Newcastle United get St James' Park decision spot on after surprising response

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On the face of it, it seemed like a fantastic gesture as Newcastle United announced plans to unveil the Carabao Cup trophy, for the first time, during the women's clash with Sunderland at St James' Park. To the surprise of many, including myself, those plans received some backlash.

Some supporters insisted the trophy parade should be saved for the club's grand Town Moor event on Saturday, while others believed the next, men's, home game against Brentford on April 2 would be a fitting place to show off the Magpies' new plaything. Instead, rightly, the north east outfit gave fans young and old the chance to see the trophy up close as Newcastle United Women triumphed over Sunderland Women in the Tyne-Wear derby.

As someone who was lucky enough to witness Newcastle's celebrations in the immediate aftermath of the Liverpool clash earlier this month, I felt it strange seeing that others wanted to rob fellow fans of such a pleasant experience. Whether you were at Wembley on the day itself or wanted to take in the women's clash on Sunday, you're a United fan supporting the club you love.

With CEO Darren Eales and the man who captained Newcastle to the 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, Bob Moncur, taking the trophy onto the pitch at half-time, I'm delighted sons, daughters, parents and friends all got their chance to witness a moment they may well have missed in the flesh at Wembley little over a week ago. How can anyone have an issue with that?

The scenes were warmly received in the St James' Park stands as fans stayed in their seats at the interval. It also helped United break yet another record in the process as women's football in the region goes from strength to strength.

A crowd of 38,502 packed into the stadium to witness the Women's Championship clash, blowing all previous records out of the water. The new highest ever second tier attendance again goes to show Newcastle's huge pulling power in the women's game at present, given the previous record had seen set back in the reverse fixture back in October [15,387].

Newcastle had also welcomed over 28,000 fans in for the FA Cup win over Barnsley back in 2022, meaning a new St James' Park high has been set. The game may not live long in the memory after little goalmouth action and just the one goal scored - by Newcastle's Shania Hayles - but supporters across all generations will remember the occasion given those half-time scenes.

The ecstasy of United's Wembley win continues to linger and comprehensive plans are being put in place to ensure this weekend's Town Moor celebration is one worthy of the triumph achieved on the pitch earlier this month. There will be plenty more occasions to witness the silverware in the coming weeks and months - but I feel Newcastle added to what was already on course to be a historic day by allowing the trophy scenes to take place as the women did the double over their rivals.

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