| Just like their
football ground, Newcastle United is at the heart of Geordie
life with their fans, the Toon Army, being some
of the most passionate in the country.
Newcastle United play in the Premiership, the top football
League in England, in which the best 20 teams in the country
compete. In recent years, results have placed them in
the top six of this league, making them one of the top
teams in the country and arguably the best in the North
East - despite the fact that they have not won a major
honour since 1993 when they won the Division One Championship.
But proof of the fan's dedication to their team can been
seen every match day, with the shear volume of supporters
that flock to St James' Park [map] to encourage the team through good times and bad. In fact
the only club achieving better attendance records than
Newcastle, is Manchester United.
Newcastle United fans are known as the Toon Army and they
are one of the few sets of supporters that have earned
their own title, one that is completely unrelated to that
of their team. Other useful things to know about the team
are that they play in black and white, their home
ground is St James' Park and the nickname for the team
itself is The Magpies.
The people of Newcastle have not always been united behind
one team as in the 1880s the city's fans were divided
between Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End. Both
began life as extensions of local cricket clubs, but soon
began to take on a life of their own. Over the years the
two teams had a good rivalry but financial misfortune
ended the West End team. The East End team however went
from strength to strength, taking over St James Park,
the former home of the West End team, and going on to
become Newcastle United.
Although the team still play at St James’ Park,
the ground has undergone a huge transformation since it
was first used in 1880. Most recently the North East’s
oldest stadium has undergone a £40+ million transformation
that was completed in August 2002. The stadium now has
the capacity for more than 52,000 fans and still
regularly sells out on match days.
Over the years the team has had some memorable managers
and one of the best loved of recent times has been, Kevin
Keegan, aka King Kev, who nearly took the team to
the top of the Premiership in the mid 1990s.
The team has also had its fair share of on the field greats
namely, Malcolm MacDonald, Chris Waddle, Peter Beardsley,
Paul Gascoigne, David Ginola and Alan Shearer,
the Premiership's current all time leading scorer with
more than 200 goals to his name.
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