It was forty years ago today, when Joe Harvey’s boys taught them how to play!
11th June 2009


You have to go back to a year when The Beatles gave their last public performance, the Woodstock Festival was first held, Pelé scored his 1,000th goal, England were still World Champions, the first message was sent over ARPANET (the forerunner of the internet), Richard Nixon became the 37th President of the United States of America, the Boeing 747 jumbo jet made its maiden flight, war existed in Vietnam, the Communist Party controlled the East and the West put the first man on the Moon, for the last time Newcastle United Football Club won a major trophy.

That year was 1969 and Newcastle won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.
 

The 1967/68 season had seen Newcastle finish 10th in the First Division, but due to the fact the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup had an obscure one club per city rule, it meant Newcastle qualified for it’s first European competition ahead of Everton, Tottenham Hotspur, and Arsenal because Liverpool and Chelsea had already qualified further up the table.
 
The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup started in 1955 and was originally a tournament open to cities that had hosted trade fairs, and not necessarily football clubs - cities with more than one club sent representative teams.  Barcelona won the first tournament, beating a London XI in the final.

By the mid-1960s, the cup was exclusively for football clubs who usually qualified by virtue of a high finish in their domestic league.  The competition was renamed UEFA Cup in 1971 dropping any links with trade fairs and removing the one club per city rule.

For the 1968-69 competition each round was played over two legs, and the 1st round lined up with the likes of Liverpool, Juventus, Marseille, Feyenoord, Lyon, Valencia, Fiorentina, Napoli, Chelsea, Leeds United, SV Hamburg, Sporting Lisbon, Real Zaragoza and Athletic Bilbao all taking part.

The 1st Round saw Newcastle given a tough draw against the mighty Feyenoord, who were eventual Dutch Champions that season.  Feyenoord had a side packed full of internationals with masses of European experience and they eventual went on to win the European Cup in 1970.

Despite the huge gulf between the teams, goals from Jim Scott, Pop Robson, Tommy Gibb and Wyn Davies saw Newcastle cruise to a 4-0 victory at St James’ Park with some free flowing football their more illustration opponents would have been proud of.

The second leg was much tougher encounter for Newcastle, as the Dutch side played their usual brilliant inventive football that was missing on Tyneside. The game was one-way traffic with Newcastle forced into a rear guard action and thanks to a magnificent defensive display from defenders Ollie Burton and John McNamee United restricted Feyenoord to only a 0-2 win, meaning Newcastle had arrived on the European scene with an impressive 4-2 aggregate victory that surprised many experts.


Up next in the 2nd Round were Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon. Sporting had finished runners-up to Benfica in the Portuguese First Division and were another side liberally sprinkled with full internationals.

 Two extremely close ties eventually saw Newcastle win 2-1 on aggregate to enhance their European pedigree even further.

In the 3rd Round Newcastle drew Real Zaragoza of Spain, the Spaniards had appeared in the Final twice in the last five years, winning it once, and they started the tie as favourites.

The first leg in Spain was played on New Years Day and there was no New Years joy for the Magpies, as they went down 3-2 with goals from striking duo Pop Robson and Wyn Davies.

 Although defeated, Newcastle had two away goals and the knowledge that although fast and skilful in attack the Spaniards defence looked vulnerable.

In the return leg at St James Park the Spaniards opted for a defensive line-up but their plans were ripped to shreds after only two minutes. Gibb laid the ball out to Robson on the right-flank by the half-way line. Pop cut-inside and as a couple of defenders converged on him he accelerated through the gap before unleashing a 30-yard thunderbolt that flew into the roof of the net.

On 26 minutes a diving header saw Gibb score from a Robson corner to make it 2-0, however Zaragoza got one back just before half-time.  The second half was on a knife-edge, but there were no more goals, and the tie finished 4-4 on aggregate with Newcastle progressing through on away goals.

Newcastle had reached the Quarter-Finals and again faced Portuguese opposition, this time in the form of Vitoria Setubal who had beaten Italian League leaders Fiorentina in the last round. The 1st Leg at St James' Park attracted the biggest Tyneside 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 the home side 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.

In the 2nd Leg in Portugal another Wyn Davis goal in the first half made the score 1-1 at half time, and 6-2 on aggregate, as Newcastle looked to have the tie well and truly sawn up. However, 2 goals in the second half by Vitoria Setubal gave Newcastle a slight scare but they held on to lose 3-1 on the night, but win the tie 6-4 on aggregate.

Scottish giants Glasgow Rangers stood between Newcastle and their first cup final since 1955.  The league season was now all but over, with Newcastle just having one game left to play, and Rangers losing out to Celtic in both the league and Cup.

The first leg was at Ibrox in front of over 75,000 all-ticket fans, which included 12,000 travelling up from Tyneside, and the Battle of Britain was a tense and tight affair. Newcastle's defence was again magnificent, snuffing out Rangers for whole 90 minutes courtesy of some world class saves, including one from the penalty spot, from man of the match Willie McFaul.

 The second leg back on Tyneside took place 4 days after the last league game of the season, and again was a very tough and tight affair standing at 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 overflowing with an estimated 22,000 thousands Rangers fans. The city had been a sea of Blue and White, with most Rangers fans drinking in the bars and on the streets all day.

At the start of second half the deadlock was finally broken by Newcastle when Jim Scott blasted a brilliant cross-shot into the roof of the net from close range.

On 77 minutes a Jackie Sinclair goal finished off Rangers. Ollie Burton's free-kick was glanced to Sinclair by Wyn Davies, and Sinclair gleefully slotted the ball into the back of the net.

Following the goal the Gallowgate End erupted into a riot as Rangers fans spilled onto the pitch in an obvious attempt to get the game abandoned. The referre was forced to take the players off the pitch for 17 minutes to allow the Police to restore order and clear the bottles from the pitch. Newcastle then held on for the final minutes playing the game with a wall of Police in front of the Gallowgate End, but 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.

After dispensing of Rangers, Newcastle United would contest the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Final against little known Hungarian side Ujpest Dozsa.

Ujpest had impressed a lot of people along the way to the final beating some good teams and building up quite a reputation. In the Quarter-Finals they beat competition favourites Leeds United with ease 3-0 on aggregate. On the eve of the final the Leeds manager Don Revie laughed off Newcastle's chances by saying "If they borrowed Billy Bremner, Bobby Charlton and George Best they (Newcastle) might stand a chance".

 Ujpesti Dozsa reputation was not without merit as they had six Hungarian internationals in their team, and had won every game bar one in the competition so far.

Newcastle took to the field for the first leg at St James' Park in a confident mood in front of nearly 60,000 screaming Geordies.

Bobby Moncur was the unlikely Newcastle hero scoring twice in the second half as home side ran out confortable 3-0 winners. His first was from a rebound as Wyn Davies shot was only parried by the Hungarian keeper, and his second came after a one-two with Benny Arentoft saw his low shot nestle into the back of the net. Jim Scott added a third to put Newcastle  into a commanding position for the second leg in Hungary.

The second leg in Budapest saw both sides take to the field in front of an intimidating Hungarian atmosphere, which including approximately 2,000 United fans who had ventured behind the Iron Curtain. The first half was a diaster for Newcastle, as Ujpesti scored two goals, with the usual reliable Newcastle defence felling apart under the pressure, and only a world class save just before the break prevented United from losing their aggregate lead altogether.

Half-time brought about the now legendary calm words from the Newcastle manager Joe Harvey, who stated that all they needed to do was score a goal and the Hungarians would crumble.

Harvey's words certainly did the trick because within a minute of the restart Bobby Moncur scored his 3rd of the tie. Newcastle won a corner and when the keeper's punch fell to Sinclair, who clipped the ball back in, Moncur lashed it left-footed into the roof of the net.

After that crumble the Hungarian's did. Danish international Benny Arentoft added another goal four minutes later to level the tie on the night, and the game was won on 74 minutes by substitute Alan Foggon who punished a now disillusioned Ujpesti side.

Foggon latched on to a Wyn Davies flick on, firing the ball goalwards only to see it pushed onto the crossbar by the keeper. However, Foggon was first to the rebound and finished what he had started by slotting the ball into the empty net.

The match finished 3-2 to Newcastle on the night, making it 6-2 on aggregate. The mighty men of Newcastle had done it, they had beaten Ujpesti Dozsa home and away to lift the Inter-Cites Fairs Cup.

The Newcastle players came back from Hungary to a heroes welcome. Thousands of fans packed into St James Park to see the players parade the trophy around the ground and then onto the Civic Centre where a reception was held in their honour.

This was Newcastle's first trophy since the 1955 F.A. Cup victory and it brought glory to a new generation of Geordies. Names like Joe Harvey, Bobby Moncur, Wyn Davis, Pop Robson, Frank Clark and Ben Arentoft will forever go down in folklore on Tyneside.

Newcastle United fans will forever remember those European nights back in the late sixties at St James Park, where the Geordies took on and conquered some of the best in Europe.

As fans we have been craving this kind of success ever since, despite two promotions to shout about we've had four cup final defeats and two Premier League 2nd places to endure, and now with the recent dramatic fall from grace out of the Premier League, those heady days of 1968/69 seem even further away.

Row 'S' Army
 
LINKS:
 Inter-Cites Fairs Cup Results
 Inter-Cites Fairs Cup Players

 Past Seasons