Dan Burn revealed he has yet to celebrate Newcastle’s historic Carabao Cup triumph due to his first call-up for England.
The towering 32-year-old celebrated his maiden call into an England squad last Thursday by powering home Newcastle’s opening goal in Sunday’s Wembley win against Liverpool.
The Blyth-born defender is now hoping to make his first appearance at any level for his country in head coach Thomas Tuchel’s first game in charge in Friday’s World Cup qualifier against Albania.
Burn said: “It was strange. As soon as I left the stadium (on Sunday) my focus completely switched to this.
“I had my family here and the kids and we ended up getting on the bus about 12 o’clock back to the hotel.
“It was getting a bit rowdy and I was just ready to go to sleep! There will be time to celebrate. I know the club’s put stuff out about there being a parade (a week) on Saturday, so I think that’s when I’ll celebrate.
“But I’ve waited a long time for this opportunity and didn’t want to spoil it.”
Burn, whose career started at Darlington and has included spells at Yeovil and Wigan, admitted he felt an England call-up had passed him by.
“Yeah, I think I have been overlooked, but I understood it,” he said. “What Gareth (Southgate) did to bring England from where it was to competing in finals showed that his method was very good.
“When the new manager came in there was a clean slate, but once you’ve been passed over during so many international breaks, you sort of accept the time has passed, but luckily the new manager has taken a chance on me.
“It’s probably made me very resilient. I don’t think I’ve had a straight line trajectory in my career, I started really late and it’s been very up and down.
“I made my Premier League debut at 21 and three years later I was released by Fulham, so I feel it’s just made me stronger.
“I don’t really care about people’s opinions. I’ve learned I know what I’m good at, I know opinions that matter to me.
“I feel I’ve been doubted a lot over my career. I doubt many people who watched me play at Darlington would say that I’d be sat here doing a press conference for England.”
Burn said his aim is now to secure his place in Tuchel’s plans for the World Cup campaign and appear on football’s biggest stage.
He added: “I’m trying to take it camp by camp at the minute. I just want to make a big impression and try and make the next camp.
“But obviously it’s every kid’s dream to play in a World Cup or even to play for your country, so to know I’ve got that opportunity, if I take it, it’s special.”
