Not even Mick and Wallace admit to remembering this one, so Matthew picks up the story of our merged club's first match at St James' Park
I can imagine how the boardroom conversation went. “Right, lads, it's a big occasion. We need to mark it properly. We need some willing but prestigious opponents. You know, the kind that'll attract a good crowd and won't mind making the trip.” “Got it! Celtic!”
OK, so I can't vouch that those were their exact words, but way back in the early 1890s not everything in football was so very different to the present day. If Glasgow's finest were good enough for Alan Shearer’s testimonial, not to mention the first ever game under floodlights at St James’ half a century before that, then they were certainly good enough for the moustache-twirling Victorian gentleman who had just overseen the creation of a new football club.
Financially bankrupt they might have been, but Newcastle West End had the advantage of playing at a prime location near the city centre. East End, meanwhile, had the fans and the players but a less attractive home ground at Chillingham Road between Heaton and Byker. While the amalgamation of Newcastle’s two geographically opposing footballing poles on 9 May 1892 might not have entirely pleased either set of fans, it made practical sense.
And so this club became our club. Made out of two clubs, to form United, so they say. Well, nearly. The name United was still a few months in the future, but that didn't stop the new club - oh what great club - from making an offer of £80 to Celtic to play a friendly match at St James’, a substantial sum for the new club born out of financial crisis.
After an application to join the Football League had been rejected, the Celtic match was part of an attempt to draw the leading clubs of the time to the city, improve the reputation of the club, and increase crowds. Celtic had won the Scottish Cup for the first time the previous year and were a club on the up. The strategy paid dividends.
As one local paper put it, “the visit of the famous team created a great deal of interest in local football circles, particularly as the Celts were playing their full strength”. Another proclaimed it the “greatest event in the local history of the game”, with more than a touch of modern-day hyperbole. A crowd of around 7,000 turned up and gate receipts of £147 more than covered the club's financial outlay.
What the crowd didn't see at kick-off - delayed by half an hour after Celtic turned up late - were black and white stripes lined up against green and white hoops. Neither club had yet adopted their iconic strips, with East End still playing in (sacrilegious) red. At this point, St James' Park was little more than a field surrounded by rudimentary banking. But the famous slope was very much in evidence, as was that familiar gusty westerly wind. Having won the toss, Celtic took advantage of both.
Evidently, the match itself was a clash of styles. Both teams set up in the customary 2-3-5 - no low block in those days - but while East End played the old physical style, the Glaswegians demonstrated the new-fangled passing approach which enabled imported Scottish professionals to revolutionise the game in England in the Victorian period. Or as theNewcastle Daily Journal put it, the “tricky passing of the visitors” was “counterbalanced by the quick rushes of the home forwards”.
In fact, the vast majority of the home side were also Scottish exiles, who accounted for eight of the ten outfield players. Most were existing members of the East End side, such as the captain and striker Jock Sorley or the diminutive inside-left Joe Wallace - all 5 foot 4 of him. Others, like the fleet-footed inside-right Jimmy Collins, had come from West End. New signing Willie Graham also featured in defence. Only Harry Jeffrey, Willie Thompson, and the keeper Dave Witton were local lads.
In the event, Witton would be involved in the game's defining moment. On the half hour, he went to claim a long cross from near the corner flag. Barged and obstructed by one of the Celtic half-backs, he could only watch helplessly as he and the ball ended up in the net for what would be the winning goal. Presumably, unable to wait for the Victorian VAR technician to paint a replay of the scene in oils, the referee Robert Campbell - from Sunderland, I'm saying nothing - allowed the goal to stand. He would later acknowledge that as a mistake. PGMOL are apparently still deliberating.
Despite a stronger showing after the goal and a number of decent chances, we were unable to find an equaliser. The best opportunity fell to Sorley, six yards out and faced with an open goal. But according to the local reporter, his shot “was a shocking one, as he screwed the ball round towards the corner flag”. What was I saying about things not changing…?
And so our debut at St James’ Park opened with disappointment, at least on the pitch - “a field in which have been buried the hopes of many enthusiasts and the reputation of not a few players”, in the words of the Journal’s report.
If only someone had warned me.
Matthew Philpotts