Season 1979/80 Diary

August

Pre season saw United go west for their pre-season tour; playing the mighty Bath City, Plymouth, Torquay and Exeter.

A mixed start to the League season with a 3-2 home victory over Oldham (controversially secured with a 97th minute penalty) followed by defeat at Preston and a draw at Charlton in front of less than 7,000 onlookers.

Stuart Boam was a surprise £100,000 capture from Middlesbrough where he was deemed surplus to requirements after Irving Nattrass had made the journey in the opposite direction.

It was Tyne verses Wear in the Second Round of the League Cup with the first leg ending in a 2-2 draw. Hero of the hour was Peter Cartwright who scored the equaliser seven minutes from time. It was only his second game since arriving from non league North Shields in the summer and he scored with his first touch.

September

Disaster in the League Cup when after another 2-2 draw United lost on penalties; Jim Pearson missing the vital kick in what proved to be his last professional match.

There was better news in the League. Four wins on the bounce followed by a hard fought draw at St Andrews (United's 3000th League game) in which Steve Hardwick played a blinder saw United jump into top spot.

They recovered from a slow start against Chelsea to win 2-1 with Peter Withe grabbing a brace with two typical barnstorming headers. They beat Orient 4-1 away and followed up with home victories over Leicester [3-2] and Wrexham [1-0] on a rare MoD appearance.

Alan Shoulder netted six goals in the first seven matches and incredibly they all came from penalties.

"Our best is still to come" bragged Manager of the Month McGarry

October

October proved to be a difficult month with goals proving hard to come by. A record of 2/2/2 meant a fall to third.

A point was controversially gained at Upton Park when in the 83rd minute referee Clive Thomas enraged The Hammers by penalising keeper Phil Parkes for an alleged "foot-up" . Withe scored from the resultant indirect free-kick. The other away game brought defeat at Watford.

There were home victories over Shrewsbury and Leicester but an ultra cautious Preston held out for a goalless draw.

Boro star Stan Cummings put in a transfer request and both Newcastle and Sunderland were allegedly interested. He eventually moved to Roker with United not prepared (or able) to meet the asking price. The club was prepared to shell out £175,000 for Billy Rafferty.

Also arriving was Steve Carney who became the latest non-leaguer to be signed on.

November

A bad start at Oldham where defeat was coupled with serious crowd trouble involving the United supporters.

However they remained unbeaten for the rest of the month: a narrow victory at home to Cardiff being followed by a draw at Bristol City and a win at Swansea. United were still in 3rd spot but were equal on points with the two teams above them; QPR and Chelsea.

December

Three wins, 2 draws and only 1 defeat allowed United to climb back to the top of the table.

A fortuitous 2-0 victory over struggling Fulham (with Carney making his debut) was followed by a draw at Luton in a game in which captain Martin suffered a knee injury which would rule him out for the rest of the season.

A thrilling 4-2 victory over a QPR side containing Roeder and McCreery in front of over 25,000 had McGarry proclaiming that "I am certain we can do it (get promotion) this time". United had been losing 2-1 before a one dog pitch invasion temporarily halted the game. The game restarted with a free-kick from which The Magpies equalised and from then on it was the homesters who had their tails up.

United also fought back to draw 2-2 at Notts County after conceding two penalties in six minutes but then slumped to a 3-2 defeat at bottom of the table Burnley.

The year eventually ended on a high note when United finally found their way past a negative Charlton side to win 2-0 and ensure first place in readiness for the Tyne Wear Derby on New Year's Day.

Len Shackleton picked his stars for the eighties (one from each local club) on his newspaper column. Peter Cartwright was his United choice whilst he plumped for Bobby (!?) Beardsley at Carlisle.

January

The year could not have started better as United beat Sunderland 3-1; unfortunately however the season was about to go into nosedive.

Newcastle desperately needed a good Cup run to boost their coffers but they slumped to a home defeat against Third Division Chester. Berwick born United fanatic Peter Henderson opened the scoring after only three minutes and eighteen year old Ian Rush sowed it up 13 minutes from time.

They were the first team to win at SJP that season; unfortunately they wouldn't be the last.

A week later United crashed 4-0 at Stamford Bridge against third placed Chelsea; a tame surrender in front of the BBC cameras. McGarry accused some of his players of complacency and threatened to "ginger up" a few of them.

In the end only Rafferty lost his place for the visit of Orient and it was another battle of attrition with United winning with two goals in the last twenty minutes. United regained top spot.

February

The Magpies gave a good account of themselves at Filbert Street but lost 1-0 to one of their many promotion rivals. This was followed by another single goal defeat at Wrexham and McGarry admitted that his strikers were "clearly out of form". But he remained upbeat and was confident that this was simply a bad patch and promotion was still there for the taking.

Fifth placed Birmingham were the next visitors to SJP and it was a mystery how the Tynesiders managed a goalless draw as they were completely outplayed. A furious McGarry described it as the worst performance of the season and forced the players to watch a video of the game.

His tactic backfired when a nervy side put in another slipshod performance in a 3-1 defeat at Shrewsbury; the scoreline not reflecting the superiority of the Gay Meadow men.

It was a fifth away defeat in a row and United now occupied fifth position. However they were still only one point behind leaders Leicester. Indeed in a remarkably tight League only three points separated the top eight sides.

March

Things didn't improve much in March with only one win in five games.

McGarry was desperate for an injection of a new blood and appealed for new funds. The home defeat against Watford supported his viewpoint. United were terrible and McGarry admitted that there was not a "shred of confidence" in the side.

Bobby Shinton (who had flopped at Man City) was bought. "He could be the man to solve the bulk of our problems" McGarry stated optimistically.

Shinton had promised to give the side a lift but he stubbed his toe when trying to convert his only chance in a drab goalless draw at Cambridge.

The next game also ended 0-0 with The Magpies and Hammers producing some decent passing but failing miserably in front of goal. Shinton was an "effervescent spirit", the United fans had a more flammable liquid for the cockney travellers.

A trip to Ninian Park saw a third stalemate in a row with Shinton scoring his first goal to equalise an early Welsh strike.

Newcastle rounded off the month with their first win in nine games but only after a late three goal burst rescued them from a losing position. It was an pathetic performance and McGarry slammed his players for a "lack of courage".

The win took The Magpies back up to fifth.

April

Four defeats and two draws ended any hopes of promotion as the season finally didintegrated completely.

Victory at home against Notts County would have really put United back in the frame but the other Magpies equalised in the last seconds with a stunning strike.

41,752 were at Roker Park for the crucial Tyne Wear derby. United were 5th and Sunderland were two places and one point behind, but with two games in hand. The Novocastrians dominated the first half but failed to score and were made to pay for their profligacy when Cummins scored the only goal after 73 minutes.

Mcgarry - with just a degree of exagerration - called it "the biggest travesty of justice I have known since I came into football" .

Two days later and another home failure as struggling Burnley came away with a 1-1 draw. This was followed by another witless defeat against a Fulham side doomed to relegation..

McGarry promised that there was too much pride at stake for United to simply go through the motions an the home match with Swansea. He was sadly misguided as The Black and Whites lost again. Only teenage debutant Kenny Wharton could be pleased with his performance.

Another defeat at Loftus Road (with David McCreery scoring a rare winner) was followed by a surprisingly entertaining 2-2 draw at home to Luton. Only 13,765 bothered to turn up.