| Premiership | 5th |
| FA Cup | R4 |
| League Cup | R4 |
| Attendance | 49,936 |
| Chairman | D Llambias |
| Manager | A Pardew |
| Coach | S Stone, J Carver |
| Captain | F Coloccini |
| Top Scorer | D Ba (16) |
Newcastle qualified for the Europa League after finishing fifth. Pardew had earned the respect of the Tyneside crowd and also his peers and he won the Manager of the Year award. There was a genuine feeling of optimism once more.
The summer signings of Yohan Cabaye, David’s Santon and Demba Ba and the January arrival of Papisse Cisse completely transformed the side and they narrowly missed out on qualifying for the Champions League.
United lost both Ba and Cisse to the African Nations tournament and their January absence played a part in United’s FA Cup exit at home to Championship Brighton in the Fourth Round.
All three of United’s League Cup games required extra-time with United eventually losing to Blackburn who were bottom of the Premiership at the time.
Kit images copyright Historical Football Kits and reproduced by kind permission
Newcastle started very impressively and were unbeaten in their first eleven games and they were in third place on Bonfire Night.
Defensive injuries disrupted their flow and up to Christmas they hit a bad run of 5 defeats in 9 games.
The first game of the New Year saw the Magpies record an emphatic 3-0 victory over Manchester United, but over the next couple of months they conceded 5 at Fulham and Tottenham.
Papiss Cisse arrived in January and scored 13 goals in 14 games which helped United to record six wins in a row from mid-March in which only one goal was conceded.
With 4 games left qualification for the Champions League was a realistic target but despite a win over Chelsea they lost the 3 other games.
| 13/08 | H | Arsenal | D | 0-0 | 10 | |
| 20/08 | A | Sunderand | W | 1-0 | 4 | |
| 28/08 | H | Fulham | W | 2-1 | 6 | |
| 12/09 | A | QPR | D | 0-0 | 4 | |
| 17/09 | A | Aston Villa | D | 1-1 | 4 | |
| 24/09 | H | Blackburn | W | 3-1 | 4 | |
| 01/10 | A | Wolves | W | 2-1 | 3 | |
| 16/10 | H | Spurs | D | 2-2 | 4 | |
| 22/10 | H | Wigan | W | 1-0 | 4 | |
| 31/10 | A | Stoke | W | 3-1 | 3 | |
| 05/11 | H | Everton | W | 2-1 | 3 | |
| 19/11 | A | Man City | L | 1-3 | 3 | |
| 26/11 | A | Man Utd | D | 1-1 | 4 | |
| 03/12 | H | Chelsea | L | 0-3 | 6 | |
| 10/12 | A | Norwich City | L | 2-4 | 7 | |
| 17/12 | H | Swansea | D | 0-0 | 6 | |
| 21/12 | H | West Brom | L | 2-3 | 7 | |
| 26/12 | A | Bolton | W | 2-0 | 7 | |
| 30/12 | A | Liverpool | L | 1-3 | 7 | |
| 04/01 | H | Man United | W | 3-0 | 7 | |
| 15/01 | H | QPR | W | 1-0 | 6 | |
| 21/01 | A | Fulham | L | 2-5 | 6 | |
| 01/02 | A | Blackburn | W | 2-0 | 5 | |
| 05/02 | H | Aston Villa | W | 2-1 | 5 | |
| 11/02 | A | Tottenham | L | 0-5 | 6 | |
| 25/02 | H | Wolves | D | 2-2 | 6 | |
| 04/03 | H | Sunderland | D | 1-1 | 6 | |
| 12/03 | A | Arsenal | L | 1-2 | 6 | |
| 18/03 | H | Norwich | W | 1-0 | 6 | |
| 25/03 | A | West Brom | W | 3-1 | 6 | |
| 01/04 | H | Liverpool | W | 2-0 | 6 | |
| 06/04 | A | Swansea City | W | 2-0 | 5 | |
| 09/04 | H | Bolton | W | 2-0 | 5 | |
| 21/04 | H | Stoke | W | 3-0 | 4 | |
| 28/04 | A | Wigan | L | 0-4 | 4 | |
| 02/04 | A | Chelsea | W | 2-0 | 5 | |
| 06/04 | H | Man City | L | 0-2 | 5 | |
| 13/04 | A | Everton | L | 1-3 | 5 |
| Man. City | 0-2 | 1-3 |
| Man Utd | 3-0 | 1-1 |
| Arsenal | 0-0 | 1-2 |
| Tottenham | 2-2 | 0-5 |
| Newcastle | ||
| Chelsea | 0-3 | 2-0 |
| Everton | 2-1 | 1-3 |
| Liverpool | 2-0 | 1-3 |
| Fulham | 2-1 | 2-5 |
| West Brom | 2-3 | 3-1 |
| Swansea | 0-0 | 2-0 |
| Norwich | 1-0 | 2-4 |
| Sunderland | 1-1 | 1-0 |
| Stoke | 3-0 | 3-1 |
| Wigan | 1-0 | 0-4 |
| Aston Villa | 2-1 | 1-1 |
| QPR | 1-0 | 0-0 |
| Bolton | 2-0 | 2-0 |
| Blackburn | 3-1 | 2-0 |
| Wolves | 2-2 | 2-1 |
| W | D | L | F | A | Pts | ||
| 01 | Man City | 28 | 5 | 5 | 93 | 29 | 89 |
| 02 | Man Utd | 28 | 5 | 5 | 89 | 33 | 89 |
| 03 | Arsenal | 21 | 7 | 10 | 74 | 49 | 70 |
| 04 | Tottenham | 20 | 9 | 9 | 66 | 41 | 69 |
| 05 | Newcastle | 19 | 8 | 11 | 56 | 51 | 65 |
| 06 | Chelsea | 18 | 10 | 10 | 65 | 46 | 64 |
| 07 | Everton | 15 | 11 | 12 | 50 | 40 | 56 |
| 08 | Liverpool | 14 | 10 | 14 | 47 | 40 | 52 |
| 09 | Fulham | 14 | 10 | 14 | 48 | 51 | 52 |
| 10 | West Brom | 13 | 8 | 17 | 45 | 52 | 47 |
| 11 | Swansea | 12 | 11 | 15 | 44 | 51 | 47 |
| 12 | Norwich | 12 | 11 | 15 | 52 | 66 | 47 |
| 13 | Sunderland | 11 | 12 | 15 | 45 | 46 | 45 |
| 14 | Stoke | 11 | 12 | 15 | 36 | 53 | 45 |
| 15 | Wigan | 11 | 10 | 17 | 42 | 62 | 43 |
| 16 | Aston Villa | 7 | 17 | 14 | 37 | 53 | 38 |
| 17 | QPR | 10 | 7 | 21 | 43 | 66 | 37 |
| 18 | Bolton | 10 | 6 | 22 | 46 | 77 | 36 |
| 19 | Blackburn | 8 | 7 | 23 | 48 | 78 | 31 |
| 20 | Wolves | 5 | 10 | 23 | 40 | 82 | 25 |
| 07/01 | R3 | H | Blackburn (Pr:19th) | W | 2-1 | |
| 28/01 | R4 | A | Brighton (Ch:10th) | L | 0-1 |
R3 - An injury time goal from Gutierrez saw United come from behind against the Premiership strugglers.
R4 - Ba and Cisse were still away and United wasted a number of chances against Championship side Brighton before a shot from Buckley struck Williamson and looped over Krul.
| 25/08 | R2 | A | Scunthorpe (L1:19th) | W | 2-1 aet | |
| 20/09 | R3 | A | Nottingham Forest (Ch:22nd) | W | 4-3 aet | |
| 26/10 | R4 | A | Blackburn (Pr:19th) | L | 3-4 aet |
R2 - Ryan Taylor scored ten minutes before time to save United and Sammy Ameobi scored an excellent winner during extra-time.
R3 - In a thrilling tie at the City Ground United are taken to extra-time again; Coloccini wins the game with a last minute header.
R4 - Another exciting tussle with second-bottom Blackburn in which United score twice in injury time to salvage a draw before losing out in extra-time.
| Player | A | S | G |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mehdi Abeid | 2 | ||
| Sammy Ameobi | 1 | 12 | 1 |
| Shola Ameobi | 9 | 21 | 2 |
| Demba Ba | 34 | 2 | 16 |
| Joey Barton | 2 | ||
| Hatem Ben Arfa | 20 | 10 | 6 |
| Leon Best | 19 | 2 | 4 |
| Yohan Cabaye | 38 | 5 | |
| Papiss Cissé | 13 | 1 | 13 |
| Fabricio Coloccini | 39 | 1 | |
| Rob Elliot | 1 | ||
| Shane Ferguson | 1 | 8 | |
| Dan Gosling | 3 | 13 | 1 |
| Danny Guthrie | 16 | 3 | 2 |
| Jonás Gutiérrez | 40 | 3 | |
| Tim Krul | 42 | ||
| Peter Løvenkrands | 4 | 8 | 3 |
| Sylvain Marveaux | 4 | 6 | |
| Gabriel Obertan | 19 | 7 | 1 |
| James Perch | 16 | 12 | |
| Davide Santon | 22 | 5 | |
| Danny Simpson | 40 | 1 | |
| Alan Smith | 0 | 2 | |
| Ryan Taylor | 24 | 10 | 3 |
| Steven Taylor | 14 | 1 | |
| Cheick Tioté | 24 | ||
| Haris Vučkić | 2 | 3 | |
| Mike Williamson | 24 | 1 |
GK: Krul
RB: Simpson
LB: R. Taylor > Santon
CB: S Taylor
CB: Coloccini
Md: Tiote
Md: Cabaye
Md: Obertan > Ben Arfa
Md: Gutierrez
Ak: Ameobi/Best
Ak: Ba
| Name | Date | From | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yohan Cabaye | 06/11 | Lille | £4.3m |
| Demba Ba | 06/11 | Unattached | Free |
| Sylvain Marveaux | 06/11 | Stade Rennes | Free |
| Mehdi Abeid | 07/11 | Unattached | Free |
| Gabriel Obertan | 08/11 | Manchester United | £3m |
| Davide Santon | 08/11 | Inter Milan | £5m |
| Rob Elliot | 08/11 | Charlton Athletic | £100,000 |
| Papiss Demba Cissé | 01/12 | Freiburg | £10.56m |
A very successful year in terms of recruits with Cabaye, Ba, Cisse and Santon considerably adding to the quality of the first-team and Marveax and Obertan also adding strength in depth.
Cabaye captained Lille to the League and Cup double last year as well as winning his first cap.
Senegal international Ba scored 7 times in 12 games for West Ham after joining them from Hoffenheim in January. He was on a pay-as-you play deal (due to knee issues) and was therefore a free-agent after rurning down the relegated Londoners' contract offer.
Fellow Senegalese international Cisse joined from German side Freiburg where he scored 37 goals in 65 games.
Although only twenty-years-old full-back Santon - who was brought in to replace Enrique - had already played 7 times for his country.
| Name | Date | To | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kevin Nolan | 06/11 | West Ham | £4m |
| Ben Tozer | 06/11 | Northampton Town | Free |
| Wayne Routledge | 08/11 | Swansea City | £1.8m |
| Jose Enrique | 08/11 | Liverpool | £7m |
| Joey Barton | 08/11 | QPR | Free |
| Kazenga LuaLua | 11/11 | Brighton | Free |
United captain Kevin Nolan joined his former Bolton boss Sam Allardyce at West Ham after failing to agree the length of a new contract.
Fellow midfielder Joey Barton also left after clashing with the club's heirarchy over the sale of Nolan and the direction the club was taking.
Enrique followed Barton's example by criticising the sale of both players which resulted in him being disciplined and finding an escape route to Liverpool.
| Name | From | To | Club |
|---|---|---|---|
| Curtis Good | 04/12 | 05/12 | Melbourne Heart (trial) |
| Name | From | To | Club |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kazenga LuaLua | 07/11 | 01/12 | Brighton |
| Michael Richardson | 08/11 | 09/11 | Leyton Orient |
| James Tavernier | 08/11 | 11/11 | Carlisle United |
| Phil Airey | 08/11 | 02/12 | Hibernian |
| Xisco | 08/11 | 06/12 | Deportivo la Coruna |
| Fraser Forster | 08/11 | 05/12 | Celtic |
| Jak Alnwick | 09/11 | 12/11 | Gateshead |
| Ryan Donaldson | 09/11 | 10/11 | Tranmere Rovers |
| Steve Harper | 10/11 | 11/11 | Brighton |
| James Tavernier | 11/11 | 01/12 | Sheffield Wednesday |
| Nile Ranger | 11/11 | 12/11 | Barnsley |
| Alan Smith | 01/12 | 05/12 | MK Dons |
| James Tavernier | 01/12 | 05/12 | MK Dons |
| Haris Vuckic | 02/12 | 03/12 | Cardiff City |
| Nile Ranger | 03/12 | 05/12 | Sheffield Wednesday |
Cards/stickers by kind permission of : Doing the 92
Kit images copyright Historical Football Kits and reproduced by kind permission