It should be you

But as I watched on with Geordie folk around me you could tell what people were thinking as Martins - the striker whose inadequacies contributed to Newcastle going down - applied the finish for a goal that wrote him into Brummie folklore as City beat Arsenal 2-1.

Will it ever be us?

The same feeling occured when Stephen Carr went up to lift the trophy after putting in one of the games of his life.

Part of you felt that we're destined never to win anything and throw into the mix the fact that the likes of Oxford, Luton, Wimbledon and Coventry have all managed to do something most Geordie fans crave for, you wondered if it will ever happen.

It was also quite interesting to hear the views of Carr, a first for me.

During his stint at Newcastle Carr didn't speak to the media and displayed an attitude that he didn't really care about getting his views across to the supporters at St James' Park.

He may not have shown it much at Newcastle United but at least he showed he was a human being, even if, in my eyes, he went on like a man with a heart the size of a peanut.

But the show must go on, the never ending tour will go on and I only expect Newcastle fans to be even more vocal in their support in the last 10 games of the season.

When Newcastle were relegated there were some fans who walked away and nobody could blame them as they believed the club was going nowhere under owners they don't approve of.

Some watched from afar and snapped up season tickets at Whitley Bay, and other Northern League outposts, as they looked to cleanse their footballing souls.

There were some who had "That's it, I've had enough" stance on the situation but have since returned.

And there were some who made it clear they would always get behind the XI in black and white shirts no matter what happened, which division they were in and who owned the club, I guess you call those fans "the hardcore".

I suppose different people will have views on what's right and what's wrong.

My view is simple, no matter what division or how long Newcastle go without winning a trophy, the support will still be as good as most places in Europe.

It should never be taken for granted of course but if there is one group of fans who deserve a trophy, and I am being biased here, it's those of Newcastle United.

It's something outsiders will never really get their heads around, and that's fine.

It's the reason why the likes of Jason Cundy and the like on talk-ins up and down the country feel that the supporters in Southampton and other footballing backwaters are just as passionate as Geordies.

But I disagree, the majority of fans in places like Southampton hang their scarves up on a Saturday night and then don't revisit it for a fortnight.

I guess you have to have lived here to understand it as Les Ferdinand, Rob Lee and Bob Moncur will testify.

In Newcastle, it's simply impossible to escape football chatter in this strongly opinionated football hotbed.

It's why if you asked most Newcastle fans to right down their best XIs of all time, Shearer and Beardsley aside, there will be many different line-ups.

Yet, winning trophies is something that must be earned with a combination of great team spirit and the right players to go out and put enough consistency together to remain unbeaten in a cup competiton or stay strong enough over 38 games in a league.

The foundations are slowly being laid at Newcastle right now but whether success follows will be down to re-investment to the current squad.

Failure to do so will see us continue to drift with the odd good day here and there.

I can only wonder what Mike Ashley was thinking when Martins popped in that dramatic 89th winner.