Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Since the formation of the club in 1892, when Newcastle East End absorbed the assets of Newcastle West End to become Newcastle United, the club has played its home matches at St James' Park. Located in the centre of Newcastle, it currently has a capacity of 52,374.
Stevenage Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. The club competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. They play their home games at Broadhall Way in Stevenage.
Stephen Roger Bruce is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back. He most recently managed West Bromwich Albion.
Graeme James Souness is a Scottish former professional football player, manager and television pundit.
Alan Smith is an English football coach and former professional footballer. Smith first came to prominence as both a striker and a right winger, however later became a holding midfielder.
Peter Andrew Beardsley is an English football coach and former footballer who played as a forward or midfielder.
James Michael Smith was an English footballer and manager. As a player, he made 249 appearances in the Fourth Division of the Football League, representing Aldershot, Halifax Town, Lincoln City and Colchester United, and played for 3+1⁄2 years for Boston United of the Northern Premier League. He began a long managerial career with Boston United, and went on to take charge of top division clubs such as Birmingham City, Newcastle United and Derby County. Smith served as a member of the board of directors of Oxford United for three years from 2006 to 2009. He served as the League Managers' Association's chief executive and was inducted into their Hall of Fame for managing over 1000 matches. He was nicknamed "The Bald Eagle".
Terence McDermott is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Nicknamed "Terry Mac", he is best known as a member of the Liverpool team of the 1970s and early 1980s, where he won three European Cups and five First Division titles. Either side of his time at Anfield, he played for Newcastle United, with his second stint seeing him reunite with former Liverpool teammate Kevin Keegan. Internationally, he was capped 25 times for England, and was part of the of UEFA Euro 1980 and the 1982 FIFA World Cup squads.
Stephen Andrew Guppy is an English football coach and former professional footballer who now coaches at Nashville SC.
Steven Craig Watson is an English football manager and former professional player who is manager of National League North club Darlington.
John Alexander Beck is an English former footballer and manager. As a player, he made nearly 500 English Football League appearances for five clubs between 1972 and 1989.
The 1988–89 season was the 90th completed season of the Football League.
The 1990–91 season was the 92nd completed season of The Football League.
The 1987–88 season was Manchester United's 86th season in the Football League, and their 13th consecutive season in the top division of English football.
On 3 April 1996, Liverpool faced Newcastle United in a Premier League fixture at Anfield, during the 1995–96 season. Liverpool won the match, scoring four goals to Newcastle's three. The winning goal was scored by striker Stan Collymore in the second minute of stoppage time. Before the match, both clubs had lost their previous fixtures but still had a chance of winning the league and wanted to close the gap between themselves and leaders Manchester United. Newcastle United, who had been 10 points ahead at Christmas, had suffered a decline during the previous two months, winning one match out of four in March 1996, and surrendering their lead of the league to Manchester United after spending virtually all of the season top of the table. Liverpool had won six of their last nine league games during February and March, scored the most goals and conceded the fewest until this match.
During the 1989–90 season, Newcastle United participated in the Football League Division Two. After the disappointment of the previous season's relegation, the manager Jim Smith again dabbled in the transfer market, offloading the captain Kenny Sansom, the former captain Glenn Roeder, Denmark's Frank Pingel, Rob McDonald and the promising youngsters Michael O'Neill and Darren Jackson.
During the 1988–89 season, Newcastle United participated in the Football League First Division. During the summer the club invested heavily in their squad, attempting to offset the loss of rising star Paul Gascoigne to Tottenham Hotspur for a then club record fee. The FA Cup winners Dave Beasant and Andy Thorn were signed from Wimbledon for £850,000 each, and the Scotsmen John Robertson and John Hendrie also joined as the club spent the £2.2 million it received for Gascoigne. The loss of Gascoigne proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back so soon after selling Peter Beardsley and Chris Waddle, and promising youngster Michael O'Neill, struggling with loss of form and injuries along with the enigmatic Brazilian Mirandinha, were in and out of the team all season.
During the 1991–92 season, English football team Newcastle United participated in the Football League Second Division.
The 1990 Football League Second Division play-off final was an association football match which was played on 28 May 1990 at Wembley Stadium, London, between Sunderland and Swindon Town. The match was to determine the third and final team to gain promotion from the Football League Second Division, the second tier of English football, to the First Division. The top two teams of the 1989–90 Football League Second Division season gained automatic promotion to the First Division, while the clubs placed from third to sixth place in the table took part in play-off semi-finals; Swindon Town ended the season in fourth position, two places ahead of Sunderland. The winners of these semi-finals competed for the final place for the 1990–91 season in the First Division. Newcastle United and Blackburn Rovers were the losing semi-finalists. This was the first season that the play-off final was determined over a single match and the first to be held at Wembley.
