1989–90 Newcastle United F.C. season

Newcastle United
1989–90 season
Chairman	Gordon McKeag
Manager	Jim Smith
Stadium	St James' Park
Division Two	3rd
FA Cup	Fifth round
League Cup	Third round
Full Members Cup	Northern Area Semi-Final
Top goalscorer	League: Quinn (32); All: Quinn (34)
Highest home attendance	32,216; (vs. Sunderland)
Lowest home attendance	6,167; (vs. Oldham Athletic)
Average home league attendance	21,579
Home colours	Away colours
	← 1988-89 1990-91 →

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.

With new signings including their former player Mark McGhee, the team started the season with an emphatic 5–2 win over Leeds United at St. James' Park that saw another new signing, Micky Quinn, score four times on his debut. After a promising start, the team struggled until Smith signed the Scotland skipper, Roy Aitken, who instilled steel into a lightweight midfield of ball players Kevin Brock, Kevin Dillon and John Gallacher. United regained their momentum with a change of formation that saw Bjorn Kristensen switched to sweeper and the team returned to the top of the table, only to be overtaken by Leeds and Sheffield United. Left to compete in the promotion play-offs after finishing third, they lost to their local rivals Sunderland in the semi-finals. It was a disappointing end to a season that also saw unrest from the fans and talk of take-overs.^{[citation needed]}

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Leeds United (C, P)	46	24	13	9	79	52	+27	85	Promotion to the First Division
2	Sheffield United (P)	46	24	13	9	78	58	+20	85	Promotion to the First Division
3	Newcastle United	46	22	14	10	80	55	+25	80	Qualification for the Second Division play-offs
4	Swindon Town^[a] (O)	46	20	14	12	79	59	+20	74
5	Blackburn Rovers	46	19	17	10	74	59	+15	74

Source: Statto
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted
Notes:

^ Swindon Town were disqualified from promotion after being found guilty of making illegal payments, and the play-off runners-up Sunderland were promoted in their place.

Appearances, goals and cards

(Substitute appearances in brackets)

Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		ZDS Cup		Playoffs		Total
Pos.	Name	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	John Burridge	28	0	4	0	2	0	3	0	2	0	39	0
GK	Gary Kelly	4	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
GK	Tommy Wright	14	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	14	0
DF	Roy Aitken	44	1	4	0	3	0	3	0	2	0	56	1
DF	John Anderson	29 (8)	4	1	0	1	0	0 (1)	0	2	0	33 (9)	4
DF	Darren Bradshaw	9 (3)	0	1 (1)	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	12 (4)	0
DF	Bjørn Kristensen	25 (8)	3	3	0	2	0	3	0	2	0	35 (8)	3
DF	Ray Ranson	33	0	3	0	2	0	3	0	1	0	42	0
DF	Kevin Scott	42	3	4	1	3	0	2	0	2	0	53	4
DF	Mark Stimson	35 (2)	1	4	0	3	0	1	0	2	0	45 (2)	1
DF	Paul Sweeney	14 (5)	0	2	0	1	0	3 (2)	0	0	0	19 (6)	0
DF	Andy Thorn	10	1	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	12	2
MF	Billy Askew	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	6	0
MF	Kevin Brock	43 (1)	2	2	0	3	1	2	0	2	0	52 (1)	3
MF	Kevin Dillon	43	0	3 (1)	0	3	0	3	0	0 (1)	0	52 (2)	0
MF	Wayne Fereday	21 (4)	0	1	0	1 (1)	0	1 (2)	0	0	0	24 (7)	0
MF	John Gallacher	21 (7)	6	2	0	3	1	3	1	0	0	29 (7)	8
MF	Liam O'Brien	14 (5)	2	2	1	1	0	3	1	0 (2)	0	20 (7)	4
FW	Gary Brazil	4 (12)	2	0 (1)	0	1 (1)	1	0 (1)	0	0	0	5 (15)	3
FW	Mark McGhee	46	19	4	5	3	1	3	0	2	0	58	25
FW	Micky Quinn	45	32	4	2	2	0	2	2	2	0	55	36
FW	David Robinson	0 (1)	0	0 (1)	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0 (2)	1