It’s been 70 years since Newcastle United won a domestic trophy that went way back as the 1954-55 FA Cup season and now that long wait has now finally come to a close thanks to their 2-1 win over Premier League leaders Liverpool in the League Cup Final at Wembley Stadium.
They’ve been so dominant all along with two goals coming from centre-half Dan Burn and star No.9 Aleksandar Isak, although Liverpool scored one back but then that was a consolation one towards the final whistle by Federico Chiesa.
Don’t get me wrong, they are a mega rich club indeed under Saudi Arabia ownership since late 2021. But still, they have all the money and power to get back to where they want to be – and that is by regularly competing at Top 4-6 every season while they look to make a statement in Europe.
Well, they are going back to the UEFA comp after all with Conference League qualification now guaranteed. However, they are currently flying high though in 6th on the ladder & if they finish 6th and above at season’s end, they too could play in the Europa League instead or even Champions League again like it was two seasons ago back in 2023-24.
That means, the 7th best PL team would take Newcastle’s spot for Europe’s 3rd tier competition in their place.
Don’t forget they’ve previously been at Wembley with the same League Cup Final a little over two years ago – that didn’t go well v Man Utd 2-0 but now they’ve gone one better as congrats once again including to one of England’s finest head coach/managers in the country in Eddie Howe.
Plus, shoutout to Toon supporter Adam Peacock too and he’s currently the host of Stan Sport’s UEFA club competition coverage with Craig Foster & Mark Bosnich.
Sure we will see him on the screens of Nine soon when each of the Grand Finals from Champions League to Europa and Conference level will be around sometime in late May.
And on Liverpool, not their day today as Arne Slot still doesn’t have a trophy yet as this is his first season in the hot seat following the departure of long-time manager Jurgen Klopp at Anfield. Although that can wait since they are leading the PL but with Cup competitions, not so much until at least next season….for now.
One thing Liverpool could’ve pulled off there is if they had at least a few more of their own kids from the academy on the biggest stage at least in men’s soccer like they did in last year’s League Cup Final v Chelsea.
Shame it wasn’t worth the risk to go a bit braver this time when Newcastle’s starting XI was full of more established stars instead and they were the team to beat unfortunately at the end of the day.
