’s major cities, across parts of Southeast Asia, in South Africa, Australia and, of course, northeast England. The classic black-and-white barcode shirt with Newcastle Brown Ale as the sponsor and with the three Adidas stripes. Alan Shearer wore it, as did entertainers like David Ginola and Faustino Asprilla. Briefly, in the 1990s, it was the choice of shirt for the ‘neutral’ who wanted to see English football’s established order shaken up.
And it so nearly was in the spring of 1996, before Newcastle United let slip a 12-point lead against Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United. There are few more poignant images in football history than the sight of Kevin Keegan, the Magpies’ manager, slumped over one of the advertising hoardings at Anfield, the ground where he had once been a cult hero with Liverpool. Stan Collymore’s late, late winner had seen Liverpool win perhaps the most famous game in the league’s history 4-3, and dealt a fatal blow to Newcastle’s title hopes.
By the next January, Keegan was gone, and though Kenny Dalglish – who had beaten Ferguson to the title with both Liverpool and Blackburn Rovers – came in and steadied the ship, the locals never warmed to him as they had to Keegan and his team of cavaliers. The football under Dalglish was more prosaic and though the team leapfrogged Arsenal and Liverpool in the final weeks to finish second, genuine title hopes had left St. James’ Park in the winter.
It was also the last hurrah for a fading team. There would be a brief surge under the late Bobby Robson, another figure adored on the terraces, and a flicker of revival under Alan Pardew in 2011-12, but by and large, Newcastle were a synonym for underachievement and disillusionment in the first two decades of the 21st century.
There was hardly a fan alive who had seen a domestic trophy won, and those that remembered the triumph in the now-defunct Fairs Cup in 1969 were pensioners. By the time the Saudis took over just over three years ago, there had been so many false dawns that even the most optimistic fans were guarded.
Bear in mind that this is a fan base like no other. Newcastle is a one-club town, like Leeds, and it’s no exaggeration to say that football is the only religion. St. James’ Park is their house of the holy, and men like Jackie Milburn, Sir Bobby Robson and Shearer their Gods.
Now, after decades in the wilderness, those fans can see the Promised Land. Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Liverpool – runaway league leaders – was meant to be a fraught affair. But though Federico Chiesa’s late strike did set the nerves jangling briefly, Newcastle were more than worthy winners. The midfield trio of Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton and Sandro Tonali controlled the game, and Alexander Isak – rumoured to be a summer target for Liverpool – was by far the sharpest forward on view.
Though Liverpool looked leg-weary and uninspired after the desperate disappointment of their UEFA Champions League exit to Paris Saint-Germain, it wouldn’t be unfair to say that Eddie Howe outsmarted Arne Slot, especially in the manner in which Newcastle made use of their aerial prowess. Slot lauded Dan Burn’s bullet header from way out, but it was frankly bizarre that neither Virgil van Dijk nor Ibrahima Konate, the two big centre-backs, were anywhere near the tallest man on the pitch.
There were doubts whether Howe, who built his reputation while guiding tiny Bournemouth up the league pyramid, could cope with the demands of the job at a ‘big club’. But after coming fourth in 2022-23, this success will ensure that the owners keep faith in his stewardship of a project that views Champions League qualification as almost mandatory.
“I think we’re an emotional football club,” said Howe after the Wembley win. “There are a lot of extreme emotions after wins and defeats, but it’s been a long wait for a trophy for everybody, so it’s great to be the team that has ended the long spell.”
If Newcastle win their game in hand, they will leapfrog Chelsea and Manchester City into fourth place in the table with nine games remaining. If they can keep Isak and the terrier-like midfield fit, few would bet against them riding this magic-carpet momentum all the way to the Champions League.
“I got asked who I wanted to win the Carabao Cup, and even though I was in Liverpool, I said Newcastle,” said Keegan at an event a fortnight before the final. “Liverpool to win the Premier League and Newcastle to win the Carabao Cup.
“If ever a club deserved to win something, it’s Newcastle.”
Nearly three decades after he and his ‘Entertainers’ fell short, his wish has come true.
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