“I’m at a club I don’t really want to be with,” says new Newcastle Cup winner Bob Moncourt.

Bob Moncourt shakes his head gently at another reminder that it’s been more than half a century since Newcastle United last lifted the trophy.

“It’s unbelievable that so much time has passed, just unbelievable,” the former Magpies captain said ahead of the club’s return to Wembley in the League Cup final against Manchester United.

We chat over coffee at Shearer’s, a bar and restaurant in St James’ Park that bears the name of perhaps the club’s most famous player.

Moncourt is not far behind, a fact confirmed when a colleague stops us in the middle of an interview and asks for a photo with a 78-year-old man. Of course, there is a big difference between the two Newcastle legends.

“I’m at a club I don’t really want to be with,” he says of his unique status as the only man alive to lead Newcastle to a major cup win in 1969 when they won the Inter-Cities Fairs. Cup, the long-lost predecessor of the Europa League.

“I thought Alan Shearer would join me when he was at the club and I would love to see him because he is a real icon,” he says. “He’s a good friend of mine, but I like to tease him about it.
“When I talk to him, I will introduce him and say, ‘Alan Shearer, what a great player he is. Although in Newcastle I won absolutely everything … “

Moncourt, a stylish defender who had an impressive 12-year career at Tyneside, realizes that his greatest triumph belongs to another era. Injured before the start of the European Championship, he watched the first round against Feyenoord with fans in the stands before flying to Rotterdam and staying at the same two-star hotel as them.

“[Manager] yeah [Harvey’s] His attitude was, “If you’re out of shape, fuck off,” he chuckles. “Joe was a great manager, but he was bad at tactics. He had the ability to pick good players and he knew what the players wanted. His team chats were often hilarious.”

A good example of this was the 1969 final against the Hungarian Ujpest Dozsa. After conceding three goals in the first leg at St James’ Park, they traveled to Budapest with no more than 500 fans. In the second leg, they trailed twice at half-time and wobbled heavily in the Hungarian heat.

“We went into the break with our heads down, waiting for substitutions or something tactical, and Joe just told us, ‘Guys, you just have to score, and they fall like a deck of cards.’ Then he left.”
Moncourt scored a few minutes after the break and the rest is history. However, what turned out to be his greatest moment was almost one of his last.

“When we got back, I think I underestimated how important it was. I got off the plane at Newcastle Airport with the trophy and was hit by a wall of noise,” he says. “We left the airport on a single-decker bus to walk around the city, and I happily waved to people on the street. Then there was a terrible crash, and I recoiled back.

“I was hit by a huge power cable connected to the bridge we drove under. There was a large black stain on the front of the trophy that was never repaired. Luckily, I stood on a wooden table to get out of the hatch of the bus that landed and probably saved my life.”

In addition to his failure, Moncourt admits that he downplayed the victory at the time.

“I was very relaxed when I won. Only with time do I realize how important this was for many people,” he says. “I thought it would be a springboard for us to move on and win FA Cups, championships and European titles because we had a really good team and a couple of beans.”

This was not to be, and his playing career at Newcastle ended in the 1974 FA Cup Final, another footnote in the club’s long list of disappointments at Wembley, when they lost big to Liverpool against Kevin Keegan.

Moncourt recalls a dispute over tracksuits that resulted in them wearing frayed old blue and yellow jackets instead of a specially designed suit with bell-bottoms that the team didn’t want to wear. He set the tone for the entire week.

“Our strength was our lack of selfishness. When we got to the final, there were people on the team who thought they were better than they really were,” he recalls. “Me and a few other experienced players said, ‘Shut up, focus on what you’re doing.’ I don’t think they understood how disruptive Wembley can be, it’s a big place and it’s taking its toll on you.

“We really failed that day. I couldn’t believe it was 0-0 at half time because we were so bad. I was convinced that if we could play 0-0 like that, we would have won, but it didn’t happen.”

So see you tomorrow for a chance to end the long wait. Club ambassador Moncourt is set to host a reception at Wembley Stadium and admits Manchester United’s kit looks ominous.

But he believes that this group, with its collective spirit led by manager Eddie Howey, has many similarities with his team. Skipper Kieran Trippier is a fitting mascot. “I love him as a player,” he says.

“If someone takes the title from me, I want it to be him. It has to happen someday and I hope it happens before I die.

“This is the biggest excitement I’ve ever seen at Newcastle and it would be great to end it now.”