Newcastle United decide against open-top bus parade if they lose Carabao Cup final to Manchester United
Newcastle United will only hold an open-top buss parade if they beat Manchester United in the Carabao Cup final, in what is a break with recent tradition for the club.
The Magpies take on the Red Devils at Wembley on Sunday as Eddie Howe’s side look to end their 54-year wait for silverware in the north-east.
Though final appearances have been in short supply in the 21st century, the Magpies reached back-to-back FA Cup finals in the late 1990s, as well as in 1974.
After each defeat, thousands of fans lined the streets in Newcastle to watch their heroes come home.
Even though the Magpies were empty-handed from their trip south, the club felt it was only right for the players to have the chance to show their gratitude to supporters.
Alan Shearer was captain in 1998 and 1999 following defeats to Arsenal and Manchester United at Wembley, and recently admitted he found the parades pointless.
‘It was like, “Do we really have to do a parade the next day?”. Just cancel it, we haven’t got an FA Cup to show off,’ Shearer told the BBC. ?
‘We did an open-top bus parade after being beaten twice in the Cup finals and you think, “How f*****g stupid is this?”.
‘But it just shows how desperate Newcastle fans are for success, because there were hundreds of thousands of fans from Gosforth Park to the Civic Centre. It was unbelievable. Absolutely outrageous. Then we had to say thanks at the Civic Centre. It was embarrassing.’
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