Stoke City Football Club is a football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, England. Founded in 1863, Stoke is the oldest club in the Premier League, and the second oldest professional football club after Notts County.

Stoke play their home fixtures at the Britannia Stadium, a 28,000 all-seater stadium. The stadium was opened in 1997; prior to this date Stoke had played at the Victoria Ground, which had been their home ground since 1878 (a record of 119 years currently shared with Wolverhampton Wanderers). The club's nickname is The Potters (after the pottery industry in Stoke-on-Trent) and its home kit consists of a red & white vertical-striped shirt with white shorts and white socks.

Prior to their 2008 promotion, Stoke had not participated in top flight football since the 1984-85 season, in which they were relegated with a total of 17 points, a record low total for twenty-one years. Stoke's first major trophy was won in the 1972 League Cup Final, when they beat Chelsea 2-1. The club have won the Football League Trophy on two occasions, firstly in 1992 and most recently in 2000.

Stoke won promotion to the Premier League after a goalless draw with Leicester City on the last day of the 2007–08 season, which was enough to keep them in 2nd place of The Championship and earn automatic promotion. The promotion will earn Stoke £35 million for the 2008–09 season, and a minimum of £60 million over the space of three seasons.

Their first top flight match was at the Reebok Stadium where they were beaten by a dominant Bolton Wanderers team 3–1, with Ricardo Fuller scoring Stoke's only goal in the last minute. Following the result, bookmaker Paddy Power paid out on Stoke to be relegated after just one game. However, in their first Premier League home match, Stoke picked up all three points against Aston Villa in a close 3-2 win. Following defeats against Middlesbrough[53] and Everton, Stoke managed to pick up a surprise point against Liverpool at Anfield. Stoke further added to their points tally almost a month later in a 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur.Store successive wins at home to Sunderland and Arsenal saw them reach a league high of twelfth place.

Stoke picked up eight points in November with a further win against West Brom and draws against Hull City and Wigan Athletic, though they also suffered a 5-0 defeat away to Manchester United, their worst defeat of the season.

In December, the club were knocked out of the Carling Cup by Derby County in the Quarter-Finals, but then claimed an unlikely point away at Newcastle United as they came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2: the result saw them climb to 13th in the table. The following month they were knocked out of the FA Cup by League One side Hartlepool United in the 3rd Round.

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Hull City Association Football Club are an English football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire. They play in the Premier League, with the 2008–09 season being the first time in their history participating in the top tier of English football. Founded in 1904, the highest position Hull City have finished in the English Football League was 3rd in the old second division in 1909–10, a feat they repeated in 2007–08 when they gained promotion from The Championship by beating Bristol City 1–0 in the play-off final at Wembley Stadium. Their greatest achievement in cup competitions came in 1930, when the team reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup.

The club play their home games at the KC Stadium in Hull. They previously played at Boothferry Park, but moved to their current home in 2002, with Boothferry Park set for demolition. They traditionally play in black and amber, often with a striped shirt design, hence their nickname The Tigers. The club's mascot is Roary the Tiger.

he new chairman ploughed funds into the club, allowing Little to rebuild the team. Hull occupied the Division Three promotion and playoff places for much of the 2001–02 season, but Little departed two months before the end of the season and Hull slipped to 11th under his successor Jan Mølby.

Hull began the 2002–03 season with a terrible start, which saw relegation look more likely than promotion, and Mølby was sacked in October as Hull languished fifth from bottom in the league. Peter Taylor was named as Hull's new manager and in December 2002, just two months his appointment, Hull relocated to the impressive new 25,400-seater Kingston Communications Stadium after 56 years at Boothferry Park. At the end of the season Hull finished 13th.

The two seasons which followed the opening of the new stadium were hugely successful. Hull were Division Three runners-up in 2003–04 and League One runners-up in 2004–05. These back-to-back promotions took them into the Championship, the second tier of English football.The 2005–06 season, the club's first back in the second tier, saw Hull finish in 18th place, a comfortable 10 points clear of relegation and their highest league finish for 16 years.

However, Taylor left the club on 13 June 2006 to take up the manager's job at Crystal Palace.Phil Parkinson was confirmed as his replacement on 29 June 2006, but was sacked on 4 December 2006 with Hull in the relegation zone, despite having spent over £2 million on players. Phil Brown took over as caretaker manager, and took over permanently in January 2007, having taken Hull out of the relegation zone. Brown brought veteran striker Dean Windass back to his hometown club on loan from Bradford City, and his eight goals helped secure Hull's Championship status as they finished in 21st place. At the end of the season, another familiar face, former manager Brian Horton, rejoined the club as Phil Brown's assistant.

Adam Pearson sold the club to a consortium led by Paul Duffen in June 2007, stating that he "had taken the club as far as I could", and would have to relinquish control in order to attract "really significant finance into the club". He resigned from the board on 31 July 2007, thus severing all ties with the club.

Under Paul Duffen and manager Phil Brown Hull City improved greatly on their relegation battle of 2006–07 and qualified for the play-offs after finishing the season in third place. They beat Watford 6–1 on aggregate in the semi-finals and played Bristol City in the final on 24 May 2008, which Hull won 1–0 at Wembley Stadium, with Hull native Dean Windass scoring the winning goal. Their ascent from the bottom division of the English football league to the top in just five seasons is the third fastest ever.

Despite being one of the favourites for relegation, they began life in the Premier League in great form, beating Fulham 2–1 on the opening day in their first ever top flight fixture. With only one defeat in their opening nine games, Hull City found themselves (temporarily) joint top of the table, third on goal difference, following a 3–0 victory over West Bromwich Albion[34] - ten years previously they had been bottom of tier four of the league.

Andy Davidson holds the record for Hull City league appearances, having played 520 matches. George Maddison comes second, having played 430 matches. Chris Chilton is the club's top goalscorer with 222 goals in all competitions. Chilton also holds the club record for goals scored in the League (193), FA Cup (16) and League Cup (10).

The club's widest victory margin in the league was their 11–1 win against Carlisle United in Division Three in 1939. Their heaviest defeat in the league was 8–0 against Wolves in 1911.[48]

Hull City's record home attendance is 55,019, for a match against Manchester United on 26 February 1949 at Boothferry Park, with their highest attendance at their current stadium, the KC Stadium, 24,924 against Arsenal on 17 January 2009.

The highest transfer fee received for a Hull City player is £1.25 million, from Crystal Palace for Leon Cort in June 2006. The highest transfer fee paid for a player is £5 million, for Jimmy Bullard from Fulham in January 2009.

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Sheffield United Football Club is a professional English football club based in the city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire. They currently play in the English Football League Championship. They play at Bramall Lane in Sheffield, and play in red and white striped shirts.
Their nickname is 'The Blades'. The club emblem is said to have been designed by former player Jimmy Hagan.They have the nickname The Blades due to Sheffield's worldwide reputation of steel production. The emblem was first used for the 1977–78 season, replacing the city's coat of arms that had been used since 1966. Like all clubs, Sheffield United have a great range of songs and chants sung by their fans, including the most notable: their unofficial anthem, The Greasy Chip Butty Song, which is sung before each half, and often after the game if the team has performed well. Sheffield United won the League in 1898 and the FA Cup in 1899, 1902, 1915 and 1925. They were beaten finalists in the FA Cup in 1901 and 1936. Their best performance in the League Cup was reaching the semi finals in 2003.
The first time a crest appeared on the shirt was actually in the 1891–92 season, when a red crest appeared on the white shirt, but this disappeared the following season. United used the city of Sheffield's coat of arms from 1965–77, when a new crest was used, introduced by former manager Jimmy Sirrel, but designed apparently over 20 years previously by former player Jimmy Hagan. This consisted of two white crossed swords, or blades, the club's nickname, with a Yorkshire Rose (white) above, on a black background. This is surrounded by a red ring with "Sheffield United F.C." written around the top and "1889", the year the club was founded, underneath. This had been altered very slightly a few times, with a simple black embroidered crest appearing on shirts from 1987–90, and an all-white crest on a red-edged black shield for the 1992–99 seasons, when shields were in fashion with English football clubs, but from 2000–present it has reverted to its original form.
The kit manufacturer is Le Coq Sportif, they have been the kit supplier since 2002 and also in 1997–2000. The 2008–09 season home shirt was designed by a season ticket holder, and the all black away kit was chosen by the players and will be made by Le Coq Sportif. In August 2008 the club unveiled a new sponsor, the country of Malta to be represented on the shirts by , the tourism board of the Mediterranean country.
Their other sponsor is Australian property company Valad, who have their logo on the back of the shirts and shorts.Sheffield United have numerous rivalries. The most outstanding rivalry is with their city neighbours Sheffield Wednesday. Both teams have chants which aim to berate the other, as with many rivals. United and Wednesday's meeting has come to be known as the Steel City derby; to date 119 matches have been played in the Steel City derby, with United winning 44, Wednesday 41, and 37 draws. Sheffield United's other rivals are mainly other teams from Yorkshire, such as Leeds United, Barnsley and Rotherham United. Sheffield Wednesday remain United's main rivals as meetings between United and Wednesday have occurred the most, and most of Sheffield supports one of the two teams. Sheffield United have not done the league double over Sheffield Wednesday since the 2005–06 season. It is generally accepted that United remain the smaller cousin of their rivals Wednesday.
Sheffield United, also have, along with many other sports teams across Yorkshire, a strong rivalry with Nottingham Forest. This can be attributed to the miners strikes of the 1980s, where workers in the pits of Nottinghamshire did not join the strike, and honoured their contracts, whereas miners from Yorkshire were on strike. Another smaller rivalry that has recently developed is with Reading arising from their match in January 2007 at the Madejski Stadium where Wally Downes attacked United manager Neil Warnock due to a misinterpretation of words from Warnock to a Reading player. This led to a mutual and bitter dislike between the two clubs that is still evident today. Also in October 2005 at the Madejski, there was an altercation with Blades winger Keith Gillespie, as he thought he should have had a last minute penalty, only to be turned down.


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Southampton Football Club is a professional English football team, nicknamed The Saints and based in the city of Southampton. The club currently plays in the Championship, since relegation from the Premier League in 2005. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club moved to in 2001 from The Dell.
The Chairman is Michael Wilde and the first team is under the charge of Mark Wotte, with former boss Jan Poortvliet having resigned on 23 January 2009. The club captain is goalkeeper Kelvin Davis, who was appointed in January 2009.
The club has won the FA Cup once, and their highest-ever league finish was second in the top flight in 1983–84.
The club is owned by parent company Southampton Leisure Holdings PLC, which is listed on the Alternative Investments Market. The Chairman of Southampton Leisure Holdings PLC is Rupert Lowe.
Southampton's off-the-field controversy affected their on-the-field fortunes substantially during 2005–06, and at one point they were in real danger of a second successive relegation. But their form improved during the final weeks of the season and they finished a secure twelfth.
The good form which secured Southampton's Championship status in 2005–06 was carried through to the start of the 2006–07 season, and the turn of the year saw the team in fourth place in the table. The new board of directors had spent a club record £6 million on transfers. Polish strikers Grzegorz Rasiak and Marek Saganowski and 17 year-old left back Gareth Bale all had great runs in form. A drastic loss in the team's form overall, coupled with poor displays against fellow promotion hopefuls, saw the team drop to eighth place by mid–March 2007, and rapidly losing touch with the promotion race. However, with other promotion rivals dropping points and a small run of form in late April, Southampton were able to reach sixth place, the last play-off position. They lost the home leg of their playoff semi-final to Derby County, and on 15 May achieved parity on aggregate but lost on penalties in a thrilling encounter.
Since relegation, the club has had to sell players to meet the shortfall in income. A number of players from the club's academy have been sold for large sums, such as Theo Walcott and Gareth Bale.
The 2007–08 season went much worse for Southampton with George Burley revealing that players such as Gareth Bale and Kenwyne Jones has to be sold to stop the club going into administration and that not getting promoted put the club in serious financial troubles. New players such as Youssef Safri and Stern John were brought in and Southampton made an inconsistent start to the season being lodged in mid-table around the Christmas period. However, manager Burley left the club in January to take over as Scotland manager and in the January transfer window two more important players in Grzegorz Rasiak and Rudi Skacel were loaned out. Jason Dodd and John Gorman took charge initially for what was intended to be the rest of the season. However they failed to win a league game and the team slipped alarmingly near to the relegation zone. In February Southampton appointed Nigel Pearson as manager. Under Pearson's management Southampton did narrowly avoided the drop by beating Sheffield United 3-2 on the final day of the season.
Even though Pearson kept the Saints up the Southampton board did not renew his contract, because of financial constraints. By now, Michael Wilde and Rupert Lowe had replaced Leon Crouch as chairmen, and the new board brought in the relatively unknown Dutchman Jan Poortvliet as manager. The Club's financial troubles continued to mount, resulting in more players being sold or loaned out to lower the wage bill and parts of St Mary's were closed off to reduce costs. Due to their financial troubles the club had to rely on youth and put out a very young side. Although they had a poor first half to the season, young players such as Drew Surman, Adam Lallana and David McGoldrick have emerged as potential stars.
On 23 January 2009, Poortvliet resigned with the club one from bottom in the Championship, with Mark Wotte taking over managerial duties.

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Derby County Football Club is a professional football club based at Pride Park Stadium in Derby, England, playing in the Football League Championship.
The club was founded in 1884 and is notable as being one of the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888. It is therefore one of only eleven clubs to have appeared in every season of league football since its inception. Derby's competitive history includes two spells as English League Champions, one FA Cup title and an appearance in the European Cup semi-finals. The club is nicknamed The Rams in tribute to its links with The First Regiment of Derby Militia, which took a ram as its mascot and the song The Derby Ram as its regimental song
Derby County's relegation saw the club enter a serious financial crisis, which forced them to sell many key players. Gregory was later suspended from his managerial duties over alleged misconduct[citation needed] and former Ipswich Town boss George Burley was brought in temporarily. He later received the job on a permanent basis, after turning the club's playing fortunes around.
The club's parent company went into liquidation in October 2003 and chairman Lionel Pickering, who had presided over the club's promotion and Premiership seasons but was suffering from ill health, gave way to a new board led by Yorkshire solicitor John Sleightholme, who bought the club for £1, despite interest from a local consortium led by former club director Peter Gadsby. Derby finished 20th in the 2003-2004 season, but improved dramatically in the 2004-2005 season and finished 4th in the Football League Championship, qualifying for a promotion play-off spot. They lost in the semi-finals to Preston North End.
Soon afterwards, Burley resigned citing differences between himself and the board. He was replaced by Bolton first team coach,Phil Brown. Brown failed to find much success in the job, however, and was sacked in January 2006, after a bad run of results. Terry Westley, the academy coach at the time, took over first team duties until the end of the season and saved Derby from relegation.
Derby's Chairman, John Sleightholme, resigned in April 2006, saying his position had become untenable. The rest of the board followed him later that month. A court case against three members of that board and two advisors, alleging irregularities involving club finances, is still pending two years later.
A consortium of local businessmen led by former vice-chairman Peter Gadsby bought the club, reducing its debt and returning Pride Park Stadium to the club's ownership in the process. In June 2006, former Preston North End boss Billy Davies was appointed Derby County's new permanent manager, with Julian Darby as his first-team coach. In his first season, Davies took Derby to the Championship play-offs, where they beat Southampton on penalties in the semi-finals before defeating West Bromwich Albion 1-0 with a second-half Stephen Pearson goal at the new Wembley Stadium to secure a return to the Premier League and the associated £60m windfall.
Despite Derby's promotion, however, there were persistent rumours of a row between Davies and the Managing Director Mike Horton over the appointment of an assistant for Davies and unrest between board members. On 5 June 2007, Horton resigned from his position on the board, and he was followed shortly afterwards by Jill Marples and her husband Peter Marples. Horton claimed at the time that his departure was for family and business reasons, whilst the Marples departure was put down to the death of a family friend in a helicopter accident . With the departure of Horton and the two Marples, the remaining directors appointed 4 new members to the Board. Experienced football executive Trevor Birch came in as Chief Executive, Martin Ridgeway as Financial Director & Company Secretary, John Vicars as Operations Director and Steve Coakley as Commercial Director.
In October 2007, Peter Gadsby stepped down as Chairman to be replaced by former Hull City owner Adam Pearson. After a poor start to the season, manager Billy Davies left by mutual consent in November. He was succeeded by Paul Jewell, who failed to save the club from relegation. Derby became the first club to be relegated from the Premier League in March, recorded the Premier League's lowest-ever points total and equalled Loughborough's 108-year Football League record of going through an entire season with only one win.
Derby's match at home to Sheffield United on 13 September 2008 generated much media coverage as it was approaching a year since Derby's last league win, a run which saw the club break the English league record for most matches without a win. Just four days short of the anniversary of the 1-0 win over Newcastle, Rob Hulse scored against his former club as Derby ran out 2-1 winners, earning Paul Jewell his first league win as Derby boss at his 27th attempt. Despite taking the club to the League Cup Semi final, the clubs first major cup semi final since 1978, where Derby lost 4-3 to Manchester United over two legs, Jewell resigned as manager in December 2008.and was replaced by Nigel Clough, son of the club's legendary manager Brian.


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Sunderland Association Football Club are a proffesional association football club based in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England, that compete in the Premier League. Since its formation in 1879, the club has won six First Division titles—in 1892, 1893, 1895, 1902, 1913, and 1936 (see Sunderland A.F.C. seasons).
After their formation by schoolteacher James Allan, Sunderland moved towards professionalism; they were elected into The Football League in 1890. Sunderland performed well in the league, earning plaudits such as a "wonderfully fine team", and won their first FA Cup in 1937 with a 3–1 victory over Preston North End. However, their achievements petered out, and in 1958, the club were relegated. They had remained in the top league for 68 successive seasons, a record surpassed only by Arsenal. Sunderland's only triumph after the Second World War was their second FA Cup in 1973, when the club secured a 1–0 victory over Leeds United due to a goal scored by Ian Porterfield.
The club plays its home games in the Stadium of Light, an all-seater, which they moved to in 1997, leaving Roker Park for a stadium of higher capacity. Bearing the same name in a different language as Benfica's Estádio da Luz ("Stadium of Light") in Lisbon, Portugal, Sunderland's home originally could hold 42,000 supporters; the capacity was increased to 49,000 after redevelopment in 2000. Sunderland have a long-standing rivalry with their neighbouring club Newcastle United, with whom they have contested the Tyne-Wear derby since 1898.
Sunderland returned to the Premier League as First-Division champions in 1999 with a then-record 105 points. Two consecutive seventh place finishes in the Premier League were followed by two less successful seasons, and they were relegated to the second-tier with a then-record low 19 points in 2003. Former Ireland manager Mick McCarthy took over at the club, and, in 2005, he took Sunderland up as champions for the third time in under ten years. However, the club's stay in the top flight was short-lived; Sunderland finished on another new record-low total of 15 points. McCarthy left the club in mid-season, and he was replaced temporarily by former Sunderland player Kevin Ball. The record-low fifteen-point performance was surpassed in the 2007–08 season by Derby County, who finished on eleven points.
Following their relegation, the club was taken over by the Irish Drumaville Consortium, headed by ex-player Niall Quinn, who appointed former Manchester United captain Roy Keane as their new manager. Under Keane, the club rose steadily up the table with an unbeaten run of 17 games to win promotion to the Premier League,and were named winners of the Championship after beating Luton Town 5–0 at Kenilworth Road on 6 May 2007. The club's form in the 2007–08 season was better than during their last season in the Premier League as they finished 15th with 39 points. However, an inconsistent beginning to the 2008–09 season led to Keane's resignation. This was followed by the instating of Ricky Sbragia as caretaker manager, and his position was later made permanent following a string of encouraging results.

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Newcastle United Football Club (also known as The Magpies or The Toon)

is an English football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, who currently

play in the Premier League. The club was founded in 1892 after the

merger of two local clubs, Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End.

Since their founding year, the club have played at their home ground of

St. James' Park. Training facilities are located at Darsley Park.

They have won the First Division Championship four times and the FA Cup

six times, though their last league success was in 1927. In European

competition the most notable honour the club has won is the Inter-

Cities Fairs Cup, in 1969.

They have a long-standing and fierce rivalry with local team

Sunderland. The Tyne-Wear derby between Newcastle United and Sunderland

has been played since 1898. The club's traditional kit colours are

black and white striped shirts, with black shorts and socks. Supporters

of Newcastle United refer to themselves as the Toon Army.

The 1992–93 season saw a dramatic turn around in the club's fortunes.

They won their first eleven league games before a 1–0 home defeat

against Grimsby Town ended the run, two games short of the English

league record of 13 consecutive wins. Playing an exciting brand of

attacking football Newcastle became Division One champions with a 2–0

away win, coincidentally at Grimsby, and gained promotion to the

Premier League.

Under Keegan, Newcastle continued to succeed, impressing with their

attacking flair and a third place finish during the 1993–94 season,

this was their first season back in the top flight. The attacking

philosophy of Keegan led to Newcastle becoming labelled by Sky

television as "The Entertainers". The following season Newcastle sold

top scorer Andrew Cole to MU and finished 6th that

season.

With the transfer money in 1995–96, Newcastle rebuilt with the signing

of David Ginola and Les Ferdinand amongst others. The club came very

close to winning the Premier League that season, and were at one time

12 points ahead of nearest rivals Manchester United, but eventually

lost out. One match in particular from that season stood out, the 4–3

defeat to Liverpool, which has since been described as the greatest

ever Premier League match. On 30 July 1996, the disappointment of

missing out on the title was lessened to an extent, as the club signed

Alan Shearer for a then world record fee of £15 million. The 1996–97

season saw Newcastle once again finish in second.

After short and unsuccessful spells as manager from Kenny Dalglish and

Ruud Gullit, former England manager Sir Bobby Robson was appointed as

manager. His first home game in charge was particularly impressive; it

was an 8–0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday, which remains the club's

record home win. Good performances such as these helped the club

ensure survival in the Premier League in Robson's first season. A title

challenge emerged during the 2001–02 season, and Newcastle achieved

qualification for the Champions League after finishing in 4th place.

However, Robson was fired in 2004 after failing to qualify for the

Champions League. Robson is still held in high regard by Newcastle

supporters.

Graeme Souness was his replacement, but he proved to be an unpopular

choice being fired on 2 February 2006, despite signing Michael Owen for

a record £16 million. Glenn Roeder replaced Souness; the game after his

time as manager Alan Shearer overtook Jackie Milburn as the club's

highest ever goal-scorer. Shearer retired at the end of the 2005–06

season, with a total of 206 goals for the club. Despite finishing the

2005–06 season well, Roeder's fortunes quickly changed in the 2006–07

season, and he left the club by mutual consent on 6 May 2007. Sam

Allardyce was named as Roeder's successor on 15 May, with what proved

to be Freddy Shepherd's last act as Chairman, who sold his final shares

in the club on 7 June to Mike Ashley and was replaced by Chris Mort.

Despite making a promising start to the season, Allardyce left the club

on 9 January 2008 by mutual consent after less than eight months in

charge. It was confirmed on 16 January, that Kevin Keegan would return

to Newcastle as manager, eleven years and eight days since leaving the

club on 8 January 1997. A popular choice amongst many Newcastle Fans Further appointments in January 2008 saw Dennis Wise join the club

as Executive Director (Football), as well as Tony Jimenez as Vice

President (Player Recruitment) and Jeff Vetere as Technical Co-

ordinator. The idea was to complete a continental-style management

structure working in support of Keegan. Wise and Vetere should make the

initial assessment before calling in Jimenez to do the deal. In

addition to this David Williamson was appointed Executive Director (

Operations) in April 2008. Mort decided to step down as managing

director and chairman in June and he was replaced by Derek Llambias, a

long-term associate of Ashley.

As the summer transfer window closed weeks into the 2008–09 season,

after three days of talks between the board and Keegan amid press

speculation on 4 September, Keegan resigned after 232 days in charge,

stating he was unable to continue as manager if he was not in control

of who was bought by the club. Following conflicting statements

released by the club over the facts of the dispute, extensive protests

occurred against the board, in particular Ashley and Wise, during the

next home game against Hull City on 13 September.

On the next day in a long official statement, Ashley announced he would

be putting the club up for sale, while outlining the state of the club

when he found it, the financial limitations his regime was under and

the changes he had made to provide a stable future for the club. While

making clear that his statement was not intended to be seen as an

attack on Keegan and that he was "still a fan" of Newcastle and "did

not buy Newcastle to make money", in light of safety concerns over

attending future matches, he was "no longer prepared to subsidise" the

club.

On 24 September the club registered their lowest ever attendance for a

competitive match since the 1993 promotion to the top flight, a

drop of over 4,000 from previous lows. This was for a League Cup visit

of Tottenham Hotspur, which Newcastle lost 2–1. At the time, Tottenham

lay bottom of the Premier League with 2 points, while Newcastle

themselves lay 2nd bottom on 4 points.

Joe Kinnear took charge of Newcastle United on 26th September 2008

initially on a 10 week contract, managing the club until the owner Mike

Ashley had sold the club. His contract was extended by one month in

October 2008, and he was confirmed as the club's manager until the end

of the season on November 28.

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