5 Best Moments For Newcastle United Fans
Newcastle United has had a lot of ups and downs over its history that dates back to 1892. Today, though, we want to focus solely on the best moments for the Magpies. Here are five of those moments that every fan should know about, and perhaps go back and watch when they’re feeling down.
EFL Cup Semifinal Win
Known as the Carabao Cup for the 2022-23 season, the EFL Cup is open to all of the teams in the Premier League and English Football League. After Liverpool and Chelsea reached the final the previous year, many assumed that the two clubs would be in contention once again. Newcastle United wasn’t given much of a chance, but they made some noise early on in the tournament with wins over Tranmere Rovers and Crystal Palace.
Newcastle’s run continued with a 1-0 victory over Bournemouth, then a 2-0 victory over Leicester City in the quarterfinals. The Cinderella story brought Newcastle United into the semis with Southampton, and the club won the first leg 1-0. Newcastle didn’t let up in the second match with Sean Longstaff scoring two first-half goals to seal the deal. It sent them to the final against Manchester United, and though they lost, it was still an amazing run.
Reaching the FA Cup Finals
Winning the FA Cup has been something that has escaped Newcastle United for a long time. The club dominated the event during the early 1950s, winning three times in five years. Since 1955, however, Newcastle has yet to win the big tourney. It seemed that the drought may be coming to an end in 1998 when Newcastle United had a great run through the group stage and bracket.
Newcastle joined the tournament by defeating Everton in the third round, then defeated Stevenage Borough in a replay. Newcastle then defeated Tranmere Rovers 1-0 and Barnsley 3-1 to reach the semis. Newcastle faced Sheffield United at Old Trafford, and neither team scored in the first half. Finally, Alan Shearer netted a 60th-minute goal to put Newcastle ahead 1-0, and the match would end that way. Newcastle lost to Arsenal in the final and then in the 1999 final, but fans were enjoying the success of the late 1990s.
Champions League Clincher
The UEFA Champions League and Newcastle United unfortunately haven’t gone hand-in-hand over the years, but that doesn’t mean the club hasn’t reached the league a few times throughout its history. One of the most exciting seasons that Newcastle has had came in the 1996-97 EPL season, which interestingly started with two losses in three matches. Newcastle went on to win seven straight, though, putting them in contention for the top of the table.
Coming into the final week of the season, Newcastle needed a win over Nottingham Forest, and they needed to win big. Newcastle scored four times in the first half, including two goals in four minutes from Leslie Ferdinand. In the 77th minute, Robert Elliott netted another to make it a 5-0 score, giving Newcastle the tiebreaker on goal differential with both Arsenal and Liverpool, putting the club in the Champions League.
Promotion to the Premier League
Newcastle United was in a bad way during the early 1990s. The club played in the second division of the Football League and was nearly relegated to the third division thanks to just 52 points in 46 matches. Had they scored four fewer points, Newcastle would have indeed been sent down. The following year saw the formation of the English Premier League, with Newcastle sent to League Division One.
The club needed a big push to earn their way back to the Premier League, and it only took one season to go from 20th in the second division to number one. Newcastle clinched an EPL spot with its 89th point of the season, finishing with 96. The promotion marked a return to glory for Newcastle as the club started to find its winning way and enjoyed success throughout the rest of the decade.
Andy Cole’s Record Goal
Any time that a player has been able to score 30 or more goals in an English Premier League, it has been headline news. Scoring 34, though, that’s something that’s extremely rare. In the history of the league, it has only happened twice. If you were to ask the casual fan who the first to score 34 in a season would be, they might guess someone that played for Manchester United, Chelsea, or one of the other ‘big boys’ in the EPL.
However, the first 34-goal season belongs to Andy Cole in his first of two seasons with Newcastle United. Heading into the final match against Arsenal, Cole was looking for just one more goal. At the start of the second half, Cole did just that in front of 32,216 at St. James’ Park en route to Newcastle’s 2-0 win.