Newcastle United
Newcastle United is a football (soccer) club from England.
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Newcastle United Football Club (also known as
The Magpies,
The Toon) is an English football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, which plays in the Football League Championship, having been relegated from the English Premier League at the end of the 2008-2009 season. Newcastle United was founded in 1892 in football (soccer) after the merger of two local clubs, Newcastle East End F.C. and Newcastle West End F.C.. Since their founding year, Newcastle United have played at their home ground of St. James' Park. They have won the First Division Championship four times and the FA Cup six times, though their last league success was in 1927. In European competition the most notable honour Newcastle United has won is the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, in 1969.
The club's traditional kit colours are black and white striped shirts, with black shorts and socks. Supporters of Newcastle United refer to themselves as the
Toon Army.
Newcastle have a long-standing rivalry with neighbouring Sunderland A.F.C. with whom they have contested the Tyne-Wear derby since 1898.
History
Newcastle United was founded in 1892 in football (soccer) by the merger of two local teams Newcastle East End F.C. and Newcastle West End F.C. who were previously rivals in the Northern League (football), 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 Football League First Division on three occasions during the 1900s; 1905 in football (soccer), 1907 in football (soccer) and 1909 in football (soccer). The club's success continued in cup competitions, as they reached five FA Cup Finals in seven years, appearing in the final of FA Cup Final 1905, FA Cup Final 1906, FA Cup Final 1908, FA Cup Final 1910 and FA Cup Final 1911. However they went on to win just one of them, the FA Cup Final 1910 against Barnsley F.C., in a replay at Goodison Park. However, there was still one particular low point during this period, as Newcastle United suffered a 9–1 defeat by fierce rivals Sunderland A.F.C. in the 1908-09 in English football. Sunderland still count the result as their record highest win.
The team returned to the FA Cup Final 1924, in only the second ever final at Wembley Stadium (1923). They were successful in defeating Aston Villa F.C. and therefore winning Newcastle United's second FA Cup trophy in its history.
Newcastle won the League a fourth time in 1927 in football (soccer), 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 Newcastle United's history), Neil Harris, Stan Seymour and Frank Hudspeth.
In the years that followed European success, Harvey brought in a string of talented entertainers who thrilled the Newcastle crowd. Players such as Jimmy Smith (footballer born 1947), Tony Green (footballer), 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 in football (soccer) and 1976 in football (soccer), against Liverpool F.C. in the FA Cup and Manchester City in the Football League Cup, but on each occasion Newcastle failed to bring the trophy back to Tyneside. A small consolation was back to back triumphs in the Texaco Cup in 1974 and 1975 in football (soccer).
By the start of the 1980s, Newcastle had declined dramatically and were languishing in the Second Division. Gordon Lee (footballer) had replaced Harvey as boss, yet he in turn soon gave way to Richard Dinnis and then Bill McGarry (footballer). But it was Arthur Cox (football) who steered Newcastle back again to the First Division with ex-English national football team captain Kevin Keegan the focus of the team, having joined Newcastle United in 1982. With managers such as Jack Charlton, Willie McFaul and Jim Smith (footballer), Newcastle remained in the top-flight until Newcastle United was relegated once more in 1989.
Later, Keegan returned to Tyneside to replace Osvaldo Ardiles as manager on a short term contract in 1991-92 in English football, taking what he claimed to be the only job that could tempt him back into football. Newcastle were struggling at the wrong end of Football League Second Division; John Hall (businessman) had all but taken control of Newcastle United 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 F.C. and away to Leicester City F.C., the latter to a last minute own goal, although as it transpired, Newcastle would have survived even if they had lost at Leicester.
The 1992-93 in English football season saw a dramatic turn around in Newcastle United's fortunes. They won their first eleven league games before a 1–0 home defeat against Grimsby Town F.C. ended the run, two games short of the then English league record of 13 consecutive wins. Playing an exciting brand of attacking football Newcastle became Division One champions with a 2–0 away win, coincidentally at Grimsby, and gained promotion to the Premier League.
Under Keegan, Newcastle continued to succeed, impressing with their attacking flair and a third place finish during the 1993-94 in English football season, this was their first season back in the top flight. The attacking philosophy of Keegan led to Newcastle becoming labelled by Sky television as "The Entertainers". The 1994-95 in English football Newcastle sold top scorer Andrew Cole to Manchester United and finished 6th that season.
With the transfer money in 1995-96 in English football, Newcastle 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 F.C., 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 Newcastle United signed Alan Shearer for a then world record fee of £15 million. The 1996-97 in English football saw Newcastle 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 F.C., which remains Newcastle United's record home win. Good performances such as these helped Newcastle United ensure survival in the Premier League in Robson's first season. A title challenge emerged during the 2001-02 in English football season, and Newcastle achieved qualification for the UEFA 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 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 Newcastle United's highest ever goal-scorer. Shearer retired at the end of the 2005-06 in English football, with a total of 206 goals for the club. Despite finishing the Newcastle United F.C. season 2005-06 season well, Roeder's fortunes quickly changed in the Newcastle United F.C. season 2006-07 season, and he left Newcastle United 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 (businessman) 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 as manager, eleven years and eight days since leaving Newcastle United on 8 January 1997. A popular choice amongst many Newcastle fans Further appointments in January 2008 saw Dennis Wise join Newcastle United 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 (businessman) 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 Newcastle United 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 A.F.C. on 13 September.
Newcastle United was warned by the League Managers Association on the 5th of September 2008 to satisfy the next manager who took charge of Newcastle United to avoid a similar situation developing and damaging the clubs image. Newcastle United has since hit back at the warning claiming Keegan was aware of the structure when he joined. Keegan was however backed by the Richard Bevan, Chief Executive of the LMA, claiming a contract agreement had been broken between Keegan and the board. It was reported in December 2008 that a legal dispute was in brewing between Keegan and Mike Ashley, with Keegan claiming for breach of contract during his time at Newcastle United and Ashley claiming damage to his public image. No end result however has come to light.
On the next day in a long official statement, Ashley announced he would be putting Newcastle United up for sale, while outlining the state of Newcastle United 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 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., a drop of over 4,000 from previous lows. This was for a Football League Cup visit of Tottenham Hotspur F.C., which Newcastle 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 26 September 2008 initially on a 10 week contract. The intention was that he would manage Newcastle United until the owner Mike Ashley had sold it. Kinnear's contract was extended by one month in October 2008, and he was confirmed on November 28 as Newcastle United's manager until the end of the season.
In late December 2008, Ashley announced he had been unsuccessful in finding a suitable buyer for Newcastle United and withdrew the sale. He announced that he still had the very best intentions for Newcastle United and would continue to find ways forward for Newcastle United to progress.
Ashley was reported to have opened talks with Kinnear about a permanent move to Newcastle United as manager , however in February 2009 Kinnear was admitted to hospital following reports of heart trouble, and subsequently underwent heart surgery. Kinnear withdrew from his managerial duties while on convalescent leave.
In a surprise move on 1 April 2009, former club captain Alan Shearer took a sabbatical from his Match of the Day presenter's role to became Newcastle United's interim-manager, in an attempt to try and avoid relegation. Dennis Wise departed shortly afterwards, with Newcastle United announcing his position on the board would not be re-filled. Despite Shearer's appointment, all three North East England Premiership teams, Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesbrough faced the prospect of relegation with one game to play on Sunday 24 May 2009 threatening Newcastle's Premiership status for the first time in 16 years. Newcastle United were relegated when they lost 1-0 to Aston Villa.
Following their relegation, Newcastle United was put on sale for a price of £100 million. The Chairman Mike Ashley noted that "“It has been catastrophic for everybody. I’ve lost my money and I’ve made terrible decisions. Now I want to sell it as soon as I can." Ashley advised potential bidders to e-mail their offers to Newcastle United directly. This resulted in a large number of hoax bids, most of which were made by rival Sunderland A.F.C supporters.
Colours and badge
For much of Newcastle United's history, their home colours have been black and white striped shirts, with black shorts and black socks, though white socks are sometimes worn under some managers who consider them "lucky". For the first two years of Newcastle United's existence United continued to wear the home kit of Newcastle East End F.C., which included red shirts, white shorts and black socks; this was changed to the more familiar black and white striped kit in 1894 in football (soccer). The new colours were adopted because many clubs in the same division as Newcastle also wore red and frequently clashed, including Liverpool F.C. and Arsenal F.C.. The yellow kit was especially common throughout the 1970s and 1980s and featured a green or blue trim, depending on the season; a yellow and green striped away kit even appeared in 1988—1990. Other common change colours have been grey, all black, all white and green. A scroll at the bottom featured the city's motto in Latin;
fortiter defendit triumphans which translates into English as, "triumphing by brave defence".
From 1976—1983 Newcastle United wore a specific badge which was developed to wear in place of the city's coat of arms. The design was of a circular shape which featured Newcastle United's name in full, it contained a magpie standing in front of the River Tyne with the historic Norman castle of Newcastle in the background. A more simplistic design followed in 1983, featuring the initials of Newcastle United's name, NUFC with the small magpie used in the previous crest within the horizontally laid C, this logo was relatively short lived and was discontinued after 1988. However, the ground was altered little in the next 70 years, and by the 1980s was looking dated.
The Bradford City disaster in 1985 prompted renovation, but progress was slow due to financial difficulties. The takeover of Newcastle United by John Hall (businessman) in 1992 resolved these difficulties, and the stadium was redeveloped to comply with the Taylor Report. In the mid-1990s, Newcastle United wished to build a new ground in the nearby Leazes Park, however these plans were quashed. In response to this, Newcastle United expanded St. James' Park further. Following the completion of the construction in 2000, St James' Park became Newcastle United ground with the second highest capacity in England with 52,387 seats, behind Manchester United's Old Trafford (football ground). It later became the third highest capacity after the completion of Arsenal's Emirates Stadium. Following Newcastle's relegation to the Football League Championship in May 2009 it became the largest home stadium of a club playing outside the top flight of English football.
Two stands, the Sir John Hall stand and the Milburn stand, have two tiers and are of cantilever construction, whereas the East Stand and the Gallowgate End are roughly half as high, and each have a single tier. This can make the stadium look quite lopsided. The Gallowgate End is traditionally home to Newcastle's most vociferous supporters, as it was once the stand with no roof covering. In recent years, a fan based group named Toon Ultras to assemble in Level 7 of the Sir John Hall Stand to attempt to "Bring Back The Noise" which supporters feel was lost when Newcastle United expanded the stadium and split fans to cater for executive boxes.
It was announced on 2 April 2007 that Newcastle United intend to submit plans for a new £300 million development that would increase the stadium's capacity to at least 60,000. These plans were abandoned after the takeover of Newcastle United by Mike Ashley (businessman).
Supporters
Supporters of Newcastle United are often referred to as the
Toon Army, the
Magpies, or the
Geordies. The name
Toon originates from the Geordie pronunciation of town.
Magpies refers to the black and white colours of the club, similar to the Magpie bird.
Geordie is a regional nickname for people from Newcastle upon Tyne, of debated origin, which is often applied in the media to supporters of NUFC in general.
In a 2007 Virgin Money survey of football supporters who held season tickets or otherwise paid to attend games, it was found that Newcastle fans were the most loyal in terms of making sacrifices in order to attend the game, In a 2004 survey by Co-operative Financial Services, it was found that Newcastle topped the league table for the cost incurred and distance travelled by Newcastle based fans wishing to travel to every Premier League away game. The cost was highest whether travelling by car, train or coach. The total distance travelled was found to be equivalent to a round-the-world trip.
The club's supporters publish fanzines such as
True Faith Magazine and
The Mag and the soon to be released (April 2009)
Blaydon Races.
Following on from demonstrations against the board and Mike Ashley following the resignation of manager Kevin Keegan, on 16 September 2008 a new independent supporters group, the Newcastle United Supporters Club (originally styled the
Newcastle United Supporters Group), was set up by fanzines
True Faith Magazine and
The Mag and the fan site NUFC.com, aiming to "represent the broad church of Newcastle United's support". Another group, the Newcastle United Independent Supporters Association, had existed since 2002 and was still commenting on NUFC up to the 2008 Keegan resignation.
Rivalries
Newcastle's longest-running and deepest rivalry is with their nearest major neighbour, Sunderland A.F.C., colloquially known as the Mackems. Matches between the two are referred to as the Tyne-Wear derby. The two cities of Newcastle Upon Tyne and Sunderland are just twelve miles apart, so there is an intense feeling of a cross-town rivalry, heightened by a feeling that it is city against city with local pride at stake. Moreover, the close proximity means that as in derby matches, workmates, families and friends are often divided.
Records
Jimmy Lawrence holds the record for the most Newcastle appearances, having played 496 first-team matches between 1904 and 1921 as a goalkeeper. Former captain (football) and Defender (football) Fullback Frank Hudspeth comes second, having appeared 472 times and scoring on 37 occasions.
Alan Shearer is Newcastle United's top goalscorer with 206 goals in all competitions between 1996 and 2006 having surpassed Jackie Milburn's tally of 200 in February 2006. Milburn had held the record since 1957, his striking partner Len White is the third highest scorer at Newcastle with 153 goals. Albert Stubbins could be Newcastle's all time leading goal scorer but his goals are not counted as the majority were scored during World War II.
The most prolific goals per game striker in the history of Newcastle United is Hughie Gallacher - a strike-rate of over 82% with 143 goals in his 174 outings.
Newcastle's record home attendance is 68,386, against Chelsea F.C. on 3 September, 1930.
To the fury of the fans Gallacher had been sold to Chelsea and the Geordie public turned up by the thousand to welcome home their hero. As well as the record crowd in the ground thousands more were locked outside.
Reserves and academy
For the reserve and academy squads, see Newcastle United F.C. Reserves and Academy.
Former players and captains
For details on former players, see List of Newcastle United F.C. players and :Category:Newcastle United F.C. players.
Management
Key people
As of 10 June, 2009.
Backroom staff
As of 7 July, 2009.
Manager history
Ownership
Until 1997, Newcastle United had been owned and operated as a private company limited by shares (limited company) since its establishment on 6 September 1895.
In April 1997, following the emerging trend among other Premier League clubs, under the chairmanship of Sir John Hall Newcastle United was floated on the stock exchange as a public limited company (plc), with the stated aim of financing an enlarged Sporting Club Newcastle. The offer was less than successful, with most shares going to the Hall family, or his business partner Freddie Shepherd.
In 1997, Sir John Hall stepped down as chairman, remaining as a non-executive director, to be replaced as chairman by Freddy Shepherd, with the Hall family represented on the board by John's son, Douglass Hall and daughter Allison Antonopoulos. After a public scandal, Shepherd and Douglas Hall briefly resigned, returning after ten months in 1998.
At the end of 1998, after buying a 6.3% stake in Newcastle United for £10m, the media group Virgin Media had considered a full takeover of the club. This was later dropped after the April 1999 Competition Commission block of a proposed takeover of Manchester United by Rupert Murdoch, owner of British Sky Broadcasting.
In 2007, in a surprise move, businessman Mike Ashley purchased a 41% share in Newcastle United through a holding company St James Holdings Ltd, in a deal for the combined stakes of both Douglass and Sir John Hall, apparently without knowledge of Shepherd who was ill in hospital. Under stock market rules, the purchase required the issuing of a formal takeover offer by Ashley to all other remaining shareholders, which comprised Shepherd, fans and institutional investors, at the same price or above. In the following weeks, as Ashley gained more shares, Shepherd, although publicly having stated Newcastle United was "impossible to buy" in response to previous approaches for Newcastle United from other parties, and indicating that he may launch a counter offer, Shepherd eventually agreed to sell his 28% stake before expiry of the offer, leading to a de-listing. The shares of Newcastle United plc were de-listed from the London Stock Exchange at 8 a.m. on 18 July 2007. with Shepherd and other directors leaving Newcastle United in the following months.
While Mike Ashley (businessman) is sole owner of the holding company and hence the club, he has not given himself an official role on the board of directors of the club, first handing the chairmanship to Chris Mort on a sabbatical status, and then to Derek Llambias in time for the start of the 2008 season.
After fan protests over the shock resignation of Kevin Keegan, on 14 September 2008, Ashley announced he was putting Newcastle United up for sale, stating "I have listened to you. You want me out. That is what I am now trying to do". He stated he had spent £244m in purchasing Newcastle United and relieving debt. It was estimated by observers that while it remained a business that would interest many buyers, he would likely not be able to sell Newcastle United for more than a total of £300m.
It was reported shortly after the Ashley statement that NUFC had been one of two clubs along with Manchester City F.C that the Abu Dhabi United Group had contacted with a view to a bid, before purchasing Manchester City for a reported £200m, announced on 1 September. On 28 December 2008 the sale was called off by Ashley.
Media reports on 31 May 2009 stated that Ashley was attempting to sell Newcastle United again. On 7 June 2009, Ashley confirmed that Newcastle United was up for sale for £100m and asked potential buyers to email him with offers.
Chairman history
As of 5 August, 2008.
Sponsorship
The current main club sponsors are the Northern Rock bank and sportswear manufacturer Adidas. Through owner Mike Ashley, Newcastle United also has a relationship with the Sports Direct retail chain which he founded.
The Northern Rock deal was announced in April 2003 to run until the end of the 2004/05 season. In April 2004 this was extended to run until the end of the 2009/10 season. The Northern Rock deal provoked criticism upon the effective nationalisation of the bank in February 2008 during a credit crisis, although to put it in perspective, the current sponsorship deal was worth £25m
Newcastle United did not introduce shirt sponsorship until 1980. Newcastle United previously had a long standing relationship with the brewer Scottish & Newcastle, who owned the Tyne Brewery directly opposite the Milburn stand of St James' Park. During the 1980s and 90s Newcastle United strip featured the logos of their beer brands McEwan's (in words on the away strip only) and Newcastle Brown Ale (the home strip, both as the full bottle logo, and as simply the blue star element of the brown ale logo). After the shirt sponsorship deal ended with the transition to NTL in 2000, and the Tyne brewery closed in 2004, the relationship effectively ended on 1 July 2007 near the end of the Ashley takeover process, when Newcastle United signed a £3m supply agreement with Carling
Related pages
Arsenal, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Chelsea, Everton, Fulham, Hull City, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Middlesbrough, Newcastle United, Portsmouth, Stoke City, Sunderland, Tottenham Hotspur, West Bromwich Albion, West Ham United, Wigan Athletic