The club was founded in December 1892 by the merger of two local teams Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End who were previously rivals in the Northern League, but after West End fell into financial difficulties they decided to merge. The deal included the lease on West End's stadium St. James' Park and several names were suggested for the new club, including Newcastle Rangers and Newcastle City, however they chose the name Newcastle United. Newcastle United went on to win the League Championship on three occasions during the 1900s; 1905, 1907 and 1909. The club's success continued in cup competitions, as they reached five FA Cup Finals in seven years, appearing in the final of 1905, 1906, 1908, 1910 and 1911. However Newcastle United went on to win just one of them, the 1910 Final against Barnsley, in a replay at Goodison Park. However, there was still one particular low point during this period, as the team suffered a 9–1 defeat by fierce rivals Sunderland in the 1908–09 season. Sunderland still count the result as their record highest win.
Newcastle United returned to the FA Cup final in 1924, in only the second ever final at Wembley Stadium. They were successful in defeating Aston Villa and therefore winning the club's second FA Cup trophy in its history.
Newcastle United won the League a fourth time in 1927, the last time they have to date. Notable players during this period include the likes captain Hughie Gallacher (the most prolific goals per game scorer in the club's history), Neil Harris, Stan Seymour and Frank Hudspeth.
During the 1950s, Newcastle United won the FA Cup trophy on three occasions within a five year period. In 1951 they defeated Blackpool 2–0, a year later Arsenal were beaten 1–0 and in 1955 they defeated Manchester City 3–1. Newcastle United had gained a high profile, and so had their players; 'Wor Jackie' Milburn and Bobby 'Dazzler' Mitchell in particular. Other players of this time were Frank Brennan (like Mitchell a Scot), Ivor Broadis, Len White and Welshman Ivor Allchurch.
The old war horse Joe Harvey, who had captained the team to much of their post-war success, returned to revitalise Newcastle United. He teamed up with Stan Seymour to rebuild them and they won the Second Division Champions in 1965. Newcastle United then became very much an unpredictable and inconsistent team, always capable of defeating the best, but never quite realising their potential.
Harvey's team qualified for Europe for the first time in 1968 and surprised many the following year by winning the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, (which was the forerunner of the UEFA Cup), beating Sporting Lisbon, Feyenoord, Real Zaragoza and Rangers along the way, before triumphing over two legs against Hungary's Újpest in the final. Newcastle United possessed a reliable team and Newcastle's tradition of fielding a popular goalscorer at number 9 continued, as Welshman Wyn Davies was prominent.
In the years that followed European success, Harvey brought in a string of talented entertainers who thrilled the Newcastle United crowd. Players such as Jimmy Smith, Tony Green, Terry Hibbitt and in particular striker Malcolm Macdonald all became favorites among the supporters. Nicknamed 'Supermac', Malcolm Macdonald was one of Newcastle's most popular figures and is still held in high regard by supporters to this day. He was an impressive goal scorer, which led United's attack to Wembley twice, in 1974 and 1976, against Liverpool in the FA Cup and Manchester City in the League Cup, but on each occasion Newcastle United failed to bring the trophy back to Tyneside. A small consolation was back to back triumphs in the Texaco Cup in 1974 and 1975.
By the start of the 1980s, Newcastle United had declined dramatically and were languishing in the Second Division. Gordon Lee had replaced Harvey as boss, yet he in turn soon gave way to Richard Dinnis and then Bill McGarry. But it was Arthur Cox who steered Newcastle United back again to the First Division with ex-England captain Kevin Keegan the focus of the team, having joined the club in 1982. With managers such as Jack Charlton, Willie McFaul and Jim Smith, Newcastle United remained in the top-flight until the team was relegated once more in 1989.
Later, Keegan returned to Tyneside to replace Osvaldo Ardiles as manager on a short term contract in 1992, taking what he claimed to be the only job that could tempt him back into football. Newcastle United were struggling at the wrong end of Division Two; Sir John Hall had all but taken control of the club and he needed a minor miracle to stop Newcastle from tumbling into the Third Division for the first time in their history. Survival was confirmed by winning both of their final two league games, at home to Portsmouth and away to Leicester City, the latter to a last minute own goal, although as it transpired, Newcastle United would have survived even if they had lost at Leicester.
The 1992–93 season saw a dramatic turn around in the club's fortunes. They won their first eleven league games before a 1–0 home defeat against Grimsby Town ended the run, two games short of the English league record of 13 consecutive wins. Playing an exciting brand of attacking football Newcastle United became Division One champions with a 2–0 away win, coincidentally at Grimsby, and gained promotion to the Premier League.
Under Keegan, Newcastle United continued to succeed, impressing with their attacking flair and a third place finish during the 1993–94 season, this was their first season back in the top flight. The attacking philosophy of Keegan led to Newcastle United becoming labeled by Sky television as "The Entertainers". The following season Newcastle United sold top scorer Andrew Cole to Manchester United and finished 6th that season.
With the transfer money in 1995–96, Newcastle United rebuilt with the signing of David Ginola and Les Ferdinand amongst others. Newcastle United came very close to winning the Premier League that season, and were at one time 12 points ahead of nearest rivals Manchester United, but eventually lost out. One match in particular from that season stood out, the 4–3 defeat to Liverpool, which has since been described as the greatest ever Premier League match. On 30 July 1996, the disappointment of missing out on the title was lessened to an extent, as the club signed Alan Shearer for a then world record fee of £15 million. The 1996–97 season saw Newcastle United once again finish in second.
After short and unsuccessful spells as manager from Kenny Dalglish and Ruud Gullit, former England manager Sir Bobby Robson was appointed as manager. His first home game in charge was particularly impressive; it was an 8–0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday, which remains the club's record home win. Good performances such as these helped the club ensure survival in the Premier League in Robson's first season. A title challenge emerged during the 2001–02 season, and Newcastle United achieved qualification for the Champions League after finishing in 4th place. However, Robson was fired in 2004 after failing to qualify for the Champions League. Robson is still held in high regard by Newcastle United supporters.
Graeme Souness was his replacement, but he proved to be an unpopular choice being fired on 2 February 2006, despite signing Michael Owen for a record £16 million. Glenn Roeder replaced Souness; the game after his time as manager Alan Shearer overtook Jackie Milburn as the club's highest ever goal-scorer. Shearer retired at the end of the 2005–06 season, with a total of 206 goals for the club. Despite finishing the 2005–06 season well, Roeder's fortunes quickly changed in the 2006–07 season, and he left the club by mutual consent on 6 May 2007. Sam Allardyce was named as Roeder's successor on 15 May, with what proved to be Freddy Shepherd's last act as Chairman, who sold his final shares in Newcastle United on 7 June to Mike Ashley and was replaced by Chris Mort.
Despite making a promising start to the season, Allardyce left Newcastle United on 9 January 2008 by mutual consent after less than eight months in charge. It was confirmed on 16 January, that Kevin Keegan would return to Newcastle United as manager, eleven years and eight days since leaving the club on 8 January 1997. A popular choice amongst many Newcastle United fans. Further appointments in January 2008 saw Dennis Wise join the club as Executive Director (Football), as well as Tony Jimenez as Vice President (Player Recruitment) and Jeff Vetere as Technical Co-ordinator. The idea was to complete a continental-style management structure working in support of Keegan. Wise and Vetere should make the initial assessment before calling in Jimenez to do the deal. In addition to this David Williamson was appointed Executive Director (Operations) in April 2008. Mort decided to step down as managing director and chairman in June and he was replaced by Derek Llambias, a long-term associate of Ashley.
As the summer transfer window closed weeks into the 2008–09 season, after three days of talks between the board and Keegan amid press speculation on 4 September, Keegan resigned after 232 days in charge, stating he was unable to continue as manager if he was not in control of who was bought by the club. Following conflicting statements released by the club over the facts of the dispute, extensive protests occurred against the board, in particular Ashley and Wise, during the next home game against Hull City on 13 September.
On the next day in a long official statement, Ashley announced he would be putting the club up for sale, while outlining the state of the club when he found it, the financial limitations his regime was under and the changes he had made to provide a stable future for the club. While making clear that his statement was not intended to be seen as an attack on Keegan and that he was "still a fan" of Newcastle United and "did not buy Newcastle to make money", in light of safety concerns over attending future matches, he was "no longer prepared to subsidise" the club.
On 24 September the club registered their lowest ever attendance for a competitive match since the 1993 promotion to the top flight, a drop of over 4,000 from previous lows. This was for a League Cup visit of Tottenham Hotspur, which Newcastle United lost 2–1. At the time, Tottenham lay bottom of the Premier League with 2 points, while Newcastle themselves lay 2nd bottom on 4 points.
Joe Kinnear took charge of Newcastle United on 26th September 2008 initially on a 10 week contract, managing the club until the owner Mike Ashley had sold the club. His contract was extended by one month in October 2008, and he was confirmed as the club's manager until the end of the season on November 28. |