Defender Dan Burn can hardly believe he has the chance to help end Newcastle’s trophy drought

Dan Burn was devastated when he was released by boyhood club Newcastle and ended up pushing trolleys at Asda… but the defender is now relishing the chance to help the Toon end their trophy drought

• The defender has had to overcome a series of setbacks during his career 
• He was released by Newcastle aged 11 and later picked up by Darlington
• Burn now has the chance to help Newcastle win Carabao Cup on Sunday  

By Craig Hope for MailOnline

Dan Burn regrets his dressing-room dance. Not because the Newcastle defender has been asked to repeat it ‘hundreds’ of times since. More so because he is right when he says we have forgotten what else happened that night.

‘I was a bit gutted,’ he says, reflecting on the jig that went out live on TV. ’It took away from the goal I scored, which was a worldie!’

Burn had not scored in a year with his boyhood club when, in the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup at home to Leicester last month, he broke a tense stalemate in the second half after bursting between two defenders and burying right-footed at the Gallowgate End. 

Newcastle won 2-0 and followed up to beat Southampton in the semi-final. They now face Manchester United at Wembley on Sunday.

‘It (Leicester) was the best night of my career,’ says the 30-year-old, a £12million signing from Brighton last January. ‘I never thought I would be in this position. Once the takeover happened, I thought the chances of me playing for Newcastle were done.

Dan Burn is relishing the chance to help Newcastle end their trophy drought

Burn broke a tense stalemate in quarter-final against Leicester with a ‘worldie’

‘I remember getting released from here as a kid. That was one of my worst moments in football. I was told they were not inviting me back to training. For an 11-year-old, who thought he was going to be the next Alan Shearer and the best in the world, to get that knock as a kid, in that environment at school and everyone knowing you are not at Newcastle anymore, it does have a big effect on you.’

It was the first in a series of setbacks that Burn has had to overcome in his career.

‘When all the lads who had been selected for scholarships were away with their clubs, I was playing for New Hartley on a Saturday, and even then, I was not really getting a kick. I needed money to go and do things with my mates like the cinema, so I got a job in Asda pushing trolleys for £9 an hour.’

That was big money compared to what was to follow.

‘I was picked up by Darlington and went on a YT scheme, it was £55 a week, and it cost £80 a week in petrol!’ he tells us, laughing amid reporters at the club’s training ground. ‘I was in debt to my parents for a long time. I crammed three or four of the lads in the car so I could take 20 quid off them. But all these things helped get me to the stage I am now. It pushed me more.’

It is a marker of Burn’s confidence that he felt comfortable to perform the dance in front of his team-mates and the cameras after Eddie Howe had invited him to say a few words.

So, how many times have you been asked to do it since?

‘Hundreds.’

And how many times have you done it?

‘None!’

But Burn, a dad of two, was aware of the craze which swept playgrounds across Tyneside in the days after his dance.

‘It’s funny. You get a grasp on how much you can affect younger people. If you can inspire them to do that, it’s a positive.’

Nothing, though, would compare to the positivity of a first Newcastle trophy in 54 years this weekend. Burn is aware of the historical significance.

The defender celebrated his strike against Southampton with dressing room dance

‘I would like this to be a stepping-stone towards bigger things,’ he says. ‘This is my first major final and the first win will be huge for the club. But I do not want it to be a one-off. I want it to be a catalyst for more.

‘To have that opportunity, when you think of amazing teams from the past like Kevin Keegan’s era, Bobby Robson’s era, full of amazing players who did not quite get there… to have the opportunity to do it, I feel very lucky. I cannot get my head around the fact that it could happen.

‘But I don’t want us to be happy to be here and if we lose people say, “You did well to get there”. I want winning as the only option.’

Only then, says Burn, will he do the dance once more.

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