NUFC Season Summaries

NUFC Season 1975/76

1975/76 was one of those incongruous seasons where very little in Black and White made any sort of sense. Harvey had been replaced - much to the fans disappointment - by the unheralded Gordon ("who?") Lee.

Lee told us to expect more controlled cautious football, but the goals per game average was the highest for fifteen years as goals were scored and conceded with equal abandon.

He said he was more interested in the League than the cups but whereas we finished 15th for the third year in succession we reached the League Cup Final and the quarter finals of the FA Cup. We may have done even better if we hadn't been ravaged by injuries and illness.

He also came with a reputation for hard working, flairless players with a team ethic. As a result Gowling and Oates were in. Meanwhile Hibbitt was turfed out within months and there were constant rumours about Lee's relationship with Supermac.

The Toon Army didn't seem to know how to react; delighted with the Cup runs but increasingly antagonistic when things did not go so well. The 1974 hangover was proving hard to shake off, but the average attendance did rise slightly.