So after a 3-1 aggregate win over Southampton in the Carabao Cup semi-finals, we are going to Wembley and will face Manchester United in the final on 26 February. Let's have a look at our previous visits to Wembley, both the old and new stadiums (yes, we have played a couple of games at the new one).
Our first ever visit to the old Wembley was for the second ever FA Cup final to be played there as we took on Aston Villa in the 1924 final a year after it had opened. We lost 2-0 to the West Midlands outfit at Crystal Palace in our first ever final in 1905 but we reversed that scoreline nineteen years on as late goals from Neil Harris and Stan Seymour meant that the cup was heading up to Tyneside for a second time. The match has been commonly known as the "Rainy Day Final" due to the weather that day. We were back there eight years later as we beat Arsenal 2-1 in what was known as the "Over The Line" final as shortly before John Allen cancelled out Bob John's opening goal, replays showed that the ball had went out of play for a goal kick before Jimmy Richardson crossed it into him. Nevertheless, Allen scored again in the second half as we won the cup for a third time.
Two years later, we suffered our first ever relegation and didn't return to the top flight until 1948 whilst competitive football was halted between 1939 and 1945 due to World War II. During that period, 19 year old Ashington-born forward Jackie Milburn was signed in 1943 and when we were back at Wembley for the 1951 FA Cup final, he scored two goals in the first ten minutes of the second half as we beat Blackpool 2-0. We retained the cup a year later as George Robledo's 84th minute header gave us a 1-0 win over Arsenal, twenty years on from our 2-1 success over them in the 1932 final, the goal was painted by a young John Lennon, who included it in the artwork of his album Walls and Bridges in 1974. Three years later, we played Manchester City in the final and Milburn gave us the lead after only 45 seconds, which was the quickest goal at Wembley until Roberto Di Matteo fired home to give Chelsea the lead against Middlesbrough after 42 seconds in the 1997 final. Bobby Johnstone equalised shortly before half-time but second half goals from Bobby Mitchell and George Hannah gave us a 3-1 win and our third FA Cup triumph in five seasons. Sadly, that remains our last major domestic trophy as of today but hopefully that can change in three weeks.
It took us until 1974 to reach Wembley again as we faced Liverpool in the FA Cup final, one year after our rivals Sunderland stunned Cup Winner's Cup finalists Leeds United 1-0 to win it. After a goalless first half, the Reds took the lead in the 58th minute thanks to a volley from our future club legend Kevin Keegan before Steve Heighway made it 2-0 sixteen minutes later and Keegan netted his second late on as we were beaten 3-0 but the players returned to a hero's welcome two days later. Two years later, we reached our first ever League Cup final and like the 1955 FA Cup final, we faced Manchester City but this time, we weren't successful - Peter Barnes gave Tony Book's side the lead before Alan Gowling equalised but Newcastle-born former Sunderland winger Dennis Tueart's overhead kick in the second half meant we were beaten 2-1.
Times were tough for us between then and Kevin Keegan taking over as manager in 1992 as we suffered relegation in 1978 and 1989 whilst financial problems meant that local lads Chris Waddle, Peter Beardsley and Paul Gascoigne were sold during our five years back in the top flight between 1984 and 1989. Sir John Hall took over as chairman during the 1991/92 season, appointed Keegan as manager and the good times came back, tickets were prepared for a potential title play-off against Manchester United in the event of both clubs having the exact same points, goal difference and goals scored in the league but Sir Alex Ferguson's side won it by four points. As they also won the FA Cup that season, we ended up playing them in the Charity Shield six days before the start of the 1996/97 Premier League season but Alan Shearer's competitive debut for us ended in a 4-0 defeat thanks to goals from Eric Cantona, future Magpie Nicky Butt, David Beckham and Roy Keane but we did go one better by beating them 5-0 in the league at St James' Park two months later.
After Keegan's shock resignation in January 1997, we finished 2nd once again under successor Kenny Dalglish but the next two seasons would see us finish 13th and lose the FA Cup 2-0 to the Premier League winners. Firstly, we were beaten by Arsenal as Arsène Wenger won his first of seven FA Cup titles as Gunners manager thanks to goals from Marc Overmars and Nicolas Anelka as Alan Shearer hit the post after Martin Keown gifted him a chance to equalise in the second half. A year later, we lost to Manchester United by the same scoreline thanks to goals from Teddy Sheringham and Paul Scholes whilst it was Temuri Ketsbaia who hit the post for us in the second half and Dwight Yorke missed a glorious chance to make it 3-0 but it didn't matter as we became the first and so far, only club to lose consecutive FA Cup finals twice (having lost in 1905 and 1906). The following season would see the old Wembley host the FA Cup final for the last time and it also hosted both semi-finals, meaning that a 3-2 win at Tranmere Rovers in the quarter-finals was enough for us to book one last trip there as took on Chelsea for a place in the final against Aston Villa. After Gus Poyet gave Gianluca Vialli's side the lead going into half-time, Alan Shearer's cross was headed home by Rob Lee, who had been frozen out by previous manager and former Blues midfielder Ruud Gullit, a goal which sent the travelling Geordies into pandamonium. Six minutes later, Poyet headed in what proved to be the winning goal and they went on to beat Villa 1-0 in the final, it was probably made more painful given that he'd go on to manage Sunderland and oversee half of their six consecutive derby wins over us in the 2010s.
The new Wembley was opened in 2007 but we only played there twice during Mike Ashley's tenure as after we won promotion in 2017, Tottenham Hotspur had to play their home games there after White Hart Lane was demolished to make way for their new stadium, which didn't open until April 2019. Both games ended in 1-0 losses as Harry Kane scored the only goal when they beat us in May 2018 to book their place in the following season's Champions League after Jonjo Shelvey hit the post with a free kick in the first half before nine months later, Heung Min-Son netted late on for his ninth goal in ten games in a week which saw us come from behind to beat defending champions Manchester City 2-1 and finally break our transfer record for the first time since August 2005 as Miguel Almirón joined from Atlanta United for £21,500,000. Almirón didn't feature as awaited his visa but fellow deadline day signing Antonio Barreca, who joined on loan from Monaco, made history by becoming so far, the only player to only play for us at Wembley as he replaced Matt Ritchie shortly after Son's goal. We were one game away from going back there in the FA Cup semi-finals the following season but lost 2-0 at home to Manchester City in the quarter-finals although there wouldn't have been the same excitement given that the season finished behind closed doors due the COVID-19 pandemic after being suspended eight days before we originally due to play the quarter-final.
So our Wembley record is currently five wins and eight defeats in thirteen visits but hopefully, our fourteenth visit will give us our sixth victory there on 26 February and this will the first time that our fans will be able to have one half of the new Wembley. Just like our last cup final at the old stadium, we will face Manchester United with a local lad being a two goal hero in the semi-finals, back in 1999, it was Alan Shearer in extra-time against Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford, this year, it was Sean Longstaff in the second leg against Southampton at St James' Park. Additionally, Shearer scored once in the quarter-finals when we beat Everton 4-1 at home as did another local lad in Dan Burn when we beat Leicester City 2-0 at the same stage this season.
We've already seen nine of the fifteen FA Vase finals played at the new stadium won by Northern League clubs with Whitley Bay (three times), Dunston UTS, Spennymoor Town, North Shields, Morpeth Town, South Shields and Hebburn Town all having been successful. Out of the current squad, only Matt Targett has featured in a League or FA Cup final at Wembley, playing the full 90 minutes in Aston Villa's 2-1 loss to Manchester City in the 2020 Carabao Cup final whilst Joe Willock was an unused substitute when Arsenal came from behind to beat Chelsea by the same scoreline in the FA Cup final later that year. Kieran Trippier did play the full 90 minutes in Tottenham Hotspur's FA Cup semi-final losses at Wembley to Chelsea in 2017 and Manchester United in 2018 whilst just before he joined Fulham in 2011, Dan Burn missed out on playing in Darlington's 2-1 win over Mansfield Town in the FA Trophy final two days before his 19th birthday as he needed a knee operation but two years later, he scored for Yeovil Town when they beat Brentford 2-1 in the League One play-off final during his his loan spell there.
After watching eleven different former players win trophies with other clubs at the new Wembley after leaving us, we will finally have our chance to win a trophy there ourselves. Tickets will start to go on sale on Monday (for me, Wednesday is the earliest I can try to get one) and there's no doubt that over 30,000 Geordies will have a day to remember in the capital no matter how we perform on the pitch, if I can't get a ticket, I'll get the metro into the city centre to watch the game there. Even if we don't win it, it still feels like a matter of time before we finally end our trophy drought and for myself, I wasn't able to go to games before the Mike Ashley era and have had to put up with Steve Bruce's football in lockdown, John Carver calling himself the best coach in the Premier League after eight losses in a row, Kevin Keegan and Rafael Benítez walking away after not being backed in the transfer market, losing six successive derbies to Sunderland and two relegations. Pre-takeover, the best times I can remember were going from relegation in 2009 to being back in Europe in 2012 and then Benítez giving us hope again during his three years as manager after our failure to build on that memorable 2011/12 season started a downward spiral, which ended with another relegation just after he arrived in 2016 but with Mike Ashley long gone, we're finally doing things right and whilst Manchester United will be favourites for the final, we can take inspiration from Birmingham City beating Arsenal in the 2011 Carling Cup final, Wigan Athletic beating Manchester City in the 2013 FA Cup final and even Leicester City beating Chelsea in the 2021 FA Cup final.
