Newcastle United

Kit History

Newcastle East End

1881

Merged with Newcastle West End 1892

circa 1881 a

1890 a l

Newcastle West End

1882

Merged with Newcastle East End 1892

1881 a

Newcastle United

1892

1892 a

1894-1897 a f

1897-1898 a h

1903-1904

1905-1912 d

1923-1924 c

1926-1927 j

1931-1932

1932-1958 c m

1958-1960

1960-1961 j

1961-1965 g

1965-1966

1966-1969 a

1969-1970 j

1970-1973 i

1973-1974 b

Bukta

1974-1975 b

1975-1976 b

Bukta

1976-1978 b

Bukta

1978-1979 b

Umbro

1980-1983 b e

Umbro

1983-1985 b e

Umbro

1985-1986 b e

Umbro

1986-1987 b e

Umbro

1987-1988 b e

Umbro

1988-1989 b e

Umbro

1989-1990 b e

Umbro

1990-1991 b e n

Sponsorship changed December 1990

Umbro

1991-1993 b e h

Asics

1993-1995 b e

Adidas

1995-1997 b

Adidas

1997-1999 b e

Adidas

1999-2000 b e

Adidas

2000-2001 e

Adidas

2001-2003 b

Adidas

2003-2005 a

Adidas

2005-2007 a

Adidas

2007-2009 a

Background

The Newcastle Miscellany
By Mike Bolam
Foreword by Les Ferdinand

ISBN: 13: 978 1 905326-49-5

~~£6.49~~ £5.99 (with promotional code KITS1)

Buy from Vision Sports Publishing

During the 1880s two football clubs emerged as offshoots of cricket clubs and by 1892 Newcastle East End FC had become the strongest team in the city. Newcastle West End struggled both on the field and financially and in 1892 they went into liquidation. The East End club moved quickly to take over their assets, including their superior St James Park ground. To signify the unification of the East and West sides of the city, new club was christened Newcastle United. They continued to play in East End's red until 1894 when they adopted black and white stripes to avoid frequent colour clashes. Curiously, although the new name was recognised by the FA from September 1892, it was not until 1895 that Newcastle United was legally constituted.

In 1893 United were elected to one of the the four vacancies created by the expansion of Division Two. In 1898, Newcastle contested the test matches to decide promotion and relegation but missed out in the mini-league competition. Following allegations that the test match between Burnley and Stoke had been fixed, it was decided to expand the League with four additional places. Newcastle and Blackburn were voted into Division One (rendering the test matches meaningless). Promotion and relegation issues after this were decided automatically until the introduction of play-offs in the 1990s.

The Edwardian period proved to be Newcastle's golden age. With a squad dominated by talented Scots, United won three League Championships (1905, 1907, 1909) and reached four FA Cup Finals (1905, 1906, 1909) before winning the trophy in 1910. After the Great War, "The Magpies" won the FA Cup again in 1924 and three years later were League Champions for the fourth time (1927). In 1932 United beat Arsenal in the FA Cup final with an infamous goal that was later shown to have been scored from a cross after the ball had crossed the goal-line. Two years later the club was relegated to Division Two.

In 1948 United were promoted back to Division One in front of average home gates of 57,000. Within five years the club lifted the FA Cup three times (1951, 1952, 1955) with teams featuring the Chilean Robledo brothers, "Wor Jackie" Milburn and Bobby "Dazzler" Mitchell. This would be, sadly, the last glory that the team with such devoted support would achieve for some time. Relegated in 1961, United returned to Division One in 1965 but continued to be unpredictable.

In 1969 Newcastle unexpectedly won the Inter-City Fairs Cup (forerunner of the UEFA Cup). This proved an isolated success, however. In the 1970s the brash Macolm "Supermac" Macdonald proved one of the League's finest goalscorers but appearences in the FA Cup final (1974) and League Cup final (1976) both ended in defeat despite his presence.

In 1978, the "Toon" were relegated to Division Two and were going nowhere until ex-England skipper Kevin Keegan was persuaded to join the club as captain. Keegan inspired both players and fans and led the side to promotion in storming style in 1984. When Keegan retired, however, the club was wracked by board room struggles that ultimately saw Toon relegated again in 1989. With money drying up, star players such as Paul Gascoigne were sold off and support dwindled. In 1992, United were struggling to fend off relegation to Division Three and losing up to £700,000 a year in interest charges alone when Sir John Hall took control and appointed Kevin Keegan, out of football since he retired as a player in 1984, as manager.

Relegation was avoided and over the following seasons Hall invested millions to transform St James' Park and introduce quality players while Keegan inspired his players. Promoted to the Premiership as champions of Nationwide Division One in 1993, Toon became serious contenders for the Premiership title. In 1996 Newcastle paid a record £15m to bring Alan Shearer, a native Geordie and acknowledged as the finest centre-forward in Europe, to the club. In January Keegan decided to walk away rather than deal with the pressure of management at this level, a move that stunned everyone associated with the club. Keegan's place was taken by first Kenny Dalglish and then Ruud Gullitt, both of whom proved disastrous.

In 1999 the highly respected Bobby Robson returned to his native city to take over as manager. He stabilised the club and led them back into regular European Champions League competition. After a row in 2004, Robson was controversially replaced with Graeme Souness. Newcastle have been transformed into serious contenders for domestic and European honours but have so far failed to deliver, despite the devoted support of the Toon Army of supporters that regularly fills their ground. The signing of Michael Owen in 2005 added yet another hero to United's tradition of great centre-forwards but it remains to be seen if the back room struggles that have dogged this famous club will become a thing of the past.

Historical Football Kits

Kit History

Background

Sources