Tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy theorists out in force this morning | OneFootball

Good grief. That was the draw from hell but the one Newcastle United fans expected and we need to get over it.

If collective thought (fear!) is powerful enough to contrive an outcome, there we had it shortly after 7pm on Wednesday evening.

Most folk posting on The Mag, or who I spoke to, had all expressed it in one form or another, “Man City (or Liverpool) in the next round, you watch.”

And so it came to pass.

Quite why we were ball number one is anyone’s guess but as me and the lad listened attentively to Five Live, with only eight balls being drawn, it became apparent very quickly that Newcastle United fans would be going to the Etihad in a fortnight’s time.

And despite Newcastle United getting through another round, you can get 10/1 at the bookies on NUFC lifting the famous trophy this morning, which are longer odds than the 9/1 you could have got before we played our fifth round tie at Blackburn.

In the aftermath of the draw being made, the Tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy theorists amongst Newcastle United fans have been out in force.

I read once more of the bizarre claim that some of the balls are heated up in order to guide whoever is presiding over the draw to achieve the required outcome.

Someone suggested they’d pre-recorded several draws until the one that had us come out of the hat and was deemed to be ‘the one’ occurred, with that one being the version going out as live later.

And then we had the curse of the Gallowgate and the souls of those hanged not far from where Shearer broke Jackie Milburn’s record, apparently influencing David Seaman in the ITV studio.

We have had some rotten luck in the cups this season.

To say the draws have been unkind, where we have been pitted against PSG, Milan and Dortmund in the Champions League, and Man City (twice) with six games from seven on the road in the domestic competitions, is an understatement. Similarly, Trippier’s slip in the 92nd minute at Stamford Bridge and Mbappe’s penalty in the Parc de Princes even later in that game will still rankle in years to come.

However, when you take a closer look, and I’m saying this fully in the knowledge of our poor form and lingering injury crisis, there are some positives to take.

In eight cup matches away from St James’ Park this season, we have lost just once (during normal game time) against Borussia Dortmund.

We have already beaten Man City in the League Cup this season.

Our record in the FA Cup against Man City isn’t too bad.

On eight previous occasions when we’ve been pulled out of the hat to play them, we’ve won five to their three. If I’m being pedantic, make that six wins to three if you include the 1955 Final, though we weren’t exactly drawn against them.

Final point and I say this to all those Tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy theorists out there, we beat Man City exactly one hundred years ago in 1924 en route to our second FA Cup triumph.

If you want an omen, you don’t need to look much further than that.