Inside St James' Park on Champions League eve - as Laurent Robert and David Ginola return
Newcastle United legends Laurent Robert and David Ginola were back on Tyneside
There was a genuine sense of anticipation in the air last night at St James' Park ahead of the huge Group F encounter against PSG.
As even the most seasoned journalists huddled around the media suite door awaiting St James' to open for the pre-match Press conference, you could feel a bit of a tingle around the place. St James' looked a little different with UEFA and Champions League logos spread around the famous old ground for the first time in 20 years.
UEFA spearheads all the operations on nights like this and everything from ensuring each broadcaster has their own room to do interviews to allocating each and every seat to the right journalist is taken into serious consideration.
READ MORE: Laurent Robert exclusive as he looks forward to clash between two old clubs
Even before Eddie Howe took the stage a UEFA official asked the cameramen to tidy up their wires so there was no clutter in shot or in danger of blocking the Champions League logos. That might sound pedantic, but for Newcastle, it feels amazing to be back.
Twenty long years have passed since United last played in the competition. At first when Sir Bobby Robson's side first missed out in 2004 after finishing fifth, just months after losing to Partizan Belgrade in a play-off, it was deemed as "just a blip".
The hope was Newcastle would be back sooner rather than later but by 2005 it had became obvious the Magpies were well off the pace. By then Chelsea had emerged with Russian billions to snare one of the coveted top four places back.
And by 2008 onwards, Manchester City had gatecrashed the party while Newcastle - under Mike Ashley - were heading to Barnsley and not Barcelona. Only a brief flirtation with Europe in 2012, when Alan Pardew's side came close to a Champions League place but ended up in the Europa League, did anybody consider life back at Europe's top table.
Fast forward to 2023, and the older generation aren't going to take this for granted. The younger ones have been advised to take it all in. Jacob Murphy's perfect "staying in the present moment" episode at the San Siro summing it all up.
And that's what it will be like tonight as welcome Paris St-Germain to St James' Park.
During a mild October night with the club crests of Newcastle and PSG draped over the dugouts and illuminated on the same scoreboard that was once faulty under Ashley, there was a hush and then a buzz was Kylian Mbappe and his team-mates walked out to train on the hallowed turf.
The floodlights then flickered into action as superstars like David Ginola and Laurent Robert watched on from the sidelines. Robert - who chatted to Chronicle Live - smiled widely when asked if he'd fancy playing for Eddie Howe's attacking team.
When asked to call a winner, the enigmatic French legend could not. He feels that both teams have enough quality to win it.
It just promises to be one heck of a game. And anybody who has their hands on a golden ticket will be witnessing history in front of their very eyes.