Newcastle United F.C.

Newcastle United

Full name	Newcastle United Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Magpies, The Toon
Founded	1892
Ground	St. James' Park Newcastle upon Tyne England (Capacity: 52,387 (all seated)
Owner	Mike Ashley
Managing Director	Derek Llambias
Manager	Joe Kinnear
League	Premier League
2007–08	Premier League, 12th
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

Newcastle United Football Club (also known as The Magpies or The Toon) is an English football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, who currently play in the Premier League. The club was founded in 1892 after the merger of two local clubs, Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End. Since their founding year, the club have played at their home ground of St. James' Park. Training facilities are located at Darsley 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 the club has won is the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, in 1969.

They have a long-standing and fierce rivalry with local team Sunderland. The Tyne-Wear derby between Newcastle United and Sunderland has been played since 1898. 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.

Contents 1 History 2 Colours and badge 3 Stadium 4 Supporters 5 Rivalries 6 Honours 7 Records 8 Players 8.1 Current squad 8.2 Out on loan 8.3 Reserves and academy 8.4 Former players and captains 9 Management 9.1 Key people 9.2 Coaching staff 9.3 Manager history 10 Ownership 10.1 Chairman history 11 Sponsorship 12 References 13 External links

History

Main article: History of Newcastle United F.C.

For information on the current season, see Newcastle United F.C. season 2008-09 or for previous years see Category:Newcastle United F.C. seasons.

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.^[1] 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.^[2] Newcastle United went on to win the League Championship on three occasions during the 1900s; 1905, 1907 and 1909.^[3] 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 they 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.^[4]

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.

Newcastle 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.^[1]

During the 1950s, Newcastle 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 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. He teamed up with Stan Seymour to rebuild them and they won the Second Division Champions in 1965. Newcastle 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 possessed a reliable team and Newcastle's tradition of fielding a popular goalscorer at number 9 continued, as Welshman Wyn Davies was prominent.^[5]

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, 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 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 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 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 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 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 would have survived even if they had lost at Leicester.^[6]

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.

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 Andrew 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 club 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.^[7] 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 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.^[8] 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 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 supporters.^[9]

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 the club on 7 June to Mike Ashley and was replaced by Chris Mort.

Despite making a promising start to the season, Allardyce left the club 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 the club on 8 January 1997. A popular choice amongst many Newcastle Fans^[10] 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.^[11] 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.^[12] In addition to this David Williamson was appointed Executive Director (Operations) in April 2008.^[13] 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.^[14]

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 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^[15].

On 24 September the club registered their lowest ever attendance for a competitive match since the 1993 promotion to the top flight^[16], a drop of over 4,000 from previous lows. This was for a League Cup visit of Tottenham Hotspur, 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 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.

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".^[17] For the first two years of the club's existence United continued to wear the home kit of East End, which included red shirts, white shorts and black socks; this was changed to the more familiar black and white striped kit in 1894.^[18] The new colours were adopted because many clubs in the same division as Newcastle also wore red and frequently clashed, including Liverpool and Woolwich Arsenal.^[18]

Conversely, United's change or away colours have been very inconsistent, there is no set in stone standard and the club changes the away colours often, but most commonly it has been a shade of blue (since the 1990s) or yellow.^[19] 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.^[19] The most unusual away kit was likely the maroon and navy blue horizontal hoop colours from the 1995–96 and 2006–07 seasons, it was a tribute to West End.^[19]

The first club badge which Newcastle United wore on their shirts was the armorial bearings of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne which was worn as standard from 1969—1976, though it had been worn on previous occasions far earlier especially in FA Cup finals.^[20] A scroll at the bottom featured the city's motto in Latin; fortiter defendit triumphans which translates into English as, "triumphing by brave defence".^[21]

From 1976—1983 the club 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 the club'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.^[22] A more simplistic design followed in 1983, featuring the initials of the club'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.^[22]

From 1988 onwards, the club has assumed a pseudo coat of arms representing a reversion to a more traditional design and takes elements from the city arms.^[23] The current design is black with two white pallets, echoing the club's home strip. The supporters have been taken from the city arms. The crest is slightly modified from the city's with a red pennon with a red St George's cross on a blue chief.

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.^[24] 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,^[25] behind Manchester United's Old Trafford. 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. In recent years, a fan based group named Toon Ultras has began to assemble in Level 7 of the Sir John Hall Stand to attempt to "Bring Back The Noise" which supporters feel was lost when the club expanded the stadium and split fans to cater for executive boxes.

It was announced on 2 April 2007 that the club intend to submit plans for a new £300 million development that would increase the stadium's capacity to at least 60,000.^[26]

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.^[27] 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, of debated origin, which is often applied in the media to supporters of NUFC in general.

NUFC is often equated in the media and by supporters as having one of the best supported clubs in the country on account of the high average home attendance record of St James' Park, as the third (formerly second) largest Premiership football ground by capacity since expansion in 1998. This is countered by detractors who point out that the club benefits from being located in a 'one club city', implying that other clubs in the country have to compete for support with other clubs within their catchment area. This is despite Newcastle being only the 20th largest city in England by population, and being located in only the 13th largest county in England, which also comprises Sunderland A.F.C..

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 dedicated in terms of making sacrifices in order to attend the game^[28] 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^[29]. 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.

In addition to the city and the North East of England, the club has followers in Durham^[30], Yorkshire^[31], London^[32], Isle of Man^[33], Italy^[34], Iceland^[35], Finland^[36], Scandinavia,^[37], Denmark^[38], Israel^[39], North America^[40], Australia^[41], Hong Kong^[42] and Singapore^[43].

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.^[44]

Former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair is known to be a keen supporter of Newcastle, as well as Sir Frank Williams, founder and manager of the WilliamsF1 Formula One Team, Also Auf Wiedersehen Pet Star Jimmy Nail is a big Newcastle supporter, Iron Maiden guitarist Janick Gers, racing tipster John McCririck and AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson. TV presenters Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly also known as Ant & Dec are also Newcastle fans.

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 and The Mag and the fan site NUFC.com, aiming to "represent the broad church of Newcastle United's support"^[45]. 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

Main articles: Tyne-Wear derby and Tyne-Tees derby

Newcastle's longest-running and deepest rivalry is with their nearest major neighbour, Sunderland, colloquially known as the Mackems. Matches between the two are referred to as the Tyne-Wear derby. The two cities of Newcastle and Sunderland are just ten 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 and friends are often divided.

Another rivalry is the Tyne-Tees derby between Newcastle and Middlesbrough. Although often billed as a derby by the media, many people in Newcastle dispute that this is the case. Many Newcastle fans feel that a match against a team 34 miles away does not qualify as a local derby, and believe that Newcastle's only derby is the Tyne-Wear derby with Sunderland. Sunderland fans largely feel the same with regards to the Tees-Wear derby. A poll in 2004 seems to confirm this, showing that Middlesbrough fans regard Newcastle as their biggest rivals, whilst Newcastle fans only regard Middlesbrough as their 3rd largest rivals (behind Sunderland and Manchester United).^[46]

Honours

For honours at reserve and academy level, see Newcastle United F.C. Reserves and Academy.

Newcastle United's honours include the following:^[47]

Honour	Number	Years
League
Football League First Division Champions	4	1904/05, 1906/07, 1908/09, 1926/27
Football League First Division Runners-up	2	1995/96, 1996/97
Football League Second Division Champions	3	1964/65, 1983/84, 1992/93
Football League Second Division Runners-up	2	1897/98, 1947/48
Northern League Champions	3	1902/03, 1903/04, 1904/05
Domestic Cups
FA Cup Winners	6	1910, 1924, 1932, 1951, 1952, 1955
FA Cup Runners-up	7	1905, 1906, 1908, 1911, 1974, 1998, 1999
FA Youth Cup Winners	2	1962, 1985
Football League Cup Runners-up	1	1976
FA Community Shield Winners	1	1909
FA Community Shield Runners-up	5	1932, 1951, 1952, 1955, 1996
European Cups
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Winners	1	1969
UEFA Intertoto Cup Winners	1	2006
UEFA Intertoto Cup Runners-up	1	2001
Anglo-Italian Cup Winners	1	1973
Other Cups
Kirin Cup Winners	1	1983
Texaco Cup Winners	2	1974, 1975
Sheriff of London Charity Shield Winners	1	1907
FA Premier League Asia Cup Runners-up	1	2003

Records

Main article: Newcastle United F.C. records

Jimmy Lawrence holds the record for the most Newcastle appearances, having played 496 first-team matches between 1904 and 1921 as a goalkeeper.^[48] Former captain and left back Frank Hudspeth comes second, having appeared 472 times and scoring on 37 occasions.

Alan Shearer is the club's top goalscorer with 206 goals in all competitions between 1996 and 2006^[49] 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.^[50]

The most prolific goals per game striker in the history of the club is Hughie Gallacher - a strike-rate of over 82% with 143 goals in his 174 outings.^[51]

Newcastle's record home attendance is 68,386, against Chelsea on 3 September, 1930.^[52] 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.^[51] The capacity of St James' Park is currently 52,387,^[25] so it is unlikely that these records will be broken in the foreseeable future. The highest attendance in the Premier League is 52,327, in a match against Manchester United on 28 August, 2005.^[52]

Players

Current squad

As of 1 September 2008.^[53]

No. Position Player 1 GK Shay Given 2 DF Fabricio Coloccini 3 DF José Enrique 6 DF Caçapa 7 MF Joey Barton 8 MF Danny Guthrie 9 FW Obafemi Martins 10 FW Michael Owen (captain) 11 MF Damien Duff 12 DF Sébastien Bassong 13 GK Steve Harper 14 MF Charles N'Zogbia 15 MF Ignacio González (on loan from Valencia) 17 FW Alan Smith 18 MF Jonás Gutiérrez 19 FW Xisco 20 MF Geremi (vice-captain) 21 DF Habib Beye 22 MF Nicky Butt (vice-captain) 23 FW Shola Ameobi

No. Position Player 27 DF Steven Taylor 28 DF Tamás Kádár 29 FW Fabio Zamblera 30 DF David Edgar 31 FW Frank Wiafe Danquah 32 FW Wesley Ngo Baheng 33 GK Ole Söderberg 34 GK Fraser Forster 35 DF Ben Tozer 36 FW Mark Viduka 37 DF Callum Morris 38 MF Kazenga LuaLua 39 FW Andy Carroll 41 MF Mark Doninger 42 FW Ryan Donaldson 43 MF Jonny Godsmark 44 MF James Marwood 45 DF Darren Lough 46 FW Nile Ranger

Out on loan

No. Position Player 40 GK Tim Krul (at Carlisle United)

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 9 October, 2008.

Position	Name
Owner	Mike Ashley
Honorary Life President	Sir John Hall
Managing Director & Chairman	Derek Llambias
Executive Director (Operations)	David Williamson
Executive Director (Football)	Dennis Wise
Technical Co-ordinator	Jeff Vetere

Coaching staff

As of 8 September, 2008.

Position	Name
Interim Manager	Joe Kinnear
Reserve Team Manager	vacant
First Team Coach	Chris Hughton
Goalkeeping Coach	Paul Barron
Fitness Coach	Mark Hulse
Strength and Conditioning Coach	Robbie Elliott
Masseur	Craig Russell
Academy Director	Richard Money
Academy Manager	Joe Joyce
Academy Coaches	Kenny Wharton, Alan Thompson, Steve Tweddle
Academy Goalkeeping Coach	vacant
Head Physiotherapist	Derek Wright
Physiotherapists	David Henderson, James Murphy
Academy Physiotherapist	Kevin Bell
Chief Scout	Lil Fuccillo
Scouts	Vic Halom, Pablo Longoria, Ole Nielsen
Academy Scout	Ray Gooding

Manager history

Main article: List of Newcastle United F.C. managers

Note: This is a summary list of permanent managers

Name	Nat	From	To
Selection committee	(n/a)	1892	1929
Andy Cunningham		1930	1935
Tom Mather		1935	1939
Stan Seymour		1939	1958
George Martin		1947	1950
Doug Livingstone		1954	1956
Charlie Mitten		1958	1961
Norman Smith		1961	1962
Joe Harvey		1962	1975
Gordon Lee		1975	1977
Richard Dinnis		1977	1977
Bill McGarry		1977	1980
Arthur Cox		1980	1984
Jack Charlton		1984	1985
Willie McFaul		1985	1988
Jim Smith		1988	1991
Osvaldo Ardiles		1991	1992
Kevin Keegan		1992	1997
Kenny Dalglish		1997	1998
Ruud Gullit		1998	1999
Sir Bobby Robson		1999	2004
Graeme Souness		2004	2006
Glenn Roeder		2006	2007
Sam Allardyce		2007	2008
Kevin Keegan		2008	2008
Joe Kinnear[54]		2008	- Present

Ownership

See also: List of Premier League football club owners

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 the club 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 the club for £10m, the media group NTL had considered a full takevoer of the club^[55]. This was later dropped after the April 1999 Competition Commission block of a proposed takeover of Manchester United by Rupert Murdoch, owner of BSkyB^[56].

In 2007, in a surprise move, businessman Mike Ashley purchased a 41% share in the club 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 the club was "impossible to buy" in response to previous approaches for the club 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.^[57] with Shepherd and other directors leaving the club in the following months.

While Mike Ashley 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 the club up for sale, stating "I have listened to you. You want me out. That is what I am now trying to do"^[15]. He stated he had spent £244m in purchasing the club 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 the club 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.

Chairman history

As of 5 August, 2008.

Name	Nat	From	To
Lord Westwood		1963	1981
Stan Seymour Junior		1981	1988
Gordon McKeag		1988	1990
George Forbes		1990	1992
Sir John Hall		1992	1997
Freddy Shepherd		1997	2007
Chris Mort		2007	2008
Derek Llambias		2008	Present

Sponsorship

The current main club sponsors are the Northern Rock bank and sportswear manufacturer Adidas^[58]. Through owner Mike Ashley, the club 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^[59]. 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^[60] to the club, compared to resulting Bank of England loans to Northern Rock in the order of billions of pounds, and a 6 month loss of £585m in the first half of 2008^[61]

The club did not introduce shirt sponsorship until 1980. The club previously had a long standing relationship with the brewer Scottish & Newcastle^[60], who owned the Tyne Brewery directly opposite the Milburn stand of St James' Park. During the 1980s and 90s the club strip featured the logo's 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 the club signed a £3m supply agreement with Carling^[60], although Newcastle Brown Ale would still available in some parts of the ground, and as of May 2008 the Gallowgate Stand was still labeled as the Newcastle Brown Stand on the club website 'Club Factfile' page (although with changed ticketing arrangements for the 2008/9 season, a new seating plan was expected to be issued by July 2008).

Period	Sportswear	Sponsor
1976–1979	Bukta	None
1980–1986	Umbro	Scottish & Newcastle
1986–1991		Greenall's
1991–1993		Scottish & Newcastle / McEwan's
1993–1995	Asics
1995–2000	Adidas	Newcastle Brown Ale (Scottish & Newcastle)
2000–2003		NTL
2003–		Northern Rock

References

External links

Official websites

• NUFC.co.uk Official club website
• Newcastle United at the FA Premier League official website
• Newcastle United at the UEFA official website

Notable fan sites

• NUFC.com
• Newcastle-online
• True-faith Fanzine
• footymad.net

Newcastle United F.C.
Players | Managers | Staff | Board | Reserves & Academy | Records | Current season History: History | Seasons | Newcastle East End | Newcastle West End Places: St James' Park | Kingston Park | Darsley Park | Little Benton Rivalries: Tyne-Wear derby | Tyne-Tees derby Related articles: Newcastle United WFC
Newcastle United F.C. seasons
2005–06 • 2006–07 • 2007–08 • 2008–09
Premier League 2008–09
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
Premier League seasons
001990–91 | 1991–92 | 1992–93 | 1993–94 | 1994–95 | 1995–96 | 1996–97 | 1997–98 | 1998–99 | 1999–2000 2000–01 | 2001–02 | 2002–03 | 2003–04 | 2004–05 | 2005–06 | 2006–07 | 2007–08 | 2008–09 | 2009–10