Football, said the former Italy and AC Milan manager Arrigo Sacchi, is “the most important of the unimportant things in life.”

My happiness doesn’t hinge entirely on Newcastle United’s results — which is just as well I suppose. But I am a lot happier when they win.

I like football, the sport, as a spectacle of skill and athleticism. I love football for its wider culture, the conversations it powers and the camaraderie it creates. It’s a unique talking point that can turn total strangers into the best of friends.

During a 2022 holiday to Rio de Janeiro, I managed to sustain a 10-minute chat with a local simply by repeating Bruno Guimarães’s name and giving him a thumbs up. I guess Christ the Redeemer was cool too.

While I’ve said it myself plenty I think “It’s the hope that kills you” is one of football fandom’s more ridiculous refrains. In fact, it’s hope that keeps fandom alive.

It’s hope, on the way to watch your team, that fills you with excitement — that they might win. It’s hope that comes to resuscitate you after a defeat, to convince you that next time it might be different.

Since I started supporting Newcastle in the 1990s, I have never seen them win a major trophy.

Although the two Championship-winning seasons were great fun, I can’t help but feel, given the contexts of the relegations that preceded them and Mike Ashley’s ownership of the club at the time, these should be understood as qualified successes.

I have seen Newcastle come close to winning major honours. They’ve lost three cup finals in my life and finished as runners-up in the Premier League twice.

But, now in my 30s and with my beard starting to resemble Newcastle’s kit, I am still waiting to see the club’s colours hang from the handles of one of the game’s top-level prizes.

This weekend my wait could be over. Or, more likely, given that Newcastle face an imperious, star-studded Liverpool side in the League Cup final, it may go on a while longer.

When it comes to supporting a football club, I’m of the view that possibility matters more than probability.

I think it’s likely that Newcastle lose on Sunday. But I’m choosing to focus on the off chance that they could win.

HOWAY THE LADS!