It was the year when Newcastle United’s entire identity was reset, when all that yearning was laid to rest, when the great itch was finally scratched. A club synonymous with losing — from glorious defeat, to scarcely trying, to defeat full stop — were transformed into winners. After 70 years without a domestic trophy, the clocks stopped in 2025.

By deservedly beating Liverpool to lift the Carabao Cup in March, coach Eddie Howe and his players were automatically enshrined as Newcastle legends, the men who brought closure to the club’s magnificent obsession. A heady, woozy, scarcely believable weekend in London was followed by a bus parade back home, a city’s worth of people thronging to the Town Moor to celebrate.

Newcastle celebrated winning their first trophy in 70 years in style (Stu Forster/Getty Images)

The team’s own response was remarkable, rousing themselves to go again and qualify for the Champions League for the second time in three years, prompting Barcelona’s return to St James’ Park in September, 28 years almost to the day since Faustino Asprilla’s iconic hat-trick. This was elite behaviour by an elite team and their elite staff, and with money to spend after a spell of austerity from profit and sustainability rules, well, what could go wrong?

The rest of 2025 has shown that winning silverware does not bring an end to angst, that being good is not always easy. The summer transfer window was gruelling and the consequences have lingered after the controversial departure of Alexander Isak to Liverpool and some rushed replacements.

With an ambitious new executive structure in place, the future looks bright, but Newcastle became transitional and fragile on the pitch, and the year’s final month brought a dismal derby defeat against Sunderland.

Not everything was transformative. Not everything was blissfully unfamiliar. Some things — like league losses to their local rivals — remained resolutely the same.

Here, The Athletic reflects on 12 months of extraordinary highs and subterranean lows…

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Best moment of 2025

Wembley and its astonishing aftermath — the Geordie din that drowned out You’ll Never Walk Alone, local lad Dan Burn’s towering header to put Newcastle in front, being much better than Liverpool on the day, the crying and laughing and the trophy going up and history mutating and the bewildering blur of the next few days. This — this — was what it feels like. Who knew?

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Worst moment

Isak’s decision to down tools felt like a betrayal, not just of the fans, Howe and his team-mates, but of what had happened that March afternoon at Wembley. It obliterated his legacy. Why behave like that? The Sweden international finally got his move and, in return, Newcastle got a British record £125million ($168m) fee, but the ramifications of losing a 20-plus goals-per-season striker are still being felt.