Newcastle United - History

Newcastle joined the Football League in 1893. This was a year after the expansion of the competition to two divisions.  They finished in a respectable fourth place in Division 2 and were just three points off the test matches to decide promotion and relegation issues at the end of their first season of league football.  They finished in fifth place in 1896 and 1897 before qualifying for the test matches in 1898.  Newcastle won more games than champions Burnley did, but Burnley's robust defence and eight draws were enough to clinch first place.  The test match was played in a league format, and was to prove controversial.  The two top placed clubs, Blackburn and Stoke, playing to retain their First Division places, needed a draw when they met in the second round of matches to stay ahead of third placed Newcastle.  At the Potteries, in a match described as a fraud and a fiasco, the teams played out a nil-nil draw.  Newcastle and Burnley rightly felt aggrieved and the league increased the size of the First Division to put all four clubs in the First Division and thus avoid any conflict.  The Tynesiders finished thirteenth in their first season in the top flight but, in a closely fought division, they were only six points off sixth place.  Newcastle quickly improved to become a top six side, before they finished in third place in 1902, a year in which for the first time they progressed beyond the second round of the FA Cup to reach the quarter finals.  Newcastle were establishing themselves as a force in League football. 

It was in 1905 was to be the year in which Newcastle really made their mark on the Football League.  In a closely fought Championship, free-scoring Newcastle pipped Everton to the title by a single point to win their first piece of silverware.  Newcastle missed out on a double by losing two-nil to Aston Villa in their first FA Cup final.  Everton came back to haunt Newcastle in the following year's FA Cup final as they ran out one-nil winners to leave the Tynesiders disappointed.  Newcastle were again rampant in attack when they won their second Championship in the 1906/07 season.  1908 saw another losing appearance in an FA Cup final before they won their third Championship in five years the following season, this time by an emphatic seven-point margin.  The final year of a very satisfactory decade yielded the club's first FA Cup.  The final, played at Crystal Palace ended with a one-one draw.  Newcastle won two-nil in the replay at Goodison Park to become the last team to win the second FA Cup after its design had been hijacked for a minor competition.  The club were unlucky not to retain the trophy as the following year the final went to a replay once again, this time Bradford City winning the Cup one-nil at Old Trafford after the original match had finished goalless.  Photographs of the match show Bradford defending in depth in what was Newcastle's fifth visit to Crystal Palace in seven years.  They would not reach another FA Cup final until 1924. 

There was a lean spell to follow as Newcastle managed to finish in third place in 1912 before they would finish no higher than fifth until their next Championship success in 1926/27.  At the resumption of league football after World War I, Newcastle, along with Liverpool, had become the leading exponents of the offside trap.  In 1924, this system of play helped the Tyneside club to reach their first FA Cup final since 1911, which they duly won at Wembley with Aston Villa being defeated two-nil.  Newcastle had become a top-ten side again, and the arrival of Hughie Gallagher from Airdrie in 1926 was to propel them to their next Championship.  Gallagher scored nearly a goal a game in his first full season at the club, setting a new club record of 36.  The free scoring Newcastle were let down by their away form, losing ten times away from St James' Park, which kept the Championship race alive, but in the end the reigning Champions Huddersfield did not score enough goals, drew as many games as they won, and relinquished the title.  Newcastle have not won a league Championship since 1927. 

The club's league form quickly deteriorated after the Championship, and just three years later, Newcastle had their closest brush with relegation since the joined the top flight in 1898, finishing one point above the relegation zone.  An FA Cup win in 1932 and fifth place in the league the following year showed promise of a revival, but it was to prove a false dawn, as, Newcastle were relegated in the 1933/34 season, with just ten wins from 42 games.  They failed to set the division alight in the remaining pre-war years, finishing in nineteenth place in 1938 and generally placing mid-table.  Even the Cup could provide little distraction from indifferent league form, as the Magpies would not progress beyond the fifth round until the 1946/47 season.  

The resumption of league football after World War II ushered in a new era for Newcastle as Jackie Milburn made his first appearance for the club.  Milburn was a local boy, and would remain loyal to Newcastle for eleven years, becoming the club's aggregate top scorer with 178 goals and a hero still revered on Tyneside.  Also joining the club in 1946, for a new second division record thirteen thousand pounds, was Bradford Park Avenue inside forward Len Shackleton.  The pair inspired Newcastle to fifth place in the second division and a record thirteen-nil victory over Newport County, Shackleton scoring six times.  Newcastle also reached an FA Cup semi final for the first time since they last won the trophy in 1932.  This time, they lost the tie, going out four-nil to eventual winners Charlton Athletic.  The following year saw the Magpies promoted from the second division as runners up and top scorers.  This was achieved without the aid of Len Shackleton who had been sold for a new transfer record of twenty thousand and fifty pounds to local rivals Sunderland, who finished third from bottom.  On their first season back in the top flight, Newcastle finished a creditable fourth, and just two points off the runners up spot, in a Championship race dominated by Portsmouth.  Portsmouth retained the First Division title the following season, Newcastle finishing fifth in a more open competition, which Pompey only won on goal difference.  Although Newcastle finished in fourth place in 1950/51, they were much further off the pace than they had been in the preceding two seasons.  A successful FA Cup campaign more than compensated for any decline in league form.  Their opponents en route to the final included Bolton Wanderers, Stoke City and Wolverhampton Wanderers, all First Division sides.  Blackpool, who finished third in the league, were dispatched two-nil on Cup Final day, Jackie Milburn scoring both goals.  Newcastle's season took the same pattern the following season, this time finishing eighth in the league, but beating second placed Tottenham Hotspur in the fourth round of the Cup, and meeting runners-up Arsenal in the final.  Newcastle retained the trophy with a one-nil victory.  The club's league form was now beginning a serious decline, their highest position for the rest of the decade being eighth, and finishing nineteenth in 1958.  There was to be a final moment of glory for Jackie Milburn as Newcastle won the FA Cup again in 1955, Milburn scoring the Magpies first as Manchester City were beaten three-one, but Newcastle finished seventeenth in the First Division in 1957, the year he retired.  The Magpies league form deteriorated still further and in 1961 they were relegated, having lost exactly half their matches and conceded one hundred and nine goals.  Even the FA Cup proved disappointing, Newcastle going out at the quarter final stage to Sheffield United. 

Newcastle were never in contention for promotion in their first few seasons in the Second Division until they finished in the top spot in the 1964/65 season.  Their return to the top flight was however, somewhat inglorious.  They immediately settled into mid-table and apart from occasional brushes with relegation, there would be little in the league to excite the St James' Park crowds for ten years.  Until their relegation in second from bottom place in 1978, with just six wins from forty-two games, Newcastle did not manage to finish in higher than fifth place in Division One, this coming a year earlier.  The cup competitions did offer some hope of glory when Newcastle met Liverpool in the 1974 FA Cup final, but it was not to be as Kevin Keegan and Steve Heighway scored three times between them for a three-nil win.  There was disappointment to follow two years later as Newcastle were beaten two-one by Manchester City after extra time in their only league Cup final to date.  It took the Magpies six attempts to win promotion, before they finished in the third promotion place in the 1983/84 season.  Again, the anonymity of mid-table beckoned for a few seasons until, in 1988/89, Newcastle won just seven of their thirty-eight games to finish at the bottom of the First Division.  Life outside of the top flight would also prove difficult, and just two seasons later, Newcastle appeared as though they be in further decline, with relegation into the third division for the first time in the club's history looking like a real possibility. 

It was the arrival of multi-millionaire Sir John Hall in the Chairman's Office that revived the clubs fortunes.  One of his first actions was to appoint Kevin Keegan as manager and provide the financial means to enter into the transfer market.  There was much speculation at the time as to whether Keegan would be suited to the task as since his retirement as a player, more than a decade before, he had not had any involvement in the game.  Nonetheless, Hall's millions and a cavalier style saw Newcastle promoted to the Premier League as runaway First Division champions in 1993.  Newcastle now performed well in the top flight, with an all-British team, and the public spoke of a team of eleven Geordies winning the Championship.  It was not long, however, before Newcastle were buying foreign players and the likes of Philippe Albert, David Ginola and Faustino Asprilla were soon turning out for the Magpies, and in the 1995/96 season Newcastle narrowly missed out on the Championship after leading for most of the season.  The disappointment was eased however, by the arrival of local boy Alan Shearer for a new world record fifteen million pound fee.  For once, Newcastle could afford to have the best local talent in their own team.  Just six months later, Newcastle having scored five against Manchester United and seven against Tottenham at St James' Park in the previous few weeks, Kevin Keegan shocked Tyneside when he quit as manager.  Kenny Dalglish was appointed his successor and a more pragmatic approach to the 'beautiful game' would follow.  Dalglish's time at the club was to be as unfulfilled as Keegan's had to be with the flamboyant side constructed by the former manager slowly rebuilt into a more defensively minded unit.  Dalglish, like Keegan, would leave the club having failed to win a single trophy and was replaced by the ex-Chelsea manager Ruud Gullit in 1998.  With the Dutchman unable to improve upon the rejuvenation of the club under Keegan and reverse the stagnation and relative decline under Dalglish.

The club reached the 1999 FA Cup Final, with a two nil defeat by Manchester United ruining the outing for the Toon Army.

The appointment of Bobby Robson in September 1999, at a time when the Gullit regime led the team to bottom of the FA Carling (now Barclaycard) Premiership.

After a rejuvenation under the new management a mid table table was achieved. the following season, ravished by injuries to star players, the magpies finished mid table once again, this despite good start to the season.

With the new season came new signings. Most notably local boy Robbie Elliot rejoined the club, French winger Laurent Robert arrived for ten million pounds, and young Wales international Craig Bellamy arrived for a six million pound deal. With the six million fee for Bellamy becoming a bargain fee with his input this term, with his peformances earning him the PFA Young Player of the Year Award, as well as the North East Young Player of the Year. The rejuvenated legend Alan Shearer won the senior North East award, and finished the season second joint top Premier League goal scorer, with twenty three goals. The team progressed well leading the competition for stretches of time, as Liverpool started to falter. The season highlights included the four three victory over Manchester United at St. James's Park, and a three one victory over Arsenal at Highbury. As the season reached the three quarter mark, 18 year old Jermaine Jenas was signed for five million pounds. The Nottingham Forest starlet was later to progress to the England Under 21 side. He and team mate Shola Ameobi have been selected for the European Championships. With Kieron Dyer selected for the England World Cup Squad. Shay Given and Andy O'Brien are also going to Japan and South Korea after being selected for the Republic of Ireland. Newcastle finished in fourth place after a disappointing end to season, seeing the title challenge slip away after defeats to Arsenal and Liverpool in a week, and losing an FA Cup quarter final replay to Arsenal. Newcastle have announced a friendly against European giants Barcelona on the 6th of August, have a Champions League Qualifier on the 14th of August to look forward to, and a solid team base on which to build on for the forthcoming season.

Information adapted from Championship Manager 2001/02. Additional information by yourfootball.