Newcastle United are on their way to Wembley after booking their place in a domestic cup final for the first time since 1999. The Magpies secured a 3-1 semi-final aggregate win over Southampton at St James' Park on Tuesday night to progress to the Carabao Cup final.
Manchester United or Nottingham Forest now stand in the way of Newcastle winning their first major domestic trophy since 1955. Eddie Howe's side are still only in their first full season since the takeover which transformed ambitions on Tyneside, and the prospect of silverware at this stage of the owners' ambitious project is beyond all expectations.
The rebuild at St James' Park has been compared to previous takeovers at Chelsea and Manchester City, with both clubs now firmly entrenched in the so-called 'Big Six'. The League Cup was the first major trophy both sides lifted en route to prolonged periods of success both domestically and abroad.
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William Gallas started in Chelsea's 2005 win in the competition, beating Liverpool 3-2 after extra-time at the Millennium Stadium. It was the first trophy of Jose Mourinho's hugely successful first spell at Stamford Bridge, and Gallas explained how the victory provided a springboard for the Blues to secure further silverware.
The former France international says his team-mates sent a 'strong message' to Chelsea's rivals, and helped cultivate a winning atmosphere in the dressing room. Mourinho's side went on to win the Premier League in the season, before defending the crown the following year and lifting the FA Cup in 2007.
Gallas told Genting Casino: "When you were at Chelsea, Mourinho targeted the League Cup as the first trophy to win in a domestic season, which gave the competition a greater sense of importance among the bigger clubs at the time. How important was that trophy for you to give you confidence to win the League some months later (and again the following season).
"It was very important for Chelsea to win the League Cup. Most of the players hadn’t won anything for the club and Jose Mourinho created an atmosphere around winning the trophy because he knew it would be good for the team. Also, it was his first season as a manager in England and he came with a lot of demands - he wanted to show everyone that he was the ‘Special One’.
"When you win that trophy, because it is the first competition that you can win, it can give you the confidence to go for the second one, so the Premier League. When we won the League Cup, as a team we felt like we could beat anyone and we also sent a strong message to the rest of the teams in the league that Chelsea are here to compete with the big boys.
"I remember every game after this, we knew we would win because the opponent was scared of us. We were a very compact team, strong in almost every area with quality players in every position.
"As a player, you always want to lift one trophy because you work so hard and make so many sacrifices over the course of the season, so you need that trophy to make it all worthwhile. You really appreciate it, you want the memories and, for me, winning that first trophy in England made me so proud."
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