Next Up: The Dan Ashworth Derby... Wait, What Do You Mean He's Left Already?!

For a 'wee club in the North East'... little ol' Newcastle sure do enjoy a lot of rent-free space in the minds of Manchester United...

A very 90s-esque rivalry has been rejuvenated recently with the changing fortunes of both clubs. Manchester United have contrived to spend £2 billion since Sir Alex Ferguson hung up his hairdryer... and wind up in 14th place in the Premier League table.

Newcastle, by contrast, have splashed the cash themselves (albeit, rather more wisely) and have risen from relegation fodder to perennial European place chasers over the last few years.

Unfortunately for the Geordies, the rather one-sided rivalry from the 90s continued with the League Cup final in 2023 with a 2-0 win for the Red Devils.

The fact this was 'just another cup final' for Manchester United with their composed pre-match demeanour, and the way the victorious fans streamed out of Wembley, scarves already being flogged on eBay, long before Bruno Fernandes lifted the cup, shows the difference in priorities and mindset between the clubs and the fanbase. A Newcastle win would have marked the club's most iconic day for over 60 years. For Manchester United, it's just a footnote in an excessive list of silverware since the 1990s.

It's a similar case with Alan Shearer; the man who had the gall to deny SAF not once but twice, choosing to realise his dream of playing for his boyhood club, inspiring generations of Geordies and taking his own place among Geordie folklore. To Shearer, playing for Newcastle meant more than guaranteed trophies, and it's ironic that the Red Devils fanbase still garner so much misplaced resentment towards Shearer to this day. You'd think the fanbase that place so much importance on the class of '92 would understand a player following his heart over his head and playing for his boyhood club. But like a spoilt only child who is used to having their own way... the Salford Reds don't take rejection very well. Cue the 'Cheer up Alan Shearer' chants.

Can Alexander Isak and Co extinguish the 'Cheer Up Alan Shearer' chants early at Old Trafford on Monday?

As a Newcastle fan born in the mid-90s, I don't really remember the initial rivalry with Manchester United. But since the arrival of the new ownership and Eddie Howe, I no longer look towards the Manchester United games with a sense of dread; if anything, I look at them like a wolf eying up a gammon steak.

Make no mistake about it, this is the first time Newcastle arguably go into a game at Old Trafford as favourites.

Taking Newcastle's recent resurgence in form out of the equation; Manchester United are in chaos. Jim Ratcliffe has made himself 'Public Enemy Number One' with Manchester and Newcastle United fans alike quicker than it takes him to hand out P45s to staff. I won't dither on the drawn-out Dan Ashworth saga any longer than necessary; even though I still laugh at the pettiness of Ratcliffe taking a dig at Newcastle on live television straight after running a marathon. The INEOS CEO voiced his frustration that our hierarchy didn't play ball with a club that tapped the sporting director up in privacy, and then advised him to take Newcastle to arbitration. When it was announced that Ashworth had parted ways with his new club, barely five months into the role, there wasn't a dry in Tyneside as Geordies howled with laughter. Talk about karma, eh?

That was enough reason for Geordies to revel in the downfall of Ratcliffe, and the Manchester United fans weren't far behind in turning on him. Sackings, cost-cutting measures that included packed lunches, M&S vouchers, charity donation cancellations made Mike Ashley look like a philanthropic saint. It promises to make Old Trafford a cauldron of toxicity (alongside the rainfall and mice infestations). If Newcastle can continue their recent form of scoring inside two minutes, the Alan Shearer chants are likely to be replaced by Norwich scarves very quickly.

A win can put Newcastle firmly back in the Champions League reckoning, with the added satisfaction of condemning Ratcliffe's mob to a relegation battle...

After recent smashings of relegation candidates Leicester and Ipswich, as well as the annual demolition of the 'Sob on the Tyne' brigade... this fixture provides a real opportunity for Eddie Howe and his men to shed the 'imposter syndrome' tag that perhaps haunted them during the League Cup final. Newcastle's league record at Old Trafford is absolutely pathetic; but Manchester United are impressive in terms of historic reputation alone. This disgustingly bloated and expensive squad on the pitch is quite frankly, mid-table standard at best, and if Newcastle have any ambitions of Champions League football, they need to stick another nail into Jim Ratcliffe's Old Trafford coffin.

The fact Bruno Fernandes and Manuel Ugarte are suspended makes this an even bigger opportunity. Will latest career suicide artist Ruben Amorim renege on his banishment of Marcus Rashford and put him in the team to make up the numbers? Desperation may well force the Portuguese's hand here.

And while it would be very 'Newcastle' to for us to concede a late Rashford winner as the latest chapter of Marcus' rollercoaster career... I'm hopeful we can be out of sight on the pitch long before the much-maligned homegrown talent enters the pitch.

To sign off, it can only be right to quote a man who almost knocked Fergie off his perch many years ago... "I'd love it if we beat them... love it."