Newcastle's desperation for silverware should improve EFL Cup final as a spectacle

Where does the EFL Cup final rank on the list of matches to savour over the course of a season?

Is Sunday's game garlanded with stars, hearts and smiley faces in your copy of the Radio Times or is there a half-hearted question mark next to the listing for Manchester United versus Newcastle?

Usually the League Cup final would be a long way down my required-viewing log, below any game at a major international tournament, any Rangers-Celtic clash, any EFL playoff tie, Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, and any televised FA Cup match apart from the perennial 'Manchester United 3 Championship strugglers 0'.

It wasn't always like this. I fondly recall Aston Villa's Savo Milosevic-inspired 3-0 win over Leeds in 1996 and, bizarrely, Leicester and/or Middlesbrough appeared in each of the following four finals, which was nice for them.

Birmingham lost to Liverpool on penalties in 2001 before an extraordinary victory over Arsenal ten years later; Blackburn and Boro got their mitts on the trophy in 2002 and 2004; and Swansea's 5-0 romp against League Two Bradford in 2013 was a momentous occasion for both clubs.

In the next nine seasons, though, the EFL Cup was won by Manchester City six times and Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool once.

Only three clubs from outside the Premier League's big six reached the final during that period: Sunderland in 2014, Southampton in 2017 and Villa – still the joint-third most successful team in the competition's history – in 2020.

Of course, this season's finalists Newcastle are hardly plucky underdogs. Having lost only twice in 23 top-flight fixtures this term, they are in the hunt for Champions League qualification and already have one leg over the velvet rope that separates the Premier League's elite from the rest of the rabble.

Their run to Wembley hasn't been particularly spectacular either as Eddie Howe's men scored just eight goals in six ties against Tranmere, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth, Leicester and Southampton.

But the Magpies' presence undoubtedly invigorates the final as a spectacle, not least because Newcastle need this. The manager, the players, the owners and, most importantly, the supporters are desperate for cup success.

That barren trophy cabinet at St James' Park is like a rumbling tummy so the travelling hordes of the Toon Army are ravenous for the sustenance of silverware. And, as the last 25 years of reality TV have taught us, watching people who are absolutely desperate for success makes for great, if slightly grubby, entertainment.

The excitement surrounding Newcastle's appearance in the final is contagious. Last term, Liverpool beat Chelsea on penalties after a goalless 120 minutes. That was all well and good but did it actually mean much to anyone?

The quadruple-chasing Reds had their eyes on far bigger prizes while Chelsea could console themselves with the fact that they had won the Champions League less than 12 months earlier.

Equally, I'm not sure many neutrals wish they could watch Manchester City grimly gunning for a fifth EFL Cup in six years on Sunday.

The League Cup cannot possibly mean anything to City's players or fans after their decade of dominance whereas it means everything to Newcastle, whose last domestic trophy – as you may have heard – came in 1955.

The challenge for the Toon Army is to match the occasion of the 2018-19 EFL Trophy final in which their north-east rivals Sunderland lost a thriller on penalties to Portsmouth in front of 85,021 spectators.

The attendance was 15,000 more than that year's Super Bowl and, even though the EFL Trophy final didn't have Gladys Knight performing the national anthem, the fact that it clearly meant so much to both sets of fans made for a pulsating show.

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