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Dan Burn, called up by England, was released by Newcastle aged 11 and was working in a supermarket at 16 - Getty Images/Eddie Keogh
Dan Burn is the boy’s own story; the inspiration for any young footballer who suffers a set-back to 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 now say to the younger version of himself 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 Darlington.
“I just really want to have no regrets in my career,” Burn says, adding he does not want to be “one day thinking I wish I could have trained harder, I wish I could have looked after myself more, I wish I hadn’t gone out. I just want to know that when I finish my career that I’ve completely squeezed everything that I could from it.”
Hardened by experience, Burn is doing just that. “I don’t really care about people’s opinions,” he says. “I know what I’m good at and I’m only interested in the opinions of people who matter – (Newcastle’s) Eddie Howe and the manager here (Thomas Tuchel) – whatever else will happen.
“I feel I have been doubted a lot throughout my career. Not many people who watched me play at Darlington would think I’d be sat here doing a press conference with England. I think it has just made me more resilient. I feel very confident in my ability. I deserve to be. I just want to take this opportunity.”
So grounded is Burn, who rejoined Newcastle from Brighton & Hove Albion in January 2022, one of the first signings after the Saudi Arabian-led takeover, that he has had the same mobile phone number all his adult life.
“Since I was 16,” he says, laughing when asked about the weight of messages he has received following Newcastle’s highly-charged Carabao Cup final win over Liverpool on Sunday. “So I’ll probably have to change that at some point. It was stressing me out not replying to everyone so I sat last night for about two hours just texting everyone back.”
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Burn’s opening goal helped end Newcastle’s 56-year wait for a trophy - Getty Images/Alex Dodd
One of the most precious messages he received, though, came last Thursday night when Tuchel texted him. It was 10pm and the England head coach was asking whether he was still awake before following it up with a FaceTime call.
“It started off with the manager FaceTiming me on Tuesday, saying that they were debating calling me up and he’d let me know by Thursday,” Burn says. It got to 6pm and he thought the chance was gone, telling his wife “nothing’s going to happen”. Then the text arrived.
“First of all, he said I was very unprofessional for not being in bed for 10!” Burn says laughing. “So, I apologised for that and then he said that he had been ringing everyone who hadn’t made the squad. So, again, I didn’t think I was making it.
“He just said he needed to end the day on a good note, that he wants me to be in the squad and just to sort of do what he felt my strengths were, which I explained when I spoke to him. I said exactly the same to Eddie Howe when I signed for Newcastle.”
Burn did not sleep that night and, the next morning, spoke to Howe to break the news. “I said we’ll speak about it for five minutes,” he says, explaining he did not want any distractions before the final.
“Sunday hasn’t sunk in and I don’t think it will for a long time. I still feel pretty numb about it all. I really want to feel something but my focus is completely on what I can do here for England.
“I thought I could offer just as much off the pitch as I do on. I feel like I’m a leader. He (Tuchel) said that I’ve been playing well for a long time, so obviously I’m not just coming in to sort of be a cheerleader and help the boys out. I want to play.”
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Burn, 32, hopes to be a leader in the England set-up - PA/Mike Egerton
Tuchel, clearly, has a sharp sense of humour. When he named his original 26-strong squad last Friday he talked about how Burn, despite being so tall at 6ft 7in, has been easily overlooked in the past.
“It’s probably the story my career,” Burn says. “Visually on the pitch, if I do make a mistake or something, I feel it is probably magnified just by how it looks. I was surprised how tall the gaffer is (6ft 3in). I obviously remember him from Chelsea but I never noticed!
“I did genuinely think at 32 that it had probably passed me by but when a new manager came in, there was always that feeling of ‘you never know’. Similar to when I went to Newcastle. I never thought I was going to be able to play for Newcastle. I thought that opportunity had passed me by but luckily I’ve managed to do that.”
Burn’s strong personality is as important as his ability and he says he will have no qualms about calling out senior players such as Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham, if it is needed.
“Absolutely, I’ve got no problem with that,” he says before discussing the importance of being able to communicate – maybe something that is overlooked in football.
“In meetings, sometimes people don’t want to speak up because they find it, I don’t know, a bit embarrassing,” Burn says. “I feel like the US... I love NFL and all that sort of stuff and I feel like they’re really good at. Just they’re not bothered. They’ll just say if they feel there’s something that’s going to help the group. They’ll just get up and say that and I feel that’s something probably English football in general could learn from.
“Eddie’s really pushed me out of my comfort zone… he does meetings where he encourages people to stand up and talk about what motivates them which is stuff that in the past I’ve not been keen to do. We do things in Newcastle called ‘timeline’ where you’ve got to stand up and speak for 10 minutes about anything.
“It tends to be about people’s careers and where they’ve come from. When you see people from all over the world – like we’ve got Brazilian players and people from everywhere – you see what they’ve been through to get to this position. I feel it really gives you a different perspective on each other and brings us closer together. I think it’s something that’s worked really well.”
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