Dan Burn reveals sporting legends that had audience…

Dan Burn reveals sporting legends that had audience with Newcastle United players at training ground

Newcastle United star Dan Burn says that Toon players have been given some handy hints and tips on high-performance mentalities from club legend Nobby Solano and England cricket legend Steve Harmison.

Howe has been keen to invite some of the biggest names in sport to the club's training ground to share their experiences and chat with players after sessions at Benton. Solano spent time speaking to the club's South American stars Bruno Guimaraes, Miguel Almiron and Joelinton and met the rest of the squad before they were treated to a highlight reel of some of the Peruvian's best moments in a black and white shirt.

For Burn, meeting Solano was a chance to meet one of the legends he watched in Sir Bobby Robson's Champions League line-up. Harmison spoke to players about the high-octane occasions in sport and the intensity levels he used as an England and Durham star to blow away batting line-ups.

Burn told Chronicle Live: "Steve Harmison and Nobby Solano came in. It's passing their experiences on and us taking little bits of what they've said and applying it to the way we work.

"Obviously, not everything they say is going to be relevant to the situation we're in. In Steve Harmison's case, for example, it's a different sport, but there's mentality about professional sports in general that you can pass on, so I think it's been important and it's good to get a different perspective.

"You can get caught up in your own ideas. For us, we have the older lads like Kieran Trippier, who has played at the very top level. I've played nowhere near as high as Tripps but I feel I have the experience I can pass on to the other lads, who maybe haven't played at Wembley before or not played in games like this."

Burn has certainly done it the Wembley way earlier in his career when he netted the goal that proved to be the winner in the League One play-off final with Yeovil Town against Brentford in front of 41,955 fans a decade ago. So Burn will be looking for more of the same this time around.

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The big defender - who wrote himself into Geordie folklore with a crucial strike against Leicester City in the quarter-finals before a never to be forgotten dance in the locker room - now insists it must be about warm hearts and cool heads beneath the Wembley arch.

Burn told me: "I think so. You have to understand the passion from the city and the fans and we'll get that across to the lads. Not that they need reminding, we have a very good group here and they understand what it means to the city.

"Lads who aren't from Newcastle or from this country, they won't be short of lads telling them what it means. It's just a case of understanding how big a game it is for Newcastle but not letting that affect your mentality or emotions."

The 6ft 7in defender has never let fame get to his head though - quite simply because family life doesn't allow it. The Blyth lad doesn't have time to get too anxious off the training field.

He quipped: "Having a two and four-year-old helps! For the lads who don't have kids and family here, they might struggle with it a bit more but I don't have time to think about it.

"It's going back, school run, kids bed and relax so until we're maybe travelling and we're there, we won't put too much thought into it. I'm 30 now and I've had plenty of experience in football.

"If this was when I was 21 it would be totally different but I feel quite relaxed and feel like I've got a cold mentality when it comes to football now."

Dan Burn reveals sporting legends that had audience with Newcastle United players at training ground

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