1988–89 Newcastle United F.C. season

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Newcastle United

1988–89 season
Chairman	Gordon McKeag
Manager	Willie McFaul (until 9 October) Colin Suggett (caretaker until 14 December) Jim Smith (from 14 December)
Stadium	St James' Park
First Division	20th
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	Second round
Full Members Cup	Third round
Mercantile Credit Centenary Trophy	Semi-final
Top goalscorer	League: Mirandinha (9) All: Mirandinha (11)
Highest home attendance	33,508 (vs. Tottenham Hotspur)
Lowest home attendance	14,445 (vs. West Ham United)
Average home league attendance	22,815
Home colours Away colours
← 1987-88 1989-90 →

During the 1988–89 season, Newcastle United participated in the Football League First Division. During the summer the club invested heavily in their squad, attempting to offset the loss of rising star Paul Gascoigne to Tottenham Hotspur for a then club record fee. The FA Cup winners Dave Beasant and Andy Thorn were signed from Wimbledon for £850,000 each, and the Scotsmen John Robertson and John Hendrie also joined as the club spent the £2.2 million it received for Gascoigne. The loss of Gascoigne proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back so soon after selling Peter Beardsley and Chris Waddle, and promising youngster Michael O'Neill, struggling with loss of form and injuries along with the enigmatic Brazilian Mirandinha, were in and out of the team all season.

Newcastle United were relegated, finishing bottom after changing their manager two months into the season. Willie McFaul was sacked as manager after a 3–0 home defeat to Coventry City, a week after the team had beaten the League champions Liverpool at Anfield. The new manager Jim Smith, who struggled to change the team's fortunes, set about 'wheeling and dealing' that saw many changes to the squad. Beasant and Robertson were replaced by the inexperienced Northern Irish goalkeeper Tommy Wright and the expatriate striker Rob McDonald. Other signings included the ex-England international Kenny Sansom, the experienced right back Ray Ranson and the Danish pair Bjørn Kristensen and Frank Pingel, but these changes had little effect and failed to stop the club's slide towards the Second Division, as they collected only two points from their last nine matches.

(Substitute appearances in brackets)

Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Simod Cup		MCC Trophy		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	Dave Beasant	20	0	1	0	2	0	1	0	2	0	26	0
GK	Gary Kelly	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	0
GK	Tommy Wright	9	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	12	0
DF	John Anderson	21	1	0	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	24	1
DF	Steve Howey	0 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0 (1)	0
DF	Peter Jackson	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	0
DF	Bjørn Kristensen	4 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4 (1)	0
DF	Ray Ranson	13 (1)	1	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	17 (1)	1
DF	Glenn Roeder	18	0	3	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	22	0
DF	Kenny Sansom	20	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	24	0
DF	Kevin Scott	29	0	4	0	2	0	0 (1)	0	1	0	36 (1)	0
DF	Andy Thorn	26	1	0	0	2	0	1	0	2	0	31	1
DF	Kenny Wharton	14 (4)	0	4	0	2	0	1	0	2	0	23 (4)	0
MF	Ian Bogie	3 (3)	0	1 (2)	0	0 (1)	0	0	0	1	0	5 (6)	0
MF	Kevin Brock	21	2	4	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	26	3
MF	John Cornwell	8 (1)	0	0	0	1	0	0 (1)	0	2	0	11 (2)	0
MF	Albert Craig	0 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0 (1)	0
MF	Archie Gourlay	0 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0 (1)	0
MF	David McCreery	36	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	42	0
MF	Liam O'Brien	17 (3)	3	4	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	22 (3)	3
MF	Michael O'Neill	17 (10)	4	1 (1)	0	2	0	0	0	1	1	21 (11)	5
MF	Lee Payne	6 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6 (1)	0
MF	David Roche	0 (2)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0 (2)	0
MF	Paul Stephenson	7 (1)	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	9 (1)	0
MF	Paul Sweeney	6 (2)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6 (2)	0
MF	Brian Tinnion	12 (1)	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	1 (1)	0	15 (2)	1
FW	Gary Brazil	3 (4)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3 (4)	0
FW	John Hendrie	34	4	4	0	2	1	1	0	2	0	43	5
FW	Darren Jackson	13 (2)	2	0	0	2	0	1	0	2	0	18 (2)	2
FW	Anth Lormor	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	1
FW	Rob McDonald	6 (4)	1	1 (3)	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	8 (7)	2
FW	Mirandinha	22 (6)	9	2 (1)	1	2	1	1	0	0 (1)	0	27 (8)	11
FW	Frank Pingel	13 (1)	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	13 (1)	1
FW	John Robertson	7 (5)	0	0	0	0 (2)	0	0	0	2	0	9 (7)	0
FW	David Robinson	0 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0 (1)	0

Position	Staff
Manager	Jim Smith
Assistant Manager	Bobby Saxton

• Powter, David (1995). Newcastle United: The 25 Year Record 1970-71 to 1994-95. Soccer Book Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-947808-54-X.
• Joannou, Paul (2011). Newcastle United: The Ultimate Record 1881-2011. N Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9568156-0-6.

• Newcastle United Football Club - Fixtures 1988-89
• Season Details - 1988-89 - toon1892