Newcastle United look to Sunderland and Boston Red Sox for inspiration… | OneFootball

So, when it comes to the League Cup Final next Sunday, Newcastle United are officially the underdogs against Liverpool, the bookies rating our chances of lifting the trophy for the first time in our history as a one in four chance, 3/1.

Liverpool are riding high at the top of the Premier League and looking nailed on to win it.

Whilst Newcastle United’s form has been erratic of late and with the loss of influential players like Anthony Gordon, Sven Botman and Lewis Hall, we are indeed facing an uphill battle if we are to plunder silverware in a domestic setting for the first time in 70 years.

However, Wembley finals are littered with David versus Goliath stories, and we can perhaps draw some heart from what a little walk down memory lane reminds us of.

I don’t want to particularly dwell on it, but in 1973, Leeds United were one of the best teams in Europe and going into the FA Cup final against Sunderland, were overwhelming favourites.

As the history book tells us, top tier Leeds couldn’t find a way past second tier Sunderland and Jimmy Montgomery, with Ian Porterfield’s first half goal enough to make the difference. As far as FA Cup final upsets go, this one perhaps ranks as the greatest of all time.

The 1970s also saw another second division outfit, Southampton, defeat Man Utd in the 1976 FA Cup final, and four years later, West Ham also from Division Two, overcame Arsenal in the 1980 FA Cup final.

Who can forget the 1988 FA Cup final, where our opponent next Sunday suffered the ignominy of losing to the The Crazy Gang, as Wimbledon triumphed against all the odds to beat the favourites and the league champions? That day, Dave Beasant, who later joined Newcastle United, became the first keeper in history to save a penalty in the FA Cup final, that crucial save coming before a Dennis Wise free-kick was headed home by Lawrie Sanchez, as the minnows from south London scrapped for every ball and bullied and outfought their illustrious opponents from Merseyside.

By 2013, Manchester City were beginning to chart a path towards dominating English football across the next decade and were one of the shortest odds in recent times to win the FA Cup final. Their opponent, Wigan Athletic, were staring relegation to the Championship in the face and that fate was later sealed, but not before Ben Watson’s header from a Shaun Maloney corner in injury time had won them the cup, making the Latics the only team in the history of English football to win the FA Cup and be relegated in the same season.

Although League Cup finals haven’t served up anything quite as dramatic, the 1969 final is notable because it is the last time that a domestic competition was won by a team outside of England’s top two divisions, Swindon Town defeating an Arsenal side that had suffered from a flu virus ahead of the final by three goals to one.

In the 1991 League Cup final, Sheffield Wednesday, led by former Man Utd boss Ron Atkinson, managed to upset Alex Ferguson’s much fancied side with a solitary goal scored by John Sheridan, and big Ron repeated the feat with Aston Villa three years later, upsetting a Man Utd team that was on its way to a domestic double by three goals to one.

Perhaps the most recent big upset as far as League Cup finals go was in 2011, when ex toon star Obafemi Martins sealed a 2-1 win for a soon to be relegated Birmingham City with a dramatic late goal, against an Arsenal side who went into the game huge favourites and seen by most as a sure thing to end their six year trophy ‘drought’.

As I say, history shows us that underdogs can overcome the odds.

So, what chance NUFC next Sunday?

Whilst a United victory will no doubt be classed as a shock, I think it would be more of a story that fixes on that 70 year wait for a domestic trophy, rather than the fact we’d have upset Liverpool.

So perhaps a story that’s more akin to when the Boston Red Sox won the World Series in 2007 for the first time in over 90 years, or when the Chicago Cubs lifted the World Series for the first time in over 100 years in 2016?