AWAY THE LADS
Sixty-eight years and counting. Despite the high hopes of the tens of thousands of optimistic Geordies who converged on London over the weekend, Newcastle’s long wait to win a major domestic trophy goes on. And while that Inter-Cities Fairs Cup triumph in 1969 helped take the bare look off the trophy cabinet in the interim, the second leg of that particular final was played in Budapest at a time when even the most devoted of Mags would have struggled to get a peek behind the iron curtain to see and celebrate the trophy-lift.
While the investment of their sportswashing Saudi overlords ought to ensure Newcastle fans aren’t forced to wait another 24 years for their next final appearance, hopes of using this season’s Rumbelows Cup as a springboard to greater glories were unceremoniously dashed at Wembley yesterday. The travelling hordes from the north-east had come for a party, which was pooped by a Manchester United side that barely had to come out of second gear and upon whom Eddie Howe’s side rarely threatened to land a glove. For the ninth consecutive time, Newcastle left Wembley a beaten team.
“It hurts immensely because you feel like you’ve failed,” said Howe, as the players of Manchester United popped the champagne corks. “You feel like you’ve not achieved what you wanted to do so, naturally, a negative sea of emotion hits you. That’s how it should be in that moment.” Howe went on to hint at another summer trolley dash in the transfer market by pointing out that his current squad contains “some players that might not get back to Wembley”. Of course most of the players in question will know exactly who they are and Howe now finds himself in the unenviable position of having to rally them for a final push for next season’s Big Cup, a competition your Murphys, your Longstaffs, your Ritchies, your Willocks and even your Wilsons are unlikely to get to play in even if their current team qualifies.
Having ended a comparatively short but no less stressful trophy drought of their own, Manchester United’s players and backroom staff celebrated accordingly but were quick to insist they would not rest on laurels garlanded with the ribbons and logo of a sickly energy drink. “We are so happy to bring the trophy back to Old Trafford but we are by no means satisfied and we will not stop here,” wrote Erik ten Hag in an open letter to supporters. Scarcely in Manchester a wet weekend and finally with a medal collection of one to call his own, Wout Weghorst echoed his manager’s sentiment and set his sights on a Rumbelows Cup/Premier League/Euro Vase and FA Cup quadruple.
“We win the first one now and still have three to go so, yeah, hungry for more,” he said. “Hungry for more definitely. It’s three left now. First one is in and first we have to stand still and enjoy it. But afterwards of course, three to go. We have everything in our own hands so let’s go.” Keen to extrapolate on the theme of hunger, Manchester United’s most influential player, Casemiro said: “Anyone who knows me knows that I go for a ball like it’s a plate of dinner.” The Brazilian has gorged himself to excess since signing for Manchester United, a signing that raised quizzical eyebrows among the punditocracy last August. For Newcastle the famine goes on, for now.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“We were talking before the game about watching the Arsenal All or Nothing and two years into Mikel [Arteta’s] reign he is close to getting the sack and people want him out. It was seen as a disaster but things have now changed a bit. If you look at Jürgen [Klopp’s] situation, they haven’t got the results and all of a sudden people want him out” – in the wake of a 2-0 defeat at Spurs, Chelsea boss Graham Potter is starting to clutch at some straws. That’s now one win and four goals scored in 11 games. “Obviously I haven’t done enough for this club to have too much good faith,” he added.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
“A bit late but I had to share a memory of John Motson (Football Daily letters passim). As young lads in 1978, we all went down to Hertford Town FC to watch a ‘Celebrity’ XI play a Spurs-Arsenal Old Boys team. Motson was the only celebrity we recognised. The Celebrities were 2-0 down at half-time, but he started an unlikely (and ultimately successful) comeback, scoring early in the second half. So, being young lads, we invaded the pitch and mobbed him. When someone else scored the equaliser for the Celebrities, we ran on again and mobbed him. When the third Celebrity goal went in, he was on his toes before we could even get across the penalty area. Still, we waited outside the changing rooms, forming a tunnel to the club bar. When he emerged we clapped, cheered, ‘patted’ him on the back and I even tried to interview him (attempting a very weak impersonation). When someone finally showered him in scraps of paper (the Argentina World Cup was still fresh in the memory), he turned around, looked at us and simply said: ‘Stop being so bloody stupid!’ Absolute legend” – Simon Henderson.
“Another footballing postie for you (Friday’s Football Daily letters). David Harvey, Leeds United goalkeeper in the great Don Revie team, delivered post to my brother on the Orcadian archipelago island of Sanday in the early-2000s” – Jane Connor.
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Simon Henderson.
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