It was an ocean of black and white, washed from every street, avenue, estate and tower block of this joyous city, a force-of-nature convergence on the tarmacked tributary running the mile between St James’ Park and the Town Moor.
You would not have known what lay beneath their feet, for all that was visible was the swaying sea of heads, bopping and arching in search of sight of their heroes. Old men, young women. Old women, young men. Teenagers. Babies. Goodness, one fan had brought their dog, cradled like a newborn!
The Haymarket bus station, ordinarily a hub of double-deckers and exhaust fumes, was decommissioned for the day. The fumes made way for flares, but there was only one bus in this town, and its passengers were prized cargo. For once, Ant and Dec were the B-listers.
At 5pm, it rolled gently into view on Percy Street. There was a timetable to satisfy – a party on the Town Moor awaited – but there was no urgency. No-one on this bus was pressing the bell to alight.
Front and centre of its open-top, upper deck was Bruno Guimaraes, the captain. Rio Carnival must have felt like a village fete compared to this. He hoisted the Carabao Cup skywards, as if doing so for the very first time, like he did at Wembley a fortnight ago. The crowd below raised their arms and voices in worship. The Brazilian should have worn a clerical collar, such was his command over his congregation.
Their sound was one, but it was a cocktail of emotion. Ecstasy. Excitement. Relief. Relief that 56 years on from Bob Moncur and his team-mates parading the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, here was another trophy to call their own. The Carabao Cup will be returned one day, but this day will forever belong to those who were here.
Newcastle was turned into an ocean of black and white for Saturday’s trophy parade
Eddie Howe guided Newcastle to their first major trophy in 70 years after beating Liverpool at Wembley earlier in March
There will be 250,000 witness accounts to preserve this day as the city emptied itself onto the streets
It was a JFK moment without the gunshots – where were you the day the cup came home? Those stories will include vantages high and low. From grassy knolls to multi-storey car parks, lampposts to rooftops, the bridge of the central motorway to its slip roads.
Even the war memorial outside the Civic Centre gave much-needed elevation to some. Disrespectful? You could argue it was for occasions like this, once-in-a-lifetime stuff for Geordies, that the Northumberland Fusiliers marched to war more than a century ago.
There was no marching this time, there was not room. You picked your spot and captured the moment, be it through the lens of a camera phone or the memory of your eye. There will be 300,000 witness accounts to preserve this day.
Percy Street merged into the Great North Road and the great northern stars of Newcastle United arrived at the Town Moor, a vast space of rolling green which, this time, felt not so big at all, not when the queue for entry would have you believe there was free cash on the other side. But this was the experience money could not buy – and you can include the multi-millionaires on the bus among those so grateful to be part of it.
Eddie Howe had no idea a giant flag would be waiting for him, draped over the entire frontage of the Sandman Hotel, as the bus passed St James’ Park.
‘The flag was amazing – and I can’t thank the people involved enough for doing that for me,’ said Howe. ‘I’m not happy with many pictures of me, but I was happy with this likeness, it was blurred enough!’
‘It was an emotional moment. You turn the corner out of the stadium and you’re not quite sure what to expect. We hoped a few people would turn up, but wow! You get hit by the numbers and you think they’re going to stop as you travel through – and they don’t!
‘It’s not just the numbers, it’s what they’re trying to give you, that expression of their passion. To see it in their faces, every one of them. It goes to show how wonderful this football club is. I saw one guy on a road sign and I thought, “There is no way up and no way down!”. It was just incredible.’
At 5pm, the bus rolled onto Percy Street but there was no real urgency – nobody would be pressing the bell to alight anytime soon
Eddie Howe had no idea a giant flag would be waiting for him, draped over the entire frontage of the Sandman Hotel
Alan Shearer appeared on the Town Moor Stage to send a touching tribute to the thousands of fans assembled
But he wasn’t the only famous face to make an appearance with Ant and Dec joining the parade
Yet it was Brazilian international Bruno Guimaraes who stole the show after grabbing the mic
Alan Shearer appeared on the Town Moor stage in the moments before the players, and the club legend told fans: ‘We could get used to this! I hope the players appreciate what they’ve got and who they’ve got when they appear on this stage. This wouldn’t happen anywhere else. You are the best fans in the world!’
Of Howe, Shearer said: ‘He has put himself in that bracket with those great managers like Kevin Keegan and Sir Bobby Robson. But he has delivered a trophy – he is right at the very top now.’
But it was Guimaraes who stole the show when he took the mic from Ant and Dec.
‘I told my team-mates before the final… “We go out there as players, we come back in as f***ing legends!”.’
Cue cheers and laughter. The skipper had a taste for the adulation and soon led a song book of terrace chants, with the 150,000 in the field hanging on his every lyric.
It was that sort of day, a shivering Brazil international singing and swearing on wild heathland usually reserved for cattle. Once over that would have felt like a fever dream. But the Geordies are dreaming no more – this was real, and they loved every second of it.
