In October 2021 the long awaited removal of Mike Ashley was realised following the takeover of the club by the Saudi led PIF with stakes from Amanda Staveley (and her husband) plus the Reuben brothers.

The drawn out takeover had been well document, and the timing of the deal was as much of a surprise as the deal going ahead at all. There had been fierce opposition from some of the major clubs in the Premier League, broadcasters and section the south based media (to name but a few).

After assuming the position (post take-over) as the 'richest club in the world', it was always going to be interesting to see what happened in the first transfer window under the new regime. Especially given their relative lack of time to prepare given the shock news that the deal was passed.

So to land Kieran Trippier, with Newcastle United 19th in the Premier League at the time (and with Burnley, the team above them, having 4 games in hand at the time) was met with glee and amazement in most quarters. Not least as Trippier was signed from Atletico Madrid, a team who had won the Spanish League the season before and were in the latter stages of the Champions League at the point of him leaving.

You may well think that Trippier was not having the best of times in Spain, hence him moving to Newcastle. Far from it. His then manager, the infamous Diego Simeone confirming he did not want the player to leave, with Kieran being his long established first choice and title winning right back at the time.

Even more surprising was the price tag. At just £12m it was an absolute snip for an 'elite' right back (coming in to replace the hard working, but limited in ability, Javier Manquillo). Especially when you consider he was still regarded as 'current England right back' at the time with 35 caps to his name.

You'd also be forgiven for thinking the move was solely about a huge pay check. After all, at 31 at the time of signing a 2.5 year contract and a decent signing on fee were certainly going to help. But the player, who had played for Eddie Howe 11 years previously at Burnley, was adamant 'People say it's about money, they're entitled to their opinion. My family is most important. I wanted a challenge and a project. I'm brave, I don't see it as a risk'. We'd find out four years later that he actually took a pay cut to come here!

If there was a way to start a new era as owners of Newcastle United Football Club, this was certainly it.

And even with all that, we still had no idea what was to come and quite how transformational this signing would be.

The catalyst for others, like Bruno, to see the project as something they want to be part of. And a new standard in the dressing room. A grit, training standards, honesty, graft. A leader of men.

He also possessed something of a wand of a right foot, and in those early times at Newcastle he's still have some pace left in those aging legs to become a real force up and down our right side with 11 assist in both 22/23 and 23/24. Then there was his dead ball skills. A wonderful free kick against Manchester City in a 'coming of age' performance by Newcastle a stand out moment.

A place in the leadership group was naturally his. But so striking were the standard he would hold himself and others to was his constant referral to Lascelles as 'club captain' even when Jamaal was very much out of sight and out of mind of everyone else outside the club (long term injury).

And then, of course. There was Wembley. First, the disappointment (again) of 22/23 and a loss to Manchester United. Just being back, under his captaincy, seemed like a dream for most fans though. The occasion getting the better of everyone at the club it seemed. The unfamiliar glare of the footballing world something we'd dreamed about for years. An all too familiar ending for those of us old enough to remember our previous opportunities to win silverware.

But then...

'Ticking up to 45, Trippier with drift...'

A moment that will never leave those of us lucky enough to be there. Or to watch it on the TV. Or to hear it on the radio.

And 45 minutes later (well, more like 60 minutes of playing time given the added time in the second half) it was 'at long long last'.

Newcastle had their hands on a major trophy. The League Cup.

And still those standards this captain of captains had set did not drop. Standing with Bruno (the newly named team captain with Trippier's appearance time starting to decrease) he ushered Jamaal Lascelles out of the dark and from the back of the queue of non playing teammates to hold the third of those famous three handles as Newcastle United thrust domestic silverware into the air for the first time in seventy long years.

The greatest signing in Newcastle United's history? One to be argued in pubs around Newcastle and beyond for generations!! A club legend? He most certainly is!!