Back in 1969, Newcastle United also travelled to the Hungarian capital for a European final, having already played the first leg of their Inter-Cities Fairs Cup tie against Ujpest Dozsa on Tyneside. Scott Wilson looks back at the two games.
NEWCASTLE’S only appearance in a European final came at the end of a marathon Inter-Cities Fairs Cup run that saw them beat Feyenoord, Sporting Lisbon, Real Zaragoza, Vitoria Setubal and Rangers to set up a final against Hungarian side Ujpest Dozsa.
Back then, the final of the Fairs Cup, which was the forerunner of first the UEFA Cup and then the Europa League, was a two-legged affair played at the home grounds of the two participants.
Newcastle were drawn at home first, and in front of a crowd of 59,234, things could not have gone better at St James’ Park.
Joe Harvey’s side were the dominant side attacking the Leazes End in the first half, but were unable to make a breakthrough despite their plentiful possession.
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That changed just before the midway point of the second half when Bob Moncur converted the rebound after a Wyn Davies effort had been saved.
Moncur was not a regular goalscorer for the Magpies, but he found the net again to double his side’ lead in the 72nd minute, playing a one-two on the edge of the area before firing home a left-footed strike.
A two-goal lead was a decent advantage to be taking to Hungary, but even better was to come as Newcastle added a third goal with seven minutes left as outside-right Jim Scott scored.
Jim Scott scores for Newcastle United against Ujpest Dozsa (Image: Newsquest)
“To be honest, we didn’t know that much about Ujpest, but the reputation of Hungarian football back then was pretty high and we knew they’d be highly technical skilful players,” remembered Alan Foggon, in a recent interview with Newcastle’s official website. “We’d experienced playing good sides like Sporting and Setúbal in previous rounds so knew what to expect. They’d also got past Leeds in the quarter finals so it was clearly going to be our toughest test of the whole campaign – it was the final, after all.
“Our build-up and preparation for the game wasn’t anything we didn’t normally do and that was right. Joe just wanted to keep things as low key as possible and in that respect he was spot on, even though it was probably our biggest game for 14 years.
“In the end, 3-0 was, I think, beyond what any one of us could have imagined. Off to Budapest we went, just 90 minutes away from what we all saw as possibly being one of the most momentous nights in the club’s history.”
The second leg, in front of a crowd of 37,000 at Budapest’s Megyeri Uti Stadium, was a much more open affair, with Ujpest adopting a more attacking outlook than they had exhibited on Tyneside.
The Hungarians took the lead on the night just after the half-hour mark through Ferenc Bene, and scored again in the 44th minute through Janos Gorocs to reduce Newcastle’s aggregate lead to just one goal. The tie would have been level at half-time had Willie McFaul not made a superb save just before the interval.
Newcastle’s players were reeling, leading Harvey to deliver a half-time team talk that has gone down in Tyneside footballing folklore.
“There we were sat in the changing room, sweat pouring off our faces, some of us with heads bowed, some not knowing what had hit us, and some with their heads in a whirl,” recalled Moncur, again in an interview with Newcastle’s official website.
“In one of the most iconic lines ever given by a manager, and using his unique motivational skills – remember this was from a man who had won the FA Cup twice in 1951 and 1952 and been a winning coach on a third occasion in 1955 – he simply looked around the room, caught everyone’s attention, paused, before uttering the immortal words, ‘Lads, all you need to do is score and they will collapse like a pack of cards, you mark my words.’
Harvey’s words proved to be prophetic. Just a minute into the second half, Jackie Sinclair delivered a cross and Moncur hooked home his third goal of the final.
Less than five minutes later, Benny Arentoft fired home to make it 2-2 in the second leg, and Newcastle’s 6-2 aggregate victory was complete when Foggon, who had just come on a substitute, fired home the rebound after his initial effort had struck the crossbar.
Bob Moncur lifts the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (Image: The Northern Echo)
“The last 15 minutes or so just passed us by,” said Moncur. “The game was over, we knew it, they knew it, and the intensity levels just dropped as we could just enjoy the feeling of knowing we’d won the cup.
“It was the best feeling in the world when the final whistle went, joy amongst the players was unconfined and our achievement of winning the cup, in our first ever season of European football, slowing began sinking in although it wasn’t until we got home and after the celebrations that the enormity of it all hit me.”