NUFC 1980/81 - Season Summary
Squad
The 1980/81 season was almost certainly the most boring season ever for Newcastle. There have certainly been worse years, but for all round tediousness it cannot be beaten.
A terrible start to the season including an embarrassing League Cup exit against Jim Iley's Fourth Division Bury cost Bill McGarry his job. His replacement was Chesterfield boss and former Sunderland coach Arthur Cox; but the swashbuckling football of the future was a million miles away.
In their 42 league games Newcastle managed a pathetic 30 goals; an average of 0.71 goals a game, the worst average ever recorded by the team. The average goal per game ratio of 1.79 is also the lowest average in the club's history. There were no less than 11 goalless draws, 5 "0-1" defeats, and 4 "0-2" defeats.
In League games at SJP the new S&N electronic scoreboard was almost redundant as there were only 35 goals; 22 for Newcastle and 13 for the opposition
Away from home Newcastle scored 8 goals, failing to score in 16 of their 21 games and not scoring a single goal in their last 7 games. In fact from December onwards (a total of 11 games) only one goal was scored away from home.
The FA Cup started brightly with wins over Sheffield Wednesday and Luton but ended in complete darkness as United were thrashed 4-0 by Third Division Exeter City.
Not surprisingly the fans deserted in droves and the average crowd of 17,350 was the lowest since the 1901-02 season.
One of the few bright spots was the emergence of a gangly young striker rescued from a sausage factory.
| Chairman | R Rutherford |
| Manager | Bill McGarry Arthur Cox |
| Captain | |
| Top Scorer | B Shinton (7) |
Matches
| D2 | A | Sheff Wed | L | 0 - 2 |
| D2 | H | Notts | D | 1 - 1 |
| D2 | A | Bolton | L | 0 - 4 |
| LC | H | Bury | W | 3 - 2 |
| D2 | H | Luton | W | 2 - 1 |
| LC | A | Bury | L | 0 - 1 |
| D2 | H | Cardiff | W | 2 - 1 |
| D2 | A | QPR | W | 2 - 1 |
| D2 | H | Oldham | D | 0 - 0 |
| D2 | A | Bristol | D | 0 - 0 |
| D2 | H | WHU | D | 0 - 0 |
| D2 | A | Preston | W | 3 - 2 |
| D2 | A | Bristol | L | 0 - 2 |
| D2 | H | Swansea | L | 1 - 2 |
| D2 | H | Shrewsbury | W | 1 - 0 |
| D2 | A | Chelsea | L | 0 - 6 |
| D2 | H | Watford | W | 2 - 1 |
| D2 | A | Cambridge Utd | L | 1 - 2 |
| D2 | A | Notts | D | 0 - 0 |
| D2 | H | Sheff Wed | W | 1 - 0 |
| D2 | H | Wrexham | L | 0 - 1 |
| D2 | A | Orient | D | 1 - 1 |
| D2 | A | Swansea | L | 0 - 4 |
| D2 | H | Bristol | D | 0 - 0 |
| D2 | A | Grimsby | D | 0 - 0 |
| D2 | H | Derby | L | 0 - 2 |
| FAC | H | Sheff Wed | W | 2 - 1 |
| D2 | A | Wrexham | D | 0 - 0 |
| D2 | A | Luton | W | 1 - 0 |
| FAC | H | Luton | W | 2 - 1 |
| D2 | H | Bolton | W | 2 - 1 |
| D2 | H | QPR | W | 1 - 0 |
| FAC | H | Exeter | D | 1 - 1 |
| FAC | A | Exeter | L | 0 - 4 |
| D2 | H | Bristol | D | 0 - 0 |
| D2 | A | Cardiff | L | 0 - 1 |
| D2 | A | Oldham | D | 0 - 0 |
| D2 | A | WHU | L | 0 - 1 |
| D2 | H | Preston | W | 2 - 0 |
| D2 | A | Shrewsbury | L | 0 - 1 |
| D2 | H | Chelsea | W | 1 - 0 |
| D2 | A | Watford | D | 0 - 0 |
| D2 | H | Cambridge Utd | W | 2 - 1 |
| D2 | H | Blackburn | D | 0 - 0 |
| D2 | A | Derby | L | 0 - 2 |
| D2 | H | Grimsby | D | 1 - 1 |
| D2 | A | Blackburn | L | 0 - 3 |
| D2 | H | Orient | W | 3 - 1 |
Squad
| Player | A | S | G |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barton D | 15 | ||
| Boam S | 37 | 1 | |
| Brownlie J | 14 | 1 | |
| Carney S | 28 | 4 | |
| Carr K | 43 | ||
| Cartwright P | 4 | 5 | |
| Clarke, R | 18 | 3 | |
| Davies I | 27 | ||
| Halliday, B | 23 | 1 | |
| Hardwick S | 5 | ||
| Harford, M | 18 | 1 | 4 |
| Hibbitt T | 17 | 1 | 3 |
| Johnson, P | 20 | ||
| Kelly, Peter | 9 | ||
| Koenen, F | 13 | 1 | 1 |
| Leaver, P | 1 | ||
| Martin M | 33 | 2 | |
| Mitchell K | 18 | 1 | |
| Nicholson G | 2 | 1 | |
| Rafferty B | 17 | 4 | |
| Shinton B | 27 | 7 | |
| Shoulder A | 35 | 1 | 6 |
| Trewick, J | 25 | 1 | |
| Waddle, C | 17 | 3 | |
| Walker N | 20 | 1 | 1 |
| Wharton K | 40 | 1 | |
| Withe, C | 2 | ||
| own goals | 1 |