Dan Burn is the boy’s own story; the inspiration for any young footballer who suffers a setback in the pursuit of their dreams. Who fears those dreams have been dashed. The gangly reject, let go by his boyhood club who then scored the crucial opening goal as they won their first trophy in 56 years. The 32-year-old who was not even good enough for his county team as a kid, who has finally received an England call-up. All in the same week.
Those rejections; that heartache. It has driven the defender. “I feel like I just really had this chip on my shoulder that I want to prove people wrong,” Burn explains as he is asked about what he would say to his young self, who was released by Newcastle aged 11 and was working in a supermarket at 16, playing for non-league Blyth Spartans before joining League Two’s Darlington (below).