Dan Burn is now a history maker for both Yeovil Town and Newcastle United Pictures: Yeovil Town/ Newcastle United Facebook

How Newcastle United’s Dan Burn relived his Yeovil Town years to score – and win – at Wembley

Tait ap EllisMarch 18, 20250 Comment0

AS 6ft7 Dan Burn scored a bullet header to clinch Newcastle United’s first major domestic trophy in 70 years on Sunday (March 16), some Yeovil Town fans may have had flashbacks to 2013.

Few would have predicted that the first player to score a goal for Newcastle in a final since the 70s and bring a major domestic trophy to the club for the first time since 1955 would be 32-year-old Burn – but that’s precisely what the history books will show.

The defender, who was just last week called up to the England squad for the very first time, launched a towering header just before half-time in the Carabao Cup final, leaving Mac Alister, who was marking him, in the dust.

Liverpool’s manager, Arne Slot, said he had “never seen” a player head the ball with that much force into the far corner.

Well, fans of Yeovil were perhaps less surprised given Burn’s history at Wembley.

The defender made headlines in Somerset 12 years ago.

The colossus, known lovingly as Big Dan Burn, fought off three Brentford players to nestle a header in the back of the net to secure Yeovil Town promotion to the Championship in 2013 – the first and only time in the club’s history.

This secured a cult-like status for Burn – something he would go on to replicate.

Burn, who was on loan at Yeovil from his parent club Fulham, went on to play at Birmingham City and Wigan Athletic before securing a move to the Premier League with Brighton.

He clinched a move to his boyhood club Newcastle in 2022 and went on to help secure Champions League football for the club for the first time in 20 years, scoring a dramatic goal in a 4-1 thriller against French champions PSG at St James’.

He can now add Carabao Cup winner to his list of achievements alongside that famous play-off final win in 2012.

Watch the below video to see Dan Burn’s header for Yeovil (2.30).

Burn’s father wrote an open letter to his son which was printed in The Athletic ahead of Newcastle’s Carabao Cup showdown against Manchester United in 2023.

In this piece, his father highlighted the journey the man from Blythe made to get his hands on a cup for Newcastle.

The letter reads: “You pushed trollies at Asda and grafted in non-League with Darlington before Everton and Fulham came calling.

“For your medical, I told you to “look the part”. In hindsight, perhaps wearing suits might not have been the best idea, seeing as you had to undress about 15 times.

“Then there was Yeovil — remember, son, you’ve already won and scored at Wembley.”

Burn’s career shows that not everything is linear in football, and it highlights the important role the lower leagues and clubs like Yeovil Town have in fostering talent.

Yeovil Town already has claims to fame on the biggest stage, as ex-player Anthony Barry joined up with Thomas Tuchel to lead the Three Lions.