Newcastle
United

The club was founded in 1892, 15 years after Newcastle’s first club, Tyne Association, was formed. There were two teams in Newcastle in the 1880s, West End F.C., and East End. The teams effectively merged in 1892 and took over the least at St. James Park, playing in the Second Division.

The 1892-93 season was the first, and the name of Newcastle United was decided on December 9, 1892, officially unifying the two teams. The first official game for the new team was in September 1893 against the team that is now Arsenal.

Manager Frank Watt got the team promoted to the First Division in 1898-99, and they finished in 13th place. They absolutely dominated English football in the first decade of the 20th century. The first title came in 1904-05, but they lost to Aston Villa in the FA Cup Final.

They lost to Everton in the 1906 FA Cup Final but bounced back to win a second League title in 1906-07. The same pattern happened again with a 1908 FA Cup Final loss but a 1908-09 League title. With three league titles in the decade, the Magpies finally lifted the FA Cup with a win over Barnsley in 1910.

They lost in the 1911 FA Cup Final, and after World War I they didn’t return to a trophy game until 1924. In the second FA Cup Final ever played at Wembley Stadium, Newcastle United beat Aston Villa for their first trophy in 14 years. They won a fourth First Division title in 1926-27 with Hughie Gallacher as captain. Gallacher left in 1930 as the team just missed being relegated.

Andy Cunningham took over as manager. Newcastle won the FA Cup in 1931-32, but their 35-year run in the top tier ended with relegation in 1933-34.

The team barely stayed up in 1937-38, avoiding relegation on a tiebreaker. They brought in new players after World War II and earned a promotion back to the First Division in 1947-48. Newcastle returned to prominence in the 1950s with a win over Blackpool in the 1951 FA Cup. They repeated in 1952 with a win over Arsenal and grabbed a third cup in 1955 against Manchester City.

The Magpies went back down in 1960-61, and former player Joe Harvey was hired as manager. His team won the Second Division in 1964-65 and went back up. They also qualified for European competition for the first time with an appearance in the 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. They won the title with a 6-2 win on aggregate against Hungary’s Ujpest.

Newcastle United lost in the 1974 FA Cup Final to Liverpool and won a pair of Texaco Cups against teams from England, Scotland, and Ireland. Harvey left in 1975, and Gordon Lee took the team to the League Cup Final in 1976, a loss to Manchester City. The Magpies were relegated after the 1977-78 season.

Manager Arthur Cox was in charge as Newcastle earned a promotion back to the First Division in 1983-84. But key player Kevin Keegan retired, and England stars like Paul Gascoigne, Peter Bearsley, and Chris Waddle were sold. The team went back down in 1989 and were languishing toward the bottom of the table in 1992. Keegan took over as manager and avoided relegation. He then led the team to the title in 1992-93 and promotion to the brand new Premier League.

Keegan led Newcastle to a third-place finish in 1993-94, their best performance since the 1927 title. They were 10 points up on everyone else at Christmas 1995 but finished that 1995-96 season in second place. They added Alan Shearer for a world record fee, but Keegan left in January 1997, and the team again finished in second place with former Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish in charge.

They played in the 1997-98 Champions League but went out in the group stage. The highlight was a win over Barcelona at home, and Ruud Gullit took over for Dalglish. Newcastle lost the 1999 FA Cup Final.

Bobby Robson steered the team to a fourth place finish in 2001-02 and a return to the Champions League. They finished third the next year and fifth in 2003-04. Newcastle made the 2004-05 UEFA Cup quarterfinals under manager Graeme Souness and Shearer retired after the 2005-06 season with 206 goals.

Mike Ashley bought the team in June 2007 and took the team off the London Stock Exchange. The team was relegated at the end of the 2008-09 season, ending a 16-year run in the Premier League. They came back up immediately and finished 12th in the Premier League in 2010-11. They qualified for the Europa League under Alan Pardew and sat middle of the table.

The team was relegated again in 2016 but came right back up with a Championship title in 2017. They finished 10th and 13th in the Premier League under Rafael Benitez, who left in June 2019. Steve Bruce took the team to 13th and 12th place finishes during the two COVID-impacted seasons.

After years of trying, Ashley finally sold the team in October 2021 to a consortium of Saudi Arabian companies. The sale price was reported at £305 million, and the Saudis immediately bought out Bruce. With Eddie Howe as manager, Newcastle rebounded from a dismal start and finished 11th in 2021-22.

Newcastle United has a major rivalry with Sunderland, though the Tyne-Wear derby no longer .

impacts the Premier League standings. They also have a Tyne-Tees derby with Middlesbrough F.C. though Boro hasn’t been in the Premier League since 2016.