Menu Players Managers Fans Seasons Miscellany


NUFC 1981/82 - Season Review


Division 29th
FA CupR4
League CupR2
Attendance17,276
ChairmanS Seymour
ManagerA Cox
CoachT Cavanagh
CaptainM Martin
Top ScorerI Varadi (20)

1981/82 saw occasional flickers of life but the club was taking some reviving and by the end of the season United were still in need of resuscitation.

There were more goals (only 5 goalless draws and 14 blanks in all) and United were even in with a shout of promotion at Easter. But a disastrous end of season saw them tumbling back into mid-table obscurity.

Hope came in the form of the emergence of Chris Waddle and the arrival of Imre Varadi. With Rafferty and Harford gone the speedy Londoner moved in at Number 9. A slow start (no goals in seven) brought fears of another dud, but a hat-trick at Ninian Park proved a turning point

Alan Brown arrived on loan from Sunderland and 3 goals in his first 2 home matches made him an instant hero. But money was tight and he couldn't be signed permanently so Cox took David Mills on loan until the end of the season.

With things gradually looking up a crowd of 26,994 turned up to see United beat Chelsea 1-0 at the end of March. A week later another one goal victory at Charlton saw The Magpies reach fourth. But just as it looked as if the corner had been turned, United lost six of the next seven games and plummeted down the table.

Grimsby and Fulham provided the usual early cup exits.

The supporters were clearly yet to be convinced. The average League attendance crept up to 17,276 and whenever there was a glimmer of hope four or five thousand disaffected fans would return, but the end of season collapse saw the attendance for the Wrexham home match dip below 10,000

Kit images copyright Historical Football Kits and reproduced by kind permission



Competitions


League Division 2


Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images

In the first season in which three points were awarded for a win the entertainment level increased and there were definite signs of improvement in United's League form from the previous campaign. Almost twice as many goals were scored, but in terms of results the difference was less striking: 4 more wins but 2 more defeats. And although the Magpies more than trebled their away goals tally they lost 2 more games. It was at home where the performances showed more improvement and - after losing their first game - they were unbeaten at St. James' until the end of April.

United recovered from losing 3 of the first 4 games to climb up to 10th by the turn of the year. They were being held back by terrible away form which brought 1 win and 7 defeats from 9 games.

Seven home wins on the trot propelled United up the table and after they won at Charlton on April 3rd (their 3rd win away from Tyneside) United had moved into 4th spot. They were 1 point behind Sheffield Wednesday, who held the third promotion spot, with a game in hand.

With United on an upward trajectory, a return to the First Division was very much a possibility. However, a disastrous collapse which brought only 1 point from the next 7 games followed.


29/8 H Watford L 0-1
05/9 A QPR L 0-3
12/9 H Cambridge W 1-0
19/9 A Norwich L 1-2
23/9 H Shrewsbury W 2-0
26/9 H Orient W 1-0 H
29/9 A Bolton L 0-1
03/10 A Cardiff W 4-0
10/10 H Derby W 3-0
17/10 A Barnsley L 0-1 H
24/10 H Rotherham D 1-1
31/10 A Oldham L 1-3
07/11 A Chelsea L 1-2
14/11 H Charlton W 4-1
21/11 H Luton W 3-2
24/11 A Orient L 0-1
28/11 A Grimsby D 1-1
05/12 H Blackburn D 0-0
16/1 A Watford W 3-2
30/1 H Norwich W 2-1
03/2 H Bolton W 2-0
06/2 A Cambridge L 0-1
13/2 H Cardiff W 2-1
20/2 A Shrewsbury D 0-0
24/2 H Sheff Wed W 1-0
27/2 A Derby D 2-2
02/3 A Leicester L 0-3
06/3 H Barnsley W 1-0
13/3 A Rotherham D 0-0
20/3 H Oldham W 2-0
27/3 H Chelsea W 1-0
31/3 H C Palace D 0-0
03/4 A Charlton W 1-0
06/4 A Wrexham L 2-4
10/4 H Leicester D 0-0
12/4 A Sheff Wed L 1-2
17/4 A Luton L 2-3 H
24/4 H Grimsby L 0-1
01/5 A Blackburn L 1-4
05/5 H QPR L 0-4
08/5 H Wrexham W 4-2
15/5 A C Palace W 2-1
W D L F A Pts
01 Luton 25 13 4 86 46 88
02 Watford 23 11 8 76 42 80
03 Norwich 22 5 15 64 50 71
04 Sheff Wed 20 10 12 55 51 70
05 QPR 21 6 15 65 43 69
06 Barnsley 19 10 13 59 41 67
07 Rotherham 20 7 15 66 54 67
08 Leicester 18 12 12 56 48 66
09 Newcastle 18 8 16 52 50 62
10 Blackburn 16 11 15 47 43 59
11 Oldham 15 14 13 50 51 59
12 Chelsea 15 12 15 60 60 57
13 Charlton 13 12 17 50 65 51
14 Cambridge 13 9 20 48 53 48
15 C Palace 13 9 20 34 45 48
16 Derby 12 12 18 53 68 48
17 Grimsby 11 13 18 53 65 46
18 Shrewsbury 11 13 18 37 57 46
19 Bolton 13 7 22 39 61 46
20 Cardiff 12 8 22 45 61 44
21 Wrexham 11 11 20 40 56 44
22 Orient 10 9 23 36 61 39


FA Cup


04/1 R3 H Colchester United D 1-1
18/1 R3r A Colchester United W 4-3
23/1 R4 H Grimsby Town L 1-2
PIC

League Cup


07/10 R2 L1 H Fulham L 1-2
27/10 R2 L2 A Fulham L 0-2

Squad and Team



PlayerASG
Barton D 22 0 2
Bell, D 2 0
Brown, A 5 0 3
Brownlie J 43 0 3
Carney S 30 1
Carr K 47 0
Cartwright P 16 1
Davies I 15 0 2
Ferris, P 0 2
Haddock, P 31 2
Halliday, B 15 0
Martin M 42 2
Mills, D 23 0 4
Pugh, K 0 1
Saunders, W 32 0 1
Shinton B 10 2 2
Shoulder A 4 9
Todd, K 3 2 2
Trewick, J 45 0 6
Varadi, I 47 0 20
Waddle, C 47 0 8
Walker, N 5 0
Wharton, K 33 5 5
own goals 1

Total number of games: 47

Total number of players used: 23

Embed from Getty Images

01: Carr

02: Brownlie

03: Davies > Saunders

04: Trewick

05: Barton > Carney

06: Halliday > Haddock

07: Shinton > Mills

08: Martin

09: Varadi

10: Wharton > Cartwright

11: Waddle

Top scorers: Varadi (20), Waddle (8) and Trewick (6).


Player Moves


Toon In

Name Date From Fee
Saunders Wes 06/81 Professional
Todd Kevin 08/81 Professional
Varadi Imre 08/81 Everton £125,000
Bell Derek 12/81 Professional
Hedworth Chris 01/82 Professional
Harford Michael 03/82 Bristol City Free

W Saunders

K Todd

I Varadi


Toon Out

Name Date To Fee
Kelly Peter 06/81 Retired (inj.)
Hibbitt Terry 06/81 Retired (inj.)
Koenen Frank 06/81 De Treffers
Sugget Colin 06/81 Retired
Boam Stuart 06/81 Mansfield Free
Clarke Ray 08/81 Retired (inj.)
Harford Michael 08/81 Bristol City £160,000
Mitchell Ken 08/81 Darlington Free
Nicholson Gary 08/81 Mansfield £25,000
Shinton Bobby 03/82 Millwall Free
Harford Michael 03/82 Birmingham £100,000
Walker Nigel 05/82 San Diego Free

S Boam

R Clarke

B Shinton


Drop In

Name Date To Club
Brown Alan 11/81 01/82 Sunderland
Mills David 01/82 05/82 Sheff Wed

Drop Oot

Name Date To Club
Todd Kevin Darlington
Walker Nigel Plymouth
Shinton Bobby 01/82 02/82 Millwall

1980s Seasons