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NUFC 2012/13 - Season Review


Premiership16th
Europa LeagueQF
FA CupR3
League CupR4
Attendance50,517
ChairmanD Llambias
ManagerA Pardew
CoachS Stone, J Carver
CaptainF Coloccini
Top ScorerD Ba, P Cisse (13)

During the first game of the season Alan Pardew was sent off after pushing the fourth official when he believed Newcastle should have a throw-in and it would continue to be a troubled season for the manager after last season’s highs.

United failed to strengthen adequately during the summer and rarely-seen optimism soon evaporated as they struggled to cope with the extra demands of playing in Europe.

A disastrous run of results between November and January and the loss of Demba Ba caused Pardew to cancel the Players’ Christmas Party and panicked Ashley into making six new signings during the January transfer window.

The gamble worked; results improved and United’s position stabilised, however it was not until the penultimate game of the season that safety was secured.

United creditably made it through to the Quarter-finals of the Europa League where they lost out to Benfica, but the 14 additional games it added to the fixture list proved too great a strain on the squad.

The FA Cup campaign ended immediately with the Magpies falling to lower league opposition for the third season in a row.

There was no progress in the League Cup either where United lost at Old Trafford despite a spirited rally.

In October the club announced that they had agreed a sponsorship deal with controversial short-term loan company Wonga which would take effect from the 2013–14 season. Wonga also agreed to pay for the ground name to be changed back to St James' Park having been officially known as the Sports Direct Arena since November 2011.

Two-years after the disgraceful challenge on Ben-Arfa that went unpunished, Callum McManaman's horror challenge on Massadio Haidara at Wigan was similarly missed. John Carver was sent-off with the Latics first team coach as temperatures boiled.

Goalkeeper Steve Harper announced his retirement after 20 years on Tyneside.

After an embarrassing 3–0 home defeat in the Tyne–Wear derby Newcastle fans caused serious trouble and 29 people were arrested. The club stated that they would give lifetime bans to fans found guilty.

Kit images copyright Historical Football Kits and reproduced by kind permission



Competitions


Premiership


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United were 10th after 10 games after a mixed start to the season, but in the period up to Christmas they lost 8 out of 10 culminating in a 4-3 defeat to Manchester United and a 7-3 defeat at Highbury.

With Demba Ba also activating a release clause in his contract to move to Chelsea Ashley was persuaded that the squad needed strengthening in the January transfer window and no less than six new faces were brought in.

The initial effect was positive as the Magpies gained maximum points in 4 of the next six matches, but this was followed by a run of 1 win in 7 which included a 4-0 defeat at Manchester City and a humiliating 6-0 reverse at home to Liverpool.

Survival was mathematically guaranteed with a 2-1 win at Loftus Road in the final away game of the season.

It was the Magpies’ away form that really let them down, as they only won twice on their travels.


18/08 H Tottenham W 2-1 4
25/08 A Chelsea L 0-2 9
02/09 H Aston Villa D 1-1 10
17/09 A Everton D 2-2 11
23/09 H Norwich W 1-0 10
29/09 A Reading D 2-2 9
07/10 H Man Utd L 0-3 10
21/10 A Sunderland D 1-1 11
28/10 H West Brom W 2-1 10
04/11 A Liverpool D 1-1 10
11/11 H West Ham L 0-1 10
17/11 H Swansea L 1-2 12
25/11 A Southampton L 0-2 14
28/11 A Stoke City L 1-2 14
03/12 H Wigan W 3-0 14
10/12 A Fulham L 1-2 14
15/12 H Man City L 1-3 15
22/12 H QPR W 1-0 14
26/12 A Man Utd L 3-4 15
29/12 A Arsenal L 3-7 15
02/01 H Everton L 1-2 15
12/01 A Norwich D 0-0 16
19/01 H Reading L 1-2 16
29/01 A Aston Villa W 2-1 15
02/02 H Chelsea W 3-2 15
09/02 A Tottenham L 1-2 16
24/02 H Southampton W 4-2 14
02/03 A Swansea L 0-1 15
10/03 H Stoke City W 2-1 13
17/03 A Wigan L 1-2 13
30/03 A Man City L 0-4 15
07/04 H Fulham W 1-0 13
14/04 H Sunderland L 0-3 13
20/04 A West Brom D 1-1 16
27/04 H Liverpool L 0-6 16
04/05 A West Ham D 0-0 16
12/05 A QPR W 2-1 13
19/05 H Arsenal L 0-1 16

Man Utd0-33-4
Man. City1-30-4
Chelsea3-20-2
Arsenal0-13-7
Tottenham2-11-3
Everton1-22-2
Liverpool0-61-1
West Brom2-11-1
Swansea1-20-1
West Ham 0-10-0
Norwich1-00-0
Fulham1-01-2
Stoke2-11-2
Southampton4-20-2
Aston Villa1-12-1
Newcastle
Sunderland0-31-1
Wigan3-01-2
Reading1-22-2
QPR1-02-1
W D L F A Pts
01 Man Utd 28 5 5 86 43 89
02 Man City 23 9 6 66 34 78
03 Chelsea 22 9 7 75 39 75
04 Arsenal 21 10 7 72 37 73
05 Tottenham 21 9 8 66 46 72
06 Everton 16 15 7 55 40 63
07 Liverpool 16 13 9 71 43 61
08 West Brom 14 7 17 53 57 49
09 Swansea 11 13 14 47 51 46
10 West Ham 12 10 16 45 53 46
11 Norwich 10 14 14 41 58 44
12 Fulham 11 10 17 50 60 43
13 Stoke 9 15 14 34 45 42
14 Southampton 9 14 15 49 60 41
15 Aston Villa 10 11 17 47 69 41
16 Newcastle 11 8 19 45 68 41
17 Sunderland 9 12 17 41 54 39
18 Wigan 9 9 20 47 73 36
19 Reading 6 10 22 43 73 28
20 QPR 4 13 21 30 60 25


Europa Cup


23/08 EL4QR1 A Atromitos D 1-1
30/08 EL4QR2 H Atromitos W 1-0
20/09 ELGSM1 A Maritimo D 0-0
04/10 ELGSM2 H Bordeaux W 3-0
25/10 ELGSM3 H Brugge W 1-0
08/11 ELGSM4 A Brugge D 2-2
22/11 ELGSM5 H Maritimo D 1-1
06/12 ELGSM6 A Bordeaux L 0-2
14/02 EL2R1L H Metalist D 0-0
21/02 EL2R2L A Metalist W 1-0
07/03 EL3R1L A Anji D 0-0
14/03 EL3R2L H Anji W 1-0
04/04 ELQF1L A Benfica L 1-3
11/04 ELQF2L H Benfica D 1-1

FA Cup


05/01R3 A Brighton L 0-2

R3: Shola and Sammy Ameobi became the first brothers to start in the same Newcastle side since the Robledos in the 1950s, unfortunately they didn’t both play the full game as Shola was sent off. It was a weakened side that took on Championship side Brighton, managed by nemesis Gus Poyet, but it was still an awful performance. Pardew blamed fatigue.


League Cup


26/09R3 A Manchester United L 1-2

R3: Despite a strong finish prompted by a welcome goal for Papiss Cisse, United fell at the first hurdle.


Squad and Team



PlayerASG
Mehdi Abeid 2 1 0
Sammy Ameobi 6 8 0
Shola Ameobi 11 24 4
Romain Amalfitano 1 4 0
Vurnon Anita 27 10 1
Demba Ba 20 2 13
Hatem Ben Arfa 18 4 4
Gaël Bigirimana 12 13 1
Yohan Cabaye 32 3 6
Adam Campbell 0 5 0
Papiss Cisse 44 3 13
Fabricio Coloccini 28 2 0
Mathieu Debuchy 14 0 0
Paul Dummett 0 1 0
Rob Elliot 16 1 0
Shane Ferguson 7 7 0
Dan Gosling 4 5 0
Yoan Gouffran 14 1 3
Jonás Gutierrez 37 3 1
Massadio Haidara 6 2 0
Steve Harper 7 2 0
Tim Krul 31 0 0
Sylvain Marveaux 20 16 2
Gabriel Obertan 14 10 1
James Perch 29 9 1
Nile Ranger 1 3 0
Davide Santon 38 0 1
Danny Simpson 25 1 0
Moussa Sissoko 18 0 3
James Tavernier 5 3 0
Steven Taylor 30 3 0
Ryan Taylor 2 1 1
Cheick Tiote 28 3 0
Haris Vuckic 2 1 1
Mike Williamson 28 0 0
Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa 17 3 0
own goals 3

GK: Krul (Harper/Elliot)

RB: Simpson > Debuchy

LB: R. Taylor > Santon

CB: S Taylor (Williamson)

CB: Coloccini (Yanga-Mbiwa)

Md: Tiote (Perch)

Md: Cabaye (Anita)

Md: Ben Arfa > Sissoko

Md: Gutierrez

Ak: Cisse

Ak: Ba > Gouffran


Player Moves


Toon In

Name Date From Fee
Romain Amalfitano 07/12 Reims undisc.
Gael Bigirimana 07/12 Coventry City
Curtis Good 07/12 Melbourne Heart £500,000
Vurnon Anita 08/12 Ajax £6.7m
Mathieu Debuchy 01/13 Lille £5.5m
Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa 01/13 Montpellier £6.7m
Yoan Gouffran 01/13 Bordeaux £1.4m
Massadio Haidara 01/13 Nancy £2m
Moussa Sissoko 01/13 Toulouse £2.1m
Kevin Mbabu 01/13 Servette £1m

The only significant arrival during the summer was the signing of Dutch right-back Vurnon Anita.

United’s plunge towards the relegation places led to a spending spree during the January transfer window. Six players, including five from Ligue 1, were signed at a cost of almost £20m.

The Magpies now had a total of ten Frenchmen on the professional staff. To “commemorate” the situation the club arranged a French Day on the 20th February.


Toon Out

Name Date To Fee
Danny Guthrie 06/12 Released
Peter Lovenkrands 06/12 Released
Alan Smith 06/12 Released
Ryan Donaldson 06/12 Released
Phil Airey 06/12 Released
Tamas Kadar 06/12 Released
Leon Best 07/12 Blackburn Rovers £3m
Fraser Forster 07/12 Celtic £2m
Demba Ba 01/13 Chelsea £7m
Xisco 01/13 Released
Nile Ranger 03/13 Released

Several players were released during the summer including a number who had appeared regularly in the first-team: Danny Guthrie, Peter Lovenkrands and Alan Smith. Leon Best also departed for Blackburn.

The major loss came in January when Chelsea activated the release clause in Demba Ba’s contract.

Controversial striker Nile Ranger left the club by mutual consent following an arrest in January and several run-ins with fans on social media.


Drop Out

Surname Date From Fee
Paul Dummett 08/12 01/13 St.Mirren
Brad Inman 11/12 end Crewe Alexandra
Curtis Good 11/12 03/13 Bradford City
Mehdi Abeid 01/13 end St.Johnstone
Sammy Ameobi 02/13 end Middlesbrough
Shane Ferguson 02/13 end Birmingham City

Credits

Cards/stickers by kind permission of : Doing the 92

Kit images copyright Historical Football Kits and reproduced by kind permission

2010s Seasons