User:Jameswheelerprofessional12


 * For the Australian club, see Newcastle United Jets.

'''Newcastle United Football Club are an English professional football team based in Newcastle upon Tyne. They play in the Premier League and are historically the seventh most successful club in English football. This takes into account all results since the beginning of English league football in 1888.

The club formed in 1892 after the merger of two local clubs, Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End, and has since played at St James' Park, the old Newcastle West End ground in the city. Newcastle United supporters refer to themselves as the "Toon Army". Newcastle's traditional local rivals are Sunderland, with whom they have contested the Tyne-Wear derby since 1898.

History

 * For more details on this topic, see History of Newcastle United F.C..

In November 1881, the Stanley Cricket Club of South Byker decided to form an association football club, to play during the winter after the Cricket season had ended. They won their first match 5-0 against Elswick Leather Works 2nd XI. Just under a year later, in October 1882, they changed their name to Newcastle East End FC to avoid confusion with the cricket club in the town of Stanley, County Durham. Meanwhile, across the city, another cricket club began to take an interest in football and in August 1882, they formed Newcastle West End FC. West End played their early football on their cricket pitch, but later moved to St James' Park.

The region's first league competition was formed in 1889 and the FA Cup began to cause interest. Ambitious East End turned professional in 1889. West End, however, did not fare so well; in Spring 1892, West End approached East End with a view to a takeover, the directors having decided that the club could no longer continue.

Ultimately, it was decided that West End's players and most of its backroom staff would join East End. East End also took over the lease on St. James' Park, this effectively merged the two rival clubs together. By December 1892, they decided to give the club a new name and a new image. At a public meeting, several new names, including Newcastle Rangers and Newcastle City, were suggested, before all agreed on Newcastle United. The FA agreed to the name change on 22 December, but the new title was not legalised until 6 September 1895, when Newcastle United Football Club Co. Ltd. was constituted.

Early League and FA Cup Champions
Newcastle United went on to lift the League Championship on three occasions during the 1900s; 1905, 1907 and 1909. They were considered one of the best teams in the country. Although there were some low points in this period. During the 1908-09 season, Newcastle recorded what is still a record home defeat in the top flight; they were beaten 9-1 by fierce rivals Sunderland, who count the result as their record highest win. Newcastle also reached five FA Cup Finals in seven years, appearing in the final of 1905, 1906, 1908, 1910 and 1911. However they went on to win just one of them, the 1910 Final against Barnsley, in a replay at Goodison Park.

After World War I, they won the League a fourth time during 1927. The team returned to the FA Cup final in 1924, in only their 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. Notable players during this period include the likes of Hughie Gallacher, Neil Harris, Stan Seymour and Frank Hudspeth.

More FA Cup success: 1950s
During the 1950s, United lifted 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 United defeated Manchester City 3-1. The Magpies had gained a high profile, and so had their players; 'Wor Jackie' Milburn and Bobby 'Dazzler' Mitchell in particular.

An old war horse returned to revitalise the Magpies in the shape of Joe Harvey, who had skippered the club to much of their post-war success. He teamed up with Stan Seymour to rebuild Newcastle United and they returned to the elite as Second Division Champions in 1965. Newcastle then became very much an unpredictable and inconsistent side, always capable of defeating the best, but never quite realising their potential.

Success in Europe
Joe Harvey's side qualified for Europe for the first time in 1968 and surprised many the following year by lifting the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (which two years later became known as the UEFA Cup), beating Sporting Lisbon, Feynoord and Real Zaragoza along the way, before triumphing over two legs against Hungary's Újpest FC in the final. 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, manager Harvey brought in a string of talented entertainers who thrilled the Gallowgate crowd. Players such as Jimmy Smith, Tony Green, Terry Hibbitt and in particular centre-forward Malcolm Macdonald all became favourites amongst supporters. Nicknamed 'Supermac', Malcolm Macdonald was one of United's most popular figures and is still held in high regard by supporters to this day. He had an impressive goalscoring tally, 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 the Magpies 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, 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 United back again to the First Division with ex-England skipper Kevin Keegan the focus of the side, having joined the club in 1982.

With managers such as Jack Charlton, Willie McFaul and Jim Smith, Newcastle remained in the top-flight until the team was relegated once more in 1989.

Newcastle rise back up
Later, Kevin 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. 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 the Magpies 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 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 became Division One champions with a 2-0 away win, coincidentally at Grimsby, and gained promotion to the Premier League.

The 1990s
Under Keegan, Newcastle 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 becoming labelled by Sky television as "The Entertainers". The following season Newcastle sold top scorer Andy Cole to Manchester United and finished 6th that season.

With the transfer money in 1995-96, Newcastle rebuilt with the signing of David Ginola and Les Ferdinand amongst others. The Toon 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 at Liverpool, which is commonly voted the best ever game in the first 14 years of the English Premier League. The following season saw Newcastle finish in second place again, despite the signing of Alan Shearer (a then world record transfer of £15 million). However the blow of a second successive failure to win the Premiership was softened as Newcastle defeated Manchester United in a famous 5-0 victory on 20 October 1996.

Keegan was replaced by Kenny Dalglish in 1997, who had a more defensive approach. United entered the Champions League, and reached the 1998 FA Cup Final, defeated 2-0 by Arsenal at Wembley in his first season. Dalgish' more cautious play was unpopular with fans of Newcastle's previous swashbuckling style, also it did not produce results so he was sacked during the 1998-99 season. Former Chelsea man Ruud Gullit, took over promising to bring back "sexy football" to Newcastle. This team managed to reach the FA Cup final that season but lost to Manchester United. However, Gullit's transfer acquisitions were unpopular, he also dropped fan favourites Robert Lee and Alan Shearer at various times. A humiliating start to the 1999-00 season saw him resign.

The Bobby Robson Era
Former England manager Sir Bobby Robson was brought in to replace Gullit, he helped the club who were struggling at the time ensure survival in the Premiership. His first home game in charge was particularly impressive; an 8-0 victory against Sheffield Wednesday, with Shearer scoring five. Over the next few seasons Robson built up a growing young squad with players such as Kieron Dyer, Craig Bellamy and Laurent Robert.

A Championship challenge emerged during the 2001-02 season, and Newcastle eventually achieved qualification for the Champions League. They also reached the quarter finals of both domestic cup competitions. They were once again nicknamed the entertainers. The following season saw another championship challenge (they finished 3rd). In the Champions League that season their fortunes were more mixed, but they managed to reach the second group phase by beating clubs such as eventual finalists Juventus. They eventually went out by losing to FC Barcelona, though their performance was enough to put the club back among the best teams in Europe.

In the following seasons a slump began. The club were unable to continue their league form and finished 5th, in Europe they went out of the Champions league, but eventually reached the semi-finals of the UEFA cup where they lost 2-0 to Olympique de Marseille. The Sir Bobby Robson era came to an end when he was dismissed on 30 August 2004 following poor onfield form. Souness was brought in for what would be a short spell, they managed to reach the quarter-final of the UEFA Cup, and the semi-final of the FA Cup but performed poorly in the league.

Souness did however manage to sign Michael Owen for a record £17 million from Real Madrid. Unfortunately, injuries meant Owen played only ten matches for Newcastle in his first six months at the club. After a poor start to the season Glenn Roeder replaced Souness; during this time Alan Shearer scored his 201st goal for Newcastle, overtaking Jackie Milburn as the club's highest ever goal-scorer. That season Newcastle earned a UEFA Cup place with a 7th place finish, they also reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. Roeder signed a couple of major players such as Damien Duff and Obafemi Martins.

Current season
In August 2006 the Magpies were one of the 11 teams to win their final round matches in the Intertoto Cup, qualifying them for the UEFA Cup. However, their start to the Premiership campaign was dismal and they looked in real danger of relegation in November 2006 — none more so than after an embarrassing 1-0 home defeat to newly promoted Sheffield United, after which around 300-500 fans staged a protest outside the club's Milburn Reception, in favour of chairman Freddy Shepherd to leave the club.

However, since then Newcastle's form has picked up, helped in part by the return from injury of Shay Given, Kieron Dyer and forward Obafemi Martins. There have also been excellent performances from many of the youth players, particularly Paul Huntington and David Edgar, who have been more than eligible deputies for their injured teammates during a season in which Newcastle has faced one of its worst ever injury crises, at one time having 14 first team players injured.

Newcastle easily secured qualification for the next round of the UEFA Cup, finishing on top of what had been labelled the "Group of Death" ahead of Celta Vigo, Palermo, Fenerbahçe and Eintracht Frankfurt. This also gave the Magpies their first major trophy since 1955—the UEFA Intertoto Cup—as the club that advanced farthest in the UEFA Cup of all the clubs that entered through the Intertoto route. They defeated Belgian side Zulte Waregem in the next knock-out round, 4-1, on aggregate. Newcastle United then faced Dutch side AZ Alkmaar in the last-16 UEFA Cup clash. Newcastle won the first leg at St James' Park, 4-2, but lost the second leg at the DSB Stadion, 2-0, which meant AZ qualified on the away goals rule after the tie ended 4-4 on aggregate.

After a spell of victories and encouraging results, Newcastle returned to the bottom half of the table after back-to-back defeats over the Christmas period. To start the New Year, Newcastle managed an encouraging 2-2 draw against league leaders Manchester United, a game remembered for stunning long range goals from James Milner and 19-year-old Canadian defender David Edgar (who was making his home debut), and a 3-2 away victory against Tottenham Hotspur, signaling a positive start to 2007.

Despite this, they crashed out of the FA Cup after a disastrous 1-5 third round replay defeat at home to Championship side Birmingham City. In the league, this was followed by a 2-2 home draw to relegation battlers West Ham United. After the last two disappointing results Newcastle bounced back, beating Aston Villa 3-1. Although their sporadic results continued with a disappointing defeat in London going down 2-1 against Fulham.

The next match was a visit from third-placed Liverpool. Newcastle overcame the odds to record a dramatic 2-1 victory after falling behind to Craig Bellamy's goal. Midfielder Nolberto Solano, scored the winning goal, a penalty. After safely negotiating their way into the last 16 of the UEFA cup with 3-1 and 1-0 wins against Zulte-Waregem, Newcastle's inconsistent form continued with a 1-0 defeat away to Wigan and a disappointing 0-0 home draw with Middlesbrough. Newcastle put their mixed Premiership form behind them with an impressive display in the UEFA Cup, scoring four goals against Dutch side AZ Alkmaar in a 4-2 home victory in the first leg. However, in the second leg, Newcastle conceded two goals at the DSB Stadion. With the tie 4-4 on aggregate, AZ went through on the away Goals rule. They then lost 2-0 to a disappointing Charlton Athletic team 3 days later. After a disappointing run of form they beat fellow strugglers Sheffield United 2-1 at Bramall Lane. 48 hours later they managed a 0-0 draw against Arsenal. Nearing the end of the season Newcastle claimed a point against Chelsea drawing 0-0, meaning none of the 'Big 4' English teams won at St James' Park in the 2006-07 season.

Newcastle's form since mid February was very poor, winning only one of their last 11 Premiership games, and failing to score in any of their last five home games.

Ultimately, on 6 May 2007, Glenn Roeder resigned as manager following an emergency board meeting just 24 hours after an embarrassing, unpassionate 2-0 home defeat to Blackburn. On 13 May they drew the final game of the season against Watford which ended 1-1, with goals being scored by Newcastle's Kieron Dyer and Watford's Marlon King.

Sam Allardyce was appointed manager on 15 May 2007 after signing a three year contract with the club. He stated that all current players had a clean slate as far as he was concerned, but despite this, one of Allardyce's first actions was to release the players Olivier Bernard, Titus Bramble, Craig Moore and Pavel Srníček. He also rejected the opportunity to sign on-loan Oguchi Onyewu. Newcastle's first signing under his tenure was player Mark Viduka on a free transfer. Scott Parker also went out the door to West Ham United on June, whilst Joey Barton from Manchester City came in to fill in the spot.

Takeover bid
On 23 May 2007 English businessman Mike Ashley bought the Hall's stake in the club of 41.6% for £55m and then launched a formal takeover bid at 100p per share, a 14% rise on the price at closing on the London Stock Exchange the day before. Chairman Freddy Shepherd, who was in hospital at the time of the bid suffering from a punctured lung, said that he planned to fight the takeover and not allow Mike Ashley to get his hands on his 29.8%. Ashley set up a company called St James Holdings Ltd, specifically to purchase shares in the club.

On the 7 June Freddy Shepherd and Shepherd Offshore Services Ltd. agreed to sell their stake in Newcastle United and released a statement urging other shareholders to do the same. It was announced that Shepherd would remain in the role of chairman.

Confirmation came on the 15 June that Mike Ashley and St. James' Holdings had acquired slightly over 77% of the club. This means that Mike Ashley can delist the company from the stock exchange, with the date of 18 July being mentioned in the release.

Colours
Newcastle originally wore red and white stripes when the East End and West End clubs unified, continuing the tradition of the defunct Newcastle East End. To avoid confusion with their neighbours Sunderland, Newcastle changed to their now familiar black and white stripes in 1904. Ever since then, this basic colour design of the home kit has remained steadfastly unchanged, although the sock colour has occasionally changed from black to white over the years - notably during the Ruud Gullit era, who believed white was lucky. They have also sometimes worn white shorts when playing other stripe-wearing teams who also wear black shorts.

Conversely, Newcastle's change or away colours have been very inconsistent, with no one particular colour being more consistently recognisable than others. In the 1970s and 1980s, the change kits were mostly yellow and green, quite similar to Norwich City's home kit - these colours are often seen on Malcolm Macdonald. Since the 1990s, the away strip has often been some shade of blue. Other common away colours are all black, all white, yellow or grey. The most unusual away colour is arguably the maroon and blue horizontal hoop colours from the 1995-96 season. These colours later returned for the 2006-07 season.

Newcastle's European shirt colours have not been consistent. Some recent examples of colours used by the club in European competition are; all yellow with black shorts, all grey with black trim and most recently sky blue and black.

Newcastle's shirt sponsors were Scottish & Newcastle Breweries from 1982 - 1986. In 1986, Greenalls took over and ran until 1990 when S & N returned for a ten year stint. In 2000, NTL took over for three years, and then the club was sponsored by Northern Rock. Newcastle's home and away kit is currently manufactured by Adidas and in the past has been manufactured by Bukta, Umbro and Asics.

Stadium

 * Main article: St James' Park

Newcastle's home stadium is St James' Park, which has been their home since the merger of East End and West End in 1891, though football was first played there in 1880. At the turn of the 20th century the ground could hold 30,000, but this was soon expanded to 60,000. However, the ground was altered little in the next 70 years, and by the 1980s was looking dated.

The Bradford fire in 1985 prompted renovation, but progress was slow due to financial difficulties. The takeover of the club by Sir John Hall in 1992 resolved these difficulties, and the stadium was redeveloped to comply with the Taylor Report. In the mid-1990s, the club wished to build a new ground in the nearby Leazes Park, however these plans were quashed. In response to this, the club expanded St. James' Park further. Following the completion of the construction in 2000, St James' Park became the club ground with the second highest capacity in England, with 52,387 seats, behind Manchester United's Old Trafford, although it later became the third highest capacity after the completion of Arsenal's Emirates Stadium.

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. This is now the Sir John Hall stand higher tier (level 7).

It was announced on 2 April 2007 that the club intend to submit plans for a new £300million development that would increase the stadium's capacity to at least 60,000.

Supporters
Newcastle have a large fanbase and the 3rd highest average attendance in England. Newcastle's supporters are considered to be a passionate set of fans. They often refer to themselves as the "The Toon Army" or the "Geordies". The name Toon originates from the geordie word for town. It is not known for sure where exactly the term Geordie comes from. It may originate from the Geordie lamps, which were miner's lamps developed by George Stephenson in 1815. However it has also been claimed that in 1745, George II recruited many troops from around the Newcastle area. They were known as "George's men", which became "Geordies men" in the local dialect, hence Geordies.

The club is based in the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, the only major club in the city. In recent times, where other clubs have attracted fanbases from all around the world, Newcastle's fanbase is still mostly within Britain, with a small percentage from other parts of the world, particularly Scandinavia and Australia.

Like all major English football clubs, Newcastle has a number of domestic supporters' clubs. The club's supporters publish fanzines such as True-Faith and The Mag. In addition to the usual English football chants, Newcastle's supporters sing the traditional Tyneside song "Blaydon Races".

Newcastle's longest-running and deepest rivalry is with their nearest major neighbour, Sunderland, colloquially known as "The Mackems", a term used by Newcastle and Sunderland residents alike. Matches between the two are referred to as Tyne-Wear derby. Newcastle also have a smaller rivalry with Middlesbrough, with whom they contest the Tyne-Tees derby.

Newcastle in popular culture
Newcastle also formed the backdrop to one of the most successful football-related films, Goal! (2005). The film is centred on a young man named Santiago Muñez (played by Kuno Becker), hoping to become a professional football player. He is signed up by Newcastle United and works his way up into the first team. On the last day of the season he scores the goal which qualifies Newcastle for the European Cup. Numerous Newcastle players appeared as themselves in the film, such as Alan Shearer, Kieron Dyer and Patrick Kluivert.

The club was the focus for another film, Purely Belter (2000). It features two teenage Newcastle United supporters desperately trying to get money by any means necessary, in order to afford season tickets for home games played by Newcastle. Alan Shearer makes another cameo appearance; he signs autographs before the boys steal his car.

Statistics and 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 and left back Frank Hudspeth comes second, having played 472 times, scoring on 37 occasions.

The club's top goalscorer with 206 goals in all competitions is former captain Alan Shearer, who surpassed Jackie Milburn's tally of 200 on 4 February, 2006 against Portsmouth. Milburn had held the record since 1957, his striking partner Len White is the third highest scorer at Newcastle with 153 goals. Albert Stubbins would be Newcastle's all time leading goal scorer but his goals are not counted as the majority were scored during the Second World War.

Newcastle's record home attendance is 68,386, against Chelsea on 3 September, 1930. The capacity of St James' Park is currently 52,387, so it is unlikely that these records will be broken in the foreseeable future. The highest attendance in the Premier League is 52,327, for a 2-0 loss against Manchester United on 28 August, 2005.

Players
As of 23 June 2007.

Managers
''As of May 15, 2007. Only competitive matches are counted.''

Honours

 * First Division and Premier League  titles: 4
 * 1904-05, 1906-07, 1908-09, 1926-27


 * Second Division titles: 2
 * 1964-65, 1992-93


 * FA Cups: 6
 * 1910, 1924, 1932, 1951, 1952, 1955


 * Charity Shields and Community Shields : 1
 * 1909


 * Inter-Cities Fairs Cup: 1
 * 1969


 * UEFA Intertoto Cup: 1
 * 2006 (first ever overall winner)


 * Texaco Cups: 2
 * 1974, 1975


 * Anglo-Italian Cup: 1
 * 1973


 * Kirin Cup: 1
 * 1983