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Smashing to win but…I won’t be getting a tattoo

1 year ago
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Ahead of the Carabao Cup Final we have been asking some of our regular / irregular contributors a few questions.

Newcastle United v Manchester United kicking off at 4.30pm on Sunday.

We all know how long it was since the last silverware and very aware that most of us weren’t around when that last trophy was lifted in 1969, or at least not (in most cases) of an age to properly appreciate it.

We have left it late but have asked some key questions of these contributors to The Mag as the build up to the Carabao Cup Final gathers pace.

Next up is Travis Bickle:</strong

What have you got planned this weekend?

As an exile with no chance of a ticket, I’ll be watching on telly at home with the family.

What this final means to you and how important a win would be?

I expect that (just at the moment) I’ll be a bit of an outlier on this. It would be champion to win, of course – but at the same time a little bit of an anti-climax.

I’ve been black-and-white all my life, born and bred. I’m 56 now, so I was 2 when we won the Fairs Cup and don’t remember that. But I do remember the 74 and 76 finals, and of course all the failures at the last hurdle during the 90s.

Some memories burn themselves into your mind, and I have a clear, vivid memory of walking up the hill with my brother on the way to the home game against Man Utd in January 1996, and saying to him “If we win this tonight we’ve won the league”.

Somehow or other we didn’t win the game and we didn’t win the league. Then the great FA Cup semi-finals of the 1990s and the great anti-climaxes of the finals.

So I’ve been waiting for us to win something for over 50 years. But the thing is – and I think we’re all selectively choosing not to think about this at the moment – the League Cup is such a devalued competition now, it would be a bit of a shame to my mind if, after waiting half a century to win something, the competition we win is one that nobody really bothers much about.

To be honest, if you had asked me the week before last year’s final, or the years before that, who was in the final, I probably wouldn’t have known.

The real glory is in coming out top in something everybody wants to win and everyone is looking at. My dream is of a Newcastle captain lifting up the FA Cup, or the Premier League, or the Champions League. The Carabao Cup? Not so much really.

So, it would be smashing to win – but if Trippier does lift the Carabao Cup I won’t be getting a tattoo of it.

If all of the squad had been available (including Pope, Gordon, Krafth, Dubravka) who would have been your first five names on the teamsheet, in order from first choice to fifth choice in terms of importance?

Bruno (probably the best player we’ve had since Shearer, and as good a midfielder as I’ve seen in black-and-white since Gazza)

Botman (another one who would go in my all-time NUFC first 11 – alongside Woodgate at the back)

Trippier (the last of our current crop who would go in my all-time first 11)

Wilson (you’ve got to have someone up top who you fancy will take the chance when it comes)

Joelinton (I love Joelinton. I used to laugh at Joelinton. But now – he plays the game exactly as you want a Newcastle player to play – hard, fierce, committed, but good-natured. And he looks like a Greek God – he should be sculpted in bronze or marble.)

A massive full-on game for Man U against Barcelona that ended only around 66 hours before this Wembley final, how much of a boost, if any, is this to Newcastle United?

It may be good – they might be a bit knacked. It might be bad – they won the tie and are on a massive roll.

Out of the entire Man Utd squad (players who will be available or not), who would/will you be most happy to see not starting on Sunday, in order from first most important to fifth most important?

Rashford (he’s on a roll, like Miggy was for us first half of the season, where everything is going his way)

Casemiro (top class player)

The rest of them – I’m not bothered.

What your NUFC starting eleven would be against Man U (Assuming everybody available apart from Pope, Gordon, Krafth, Dubravka)?

Karius
Trippier, Burn, Botman, Schar
Bruno, Longstaff, Willock
Joelinton, Wilson, Almiron

Win on Sunday or finish top four?

Top four.

The takeover gives Newcastle a chance to break back into the elite of English and European football. But even with the wealth of the Saudi PIF behind us, I don’t think we should underestimate how hard it will be to break up that cartel of 6 at the top.

All of the PIF rules and subsequent regulations on advertising and commercial contracts operate to protect and entrench the power of the existing ‘big 6’. If you were a cynic you would say that they have been specifically designed to do exactly that. It was as clear as day from the second that the potential Saudi takeover emerged that the ‘big 6’ saw that as a significant threat – you can’t blame them, as it obviously is a threat to their interests. The whole regulatory system operates to limit the amount of money which can be invested, and to tie that to the current turnover of the club. After the years of Ashley penny-pinching we have started a million miles behind all of the ‘big 6’.

In the end, money talks. Even with the Saudis behind us, come the summer every one of those ‘big 6’ clubs will be able to spend more than us (with the possible exception of Chelsea who have just splashed everything up the wall). The only way we can compete is by growing the turnover of the club – massively. We can do that slowly. But qualification for the Champions League would turbo-charge that process. It would give us a real chance to smash into the financial ‘big 6’ in the long term.

Who will you be thinking of (family member, friend), who is no longer with us, if/when Newcastle United lift the trophy on Sunday?

I’m black-and-white born and bred. My dad would have been 100 earlier this month. He was at Wembley in 1955 to see us win our last domestic trophy. Travelling to matches through the dismal, pre-Keegan late 70s, and again in the dismal post-Keegan late 80s he used to say “you’ve got to keep the faith!” If we win I’ll sit back, think of him and have a little chuckle.

What impact, if any, do you think Sunday’s result will have on the rest of this Newcastle United season in the Premier League?

Either way it will be good to get the final out of the way. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that our league form has dipped as the final has come into view. With everything at Newcastle, I tend to think that the crowd influence the mood around the club and the players on the pitch massively. So, I don’t think it’s so much the case that players have lost focus – I think it’s that the focus of the support has shifted from the league to the cup final. And that feeds through to less intensity in our recent league games. Once the final is behind us, win or lose, the focus will be back on the league for the run-in with no distractions at all.

As a percentage, how would you rate Newcastle United’s chances of winning the Carabao Cup?

I can’t stand Wembley – we always lose there. I expect us to get beat. But we’ve got a great manager and a top team, so we’ve got a chance – 33%

Are you finding it difficult to stop your brain leaping forward in time, wondering just how mad the days and weeks are going to be as a Newcastle United fan if at last we win a trophy?

No.

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