Newcastle United fanatic sells car to pay for flight from Australia to see Wembley final
A devoted Newcastle United fan has sold his car to pay for a round-the-world flight home from Australia, so he can see his team play at Wembley.
Dan Gordon has sold his Vauxhall Corsa so he could buy a plane ticket for the 10,573 mile trip from Sydney to Heathrow for the Carabao Cup final.
The 22-year-old, from Whickham in Gateshead, has been travelling around Australia since last August and is currently working on a remote farm. Despite living thousands of miles away, he has been following Newcastle United's progress in the League Cup and knew he wanted to be back on home soil to see the club in its first final since 1999 - at any cost.
Dan tasked his mother Jeni Gordon with selling his car to raise the funds. She said he was so confident that Eddie Howe's men would make the final, that he booked his flights before they even played in the semi-final against Southampton.
Ms Gordon, 53, said: "He is crackers! He had paid for his flight home before they won on Tuesday.
"I said, 'what happens if they lose' and he said, 'they'll not!' I said, 'Dan, it is a big risk to take that, it's a lot of money to lose.' But he was confident and it has paid off for him."
She added: "He stays up to watch all of the Newcastle matches in Australia. The farm is in the middle of nowhere so he has to drive himself 40 minutes to the nearest town to find a pub with the match and then go to work the next morning.
"His car has been sitting on the drive since August waiting for him to come home. He told me to sell it so he could buy a plane ticket.
"I took three photos of it and went to the pub to watch the Manchester United game by the time I went to the pub my phone was red hot with loads of calls and messages about it.
"Some bloke rang me and said he was coming over with the cash and before half time I had the money in my hand and by the car was gone."
Dan is set to arrive in London on February 23 and had planned to visit his family in Newcastle before the match just three days later.
However, Ms Gordon admitted the likelihood of Dan getting a ticket to the match was unlikely - especially as he lent his season ticket to brother Dale Gordon while he is away.
"There is only one snag to it - since he's left his brother has taken over his season ticket and he's paying for it so he's saying, 'I'll get the ticket if we go to Wembley,' but Dan's saying he's had it for 12 years... So God knows what's going to happen."
"They are all going to London, regardless of whether they get a ticket."
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