I don’t even know what time I left Wembley after Sunday’s Carabao Cup final, it was that kind of night.
Along with my son Will and daughter Chloe, we went straight from the stadium to party in Boxpark on Wembley Way and celebrate with the Newcastle players and hundreds of fans.
The champagne – and beer – was flowing for everyone and it was an amazing evening, the sort you just don’t want to end. No-one wanted to go home and, for the first time, I didn’t mind waking up the next day with a hangover either.
Everyone was on such a high, and I am still buzzing now from the sheer emotion of seeing Newcastle finally win a major trophy and the reaction that followed.
You can see from some of the photos taken that night that, external I got my hands on goalkeeper Mark Gillespie’s winners’ medal and the team have taken the trophy home but it is the feeling that is the most special part of all of this, because it is something so many of us had not experienced before.
Maybe some older people have had it in 1969 when Newcastle won the Fairs Cup but I am 54 and anyone under my age has not had a moment like this.
It was something new, and it was brilliant, and it is not over yet.
I am going to be on a high for a few more days because I have not finished celebrating – it is an international break so I have not got work for a few days. The party is going to continue for me – the same as it will back in Newcastle too.
Football is everyone’s life there, and you have a good week or a bad week depending on the result every weekend.
This win means everyone is going to have a right good few weeks – the fact Newcastle don’t play again until 2 April just means they can party a little bit harder and longer, and rightly so because of how long they have had to wait for this.
‘When people look back, they will think of the celebrations’,
Alan Shearer and his son Will joined other Newcastle fans to pose with midfielder Joelinton at Boxpark on Wembley Way as the players partied with supporters after the game
My phone has been going absolutely crazy over the past few hours, but in a good way. I much prefer having people texting me to say ‘congratulations’ rather than everyone saying ‘unlucky’ which is what happened in 2023 when they lost the Carabao Cup final to Manchester United.
I’d waited a long time to see Newcastle win some silverware, but I still didn’t know what to do or how I was going to react when the final whistle went against Liverpool and the game was won.
I was lost in the moment, and I still didn’t know what I was doing even when I was doing it. I got that carried away, and it was fantastic.
It was brilliant to be there to sample it with my family and friends, to drink in the occasion and soak up an absolutely incredible atmosphere – and enjoy the result, obviously.
Whatever happens going forward, no-one can ever take that day away from me, from us or from Newcastle. When people look back at the game, they will think of the celebrations – I know I will – because this club had been starved of success for so many years.
Newcastle fans take over London & St James’ Park after Carabao Cup win
Those supporters have been to Wembley so many times and come away on the wrong side, and I have too.
I have been there as a fan two years ago and I have been there as a player and tasted defeat when we lost the FA Cup finals in 1998 and 1999.
It was different this time, and I loved it. I can tell you from experience that Wembley is only a place for winners – it’s not a nice place when you lose but we have sampled that and it made Sunday’s victory even sweeter.
Newcastle had dominated the final and it was just the final four minutes of stoppage time that were agonising.
It was never going to be easy, because of who they were playing, but even when Newcastle were under a bit of pressure, they handled it really well. They were protecting the ball in the corners, and wasting a bit of time – all that stuff.
They were cool and calm – not like us lot in the stands – and they got the job done. Let’s face it, Newcastle were due a Wembley win and, finally, this was our turn – Liverpool are going to win the Premier League, so they can have that, but this cup is ours!,
Shearer and his daughter Chloe celebrate with Newcastle goalscorer Dan Burn
A few fans around me were tearful at the end of the game and I definitely got a bit emotional too.
My dad Alan passed away last year and I had a little think about him at the final whistle. That was probably what got me emotional because he was a lifelong Newcastle supporter.
He would have been looking down with a big smile on his face, having a pint of his beer as well, I am pretty sure of that. He would have loved it all.
We all ended up sinking a few pints afterwards, joined by some of the Newcastle players, who deserve all the plaudits they are getting. They have just etched themselves into the club’s history, and let’s hope there is more success to come.
What next? Well first I would love to see big Dan Burn make his England debut this week and maybe he can find the Wembley net for his country as well as his club.
I’d forgotten about his England call-up when I spoke to him on Sunday night and said ‘you might as well retire mate because it is not going to get any better than this’.
He went ‘well, you never know… something might happen on Friday’ and he is right. That’s the story of his career really, because he has done the hard yards to get here, and have moments like this for the first time at the age of 32.
‘I feel numb!’ – Burn on ‘surreal’ Carabao Cup win
To be called up by England, then scoring at Wembley for Newcastle to win them the cup is dreamland for him. As I may have mentioned on social media on Sunday evening, he is from Blyth and he is a Geordie hero. You know what, if anyone deserves it, it is him, because he is such a great lad.
This is his moment, the same as it is for every Newcastle player. Not one bit of me is even remotely jealous of them by the way, because I retired 19 years ago and I am a fan now, the same as everyone else.
I want Newcastle to win trophies because of where I am from, and it is my club. I am absolutely delighted for all the boys and I told some of them on Sunday night that I could not be happier and prouder of them.
They have done my city proud, and that’s what I wanted.
‘I really hope this is just the start’
Newcastle fans celebrate around Shearer’s statue at St James’ Park on Sunday evening
I didn’t speak to Newcastle boss Eddie Howe at the party. I just sent him a text message saying ‘congratulations and whatever you are doing have a great night, and a great few days’.
Eddie deserves all the plaudits he is getting, because he has been unbelievable for Newcastle. Firstly, when you consider where they are compared to where they were when he took over in November 2021 – 19th in the Premier League and five points adrift of safety after 11 games – and now on top of that with him winning that first trophy that has eluded the club for so long.
He is in Newcastle folklore now, and he will always be a legend in the eyes of the Geordie public, and rightly so.
His achievement deserves wider praise, too. English managers have not won much in our own game during the Premier League era – before Sunday, Harry Redknapp was the last one to win a trophy, the 2008 FA Cup.
At the top of our game now we have got huge clubs who are spending huge money and demand success – they have to win trophies.
Newcastle are one of them, but in under four years they have had to go from being a team fighting relegation to battling it out at the top for silverware, while complying with the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules.
Their spending has been restricted for the past three transfer windows, yet Eddie has dealt with all of that. It underlines what a fantastic job he is doing.
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe will assume legendary status after winning the club’s first major trophy for 56 years
There is an argument that he is the greatest English manager of the past 30 years. Even when you just talk about who has managed Newcastle during that time, people look back at Kevin Keegan and Sir Bobby Robson as two greats of the game, but Eddie has just put himself above those two in terms of his achievements at St James’ Park.
Kevin and Sir Bobby were both fantastic for the club and both brought different things, but they didn’t bring a trophy. That’s what Newcastle fans have yearned for and now Eddie has done it.
Of course now we want more of the same. I look at what happened at Chelsea after they won their first trophy under Jose Mourinho, the 2005 League Cup, and at Manchester City when they ended their long wait for a trophy with the 2011 FA Cup.
There are no guarantees, obviously, and we don’t know what will happen next but I am really hoping this is just the start of something very special in the years ahead for Newcastle, and that this trophy is the first of many.
