Newcastle United star’s sadness at dressing room farewell that will ‘change’ Magpies
Newcastle United star’s sadness at dressing room farewell that will ‘change’ Magpies
Lee Ryder
4 – 5 minutes
Dan Burn has spoken of the emotional scenes at the end of the season at St James’ Park
Newcastle United players celebrate after qualifying for the Champions League
Newcastle United players celebrate after qualifying for the Champions League(Image: PA)
Newcastle United star Dan Burn has revealed there was sadness in the dressing room as some his team-mates went around and shook hands for what could be the last time.
There have been no major departures announced just yet but Callum Wilson, Sean Longstaff, Matt Targett, Joe Willock, John Ruddy, Martin Dubravka and Odysseas Vlachodimos all face uncertain futures compared to others. For Burn, who has played a significant role in gluing the dressing room together, he admits he felt emotional before setting off for England duty.
Burn told Chronicle Live: “I hate this time of year. Because no matter what happens, there are always changes, no matter if it is one, five, or 10 players going, it’s never ever the same. You feel like when you have put that much into the season, there’s always a bit of emotion at the end. I am not used to seeing Callum Wilson like that.
“It is strange because he’s not an emotional person. He is usually quite a happy person so it was sad to see. I am not sure what is happening and I don’t know if he does either. But it was a nice moment for him to get the appreciation.
“He had a tough season injury-wise wise but he’s still a top player.”
If it is goodbye for certain stars, at least they will have done it with a Carabao Cup winners medal in their back packs and knowing they helped Newcastle back into the Champions League again.
The Blyth lad said: “When the Champions League music came on and we jumped up and down, I don’t think it was on par with winning the cup, but it’s still an amazing achievement. Now I have realised it is a journey that we are on rather than the end points of doing something.
“I felt numb after the cup final, it was an anti-climax in a way. The enjoyment is what it has taken to get through each stage and we are proud of what we have done, now we move on to bigger and better things.”
Newcastle’s big challenge next season is consistency and building on the club’s best campaign for decades. The question from some football writers next season will be whether United can push for the title now.
Burn added: “I don’t think we’re far away from sort of challenging at the top. The gaffer has mentioned that we’ve not strengthened the last few seasons so it’ll probably be a big summer to add players and sort of keep it fresh.
“It’s probably just going to be that change of mentality where we really get that belief that we should be up there. It’d be great to have a good Champions League run and I’m sure that he would love to win another cup. I feel like now that we’ve won that first cup, it’s sort of broke the seal a bit and now we feel like we can really do that again.”
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