1881–1903: Formation and early history The first record of football being played on
Tyneside dates from 3 March 1877 at
Elswick Rugby Club. Later that year, Newcastle's first football club, Tyne Association, was formed. The origins of Newcastle United Football Club itself can be traced back to the formation of a football club by the Stanley Cricket Club of
Byker in November 15, 1881. This team was renamed
Newcastle East End F.C. in October 1882, to avoid confusion with the cricket club in
Stanley, County Durham. Rosewood F.C. of Byker merged with Newcastle East End a short time later. In 1886, Newcastle East End moved from Byker to Heaton. In August 1882,
Newcastle West End F.C. formed from West End Cricket Club, and in May 1886 moved into
St. James' Park. The two clubs became rivals in the
Northern League. In 1889, Newcastle East End became a professional team, before becoming a limited company the following March. Newcastle West End, on the other hand, was in serious financial trouble and approached East End with a view to a takeover. Newcastle West End was eventually dissolved, and a number of its players and backroom staff joined Newcastle East End, with Newcastle East End taking over the lease on St. James' Park in May 1892. The name change was accepted by the Football Association on 22 December, but the club was not legally constituted as Newcastle United Football Club Co. Ltd. until 6 September 1895. In 1904–05, they nearly did the double, losing to
Aston Villa in the
1905 FA Cup Final. They were beaten again the following year by
Everton in the
1906 FA Cup Final. They reached the final again in 1908 where they lost to Wolverhampton Wanderers. They finally won the FA Cup in 1910 when they beat
Barnsley in the
final. They lost again the following year in the
final against
Bradford City. He was an impressive goal scorer, who led United's attack to Wembley in their
1974 FA Cup Final defeat at the hands of Liverpool. Harvey left the club in 1975, with
Gordon Lee brought in to replace him. Lee took the team to the
1976 Football League Cup Final against Manchester City, but failed to bring the trophy back to Tyneside. However, he sold Macdonald to Arsenal at the end of the season, a decision of which Macdonald later said "I loved Newcastle, until Gordon Lee took over". Lee left for Everton in 1977, and was replaced by
Richard Dinnis.
1993–2007: Into the Premier League (pictured in his second spell in 2008) guided Newcastle to promotion and Champions League football from 1992 to 1997, turning United into one of the biggest clubs in England despite not winning the league. At the end of their first year,
1993–94 season, back in the top flight they finished in third, their highest league finish since 1927. Keegan took Newcastle to two consecutive runners-up finishes in the league in
1995–96 and
1996–97, coming very close to winning the title in the former season which included a
4–3 game against Liverpool at Anfield – often considered the greatest game in Premier League history – which ended with a defining image of the Premier League with Keegan slumped over the advertising hoarding. The success of the team was in part due to the attacking talent of players like
David Ginola,
Les Ferdinand and
Alan Shearer, who was signed on 30 July 1996 for a then
world record fee of £15 million. Keegan left Newcastle in January 1997 and was replaced by
Kenny Dalglish, however the club endured a largely unsuccessful season with a 13th-place finish in the
1997–98 FA Premier League, failure to progress beyond the group stages of the
1997–98 UEFA Champions League despite beating
Barcelona and group winners
Dynamo Kyiv at home as well as coming from 2–0 down to draw 2–2 with
Valeriy Lobanovskyi's team in Ukraine and defeat in the
1998 FA Cup Final. Dalglish was replaced as manager early in the following season by
Ruud Gullit. The club once again finished 13th in the league and lost the
1999 FA Cup Final. Gullit fell into disagreements with the squad and chairman
Freddy Shepherd, and quit the club five games into the
1999–2000 season with the team bottom of the table to be replaced by
Bobby Robson. In 1999 Newcastle was
5th-highest revenue producing club in the world; second in England behind
Manchester United. managed the club for five years, departing in 2004. A title challenge emerged during the
2001–02 season, and Newcastle's fourth-place finish saw them qualify for the
UEFA Champions League. The following season, Robson guided the team to another title challenge and finished third in the League, and the second group stage of the Champions League, after being the first team to have progressed past the first group stage after losing their first three games. Newcastle finished fifth in the league at the end of the
2003–04 season, and exited the Champions League in the qualifying rounds, but despite this Robson was sacked in August 2004 following a series of disagreements with the club. mosaic during his testimonial match in May 2006. The club's record goalscorer retired that month.
Graeme Souness was brought in as manager early in the
2004–05 season. In his time at the helm, he broke the club's transfer record by signing
Michael Owen for £16.8 million. Souness also took Newcastle to the quarter-finals of the
2004–05 UEFA Cup with Alan Shearer winning the tournament's golden boot as well. However, he was sacked in February 2006 after a bad start to the club's
2005–06 season.
Glenn Roeder took over, initially on a temporary basis, before being appointed full-time manager at the end of the season. Shearer retired at the end of the 2005–06 season as the club's all-time record goal scorer, with 206 goals. In 2006, Newcastle won the
Intertoto Cup for the first time in their history, and their first European trophy since 1973. Despite finishing the 2005–06 season in seventh, Roeder's fortunes changed in the
2006–07 season, with a terrible injury run to the senior squad, and he left the club by mutual consent on 6 May 2007. After the 2006–07 season, and inside the Premier League era, Newcastle United were now the fifth most successful Premiership club in terms of points gained.
Sam Allardyce was appointed Roeder's replacement as manager on 15 May 2007.
2007–2021: Mike Ashley era On 7 June, Freddy Shepherd's final shares in the club were sold to
Mike Ashley and Shepherd was replaced as chairman by
Chris Mort on 25 July. Ashley then announced he would be delisting the club from the
London Stock Exchange upon completion of the takeover. The club officially ceased trading on the Stock Exchange as of 8am on 18 July 2007 at 5p a share. Allardyce departed the club on in January 2008 by mutual consent after a bad start to the
2007–08 season, and Kevin Keegan was reappointed as Newcastle manager. Mort stepped down as chairman in June and was replaced by
Derek Llambias, a long-term associate of Ashley. Newcastle finished the 2007–08 season in 12th place, but as the season drew to a close, Keegan publicly criticised the board, stating they were not providing the team enough financial support. In September 2008, Keegan resigned as manager, stating: "It's my opinion that a manager must have the right to manage and that clubs should not impose upon any manager any player that he does not want". Former
Wimbledon manager
Joe Kinnear was appointed as his replacement, but in February 2009, due to his heart surgery, Alan Shearer was appointed interim manager in his absence. Under Shearer, the club were relegated to the
Championship at the end of the
2008–09 season, the first time the club had left the Premier League since joining it in 1993. Following their relegation, the club was put up for sale in June 2009, with an asking price of £100 million.
Chris Hughton was given the manager job on a caretaker basis before taking over full-time on 27 October 2009. On the same day, Ashley announced that the club was no longer for sale. Hughton led Newcastle to win the
2009–10 Championship, securing automatic promotion on 5 April 2010 with five games remaining, and securing the title on 19 April; Newcastle were promoted back to the Premier League after just one season away. Under Hughton, Newcastle enjoyed a strong start to the
2010–11 season, but he was sacked on 6 December 2010. The club's board stated that they felt "an individual with more managerial experience [was] needed to take the club forward." Three days later,
Alan Pardew was appointed as manager with a five-and-a-half-year contract. Despite some turbulence, Newcastle were able to finish 12th at the end of the season, with one particular highlight being a 4–4 home draw against Arsenal that saw Newcastle come back from four goals down to claim a point. The start of the
2011–12 season was very successful as they went on to enjoy one of their strongest openings to a season, playing 11 consecutive games unbeaten. Newcastle eventually secured a place in the
2012–13 Europa League with a fifth-place finish, their highest league position since the Bobby Robson days. Further honours were to come as Pardew won both the
Premier League Manager of the Season and the
LMA Manager of the Year awards. In the following season Newcastle made few acquisitions in the summer and suffered injuries over the season. As a result, the first half of the season was marred by a run of 10 losses in 13 games, which saw the club sink near the relegation zone. The Europa League campaign was largely successful with the team making the quarter-finals before bowing out to
eventual finalists Benfica. Domestically, Newcastle struggled, and stayed up after a 2–1 victory over already-relegated
Queens Park Rangers on the penultimate game of the season. managed the club from 2016 to 2019. The
2014–15 season saw Newcastle fail to win any of their first seven games, prompting fans to start a campaign to get Pardew sacked as manager before an upturn in form saw them climb to fifth in the table. Pardew left for
Crystal Palace in December. On 26 January 2015, his assistant
John Carver was put in charge for the remainder of the season but came close to relegation, staying up on the final day with a 2–0 home win against
West Ham, with
Jonás Gutiérrez, who beat
testicular cancer earlier in the season, scoring the team's second goal. On 9 June 2015, Carver was sacked and replaced by
Steve McClaren the following day. On 11 March 2016, McClaren was sacked after nine months as manager, with Newcastle in 19th place in the Premier League and the club having won just six of 28 Premier League games during his time at the club. He was replaced by Spaniard
Rafael Benítez on the same day, who signed a three-year deal, Newcastle returned to the Premier League at the first attempt, winning the Championship title in May 2017. In October, Mike Ashley put Newcastle United up for sale for the second time. The team finished the season with a 3–0 win over
the previous year's champions Chelsea, finishing tenth in the league, their highest finish in four years. The
following season saw a 13th-place finish, despite being in the relegation zone in January. Ashley came under increased scrutiny for his lack of investment in the squad and apparent focus on other business ventures. Benitez left his position on 30 June 2019 after rejecting a new contract. On 17 July 2019, former Sunderland manager
Steve Bruce was appointed as manager on a three-year contract. Bruce oversaw 13th and 12th-placed finishes during his two full seasons in charge.
2021–present: PIF era On 7 October 2021, after 14 years as owner, Ashley sold the club to a new consortium for a reported £305 million. The consortium was made up of Saudi Arabia's
Public Investment Fund,
RB Sports & Media and
PCP Capital Partners. On 20 October, Bruce left his position by mutual consent, after receiving a reported £8 million payout.
Eddie Howe was appointed as Bruce's replacement on 8 November 2021. Howe guided the club to an 11th-place finish after a run of 12 wins in their final 18 games, and Newcastle became the first team in Premier League history to avoid relegation after failing to win any of their first 14 games. On 21 August 2022,
Newcastle United Women moved into the club's ownership for the first time, after a formal restructuring. At the end of the
2022–23 season, the club sealed qualification for the Champions League for the first time in 20 years. The season was the subject of the
Amazon Prime Video documentary
We Are Newcastle United. In the
2023–24 season, Newcastle were eliminated in the group stages of the Champions League. On 16 March 2025, Newcastle United won their first major domestic trophy since 1955 after beating
Liverpool 2–1 in the
2025 EFL Cup final through goals from
Dan Burn and
Alexander Isak. On 5 September 2025, Newcastle United announced the appointment of
David Hopkinson as Chief Executive Officer. Hopkinson, who previously held senior roles at
Real Madrid,
Madison Square Garden Sports, and
Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, succeeded
Darren Eales. His mandate includes strengthening the club’s commercial strategy, expanding its global profile, and overseeing long-term infrastructure projects. ==Club identity==