Five positives from an unforgettable 2025 for Newcastle United
2025 will be a year all Newcastle United fans will never forget with memories made which will last a lifetime. We’ve seen it all: cup runs, transfer sagas, boardroom upheaval, injuries, late winners, and late loses; United have run us through emotional tumult and incredible highs too.
So, as the curtain came down on the first quarter of the 21t century, here are five good things that happened to Newcastle United in 2025:
1. Winning the Carabao Cup
Let’s be brutally honest here; this could’ve been number one through to five such was the monumental achievement the lads secured in March.
70 years domestically, two legendary managers in Robson and Keegan couldn’t achieve, a draw that seemed designed to knock us out in every round, the near misses, no cup final goals since 1976, generations thinking they would go to their grave without seeing United win anything; all of that was vanquished on 16th March 2025.
Dan Burn, living the dream of you and I and pretty much everyone on Tyneside scored the first, Isak scored the second and such was our dominance it should’ve been much more on the day. 11 minutes of injury time, nerves shredded, tears ready to flow, and then the ref blew the final whistle and it had finally happened: “Newcastle United are winners…at last”, again, the ghosts of final and semi-final defeats laid to rest, a hug between brothers, fathers, mothers, sisters and strangers as Bruno Guimaraes lifted a silver pot above his head.
London was Black and White, we won the day, the pre-match, the match and sang Sam Fender songs to each other afterwards. It was everything and the future all at once, the team immortalised in full colour, never be forgotten. What a day, and what memories, it’ll never be forgotten.
2. Champions League football for the second time in three seasons
United may have limped over the line eventually but to qualify for Europe’s premier club competition for the second time in three seasons was another stand out moment. 2022/23 was probably more romantic, in that we came from nowhere, to storm to fourth place (when it still mattered too mind) but whether it’s storming or limping, it’s all about being there.
The fact that Newcastle are making a decent fist this time around is another shot in the arm and with just two games to go in the league phase are pretty much nailed on to qualify for the playoff round.
3. Big Nick hitting the ground running
After the transfer saga from hell (more on that in the upcoming five bad things to happen to United in 2025…) where it seemed every journalist was peddling Isak to Liverpool for the sake of their engagement on social media coupled with failing to land many strikers from across Europe to replace the Swede; United pulled the trigger and paid a club record £69m for Nick Woltemade.
Many espoused that he wouldn’t be a success and would be leagues behind Isak in the goalscoring charts by Christmas, but despite a few struggles (and a glaringly obvious worst moment), Big Nick has really hit the ground running with nine goals under his belt for United already.
It’s all the sweeter that the Swede who-shall-not-be-named has really struggled at Liverpool (and Schadenfreude has never been funnier in a way), but it’s been a massive relief that Woltemade has come in and done so well allowing us to essentially park the Isak drama.
There are issues with how the team plays the German but the fact that his goals have contributed to ten points (and progression in the League Cup against Spurs) has been remarkable considering we are still learning to play with him effectively.
4. Finding out Tino Livramento is just as good at LB
With United facing another injury crisis at fullback, it’s easy to forget that prior to the Carabao Cup final we were facing a similar issue. Lewis Hall was ruled out for the season on 26th February, and we had shipped Lloyd Kelly off to Juventus in a deal that was just too good to turn down for a player who had been akin to a car crash in Black and White and had only arrived on a free transfer six months earlier.
Burn had slotted in a LB against West Ham just six days prior to the Wembley showpiece but with Mo Salah being in decent form at the time, it was collectively agreed that he shouldn’t start there against Liverpool. Livramento had played at LB against Brighton in the FA Cup in what was an underwhelming losing display, but his display in the cup final was so impressive that not only did he pocket Salah, but he also played the rest of the season out of position and never missed a beat.
Tino was instrumental in the post cup final run of six wins, a draw and three defeats which saw us finish fifth, and his lovely key pass for the second against Man Utd on 13th April, where he danced past Dalot, contributed to a hugely satisfying win over Newton Heath.
5. Town Moor Event (& the Parade)
It was a privilege to be at Wembley to witness the cup win, but with fans only allocated 33,000 tickets, many more had to watch from afar. So, it was then that United (eventually) made the decision to hold a celebration event on the Town Moor “and” a parade through Newcastle city centre that saw 150,000 people come out to celebrate the team’s success.
The huge Eddie Howe banner, people occupying every available space along the route and the celebrations were a huge, shared moment between the players, staff, and fans in an era where footballers and managers are often held at arm’s length from fans. It was a uniting event, one which I would encourage people to look back upon next time things aren’t going so well on the pitch.
Yes, we want to progress, and paying fans are entitled to voice an opinion (as this blog kindly lets me do every week) but to achieve what we have (and remember we hadn’t signed a first team player in three windows and PSR seemed designed to stymie us at every opportunity) with an almost band of brothers type mentality and then share that with the entire city, it was another unforgettable moment for United in 2025.
