Opinion: Why Newcastle’s Cup Triumph Shows We Need to Save Football
Newcastle United Fans
Newcastle United won their first trophy for 70 years, as they beat prospective Premier League champions Liverpool to lift the Carabao Cup.
The scenes after showed a city united, a generation of joy, poured out into Wembley, onto the streets of London and throughout Tyneside. A giant fanbase finally had their just reward, a trophy, a final win to end the years of falling ever so short. Newcastle is one of many football cities in this country, but one without success, and on Sunday it finally had that release, something we as football fans, only truly get once.
Over the last 20 years, English football has become a saturated mess. As the game continues the grow, the revenue rises, the rich get richer. Since 2010, only three teams have won domestic trophies that haven’t ended up or were already playing Champions League football.
The scenes in the Newcastle end are few and far between but it is how football should be. Whilst I understand the irony of the fact Newcastle have had to spend like those above (with some questionable ownership) to reach this milestone, from a fan perspective, winning this trophy is a monumental spectacle, as it should be.
Winning trophies and having that day at Wembley should be rare, it should be difficult to get there, and it should mean everything when you end up on the brighter side. Newcastle winning on Sunday showed that the ever-growing internet fanbase should not have it their own way, that we need to never lose sight of what football can truly mean.
Whilst I take exception for Newcastle and where they may end up under Saudi ownership, for the people of the city, this is the one they will remember with the most glee. It is the moment the darkness ended, and they got their moment in the light. Those fans do not know the future, this could be it for the next 70 years. That is how the game should be, we should celebrate these moments like it could be the last, it shouldn’t be expected, it should be treasured.
The closed club of the Premier League is making it harder and harder for clubs to dream like they should. Whilst this cup final does not make exception of that rule, it highlights that the lust for the game in fanbases starved of success is there beyond belief. We need to cherish that and allow it to thrive.
It’s absolutely understandable that top clubs believe they should be competing for trophies yearly, but cups should not be an expectation for them, and English football should not allow it to be. The greatest gift that we have is that everyone has the opportunity to win, that’s where the game thrives. We cannot let the dream die.
Football is for the fans. The constant winning of the countries ‘Big Six’ is saturating the game we love. Winning trophies is beginning to lose feeling for some. It should never be like this. The Tyneside end of Wembley showed us there is light, what it can mean and what it means to football fans when this isn’t an expectation, just a moment of pure joy.
That is the point I want to make. Football must find a way to return to what it once was. I know that’s never easy, as the top clubs continue to move away. We need more team’s getting to finals. Having that day. Not too often. Keep ups and the downs but allow everyone to dream.
In some ways it’s ironic that it is Newcastle who’ve shown the world what it’s like to end so many years of disappointment. Their ownership makes us question a lot but what can’t be questioned is a city’s love for their football club.
We need to focus on getting fans these moments. Whatever the club, whatever the level, this should be a dream that correlates at all levels.
The unbridled joy is what we must hold onto and open the door to more. It can’t just be the same clubs winning year in, year out. We can’t let the ‘you’ve only won the Carabao Cup, it’s nothing’ X warriors win. Cups need to mean what they should. They should be an all impossible dream so that when you get that day, when you see your hero’s lift that trophy, it lasts a lifetime.
