Fighting for existence

MANY people will struggle to remember what they were doing that day, but for those of a black and white persuasion, it was a day that would be etched in the club’s history – that was until last Saturday.

It was the last time a Newcastle United team had beaten Manchester United at Old Trafford until Yohan Cabaye’s 61st minute strike earned Alan Pardew’s team three points and their first win at the Theatre of Dreams in 41 years.

The Tynesiders have endured their fair share of painful visits to the red half of Manchester, but in 1972, a squad including Malcolm Macdonald, Frank Clark and Irving Nattrass ended a 21-year run without victory with a 2-0 win.

Malcolm Macdonald

Goals from striker John Tudor and flying winger Stewart Barrowclough were enough to see off a Manchester United side that boasted the likes of Bobby Charlton, Brian Kidd, Dennis Law and George Best.

And what was even more remarkable was that the victory came one week after one of the Magpies’ most humiliating ever defeats – the 2-1 FA Cup exit to non-league Hereford.

On this occasion, on the back of a result that caused manager Joe Harvey to be physically sick, the Magpies came out on top, but even the most pessimistic fans would not have predicted then that they would wait another four decades to see their team win at Old Trafford.

Macdonald, Newcastle’s no.

9 at the time, recalls the game, 41 years later.

He told Remember When: “It was an infamous seven days in the history of Newcastle United.

“We went to Old Trafford on the back of the Hereford result, and their crowd – the biggest of the weekend – gave us such almighty stick. “Even in the dressing room before the match, we could hear this incessant chanting.

‘Hereford, Hereford, Hereford’.

“In those situations, you can either fold as a team, or fight for your very existence.”

Newcastle took the lead in the 36th minute with a wellworked goal. Tony Green beat a defender on the right-hand touchline and played a short ball to Barrowclough, who sped down the wing and crossed for Tudor to finish from close range.

The clinching second goal involved Green again, who hit a low cross to the back post, where Barrowclough whipped the ball home.

The win, satisfying as it was, came against a side that was not as potent as it had once been.

“Despite their big names, decline was under way,” remembers Macdonald.

Stewart Barrowclough

Indeed, unthinkable as it may seem today, Manchester United would be relegated to the old Second Division in 1974.