Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 1968-69
  When Newcastle United won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup back in the summer of 1969 Alan Shearer wasn't even born and The Beatles were still together.
   
 
A sight Newcastle Utd fans haven't seen often enough.

The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup started in 1955 and was originally a tournament open to cities that had hosted trade fairs, and not necessarily clubs - cities with more than one club sent representative teams (e.g. London). Barcelona won the first tournament, beating the London XI in the final.

By the mid-1960s, it was exclusively for clubs, who usually qualified by virtue of a high finish in their domestic league. However, a rule that only one club per city could enter was applied.

The competition was renamed UEFA Cup in 1971 dropping any links with trade fairs and removing the one team per city rule.

   
 

The 1967-68 season saw Newcastle finish 10th in the league with Everton, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal above them but all of those sides were unable to qualify for the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup as Liverpool and Chelsea had finished higher in the league.  The original back door cup entry has occurred.

   
  Every round in the competition was over two legs and Newcastle took to European football like a duck to water. The first game saw us take on the mighty Feyenoord at St James' Park and take them on we did, winning 4-0 backed by over 46,000 Geordies. The second leg in Holland was a tougher affair losing 2-0 but the lads had arrived on the European scene. 
   
  Up next were Portugals finest in Sporting Lisbon. Two very tight games saw us win 2-1 on aggregate and increase our European pedigree even further.
   
  Another extremely tight couple of games in the 3rd Round against Real Zaragoza of Spain saw us sneak through on away goals after finishing 4-4 on aggregate. By now our strike force of Wyn Davis and Pop Robson were taking the competition by storm scoring 6 out of our 10 goals between them.
   
  We had reached the Quarter-Finals and again faced Portuguese opposition, this time in the form of Vitoria Setubal. The 1st Leg at St James' Park attracted our biggest crowd so far in the competition, with over 57,000 fans turning up. Those fans were rewarded with a fantastic display of attacking football by Newcastle United, as we scored 2 goals in the first half, and 3 in the second half. The Davis Robson partnership upfront was too much for the Portuguese side, with Wyn Davis scoring in the first half, and Pop Robson getting 2 goals in the second. 
   
  We travelled to Portugal for the 2nd leg 5-1 up, and after another Wyn Davis goal in the first half made the score 1-1 at half time and 6-2 on aggregate, we looked to have the tie well and truly sawn up. However 2 goals in the second half by the Portuguese gave us a slight scare but we held on to lose 3-1 on the night but won the tie 6-4 on aggregate.
   
  The might of Glasgow Rangers stood between us and our first cup final since 1955. The first leg was up in Glasgow and was a hard fought game as both defences proved impossible to break down. The game finished 0-0 and we probably felt the happier of the two sides, even though we didn't have that illusive away goal.
   
  The second leg back on Tyneside took place 4 days after our last league game of the season, and again was a very tight affair, standing 0-0 at half time. Over 59,000 fans had crammed into St James Park and the entire Gallowgate End (it was used by away fans in those days) was packed with thousands of fans who had travelled down from Glasgow. The city had been a sea of Blue and White, with most Rangers fans drinking in the bars and streets all day. My Grandad who worked for British Rail at the time, said trains rolled into  Central Station all morning from Scotland with every other fan carrying a case of beer off the train.
   
  In the second half the deadlock was finally broken by Newcastle, with a Jim Scott goal and then a Jackie Sinclair goal finished off Rangers as we ran out 2-0 winners. However, the game was marred in the second half by a couple of nasty pitch invasions from the Rangers fans. Their intension, no doubt to try and get the game abandoned and force it to be replayed. Sadly the trouble didn't end there, as the Rangers fans went on the rampage in the city centre after the match smashing shop windows, burning cars and fighting with the police. Legend has it that drunken Rangers fans could still be seen wondering the streets of Newcastle 2 and 3 days after the match had finished. Today in Rosies bar, which is at the top of Stowell Street, not far from St James Park, have got framed clippings from the Evening Chronicle on the wall, which reports on the trouble during and after the match. I can't remember the exact headline but it describes the violence as the worst ever seen in Newcastle.
   
 

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