Some wept, of course. Tears of unbridled joy. Some flung their hands to the skies, thinking perhaps of loved ones long gone who would have given everything to be here. Some screamed out their ecstasy that they were part of this great exorcism at the place that, for so many cruel years, has seemed to welcome them like a curse.
I noticed one other, too, who spent the second half in a state of such nervous paralysis that his friends kept prodding him and laughing at his state of fear. He stood there, this middle-aged man, his thick black and white scarf wrapped around his neck and his hands clenched together in prayer for 30 minutes or more.
And when it was over, when the final whistle sounded and Newcastle United had beaten Liverpool 2-1 and Newcastle United had won their first trophy for 56 years and Newcastle United had won their first domestic trophy for 70 years, finally, he unclenched his fists and allowed himself to be followed up in that swell of joy.
Newcastle and their fanatical, long-suffering fans have spent the last seven decades being somebody else’s punchline. They have spent the last 70 years being the cold reality to somebody else’s dream. And so this Carabao Cup final felt like the most extraordinary release from the purgatory in which they have been waiting and which, it sometimes appeared, they would never escape.
For all that they have been mocked by other fans, for all they have been patronised, they are one of the great tribes of the English game and their failure to win a trophy for so long and all their near misses, have ranked up there with other great droughts in sporting history.
The Chicago Cubs went 108 years between winning World Series, the Toronto Maple Leafs have not won the Stanley Cup for 65 years, the Curse of the Bambino on the Boston Red Sox lasted from 1918 to 2004, it was 77 years between Fred Perry winning the men’s singles title at Wimbledon and Andy Murray emulating him and next year, it will be 60 years since the England men’s football team last won a major tournament.
Newcastle ended their lengthy wait for silverware after winning the Carabao Cup at Wembley
Alexander Isak swept home the Magpies’ second goal against Liverpool to spark wild scenes
The Reds delivered a below-par display just days after their Champions League knockout
Newcastle’s sorrow was up there with those failures. Great players like Chris Waddle, Kevin Keegan, Paul Gascoigne, Peter Beardsley and Alan Shearer have all come and gone since 1969 without the club winning anything. Now, finally, courtesy of the brilliant management of Eddie Howe, who has steered this team so expertly through its new time of plenty, the curse has been lifted.
How Newcastle deserved it here, too. How completely and irrevocably they banished all those ghosts. They dominated a Liverpool team that leads the Premier League by 12 points and is commonly regarded as one of the best club sides in the world. They dominated them from start to finish.
Liverpool did not really turn up. Drained, perhaps, by their epic Champions League defeat to PSG on Tuesday night, when they lost on penalties after extra time, they looked a shadow of the team that has taken the Premier League by storm. Mo Salah was marked out of the game.
There was a concern they would be drained by the expectation and the pressure but it flowed through their veins like their life-blood. They played the whole game with a manic intensity, none more so than Joelinton, the combative midfielder who was the best player on the pitch.
And when the strains of the Blaydon Races played at the end, the cameras cut to Shearer dancing with his son in one of the boxes at the stadium, his joy unconfined. He never got to play in a trophy-winning side for Newcastle but now he had, at least, witnessed a triumph.
There is a caveat. This victory is also a victory for the repressive, barbaric state of Saudi Arabia that bought the club in 2021 and many will worry that, particularly if Manchester City are successful in their battle with the Premier League, there will be many, many more state-funded triumphs like this.
This Sunday evening in north west London did not feel like the time to belabour that point, though. This was a time to celebrate the fervour of fans who deserved this moment as richly as any fan-base in the country. This was a moment to celebrate their devotion.
The spectacle they provided, the giant wall of black of white they formed with their scarves before the game, was a spectacular sight, evidence of the uniformity of their commitment to the cause. Their players matched it.
Local hero Dan Burn broke the deadlock with a towering header on the stroke of half-time
Burn clambered on the edge of the box and guided his header beyond Caoimhin Kelleher
The defender was mobbed by his team-mates as Newcastle took a step closer to a trophy
But Federico Chiesa set up a nervy finish after tucking home neatly deep inside injury time
Isak thought he had netted earlier in the second half but his tap-in was ruled out for offside
The contest had started well before kick-off. When Liverpool fans held their scarves aloft solemnly for the playing of You’ll Never Walk Alone, the Newcastle supporters in the opposite end twirled their black and white scarves madly. It was the equivalent of an opponent of the All Blacks laughing in the face of the Haka.
When they came out of the tunnel, the Newcastle players were greeted by a giant sign held up by their supporters. ‘Get Into Them,’ it read. In the seconds before the start, they held up their scarves in unison so it formed a giant wall of black and white. It was a wonderful spectacle.
The opening half an hour was attritional. Newcastle had the better of it and Liverpool struggled to cope with the power and energy of the midfield three of Sandro Tonali, Joelinton and Bruno Guimaraes, but neither side created a clear chance.
With Salah shackled by Tino Livramento, Newcastle looked more threatening and when Isak cut a ball back into the path of Tonali, he whistled a shot just wide of Caoimhin Kelleher’s left-hand post.
Newcastle had another half-chance ten minutes before the interval. Dan Burn rose highest at the back post to nod a corner towards the six-yard box but when Guimaraes tried to direct it past Kelleher, he could not get enough power on it to trouble the goalkeeper.
The energy, undoubtedly, was with Newcastle. Joelinton sprinted down the left to thwart an attacking run by Jarell Quansah and dispossessed him. Joelinton roared at the Newcastle fans in triumph and shook his fists. They roared back. Liverpool were struggling to match the intensity.
On the stroke of half-time, Newcastle got the goal they deserved. Kieran Trippier floated a corner to the back post and Burn, again, rose highest at the back post where Alexis Mac Allister was marking him. It was a mismatch and Burn powered a superb header across goal and past the dive of Kelleher.
Liverpool, presumably, got a rocket from Slot at half time. They certainly began the second half with more purpose. Diogo Jota, who had been anonymous in the first half, finally made a decent run down the inside left channel and cut the ball back only for the ubiquitous Joelinton to make another crucial interception.
Newcastle’s players flodded onto the pitch to celebrate their triumph after the final whistle
Nick Pope tipped a powerful strike from Curtis Jones over the top in a tense second half
Jones cracked an effort off target after Arne Slot threw on his attacking substitutes
Magpies boss Eddie Howe also clinched the first major trophy of his managerial career
It was only a brief interruption of Newcastle’s dominance. They thought they had got a second when Isak poked home from close range but Guimaraes, who was standing in front of Kelleher, had strayed offside earlier and the effort was ruled out.
It didn’t matter. A couple of minutes later, Isak scored again and this time it counted. Livramento hoisted a deep cross to the back post, Jacob Murphy climbed superbly to nod it down and Isak met it on the half-volley to sweep it home.
Liverpool were floundering. Newcastle were surfing towards the trophy on a rising tide of emotion that surged down from the stands at Wembley and lifted them up towards this moment they have dreamed of for so long.
Slot knew he had to act. He brought on Curtis Jones and Darwin Nunez. Jones soon mustered Liverpool’s best chance of the game, taking a pass from Dominik Szoboszlai and bringing a fine save out of Nick Pope with a rising drive that the goalkeeper batted away over the bar.
Midway through the half, Newcastle should have put the final out of reach. Guimaraes played a clever pass out to the left where Harvey Barnes was waiting. He hooked it back across goal into the path of Isak, but it was slightly behind the prolific Newcastle forward and when he tried to turn it in, Kelleher scrambled it clear.
Federico Chiesa slid home a neat finish three minutes into time added on and the Newcastle fan to my right bit into his scarf as well as keeping his fists clenched in fear. But it was no more than a consolation. Nothing could deny Newcastle their moment this time. The curse was over.
