Yeah I expect to lose, but might as well try and enjoy the occasion. 3 years and two final defeats will be close to our record of two years and two final defeats, but it's getting like the Newcastle I grew up with at least.
Late 90's and we had 4 consecutive years of... '96 2nd in the league, '97 2nd in the league, '98 lost FA cup final, '99 lost FA cup final. We don't win things, it's who we are.
Mate ... we lost 4 FA Cup finals (post war) and then 2 Championship play off finals before ending our Wembley hoodoo at the 7th attempt ... I was too young for the FA Cups but was there for each of those play-offs .... we've since won a League Cup and an FA Cup there ... hoodoo and jinxes are there to be broken ... Most of the country and likely most of Merseyside is behind you ... go for it ...
It's what I call fate, everyone has a purpose in life, and Newcastle's is always to come second. But maybe it's a sign from the gods, Liverpool getting knocked out the CL by PSG, maybe it's a sign from the gods, when Liverpool can only win a title in the ****test Premier League since it's formation, maybe it's a sign from the gods that Sucky has gone into hiding....or maybe I just chat ****. Now I'll show you the master, the real god of football... please log in to view this image
Thank God Tuchel realised that we needed Jordan Henderson and Marcus Rashford to get results against Latvia and Albania ... ... what's on Netflix?
I can understand the inclusion of Rashford, indeed if you're picking on form then he's probably back in the squad (changing clubs has predictably rejuvinated him) but Henderson... wtf. To have players like Morgan Gw, Adam Wharton, Conor Gallagher (who just opening the scoring against Real Madrid in the Champions League the other night), Nwanweri, Branthwaite missing out. I'd have been happier if he's chucked in a kid (the one I know of is Lewis Miley as he's at Newcastle but I'm sure there's a few floating around) to have the experience and see how they look in an England shirt. Anyway, I guess I should give him a chance to manage us before I coplain too much.
It's just so very underwhelming... yes we need to qualify - but arguably he could pick a squad of Championship players to beat Albania and Latvia ... that type of opponent is exactly the time to blood a few up and comings ... I'll await to see the starting line-up ... but if it includes all 3 of Kane, Rashford and Henderson, I'll not bother to watch ... yes we'll win with them ... but we should be looking for our own Yamal, Williams and Pedri ... not having to suffer more re-runs of Foggy, Clegg and Compo
96 was the only year close to winning anything tbf, as Keegan lost the plot and threw away the title. 97 we scraped second place with the last game of the season, and 98 and 99 we were well beaten in the finals just like in 2023. 3 comfortable 2-0 losses each time, with a likely 4th to follow.
