Newcastle United F.C.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 01/2015
Full name:
Newcastle United Football Club
Nicknames:
The Magpies, The Toon, Geordies
Founded:
9 December 1892
Ground:
St James' Park
Capacity:
52,405
Owner:
Mike Ashley
Managing Director:
Lee Charnley
Manager:
John Carver (caretaker)
League:
Premier League
2013-14:
Premier League, 10th
Newcastle United Football Club (often abbreviated to NUFC) is an English professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne.
The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End, and has played at its current home ground, St James' Park, ever since.
The ground was developed into an all-seater stadium in the mid-1990s and now has a capacity of 52,405.
The club has been a member of the Premier League for all but two years of the competition's history, and has never dropped below English football's second tier since joining the Football League in 1893.
In 2007, long term chairman and owner Sir John Hall sold his share in the club to Mike Ashley.
They have won four League Championship titles and six FA Cups, as well as the 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and the 2006 UEFA Intertoto Cup.
Newcastle United has the ninth highest total of major honours won by an English club.
The club's most successful period was between 1904 and 1910, when they won an FA Cup and three of their First Division titles.
The club is the twentieth richest club in the world in terms of annual revenue, generating €115.3m in 2012.
Historically, Newcastle’s highest placing was fifth in the world.
They have a fierce local rivalry with Sunderland, and the two clubs have engaged in the Tyne–Wear derby since 1898.
The club's traditional kit colours are black and white striped shirts, black shorts and black socks.
Their traditional crest takes elements of the city coat of arms, which features two
seahorses.
HISTORY
EARLY HISTORY
The first record of football being played on Tyneside dates from 3 March 1877 at Elswick Rugby Club.
Later that year, Newcastle's first football club, Tyne Association, was formed.
The origins of Newcastle United Football Club itself can be traced back to the formation of a football club by the Stanley Cricket Club of Byker in November 1881.
This team was renamed Newcastle East End F.C. in October 1882, to avoid confusion with the cricket club in Stanley, County Durham.
Rosewood F.C. of Byker merged with Newcastle East End a short time later.
In 1886, Newcastle East End moved from Byker to Heaton.
In August 1882, Newcastle West End F.C. formed from West End Cricket Club, and in May 1886, the club moved into St James' Park.
The two clubs became rivals in the Northern League. In 1889, Newcastle East End became a professional team, before becoming a limited company the following March.
However on the other hand, Newcastle West End were in serious financial trouble and approached East End with a view to a take over.
Newcastle West End were eventually dissolved, and a number of their players and backroom staff joined Newcastle East End, effectively merging the two clubs, with Newcastle East End taking over the lease on St James' Park in May 1892
With only one senior club in the city for fans to support, development of the club was much more rapid.
Despite being refused entry to the Football League's First Division at the start of the 1892-93 season, they were invited to play in their new Second Division.
However with no big names playing in the Second Division, they turned down the offer and remained in the Northern League, stating "gates would not meet the heavy expenses incurred for travelling".
In a bid to start drawing larger crowds, Newcastle East End decided to adopt a new name in recognition of the merger.
Suggested names included Newcastle F.C., Newcastle Rangers, Newcastle City and City of Newcastle, but Newcastle United was decided upon on 9 December 1892, to signify the unification of the two teams
The name change was accepted by the Football Association on 22 December, but the club was not legally constituted as Newcastle United Football Club Co. Ltd. until 6 September 1895.
At the start of the 1893-94 season, Newcastle United were once again refused entry to the First Division and so joined the Second Division, along with Liverpool and Woolwich Arsenal.
They played their first competitive match in the division that September against Woolwich Arsenal, with a score of 2:2.
Turnstile numbers were still low, and the incensed club published a statement stating, "The Newcastle public do not deserve to be catered for as far as professional football is concerned". However, eventually figures picked up by 1895-96, when 14,000 fans watched the team play Bury.
That season Frank Watt became secretary of the club, and he was instrumental in promotion to the First Division for the 1898-99 season.
However, they lost their first game 4:2 at home to Wolves and finished their first season in thirteenth place.
In 1903-04, the club built up a promising squad of players, and went on to dominate English football for almost a decade, the team known for their "artistic play, combining team-work and quick, short passing".
Long after his retirement, Peter McWilliam, the team's defender at the time, said "The Newcastle team of the 1900s would give any modern side a two goal start and beat them, and further more, beat them at a trot."
Newcastle United went on to win the League on three occasions during the 1900s; 1904-05, 1906-07 and 1908-09.
In 1904-05, they nearly did the double, losing to Aston Villa in the 1905 FA Cup Final.
They were beaten again the following year by Everton in the 1906 FA Cup Final.
They reached the final again in 1908 where they lost to Wolves.
In 1908 the team suffered a record 9:1 home defeat to local rivals Sunderland in the league but still won that season's league title.
They finally won the FA Cup in 1910 when they beat Barnsley in the final.
They lost again the following year in the final against Bradford City.
The team returned to the FA Cup final in 1924, in the second final held at the then new Wembley Stadium.
They defeated Aston Villa, winning the club's second FA Cup.
Three years later they won the First Division championship a fourth time in 1926-27, with Hughie Gallacher, one of the most prolific goal scorers in the club's history, captaining the team.
Other key players in this period were Neil Harris, Stan Seymour and Frank Hudspeth.
In 1930, Newcastle United came close to relegation, and at the end of the season Gallacher left the club for Chelsea, and at the same time Andy Cunningham became the club's first team manager.
In 1931-32, the club won the FA Cup a third time.
However, a couple of years later, at the end of the 1933-34 season, the team were relegated to the Second Division after 35 seasons in the top. Cunningham left as manager and Tom Mather took over.
The club found it difficult to adjust to the Second Division and were nearly further relegated in the 1937-38 season, when they were spared on goal averages.
However, when World War II broke in 1939, Newcastle had a chance to regroup, and in the War period, they brought in Jackie Milburn, Tommy Walker and Bobby Cowell.
They were finally promoted back to the First Division at the end of the 1947-48 season.
During the 1950s, Newcastle won the FA Cup trophy on three occasions within a five-year period, beating Blackpool in 1951, Arsenal in 1952, and Manchester City in 1955.
However, after this last FA Cup victory the club fell back into decline and were relegated to the Second Division once again at the end of the 1960-61 season under the management of Charlie Mitten.
Mitten left after one season in the Second Division and was replaced by former player Joe Harvey.
Newcastle returned to the First Division at the end of the 1964-65 season after winning the Second Division title.
Under Harvey, the club qualified for European competition for the first time after a good run in the 1967-68 season and the following year won the 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Final, triumphing 6:2 over two legs against Hungary's Újpest in the final.
THE SEVENTIES AND EIGHTIES
Harvey bought striker Malcolm Macdonald in the summer of 1971, for a club record transfer fee of £180,000.
He was an impressive goal scorer, who led United's attack to Wembley in their 1974 FA Cup Final defeat at the hands of Liverpool.
The club also had back to back triumphs in the Texaco Cup in 1974 and 1975.
Harvey left the club in 1975, with Gordon Lee brought in to replace him.
Lee took the team to the 1976 Football League Cup Final against Manchester City, but failed to bring the trophy back to Tyneside.
However, he sold Macdonald to Arsenal at the end of the season, a decision of which Macdonald later said "I loved Newcastle, until Gordon Lee took over".
Lee left for Everton in 1977, and was replaced by Richard Dinnis.
United dropped once again to the Second Division at the end of the 1977-78 season. Dinnis was replaced by Bill McGarry, and then he was replaced by Arthur Cox.
Cox steered Newcastle back to the First Division at the end of the 1983-84 season, with players such as Peter Beardsley, Chris Waddle, and ex-England captain Kevin Keegan the fulcrum of the team.
However, with a lack of funds, Cox left for Derby County and Keegan retired.
With managers such as Jack Charlton and then Willie McFaul, Newcastle remained in the top-flight, until key players such as Waddle, Beardsley and Paul Gascoigne were sold, and the team was relegated once more at in 1989. McFaul left the managerial post, and was replaced by Jim Smith.
Smith left at the start of the 1991-92 season and the board appointed Osvaldo Ardiles his replacement.
RISE TO FAME AND TITLE CHALLENGES
Sir John Hall became the club's chairman in 1992, and replaced Ardiles with Keegan, who managed to save the team from relegation to the Third Division.
Keegan was given more money for players, and he brought in Rob Lee, Paul Bracewell and Barry Venison and the club won the then First Division Championship at the end of the 1992-93 season, earning promotion to the then new Premier League.
At the end of the 1993-94 season, their first year back in the top flight they finished in third, their highest league finish since 1927.
The attacking philosophy of Keegan led to the team being labelled "The Entertainers" by Sky Sports.
Keegan took Newcastle to two consecutive runners-up finishes in the league in 1995-96 and 1996-97, coming very close to winning the title in the former season.
This success was in part due to the talent of players like David Ginola, Les Ferdinand and Alan Shearer, who was signed on 30 July 1996 for a then world record fee of £15 million.
Keegan left Newcastle in January 1997 and was replaced by Kenny Dalglish, however the club endured a largely unsuccessful season with a thirteenth place finish in the 1997-98 FA Premier League, failure to progress beyond the group stages of the 1997-98 UEFA Champions League despite beating Barcelona and group winners Dynamo Kiev at St James Park as well as coming from 2:0 down to draw 2:2 with Valery Lobanovsky's team in Ukraine and defeat in the 1998 FA Cup Final.
Dalglish was replaced as manager early in the following season by Ruud Gullit.
The club once again finished thirteenth in the league and lost the 1999 FA Cup Final.
Gullit fell into disagreements with the squad and chairman Freddy Shepherd, and quit the club four games into the 1999–2000 season with the team bottom of the table to be replaced by Bobby Robson.
The club managed to reach an FA Cup Semi-final and to stay in the Premier League.
LEAGUE SUCCESS AND EUROPE
A title challenge emerged during the 2001-02 season, and Newcastle's fourth place finish saw them qualify for the Champions League.
The following season, Robson guided the team to another title challenge and finished third in the League, and the second group stage of the Champions League.
Newcastle finished fifth in the league at the end of the 2003-04 season, and exited the Champions League in the qualifying rounds, but despite this Robson was sacked in August 2004 following a series of disagreements with the club.
Graeme Souness was brought in to manage by the start of the 2004-05 season. In the time he managed, he broke the club's transfer record by signing Michael Owen, however he was sacked in February 2006 after a bad start to the 2005–06 season.
Glenn Roeder took over, initially on a temporary basis, before being appointed full-time manager at the end of the season.
Shearer retired at the end of the 2005-06 season as the club's all-time record goal scorer, with a total of 206 goals.
Despite finishing the 2005-06 season in seventh, Roeder's fortunes changed in the 2006-07 season, with a terrible injury run to the senior squad, and he left the club by mutual consent on 6 May 2007.
Sam Allardyce was appointed Roeder's replacement as manager on 15 May 2007.
On 7 June 2007 Freddy Shepherd's final shares in the club were sold to Mike Ashley and Shepherd was replaced as chairman by Chris Mort on 25 July.
DECLINE AND RELEGATION
Allardyce departed the club on 9 January 2008 by mutual consent after a bad start to the 2007–08 season.
On 16 January 2008, Kevin Keegan was reappointed as Newcastle manager.
Mort stepped down as chairman in June and was replaced by Derek Llambias, a long-term associate of Ashley.
Newcastle finished the 2007-08 season in twelfth place, but as the season drew to a close, Keegan publicly criticised the board, claiming they were not providing the team enough financial support.
On 4 September Keegan resigned as manager stating "It's my opinion that a manager must have the right to manage and that clubs should not impose upon any manager any player that he does not want".
Keegan stated in 2013 he would only consider returning to the club only after Mike Ashley leaves.
Former Wimbledon manager Joe Kinnear was appointed manager on 26 September 2008.
But in February 2009, Kinnear was admitted to hospital following reports of heart trouble, and subsequently underwent heart surgery, withdrawing from his managerial duties while on convalescent leave. Alan Shearer was appointed interim manager in his absence.
Under Shearer, the club were relegated to the Football League Championship at the end of the 2008–09 season, the first time the club had left the Premier League since joining it in 1993.
Following their relegation, the club was put up for sale in June 2009, with an asking price of £100 million.
Chris Hughton was given the manager job on a caretaker basis before taking over full-time on 27 October 2009.
On the same day, Ashley announced that the club was no longer for sale.
RETURN TO THE TOP
Hughton led Newcastle to win the 2009-10 Football League Championship, securing automatic promotion on 5 April 2010 with five games remaining, and securing the title on 19 April 2010; Newcastle were promoted back to the Premier League after just one season away.
Under Hughton, Newcastle enjoyed a strong start to the 2010-11 season, recording famous wins against Aston Villa, Chelsea Arsenal and archrivals Sunderland.
Despite his high popularity among fans following these memorable wins, Hughton was sacked on 6 December 2010, following a 3:1 defeat to West Bromwich Albion.
The club's board stated that they felt "an individual with more managerial experience [was] needed to take the club forward."
Three days later, Alan Pardew was appointed as manager with a five and a half-year contract.
Further controversy was caused on 31 January 2011, when striker Andy Carroll was sold to Liverpool for a club record of £35 million.
Despite this turbulence, Newcastle were able to finish twelfth at the end of the season, with one particular highlight being a 4:4 home draw against Arsenal which saw Newcastle come back from four goals down to claim a point.
The start of the 2011-12 season saw an overhaul in the first team, with the sale of influential first team players Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton and José Enrique during the summer and the elevation of Tim Krul as first choice goalkeeper and centre back Fabricio Coloccini as captain.
Signings such as Yohan Cabaye, Italian international Davide Santon and Senegalese striker Demba Ba in cut-price deals saw Newcastle adopt a new transfer policy, one which would be met with success in the season.
Newcastle went on to enjoy one of their strongest openings to a season, playing 11 consecutive games unbeaten before losing away to Manchester City.
A string of games without a win saw Newcastle drop from 3rd to 7th in the league table, however a famous win over Manchester United and the capture of Senegal striker Papiss Cissé in the January transfer window sparked a resurgence from the Magpies.
Cisse, along with the on-form Hatem Ben Arfa, inspired Newcastle to a strong second half of the season, going on a 6-game winning run and recording memorable victories against Liverpool and Chelsea to put the Magpies in contention for European football.
Newcastle eventually secured a place in the 2012-13 Europa League after a 3:0 home victory over Stoke City.
A bad run of three defeats in the last four league games ultimately ended lingering hopes of Champions League football, but Newcastle still managed to finish in 5th place, their highest league position since the Bobby Robson days.
Further honours were to come as Newcastle manager Alan Pardew won both the Premier League Manager of the Season and the LMA Manager of the Year awards.
Captain Fabricio Coloccini was named in the PFA Team of the Year, and Papiss Cisse won the Goal of the Season award for his stunning effort in a 2:0 away win against Chelsea.
The 2012-13 season saw Newcastle regain European football for the first time since 2007.
Despite the extra European matches, the acquisition of midfielders Gaël Bigirimana and Vurnon Anita proved to be the only signings in a quiet summer transfer window.
The failure to bolster the squad proved costly for Newcastle, as an extensive list of injuries developed, including layoffs to key midfielders Yohan Cabaye & Hatem Ben Arfa, and defenders Steven & Ryan Taylor.
As a result, the first half of the season was marred by a run of 10 losses in 13 games, which saw Newcastle sink near the relegation zone.
Despite this, the club were able to qualify for the knockout stages of the Europa League, finishing second in the group behind French side Bordeaux.
The disappointing first half of the season sparked great activity during the January transfer window.
Demba Ba's release clause was activated by Chelsea, but the Magpies nonetheless pioneered the arrival of five French players in Moussa Sissoko, Mathieu Debuchy, Yoan Gouffran, Massadio Haïdara and Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa.
Their arrival had an immediate impact as Newcastle rediscovered their form, winning three consecutive home games, including a memorable win over European champions Chelsea.
The club also reached the Europa League quarterfinals, defeating Metallist Kharkiv and Anzhi Makhachkala before bowing out to eventual finalists Benfica.
However, Newcastle's exit in Europe would be followed by a major slump in form, which saw them drop perilously towards the relegation zone. Newcastle lost 0:3 at home in the Tyne-Wear derby before suffering their heaviest top-flight defeat to Liverpool, when they lost 0:6 at home.
This was their worst home defeat since 1925.
Despite this, Newcastle eventually survived thanks to a 2:1 victory over already relegated Queens Park Rangers on the penultimate game of the season, lifting them to 41 points. They lost 0:1 at home to Arsenal on the final day.
They finished the season in 16th place.
On 16 June 2013, former manager Joe Kinnear announced that he was making a surprise return to the club as Director of Football, sparking an outcry from fans of the club.
Newcastle were the only club in the Premier League not to make a major signing in the summer transfer window, with Loïc Rémy the only first team player to come in (on loan).
Despite losing away heavily to Manchester City on the first day of the season (the fourth time in a row they had lost the fixture).
The Magpies went on to have a strong start the season, picking up 20 points in their first 12 games, including victories over Chelsea[& Spurs, a hard fought draw against Liverpool with ten men, and a streak of four consecutive League victories for the first time since April 2012.
The sale of key playmaker Yohan Cabaye to Paris St Germain in January 2014 precipitated a severely lacking second half to the season, marked by a string of six defeats, the worst for the club since the start of the Premier League.
Three days after Cabaye's transfer was complete, the Magpies suffered their third successive derby defeat to Sunderland for the first time since 1923 after a spineless display.
It was also the first season since 1966-67 that the Black Cats did the double over their neighbours following a 2:1 success at the Stadium of Light on 27 October 2013 and their second successive 3:0 triumph on Tyneside.
Players