Despite winning their first major domestic title since 1955, Newcastle United is already aiming for even greater success in the years to come.
It seemed like only the beginning. “That’s the first – and it’s not going to be the last,” said Newcastle United chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan as he raised the Carabao Cup above the tens of thousands of hoarse Geordies at Wembley.
After the takeover three and a half years ago, executives elsewhere were worried by the possibility. The proprietors of Newcastle, after all, have never concealed their desire to compete for even greater rewards in the future.
Clubs, however, do not battle for the title all at once. Even though Newcastle overcame Liverpool on Sunday, there’s a reason the league leaders lead the Magpies by 23 points in the top division.
Winning a cup is therefore a crucial first step. It relieves Newcastle’s burden, fosters a winning mindset, and increases optimism that even better times may lie ahead. Naturally, there are no guarantees, but the cups have frequently served as a launching pad for other achievements.
Chelsea won the Carabao Cup a few months before ending a protracted title drought in 2005, but it was a completely different era—more on that later. In a similar vein, Manchester City won their first Premier League title a year after winning the FA Cup.
Since then, Chelsea and Manchester City have won a lot more. The last time an outsider won the Carabao Cup was in 2013, so you had to travel back to Swansea City for background. Since then, Chelsea has won the cup once, Manchester City has won six times, while Liverpool and Manchester United have each won twice.
The FA Cup, similarly, has been monopolised by the established order. In fact, in the last decade or so, Arsenal have won the competition four times, Manchester City and Manchester United have each triumphed twice and Liverpool and Chelsea have each lifted the cup on one solitary occasion. The only outlier? Leicester City in 2021.
Newcastle, like Leicester in years gone by, have had to be smart to compete with sides with superior wage bills and bigger revenues, but there is a crucial difference between the two clubs. Whereas Leicester fell away, and now find themselves facing up to a second relegation in two seasons, Newcastle have the ambition and resources to keep hold of their best players and the backing to strengthen. Within the constraints of PSR rules, of course.
