Eddie Howe has revealed how desperate he is to “return that love” he’s felt from Newcastle United fans with a first domestic trophy in 68 years today.
At 4.30pm, a packed out Wembley featuring 33,000 Geordies will watched the Toon take on Manchester United in the Carabao Cup final.
Speaking ahead of the game, Howe admits it would “mean the world” for him to deliver the trophy Newcastle fans have been craving for decades, also discussing the Wembley dream his late mother planted in him as a kid.
Here’s what the boss had to say when asked for his thoughts ahead of the final:
“The love these people have for the club…
“I was watching the Premier League Years show last night and a few clips of that Kevin Keegan team came on. The football that they played was incredible, but that trophy wasn’t there.’
“To win would mean the world to me to do that, but it would not necessarily be for me.
“It would be more, genuinely, for the supporters, for everyone connected with the club to embrace that moment if we were able to do it.
“They’ve had a long wait for that moment and I know just from my very limited dealings with people around the city, the love they have for the football club. I’d love to return that love with a trophy.”
Eddie Howe then had this to say on his late mother, explaining how she remains the driving force behind his success in the game:
‘She’s in my thinking before every game. But I think undeniably she will be in my thoughts even more, probably, this weekend.
‘I’d say 99.9 per cent of me is all down to her because she was my driving force as a child. She was a massive, massive influence on me, and I’m doing everything now really because of her.
‘She took me for a tour around Wembley as a five, six-year-old, lifting the fake FA Cup, walking out to the fake crowd noise. She was there doing that with me.
‘I don’t know if they still do it, but it was every kid’s dream. But yeah, it was the FA Cup. I can’t sit here and make out it was the League Cup. But I’ve never forgotten that day. Wembley for me was an amazing place, a place I was desperate to go back to in some capacity in football.’
