It’s reasonably safe to assume Newcastle United fans did a little light celebrating on Tuesday night when their team saw off Southampton to secure a spot in the League Cup final.

Their long suffering supporters, without a cup final to their name in nearly a quarter of a century and no domestic silverware since 1955, will no doubt have partaken in a shandy or two to mark this latest phase of their rebirth.

And that’s perfectly understandable with their passionate and dedicated fans having been starved of anything even vaguely resembling success for far too long.

What is less understandable, however, is why so many others are branding this achievement as a triumph for the underdogs.

There are a lot of words you could use to describe this new and improved Newcastle team – but surely underdog is no longer one of them. The Saudi-owned club now has massive financial clout to back up its incredible fan base and is on a clear path to becoming one of the giants of the sport.

The Saudi-owned club now has massive financial clout to back up its incredible fan base and is on a clear path to becoming one of the giants of the sport

Yes, their past may have been built on decades of underachievement, but I can’t see their future being anything other than bright and beautiful. While it is certainly true that money alone doesn’t automatically ensure success, it does make success considerably easier to achieve.

That’s not to say I wouldn’t prefer seeing Newcastle lift this particular trophy rather than Manchester United because I absolutely would. If nothing else it will be massively entertaining watching the brilliant Toon Army celebrate.

But please don’t dress it up as some heroic struggle between the haves and the have nots because that simply isn’t true anymore.

This year’s League Cup Final will be Old Goliath versus New Goliath with David nowhere to be seen...

 

Spend a little on the fans

I’m not one to criticise football clubs for splashing the cash on new signings.

Buying and selling players has been an integral part of the sport for as long as I can remember and is, in fact, a crucial way of money filtering down from the top of the pyramid to the lower levels.

But, at a time when England is in the squeeze of painful inflation, with ordinary people finding it hard to heat their homes or feed their families, the fact that football managed to spend nearly a billion euros in January makes me feel rather queasy.

Yes, I know, I know. Football is no longer a sport. It’s a business. And businesses need to invest to survive and improve. Blah, blah, blah.

But it still feels extravagant and insensitive when many fans can’t make ends meet.

Chelsea spent more than €324 million on new players in January alone. How cool would it have been, for example, if they had ‘limited’ themselves to just €314 million and used that other €10 million to let struggling fans come to their home games for free?

Maybe that is an impractical example, as season tickets have been sold, but surely there is a way the clubs could have got together and collectively given one or two per cent of that billion back to the fans in some shape or form.

It wouldn’t really have made that much different to the transfers, but it would have made the world of difference to those going through tough times.

 

Window, what window?

Talking of transfer windows, are Everton aware that it even happened?

Actually, scrap that, they must have known it was going on as they managed to sell one of their most prized assets to Newcastle just before it closed.

If there was one team that wanted – or should that be desperately needed – a good transfer window it was Everton who now go into a second half of the season relegation battle with a new manager and a weaker squad.

When people say the club is being poorly run and mismanaged you might wonder what evidence there is for that.

Well, going through a crucial, season-defining transfer window without bringing in a single player but letting one of your own stars leave is indisputable proof that the club is being run by muppets.

Sean Dyche is a good manager and he will probably instil some much needed grit and determination into his squad. But don’t tell me he wouldn’t have wanted to bring in three or four new signings to freshen things up for the battle ahead.

Unless he was warned in advance that there wasn’t any money to spend and took on the job knowing he would have to work with the players already there, he must already be wondering what he has got himself into.

A couple of weeks ago Everton’s directors were warned to stay away from Goodison Park for the game against Southampton over security concerns.

After that transfer fiasco they might want to think about staying away from Goodison Park for the rest of the season...

 

On and on and on

Japanese striker Kazuyoshi Miura has just moved to Portuguese second division side Oliveirense on loan from J-League side Yokohama. Which isn’t all that newsworthy unless you factor in the small detail that Miura is a rather incredible 56 years of age.

I mean that is truly amazing considering most players are burnt out by the age of 34 or 35. But this man is still going, if not strong, then at a reasonable level. Last season, in fact, he made 18 appearances for a Japanese fourth-tier team, scoring twice.

He may not have the legs or the fitness that saw him hit 55 goals in 89 games for the Japanese national team. But he is still capable of lacing up his boots and strutting his stuff on the pitch at an age when many struggle to get out of bed and put on slippers.

Kazuyoshi once said he plans to keep playing until he is 60, and I certainly wouldn’t put it past him.

So Duracell, if you’re looking for a new face for your next battery campaign, you might want to give young Mr Miura a little call.

Here’s a man that outlasts the rest.

 

E-mail: James@quizando.com

Twitter: @maltablade