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 v

1897-1898 a h

1901-1902 t

1903-1904

1904-1907 v

1907-1908 v

1908-1914 d u v

1919-1920 o

1920-1921 v

Socks not confirmed

1923-1929 c j v

1931-1932

1932-1958 c m

1958-1960 r

1960-1963 j r v

1963-1964 g

1964-1965 1 v

newcastle united 1964-65 strip second version

1964-1965 2 v

1965-1966

1966-1969 a

newcastle united inter city fairs cup final strip 1969

1969 Fairs Cup Final

1969-1970 j

1970-1972 i

1972-1974 b s v

Bukta

1974-1975 b

1975-1976 b

Bukta

1976-1978 b

Bukta

1978-1980 b p

Umbro

1980-1981 p

Umbro

1981-1983 b e p

Plain black socks with white trim also used.

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 q

Gold sponsor's logo worn early in season

Adidas

1995-1997 b w

Adidas

1997-1999 b e w

Adidas

1999-2000 b e w

Adidas

2000-2001 e

Adidas

2001-2003 b

Adidas

2003-2005 a

Adidas

2005-2007 a

Adidas

2007-2009 a

Adidas

2009-2010 a

Puma

2010-2011 a

Background

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.

newcastle united crest 1911 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 five FA Cup Finals (1905, 1906, 1909, 1910 and 1911) but won only once, in 1910. The city's coat of arms appeared on the team's shirts for the first time in 1911.

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). newcastle united crest 1920 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.

The coat of arms of the City of Newcastle appeared on team shirts in the FA Cup Final of 1920 (and in at least some league games the following season). It was worn in every FA Cup Final United played in after this but did not appear in Football League matches until 1969-70. The scroll underneath the crest was slightly different to that worn in the 1911 final.

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). Following this success, the crest became a permanent feature on the team's shirts. This proved an isolated success, however. In the 1970s the brash Malcolm "Supermac" Macdonald newcastle united crest 1976 proved one of the League's finest goal scorers but appearances in the FA Cup final (1974) and League Cup final (1976) both ended in defeat despite his presence.

In 1976 the club adopted its own crest, which featured a magpie standing in front of a castle and above flowing water, representing the River Tyne. The choice of a roundel rather than a shield was typical of the fashion of the time. newcastle united crest 1983

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. A new crest introduced at the start of the 1983-84 season was intended to presage a new period of progress and achievement. A stylised disc made up of the letters NUFC, it was embroidered on to the striped home shirts in silver-grey, making it virtually invisible. Nevertheless, Keegan inspired both players and fans and led the side to promotion in storming style in 1984.

The new style crest was not particularly popular and in 1988 it was replaced by a more traditional but streamlined design that borrowed several elements from the city coat of arms, such as the supporters (a pair of sea-horses) while newcastle united crest 1989 the cross of St George appears on a red and blue pennant rather than a white one (possibly to avoid any suggestion of the colours of the team's greatest rivals, Sunderland.) The centre-piece is a shield in the club's famous striped colours. This elegant design has proved both popular and durable and has served unchanged for over 20 years.

When Keegan retired 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 the back room struggles and mismanagement that have dogged this famous club intensified. In May 2007 chairman, Freddy Shepherd sold his majority shareholding to Mike Ashley, a previously reclusive entrepreneur who took to sitting with fans in the stands rather than the directors' box. Ashley brought Kevin Keegan back as manager, a coup greeted with enthusiasm by the Toon Army but his decision to create a "continental management structure" that included Denis Wise as Executive Director (Football) as well as executives with responsibility for player recruitment, "technical co-ordination" and "operations" resulted in chaos. Keegan resigned after 232 days leading to vociferous demonstrations by supporters against Ashley and the board.

Ashley announced that he was putting the club up for sale and appointed Joe Kinnear as interim manager. When no buyer came forward, Ashley announced his intention to stay with the club and appoint Kinnear as permanent manager but ill-health forced Kinnear to withdraw. On 1 April 2009, with the team struggling near the foot of the table, Alan Shearer agreed to become interim-manager while Denis Wise departed a few days later. It was, however, far too late and Shearer was unable to save the club from relegation.

The following season, after Ashley failed to find a buyer, Chris Hughton was confirmed as manager and rallied the team who ran away with the Championship to bounce back immediately to the Premier League.

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Historical Football Kits

Kit History

Background

Sources