NUFC 1948/49 - Squad

R3: United suffered an embarrassing home defeat by Second Division Bradford.

The team was reasonably settled, at least in defence. Only 25 players were used used in total and, of these, 17 played in 10 games or more.

Goalkeepers.

Fairbrother [42] missed one game all season and was in superb form during the campaign.

Full Backs

Cowell [39] established himself as the first choice right back with some consistently impressive performances. And Batty [31] took over on the other flank.

Half Backs

A very settled half-back line. Brennan [42] was a colossus at the centre of the defence again. Captain Harvey [39] took the right side and Dodgin [42] had probably his best season at the club.

Attack

The attack was the one area of the team which was regularly re-organised with all players being used in a variety of positions.

Gibson [24] and Stobbart [24] generally covered the right flank and were joined by Robledo [15].

Milburn [35] led the line for most of the season with Donaldson [13] also getting a run in the side.

Taylor [29] played at Number 10 with Walker [22] or Hair [15] on the outside until Mitchell [13] arrived.

With money flooding into the club United could compete for any player at any price and they continued to spend big.

Cardiff winger Colin Gibson was the biggest signing of the summer.

The Robledo brothers were captured from Barnsley for a joint fee of £23,000.

United chased Bobby Mitchell throughout the season and Third Lanark finally capitulated in February with another £17,000 being shelled out.

They were also continually on the lookout for younger players to develop.

With attendances continuing to boom the club was financially in a very healthy state and they continued to buy players for big money. The attitude was summed up by Stan Seymour when they purchased Gibson. He said "we were not really in urgent need of an outside-right but a good player in any position is much more use to us than £15,000".

Consequently manager Martin's main problem during the season was keeping almost 40 professionals happy. It was an impossible task and at one time no less than sixteen players had transfer requests on the table.

In January a meeting was held to "discover whether there was any foundation for alleged discontent among the players". Martin and the directors met with the players for several hours and an official statement gave the director's view of the situation.

It stated that “the players were invited to express their views frankly and fearlessly and that it became manifest that no solitary fundamental complaint existed beyond the desire of particular players to be provided with housing accommodation, and the very natural regret of individual players that were not able to secure regular places either the first or second teams because of the large staff. The meeting was conducted in an extremely cordial spirit, and it is considered that the air has now been completely cleared”.

None of the players made a statement.

When United listed 11 players in January director Westwood criticised the decision leading to accusations of disloyalty from other Board members. He responded by saying "I think the Board should show loyalty to their players and the manager. Those responsible for putting such men as Gibson and Hair on the transfer list should state their reasons".

”These men have never complained or asked for a transfer, there has been no complaint about them and George Martin, the manager, was not responsible for putting them on the list".

Martin responded saying "I wish to strongly emphasise that I have the fullest support of the Directors. There is no question of dictatorship over me".

The Council agreed by a narrow margin to allow the club to lease further land to the North of the ground for a practice pitch and additional car parking. As it involved extending into an area of open space (including a children's playground) the club had to request that a clause be inserted into the next Parliamentary Bill to give them the powers to make such a disposition.

Despite fluctuating form at the start of the season, Milburn finished as top scorer with 19 goals, Robledo was second top with 6 despite not playing until February.

Jackie Milburn played for the Football League against the Irish League and scored a hat-trick. He was won his first England caps.

There was a huge amount of player unrest with many handing in transfer requests. The main grievances were lack of first-team football and inadequate housing. At one point there were 16 players with an active request.

There was a minor revolt when the players found out that they had been booked into tourist class rooms on their ship to the Americas.

For the second season running Newcastle were the best supported club in the land with an average gate of 53,702.

Even the Reserve (Central League) games drew impressive crowds and the attendance record for the competition was broken when 21,721 turned up for the match against Burnley in September.

The top crowd at Gallowgate was 67,362 for the visit of Liverpool in October.

70,787 attended the match against Manchester United at Maine Road.

In September the American destroyer U.S.S. Willard Keith arrived on the Tyne on a six-day courtesy visit and most of the men watched the home match against Aston Villa.

In the home match against Arsenal Compton put in some strong challenges which did not go down well with the home crowd and just before the end one irate fan attempted to accost him after a particularly robust challenge on Mitchell.

John Lammonby of Leeds was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment at Newcastle assizes after being found guilty of pickpocketing at the match against tbc.

When United fans travelled to Liverpool on the first day of the season they were given a very friendly reception with supporters wearing the black and white rosette being singled out for special notice whilst those standing in queues outside cafes were taken to the front and given priority.

Eighteen additional trains ferried thousands of fans to Sunderland for the Wear-Tyne derby but the first fans started queuing on Friday afternoon. Mobile canteens arrived to serve hot refreshments at 6am but they sold out within two hours. Town cafes had every available table pressed into service and a brewery company official assured supporters that "Sunderland's public houses have sufficient beer to quench the thirst of the big crowd".

Approximately 10,000 United fans travelled to the game at Blackpool. They were generally well-behaved but the police did have to move in when some fans started setting off and throwing fireworks.

Among the numerous Tynesiders who travelled to Blackpool were a number of North Shields men who returned home with happy memories of a pleasant outing. Apart from the marked hospitality of the Blackpool folk, the visitors were impressed by the excellence and variety of the six meals they had in hotels and were surprised to find no difficulty in securing all the popular brands of cigarettes. The general consensus of opinion was that Blackpool was much better off in the way of foodstuffs than any part of the North-East. Even eggs must have been plentiful there, as some of the visitors managed to bring a few home.

Jackie Milburn was kidnapped by students on the morning of the home game with Liverpool. They demanded a ransom be paid in support of "rag week", but he was freed following police intervention.

Young Scot Jimmy Robertson's move to United was cancelled within 24 hours after his mother persuaded him to come back home.

United benefited from six own-goals.

During the game at Preston the home side’s full-back, Billy Brown, headed the ball and as he did it burst with such a terrific bang and explosion of dust that the player thought he'd been shot.

A move for Blackburn striker Bob Langton fell through with Martin explaining that "Mrs Langton does not care to come to Tyneside."

In August manager George Martin was top-of-the-bill at a Newcastle theatre as an operatic tenor. His talents were widely known and Martin was persuaded to appear on the bill after some Newcastle United directors convinced the theatre manager that George was a better singer than many that had appeared on their stage.

And when the United team were heading for the Americas on the Queen Mary for their summer tour Frank Brennan was top of the bill at the concert and dance one evening.