John Barnes doubles down on horrendous take regarding Newcastle United's Carabao Cup victory celebrations

 · March 27 2025, 18:30
John Barnes doubles down on horrendous take regarding Newcastle United's Carabao Cup victory celebrations
Copied
Share Tweet

The city of Newcastle is bracing itself for a party the likes of which has never been seen on Saturday as fans will flock to the City to see their Newcastle United heroes with the Carabao Cup.

An open-top bus parade through the city will end at the Town Moor where the Magpies will take to a stage in front of over 100,000 fans to hold the trophy aloft as the club celebrates putting an end to a 56-year trophy drought.

Recently, former Newcastle midfielder John Barnes criticised the club for celebrating their cup victory while the season is still underway.

Now the Liverpool legend has doubled down on his horrendous take by raising the same point that celebrating mid-season is not what champions do while bizarrely saying Eddie Howe could get sacked at the end of the season.

Advertisement
2788a8534ca9f4eca33c16eb5390b1594605bf58 1
Getty Images
Eddie Howe could get sacked by Newcastle according to John Barnes

John Barnes says the Carabao Cup win won't be a springboard to further success

To add insult to injury, Barnes also suggested that a Carabao Cup win isn't a sign of a team on the up and it won't translate into further success as covered by Newcastle World.

"The best teams and players make winning a habit,” he said. “You have to be consistent if you want to be a top player or a top football club. Whereas if a player thinks ‘We’ve won a trophy, I can relax now’, they’re just going to rest on their laurels and lose every game between now and the end of the season.

“What big players and champions do is recognise they’ve won, then continue to give 100 per cent and forget about it. Of course, at the end of the season, or at the end of your career, you may look back and say well you’ve won. But some people want to win the trophy in March and then forget the rest of the season.

“If Eddie Howe is going to lose every game between now and the end of the season, I think he’d get the sack. I don’t think he’d be happy if that happened just because he won a trophy. Newcastle would like to think they could challenge for fourth spot and they have done for the last two or three years.

“I don’t think had they not won, they wouldn’t have been challenging. Your league form is really a springboard for you to challenge either to win the league or to be regularly in the top four.

“Winning the cup doesn’t mean all of a sudden in the league you’re going to be winning the league or finishing first or second. It’s a feel-good factor that it brings to the city, to the club.

“If they celebrate too much, they may not win too many matches. But I don’t think all of a sudden they’re going to be winning the league because they won the Carabao Cup."
Advertisement

The idea that Eddie Howe would get sacked in the same season he delivered a trophy is insane

I won't go on a Steve Bruce-esque/Donald Trumpian rant belittling John Barnes as a player, as there's absolutely no denying he was outstanding back in the day, but he's pretty much been out of the game for so long now that his take on the modern game is barely relevant.

I'm sorry, John, but 56 years without a trophy, 70 without domestic silverware. We'll celebrate when we want to, and even if we do lose every game between now and May, Eddie Howe won't get canned.

Howe had a lot of goodwill banked from his first 18 months at the club, he used a fair bit of it up last season and the start of this one, but we dare say his tank is topped up now after doing what no manager has been able to do for half a century.

Just admit you're a Liverpool man and you're bitter about the defeat, John. Nobody would blame you.

Latest NUFC News