It feels almost inevitable that at some juncture in the not-too-distant future Newcastle United will be serious challengers for the serious silverware.
They will feature prominently in the Premier League winner odds season after season. Deep runs for the domestic trophies will be the norm.
The ambitions of their owners, and the resources available to the club, are just too substantial for this not to be the case, for all that FFP is presently hindering them.
When those sunny days appear, the celebrations in the North-East will be raucous and heartfelt because it can be said with some under-statement that the Magpies have been success starved down the years.
Indeed, the last time they lifted a major honour was all the way back in 1955 and when you think about it logically it means that the vast majority of supporters inside St James Park every other weekend were not born when this occurred.
Simply put, it’s been too long.
Let’s discount their brace of Texaco Cup triumphs in the Seventies, and the same goes for an Intertoto Cup won in 2006.
Let’s even overlook their securement of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1969, a long-abolished tournament that can loosely be described as a predecessor to the UEFA Cup.
For a club of Newcastle’s standing these were mere trinkets, achievements that have left fond memories, not cherished ones.
No, it is major honours the club should be measured by, and for this we have to go back to a time when Winston Churchill was still Prime Minister, though his premiership was coming to an end.
When Bill Haley and his Comets were preparing to unleash Rock Around The Clock on an unsuspecting public.
A mere twelve months earlier, rationing ended.
The Newcastle United line-up that took on Manchester City in the 1955 FA Cup final contained several players that warm the heart of football nostalgists.
Ronnie Simpson was in goal, a keeper who compensated for being under six foot by using every part of his body to frustrate forwards. Saves involving his elbow or shoulder were not uncommon.
Bob Stokoe was at centre-half, a man who would go down in FA Cup legend two decades later when managing second-tier Sunderland to unlikely glory.
The prolific Len White – scorer of 153 goals for the Magpies – was up front while on the wing Bobby ‘Dazzler’ Mitchell was never less than a hive of activity.
But really, this team, this game, was all about the great Jackie Milburn. He was the Kevin De Bruyne of his day.
Despite possessing such a wealth of timeless talent however, Newcastle would not have been favourites in the football odds, not given the stature of their opponents.
This was the Magpies’ third cup final in five years but against them on this momentous afternoon was a magnificent Manchester City eleven. There was Bert Trautmann in nets. Roy Paul. The years-ahead-of-his-time Don Revie.
Newcastle went into this as the underdogs.
No matter because the contest was decided early on with Milburn scoring just 45 seconds in before City’s Jimmy Meadows suffered a horrific injury 17 minutes later. No substitutes were allowed back then.
With a man advantage for the most part, Newcastle duly took full advantage, ultimately winning 3-1 and ensuring each of their players have subsequently gone down in local folklore.
There have been finals since of course, three of them in this competition, while in the league Kevin Keegan’s adventurers took them so close twice-over in the Nineties.
Is the club’s long, long wait for further success nearly over? Almost inevitably.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to Alamy*
