There are more than 52,000 seats at St James’ Park, but Dan Burn’s eyes will forever be drawn to S106 and S107 in the East Stand. It was from this vantage point that the wide-eyed Geordie watched Andy Griffin fire Newcastle United to a 1-0 win against Juventus with his father, David. Now the former season ticket holder will be looking to emulate his heroes after the Magpies qualified for the Champions League for the first time in more than two decades.
“I don’t think at the start of the season we thought we would be in this position,” the left-back told ChronicleLive. “It’s getting real now.”
Real is right. Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and AC Milan all potentially lie in wait for Newcastle, who will be in pot four when the draw is made in August, yet Eddie Howe's team won’t fear anyone. The past 12 months have taught us as much.
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There was quiet talk of ‘doing something special’ in pre-season. Although a top four finish was beyond their wildest dreams at the time, the players grew in belief as the campaign progressed and they picked up big results, whether it was defeating Spurs and Chelsea before Christmas or coming from behind to beat Nottingham Forest and Brentford on the road in the second half of the season. What was most striking, though, was Newcastle’s response following a painful Carabao Cup final defeat against Manchester United in February.
The club’s first showpiece in 24 years had been a distraction – the players were repeatedly asked about tickets wherever they went – but the aftermath could have been even more destabilising. However, Newcastle quickly recovered from that 2-0 loss at Wembley to win nine of their next 15 games.
Only Man City have picked up more points in that period in the Premier League. To think Gary Neville predicted 'wobbling' Newcastle were most likely to slip out of the top four - only for the Magpies to send out a statement just a few days later by hammering Brighton 4-1 in their penultimate home game of the campaign.
“I said afterwards that Wembley would put us in good stead because you have to have those feelings of getting there and failing,” Burn explained. “It pushes you on.
“People thought we would tail off towards the end of the season and fall away, but it’s just showed how good we have been, how consistent we have been.
“It’s a really good group of lads – probably the best group of lads I’ve ever played with. We are so consistent and everyone is just wanting to fight for each other.”
That unity and togetherness has been a constant since Howe took charge 18 months ago and putting the interests of the team before their own was a 'non-negotiable' the Newcastle boss pressed home to his players in one of his first team meetings. On the rare occasion someone has stepped out of line, like Anthony Gordon did after being substituted at Brentford, the mid-season signing quickly apologised. Indeed, it has been noticeable how Gordon has not let his disappointment show ever since – quite the opposite in fact.
Alexander Isak is another case in point. Isak is happiest playing through the middle yet the record signing, like Burn at left-back, has adapted to a role out wide to enable top scorer Callum Wilson to start up front in Howe’s favoured 4-3-3 system. All for the benefit of the team.
“That’s what I noticed when I first signed here,” Burn said. “Everyone just wants us to do well. It’s not one where people are thinking about themselves. People who are not playing genuinely want the lads to do well. Anyone who wants to come in, they all know their jobs. It is a team-first mentality.
“You need competition for places. It stops complacency. Alex and Callum are both good at what they do and they push each other on. Alex is probably not playing in his most natural position at the moment, but he’s doing his bit for the team. I wouldn’t like to be playing against him!”
Burn will be spared that challenge in training for a few weeks now at least during an end-of-season break, but the players all have their individual programmes to stick to over the summer. For good reason. They all know that a brutal pre-season awaits them after Howe and his staff pushed the group to the brink a year previously.
It was Howe’s first pre-season, a crucial extended period on the training pitches, as the Newcastle boss took a side that once relied on the counter-attack and turned them into a relentless outfit that play on the front foot. Newcastle have only got stronger and fitter ever since - ‘training the way we play’ - and you can see why new signings have taken time to adjust to the intensity of those drills. No two days are the same as the club's transfer targets will quickly realise when they do their homework on life at Newcastle.
“I’m used to it now,” Burn added. “When I first came, it took a while. I felt like it was a pre-season.
“It’s enjoyable. I love training anyway. It’s always new training every day. It’s not the same old thing and because we are getting results from it, you really buy into it. All the lads enjoy it.
“We’ve added players in. A lot of lads knew their jobs, but the signings we made took a little bit of time to get up to speed. You need to know your roles to play in this team. You’ve got to think quite a bit. It’s not just something you can step into.”
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