Dan Burn and Elliot Anderson have made my summer.
I think this 2026 World Cup has been excellent overall, with the Geordie duo the icing on the cake.
At times it has felt like a feature film, a farce.
A film where you have a couple of baddies that are cast in roles where they play ridiculously over the top hapless characters, whose cunning stunts are actually so transparent despite them thinking they are the clever ones who nobody will ever catch onto.
The two (very bad) baddies in this case are of course Gianni Infantino and Donald Trump. The equivalent of the clueless duo Macaulay Caulkin gets the better of in the classic Home Alone film.
It is amazing that despite everything that Trump and Infantino have done to try and derail this summer’s World Cup, it has still proved a great tournament despite their best efforts.
Anyway, back to the Geordie duo.
After the final whistle against Norway when the England players were celebrating with the fans, seeing Dan Burn and Elliot Anderson getting so emotional as they hugged each other. For sure, it was enough to make a grown man have something in his eye.
Leave aside for a moment the endless handwringing of the PSR forced sale of Anderson, just glory in this moment, this World Cup, two of our own showing a global audience the very best of what being a Geordie is. Two lads from Geordie backgrounds who represent ourselves and England in the best possible way.
Elliot Anderson is one of England’s best players, one of the five or so who are the obvious must start players (alongside Kane, Bellingham, Rice and Gordon) against Argentina, then Spain if we reach the final. I think the rest are pretty interchangable, so for me a case of Thomas Tuchel can play one of a number of players on the right wing, the same when it comes to goalkeeper and the entire defence. I don’t think any of them have shown they have to start tonight against Argentina.
At the end of that Norway match when “Hey Jude” was being sung in honour of Bellingham’s match winning performance, it was such a class moment, everybody singing along and it gets to “Na na na nananana, nannana, hey Jude” and the camera zeroes in on Elliott Anderson and instead of “Hey Jude” he clearly screams “GEORDIES”!!
From a Newcastle United perspective it is quite bizarre how the Dan Burn and Elliot Anderson story has worked out.
Dan Burn the one who went on such a long journey across non-league and all divisions and many clubs before getting his dream move to Newcastle United just ahead of turning 30, then has proved such a massive success and inspirational character.
Then Elliot Anderson did make it at Newcastle United and would have become a first team regular for sure in time but who then was forced to go on his own alternative journey to England stardom thanks to PSR impacting NUFC.
After England defeated Croatia 4-2 in their opening group match, Dan Burn was asked about his fellow Geordie and England colleague. “He is very composed and nothing really seems to faze Elliot from what I have seen. From him coming through as a kid, training with Newcastle, to now starting in the World Cup. Never changes character, always wanting the ball. Plays with that intensity the manager loves. I was really so happy for him the other day [in the win over Croatia] because he’s had a tough time in his personal life. He has shown the quality he has got.”
Dan Burn also giving an interesting perspective on the Elliot Anderson situation: “I don’t think he wanted to leave Newcastle [in a forced sale to Nottingham Forest due to PSR situation in June 2024) but would he be in the position he is in now if still was at Newcastle?”
I think that the 2024/25 season Elliot Anderson would still have been more of a squad player with Bruno, Joelinton and Tonali the first choice midfield trio. Then last (2025/26) season I think Anderson would have become a first choice player, almost certainly at the expense of Joelinton. However, that probably wouldn’t have given Anderson enough time on the pitch to convince Thomas Tuchel ahead of and during the qualifying process for this 2026 World Cup. I certainly don’t think Elliot Anderson would have ended up an automatic starter for England in these World Cup finals, maybe he would have made the squad but possibly not. It is strange to think we could be sitting here now with Dan Burn having still been named by Thomas Tuchel in his squad but Elliot Anderson watching the World Cup on TV back on Tyneside.
As Newcastle United fans we have all come to realise over a number of years just what a great player and huge character Dan Burn is. So I am absolutely loving the fact that he has also become such a cult hero for England and indeed across the world. So many journalists and pundits ‘forgetting’ the lazy and ignorant views they expressed when Thomas Tuchel selected Dan Burn in his World Cup squad (indeed most of the journalists and pundits said the same when Eddie Howe signed him and he went on to be such a key figure in two Champions League qualifications and winning a trophy), now they are joining in with the acknowledgement that just maybe Tuchel knows what he is doing. Dan Burn excellent when asked to come on and do a job against Mexico and Norway.
Most of the time social media feeds so much that is negative into our lives BUT the Dan Burn sub appearances have unleashed such incredible reactions, including from so many who have no Newcastle United connection, or indeed in numerous cases, not even any England connection.
The coverage given to and the revisiting of his role in defending the lead at the Azteca Stadium was immense, then doing the same against Norway and THAT header when he put the ball AND the Norwegian player into the middle of next week, people are just loving it.
They aren’t the only good guys of course connected with this 2026 World Cup but Elliot Anderson and Dan Burn have for me proved to be the perfect counterbalance to the evil of Gianni Infantino and Donald Trump.
Long may it continue and everybody join in now with Elliot Anderson, get ready for Atlanta tonight, “Na na na nananana, nannana, GEORDIES”!!!