Newcastle United have dropped out of the FA Cup after losing 0-2 to Manchester Cty.
Despite the lack of spectators in St. James’ Park, the deep disappointment was visible to everyone as the club’s best cup run for 14 years ended on Tyneside.
United has to stand up for the trip to Bournemouth now, but there is no doubt that the chance to play at Wembley – despite the lack of spectators – was a reward that Steve Bruce and his squad believed to win.
Here are some things we learned from a bad day at the Newcastle fans’ office.
Alan Shearer did his best for Newcastle, but they just weren’t in the races
The legendary striker watched the game from Leazes End when the Match of the Day open-air studio was set up behind the gate in safe social distance.
Shearer, who dragged United to two FA Cup finals in the late 1990s, drew for the semi-finals at half-time and probably gave the Magpies a favorable draw against an up and down Arsenal team.
But at that point, Newcastle had failed 1-0 and knew they needed a massive change in luck to move on to the next round.
Shearer would have enjoyed Dwight Gayle’s chance at the Gallowgate End and the club’s top scorer instinctively tried to stretch to get the finish himself!
Unfortunately, it shouldn’t be, and thanks to Raheem Sterling’s long-distance efforts, the draw was quickly settled.
The magpies looked down and out long before the final whistle
It was 22 minutes before Sterling scored the second goal.
But shortly after Karl Darlow took the ball off the net, Lee Mason blew for a drink break.
Given that Gayle had just missed this golden chance before Sterling’s great goal added to the moment, it looked as if the United players knew their chance to get back into the game was over.
When the players left the field for refreshments, Gayle was still cursing his luck.
The cruelty of football had been summed up in one or two passages.
It’s still worth asking where United has gone in the past 22 minutes.
Worrying, Joelinton didn’t even get a shot.
The post-game press conference sent a strong message to the Premier League
Steve Bruce didn’t leave his words behind when asked about the long delay caused by senior executives over the takeover.
In short, Newcastle has now reached a stage where they need to know who will own it next season.
Bruce confirmed that United Mark once signed Motherwell’s Gillespie for free.
However, they’ll need four or five more new signings next season to be good enough again to stay in the Premier League.
Whether it’s the Amanda Staveley-led consortium or Mike Ashley again, NUFC has to prepare for another season.
Bruce’s call for “clarity” after the game was passionate, and after a day that started with stories about Premier League emails sent to the wrong Middle East representatives, the situation now needs to be resolved quickly.
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