The Strawberry is an institution in Newcastle. The pub, right across the street from the steps of the Gallowgate End at St James' Park, is a living monument to Premier League club Newcastle United and has been a constant on the city's landscape since 1859, long before the club and stadium arrived in the 1890s. It is where Newcastle supporters have celebrated or consoled themselves for over a century.

There are pictures of the great teams of the past -- the three-time FA Cup winners of the 1950s; the winners of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (the original version of the Europa League) in 1969 -- and there is a framed shirt, alongside an old supporters' wooden rattle, with a badge declaring Newcastle as "League Champions, Division 1, 1926-27."

But virtually everything is in black-and-white. Not as a tribute to Newcastle United's traditional colours, but because it has been so long since the club won a trophy that there were no colour photographs to document the success. The last time Newcastle won anything, Neil Armstrong was still a month away from becoming the first human to walk on the Moon. Since that Fairs Cup win against Hungary's Ujpesti Dozsa, no club in Europe as big as Newcastle has waited so long for a major trophy. Hamburg (1987), Torino (1993), Everton (1995), Espanyol (2006) and Saint-Etienne (2013) don't even come close.

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When Newcastle face Manchester United at Wembley in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday, their opponents will be aiming to end their six-year trophy drought -- a fraction of Newcastle's 54-year wait for glory.

Prior to Saturday's 2-0 loss to Liverpool in the Premier League, stalls were already selling scarves and flags for the cup final. As Jurgen Klopp's team coasted to victory, St James' Park wasn't silent or ringing to the sound of frustration, it was a wall of noise with fans singing about Wembley. A source told ESPN that some fans are already paying touts over £1,000 for tickets with a face value of less than £100.

"It's hard to put into words what it will mean if Newcastle win the cup," Thomas Concannon of Newcastle fans' group, Wor Flags, told ESPN. "For so long, it has felt as though we had no chance, that the previous owners didn't care enough to invest in the pursuit of success, so to be within 90 minutes of a first trophy for over a half a century feels incredible."

Newcastle have been runners-up in the Premier League (twice), FA Cup (three times) and Carabao Cup (once) during their drought, but there have also been four relegations, 32 managers and a series of owners.

There was a time when the ownership of the club was a local affair -- boyhood supporters who grew into successful businessmen, such as Sir John Hall and Freddie Shepherd, whose affiliation saw them spend huge sums to sign players to try to deliver success. Hall beat Manchester United to the signing of Alan Shearer for a then-world record £15 million in 1996, while Shepherd sanctioned the £16.5m deal for Michael Owen from Real Madrid in 2005.