By the time
League football resumed in 1946, Newcastle had a side to be
reckoned with. Centre Forward Albert Stubbins, a youngster at
St. James' in the 1930's, had blossomed into a remarkable goalscorer
in wartime football, and in 1945/6 he played for England. After
augmenting the squad with players like Joe Harvey and Frank
Brennan, United just missed promotion and a Wembley visit in
1947. Crowds were coming back in droves to United and money
was once again flowing into the coffers.
Len Shackleton proved to be another good signing and on his
debut, and set a record for the most United goals scored in
a match when he put 6 past Newport County in a remarkable 13-0
victory - to this day Newcastle's biggest win.
The following season saw United break more records with an average
attendance of nearly 57,000, the highest in the league, despite
Newcastle still being in Division 2. There were 15,000 applicants
for the clubs meagre 1,500 season tickets. Milburn switched
from the wing to centre-forward, and this proved to be a great
move as he hammered in 20 goals during this promotion season.
United continued to strengthen their squad, bringing in George
Robledo and Bobby Mitchell. For the next decade United were
one of the First Division's high-flyers, completing a trio of
FA Cup wins in 1951, 1952 and 1955.
Robledo equalled Gallacher's 25 year old 39 goals in a season
record in 1952. As ever unfortunately, Newcastle went into something
of a decline after the 1955 victory, and despite Charlie Mitten
taking over in 1958 as manager of what looked a good side in
the making, Newcastle fell away badly and were relegated in
1961. The 1960-61 season was fascinating however, for New- castle
netted almost 100 goals, unfortunately conceding more than 100.
Mitten departed soon after and in came an old United favourite,
former Cup winning captain Joe Harvey, in the summer of 1962.
Newcastle were struggling in every respect, yet within 3 years,
in 1965, Newcastle returned to top flight football as Division
2 Champions. A mixture of young talent like David Craig and
Frank Clark, together with transfers like Stan Anderson, Jim
Iley and David Hilley, gave United a tough squad. Newcastle
consolidated their 1st Division place and in 1968 entered European
Competition for the first time in the UEFA Inter Cities Fairs
Cup.
Newcastle were not given much of a chance, but astonished everyone
by beating European giants Feyenoord 4-0 in the first leg, first
round. They then went onto beat teams such as Sporting Lisbon
and Glasgow Rangers before demolishing Hungarians Ujpest Dozsa
home and away in the final to lift the trophy. Players like
"Pop" Robson, Wyn Davies and Bobby Moncur rose to
fame during this time.
