Friday 21 August 2015

RETRO NEWCASTLE UNITED

Welcome to the unveiling of my latest Retro Football collage ... NEWCASTLE UNITED.

A black and white striped tribute to the Toon Army, packed with Geordie heroes!



The legend who leads the way is of course JACKIE MILBURN. Newcastle has always been famous for its legendary no. 9 centre forwards, and Wor Jackie is perhaps their most iconic. Throughout the 1950s he captained them to three F.A. Cup triumphs and bagged a sensational 200 goals.




Other strikers from down the years also get a mention, including 70s marauder Malcolm Macdonald, Bryan 'Pop' Robson and 80s icon Peter Beardsley.
Classic 1970s sticker albums are also in there, alongside original programmes, cards and a commemorative coin from the 1972 Esso F.A. Cup Centenary Coins set.


Fantastic smiley portrait of Super Mac from 1973!

The England striker enjoyed cult status on Tyneside in the 80s.

Great selection of 70s footie cards.

Programme from 1976, costing a whopping 12p!

Newcastle United profile from the Football 79 sticker album.

The most unusual item I had for this collage is a letter from 1983. Clearly showing their distinctive club badge on the letterhead, it concerns their travel arrangements to get to and from a match at Chelsea!


Rare letter from Newcastle secretary R. Cushing, confirming their coach to take them to a match in 1983.

Perhaps the biggest surprise about Newcastle is their lack of silverware in modern times. So I wanted to include their last big successes. There is a feature on Bobby Moncur, who captained and scored in their 1969 Inter-City Fairs Cup victory and original pictures from their last major domestic trophy, the F.A. Cup of 1955.


Bobby Moncur helped end Newcastle Cup famine in 1969.

Great original pictures from their 1955 F.A. Cup win over Man City.

My favourite item of the collage is the fantastic cigarette card of HUGHIE GALLACHER. An extraordinary centre forward and personality who played for the Geordies in the late 20s, scoring an amazing 143 goals in 174 appearances. He fired them to the League Championship in 1926/27 with 36 goals. The card, issued by Player's Cigarettes in 1926, features a brilliant portrait of the impish but fiery Scottish striker.



I hope Newcastle fans young and not-so young enjoy this collage, and hopefully can inspire today's Toons to a bit of success this season!

This weekend I'll be adding a framed picture and some fridge magnets of this collage to my unit at The Customs House in West Bay, Dorset. I might see you in there!!

P.S. Some fans may notice a distinct lack of pictures of the legendary KEVIN KEEGAN! The simple reason for this is that, unbelievably, I couldn't find anything on him in my collections!! As with all my collages, I only use vintage items I actually own and don't just take things off the internet. If I get any bits with Kev on it, I'll add it to the collage, watch this space!!

Have a look at the other teams I've done in my RETRO FOOTBALL series HERE

And let me know which team you'd like me to do next!!

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