It’s safe to say I was tinged with a significant sense of jealousy last weekend. 

I’d been hosting one of my best mates from my year living in Manchester down at mine in London, a long-term United fan who had secured a ticket to Wembley for their hotly-anticipated Carabao Cup final against Newcastle. 

After a couple of evenings of football and lager-fuelled fun, I departed my house in Vauxhall to head into work for my Sunday shift – while sending him towards Wembley and a much-publicised date against Eddie Howe’s high-flying side. 

I could not have been more explicit about my level of envy towards his trip, harking back to memories of that joyous Middlesbrough showdown in 2015 and my hopes of an improbable Norwich City return under David Wagner come May.  

‘Forget the play-offs’, my mate laughed. 

‘But genuinely - do you think you’ll ever see Norwich get to a major cup final in your lifetime?’  

Having only just turned 26, I promptly retorted that I reckoned we would but, in an ever-increasing age of financial rapacity and top-flight polarisation, the odds are becoming growingly stacked against us emulating that storied Milk Cup triumph of 1985.  

And it is for that reason, and the seemingly non-existent chance of City qualifying for European football via the Premier League over the next half a century, that I feel that the club should prioritise embarking on a genuinely exciting cup run over the coming years.  

Getting to Wembley through the Championship play-offs is one thing, but the prospect of major glory in either the FA or Carabao Cup is a totally different proposition. 

And they are heights that a club our size should not be afraid of scaling, mirroring the magic of Wigan, Swansea and Birmingham in toppling the nation’s heavyweights and punching above our weight all the way to Wembley nirvana. 

Of course, it’s considerably easier said than done – but there’s no reason why we cannot do it under either Wagner, or – when the time eventually comes – any of his subsequent successors, over the course of the next 50 years.  

Football is about memories, moments, special days out with family, friends and loved ones – not necessarily battling to gritty 1-0 league wins in a bid to secure survival or, alternatively, extend an assault on promotion.   

That’s one of the principal reasons I’m a considerably greater advocate of City winning on a regular basis in the Championship, not the inevitable Premier League misery that follows and the grim idea that slugging our way to 17th somehow represents a more enjoyable experience as a fan. 

When it comes to cup football, City have not been a million miles from a potential trip to Wembley in recent years – the irony being the year we came closest was when the pandemic struck and we suffered a last-gasp defeat against Manchester United at a behind-closed-doors Carrow Road. 

But I genuinely believe it should be within the club’s interests to place greater emphasis on a cup run and, going firmly against the modern trend, throw a bit more caution to the wind when it comes to team selection, resting players and rotation in order to prioritise league fortunes. 

The Pink Un: Sheffield United's Iliman Ndiaye (right) celebrates scoring the winner against Tottenham. Sheffield United's Iliman Ndiaye (right) celebrates scoring the winner against Tottenham. (Image: PA)

Naturally, broader external factors like draws – home or away, big team or minnow – play a significant role in shaping a side like City’s FA or Carabao Cup fortunes. 

But just like the season of 2019/20, when we lowered the colours of Tottenham on that thrilling night in London, there will be a year when fortune falls in our favour and the stars may align for the club to scoop their second piece of major silverware. 

Just look at Grimsby down at Southampton this week, Sheffield United stunning Spurs and Blackburn going to Leicester to catapult themselves just a single game from Wembley. 

For now, the focus remains firmly on promotion and Wagner’s ever-improving side hauling themselves into the Championship play-off places. 

That would help tee up another trip to Wembley but, play-off jubilation and Middlesbrough memories aside, it’s a cup final outing I will continue to dream of as City chase a first major trophy for almost 40 years.