Season Review 1985/86
Intro
In one of the most exciting Championship races for seasons Liverpool - led by player-manager Dalglish - won their last seven matches to just pip Merseyside rivals Everton to the title. Ipswich, Birmingham and West Brom were relegated.
Newcastle finished in a highly respectable 11th with a record of W:17 D:12 L:13 - scoring 67 and conceding 72. They remained in the top half of the table throughout the season.
The red scousers also triumphed over the blues in the FA Cup whilst the mighty Oxford United thrashed QPR 3-0 in the League Cup Final.
Hit by falling attendances, reduced TV money and rising safety costs a number of clubs were struggling to stay afloat. The Inland Revenue was granted winding-up orders against Swansea and Middlesbrough.
August
It was make or break for Mcfaul very early on as five games were crammed into the first two weeks of the season. Two draws at The Dell and at home to Luton were followed by a confidence boosting home victory over Liverpool.
Two more wins against Coventry and QPR took The Magpies into fourth place.
Ian Stewart arrived from QPR in the first week of the season as McFaul completed the move set-up by Charlton.
September
September started badly as United suffered two heavy defeats away from home; 0-3 to league leaders Man United and 5-1 at White Hart Lane where Waddle received plenty of vocal discouragement from the travelling fans.
However they recovered with two easy home victories over struggling Oxford and West Brom before gaining a creditable draw at Highbury.
By the end of the month they were back up to fourth. In the League Cup 2nd round they were held to a goalless draw at home by Barnsley
October
A topsy turvy month in the league with two home defeats (West Ham and Nottingham Forest) and a draw and victory away from St James' against two of the strugglers (Ipswich and Aston Villa) saw us drop to eighth. McFaul made it clear after the Forest game that "some of the players lacked the pride I expect and demand"
In the League Cup we scraped past Barnsley on the away goals rule before crashing 3-1 against first division strugglers Oxford.
John Bailey arrived from Everton after Alan Kenneddy controversially chose to go to Roker Park rather than return to Tyneside despite already having agreed personal terms with McFaul.
November
United remained inconsistent throughout November as the goals appeared to be drying up;only five in five games. By the end of the month they had slipped to 9th.
December
In an effort to halt the slide McFaul "changed" his attacking options by selling former bricklayer George Reilly and replacing him with former bricklayer Billy Whitehurst.
Three away games out of four made it a tricky month but a win, a loss and two draws meant that by the end of the year they were in 10th place.
Right winger Paul Stephenson made his debut against Southampton in December and he would retain his place for the rest of the season.
January
Two draws and a defeat meant that United had won only two of their last ten league games and they slipped down to 11th place.
There was also a disappointing home defeat in the FA Cup 3rd round against Second Division Brighton. A goal down in a minute United proceeded to dominate the game before Dean Saunders wrapped the game up five minutes before the end sparking a mass exodus.
February
Before the icy grip of winter took its toll United managed two victories: at home to Coventry and an excellent result away at the City Ground against Nottingham Forest.
We moved back up to 10th
March
Wins against championship chasing Arsenal and struggling Ipswich and Oxford made it five consecutive victories; something they had not acheived in the top flight since 1948/49.
Four more points were gained from the next three games and we moved up to 9th. McFaul was rewarded with a contract up until the end of the 1987/88 season.
An injury to Martin Thomas led McFaul to take David McKellar on loan from Hibs.
April
In order to catch up on postponed games April brought seven games in the space of three weeks; an itinerary that started to stretch McFaul's limited squad. There were plenty of goals around: 35 in total, 21 of them ending up in our net.
At SJP we recorded victories over Birmingham (4-1) and Man City (3-1), shared the points with Villa and lost 4-2 to Man Utd.
Away from home there was a decent draw at Chelsea, but we suffered heavy defeats at Watford (1-4) and - infamously - 1-8 at Upton Park.
The defeat at West Ham was our worst result since 1950 and was only one goal off our record defeat. There were mitigating circumstances. With McKellar injured Thomas was recalled despite not being fully fit.
He struggled through the first half but conceded four goals. Ian Stewart replaced him and Chris Hedworth took over in goal; before he too was injured and replaced by Peter Beardsley (Super Goalie). Hammers central defender Alvin Martin thus achieved the distinction of scoring past three different 'keepers in one match.