Sunday saw Newcastle round off their trophy-winning season by claiming a place in next season's Champions League, thanks in no small part to the match-winning efforts of Manchester United.

Starting the day in fourth, the Magpies stood 45 minutes away from their objective before it all threatened to go wrong, very wrong. Chelsea's 50th minute opener at Nottingham Forest pushed the Magpies into the fifth and final Champions League spot on the live table, before Everton's goal 15 minutes later dropped Eddie Howe's side into sixth and the Europa League place.

That scenario was based upon an Aston Villa side who kicked level on points with Newcastle playing out a draw at Old Trafford - that game scoreless when the Toffees went head. Barely 10 minutes later though, our hopes were unexpectedly boosted by referee Thomas Bramall and the Red Devils. 

Needing victory to avoid a new club record of just six home league wins, Ruben Amorim's mob were boosted by the dismissal of Emiliano Martinez in first half added time. There was little doubt about the red card Bramall brandished as the visiting custodian raced out of his area to collide with Rasmus Hojlund, but the referee's 73rd minute decision to disallow a Villa goal was rather more contentious. 

Bramall whistled for a foul by Morgan Rogers as he won his tussle in the box with home 'keeper Altay Bayindir, but before the ball ended up in the unguarded net. That hastiness meant that VAR official Stuart Attwell was unable to review the foul decision and the "goal" was consequently disallowed.

That sent Unai Emery into meltdown and his fury was further fuelled when Amad Diallo headed past substitute Robin Olsen to give Manchester United a 76th minute lead. Former mackem loanee Diallo then crumpled under challenge from Ian Maatsen and Bramall indicated a penalty - presumably with Attwell's consent - leaving Christian Eriksen to make it 2-0 in the 87th minute.  

At Gallowgate meanwhile, Newcastle were inflicting cruelty on their fans in the form of a shapeless, aimless performance that helped a certain wearside custodian keep his third clean sheet in four appearances against the Magpies - although our shoddiness was as pivotal as his proficiency....

That pain increased when an unmarked Carlos Alcaraz was left alone to head Vitalii Mykolenko's centre past Nick Pope in the Gallowgate goal just after the hour mark - a similar combination before half time having seen Pope make an excellent intervention to tip the effort over the crossbar.

The air was sucked out of the ground at that moment, but those fans with a functioning phone (or wireless) soon re-energised SJP, roars indicating that events elsewhere were shaping our destiny.

Newcastle's attempts to dredge up an equaliser that would be meaningless in terms of qualification chances as long as Villa lost saw them end up with an obviously unfit Alexander Isak flanked by Callum Wilson and William Osula. Two late scoring opportunities saw Fabian Schar fire just wide. 

Anthony Gordon had kept his place in the starting line-up, but failed to appear after the break following a shift as unproductive as his colleagues, the industrious Sandro Tonali aside. Tiredness undoubtedly played a part, with Sven Botman looking in some discomfort, while the mismatched Barnes and Murphy combination down the right encouraged Everton to target that area as Chelsea did.

Our fears that the upturn in Everton's fortunes under Moyes had been ignored were added to by the presumption that as they would finish thirteenth regardless of the scoreline the Toffees would slide to defeat here. For home players to appear accompanied by or carrying their offspring pre-kickoff didn't help either. For a vital game, that gave it the feel a testimonial match. Paranoia, I know but....

But it didn't matter, events elsewhere for once falling in our favour. A season when other results never seemed to benefit us concluded with the biggest black and white payback since Jack Grealish's equaliser for Villa knocked Brighton off the top of the Championship in 2017, turning a slightly downbeat Gallowgate promotion party into a memorable title celebration. 

That it was Manchester United who did us a good turn also had a certain symmetry: thoughts of final days past turning to May 1996 and Bryan Robson's Boro rolling out the red carpet for his old club on Teesside as our title hopes imploded. It was also a year to the day that their FA Cup Final win over Manchester City deprived us of Europe. Concentrating on the domestic cups this season has proved to be a canny ploy.

When people had urged the players to "Do it for Bobby" we didn't realise they meant Charlton....

There was also a karma element to the events, June 2020 seeing Villa profit from a failure of goal line technology denying Sheffield United a goal in what ended as a 0-0 draw at Villa Park. Villa avoided relegation that season, finishing one point ahead a Bournemouth side managed by....Eddie Howe.

Back to Tyneside and home players clustered on the edge of the Leazes box after the final whistle as Everton acknowledged their fans and the giant screen displayed the latest scores elsewhere.

Moments later, the Champions League logo appeared on that scoreboard and the competition anthem rang out around the ground, confirming that there was no late collapse at Old Trafford and Eddie Howe's side had secured fifth place on goal difference. 

Wilson confirmed his exit from the club with a tearful solo lap of honour before the now-familiar post-match scenes unfolded, culminating in a group photo in front of the Gallowgate End featuring the Carabao Cup, club CEO Yasir Al-Rumayyan and countless squad relatives and bairns.

The fact that Newcastle returned to the Champions League will be remembered long after today's events. An upturn following the defeat at Brentford in December that dropped them into twelfth position was followed by a sequence of results meant that today's outcome didn't matter. 

They may have stumbled over the line with sections of the team running on fumes, but they got there. Somehow.

For Howe, the relief is two-fold; not only achieving qualification but also securing the financial rewards for the club that finally allow him to significantly reshape his squad - something that today underlined is long overdue. Rightfully, there's also celebration for him, who reflected on a season when he made grown men cry tears of joy as follows:

"First domestic trophy in 70 years, Champions League place, just how big an achievement is it? It’s a massive achievement. A massive season for us."

Alan Shearer echoed those sentiments:

"For me, the greatest season in my lifetime. Newcastle have been absolutely magnificent and the job that Eddie Howe has done is superb."

Who are we to disagree?

PS: We'll sign off with the usual vote of thanks to everyone who did their bit to help us, from Toyko to Tyneside and many points in between. The feeling that finally snagging silverware marked the end of a lifelong quest thankfully proved only fleeting, but the joyful emotions of that day mercifully remain. 

Howay the lads.    

Biffa