“Just like a team that’s going to win the FA Cup, we shall not be moved...”
It’s been a while since that rousing old terrace anthem was sung with any sort of gusto at St James’ Park.
The record of Newcastle United - once the renowned ‘Cup kings of England - in the famous old competition has been nothing short of a disgrace in recent seasons.
The Magpies have not managed to progress beyond the fourth round in the last 13 attempts.
On Saturday they face League One side Oxford United at St James’ Park in a 3pm kick-off, and have a great opportunity to reach the fifth round for the first time since 2006.
With a sell-out 52,000 seats sold for Saturday’s game, there are definite early symptoms of FA Cup fever being displayed by United’s success-starved fans. But a word of warning. It’s only three years since Oxford sent Newcastle tumbling out of the FA Cup, beating a dismal United side 3-0 at the Kassam Stadium in January 2017. Having said that, the Magpies haven’t had a better chance of progressing for a while.
Oxford United are relative newcomers to the football league. Founded in 1893 - just a year after Newcastle - as Headington United, the club operated in the lower leagues before becoming Oxford United in 1960 and entering the old Fourth Division in 1962.
Famous former players include Ron Atkinson and Dean Saunders, while Jim ‘Bald Eagle’ Smith who managed the club on three separate occasions was the boss at Newcastle United between 1988 and 1991.
The Magpies have faced Oxford 18 times in all competitions. The head-to-head statistics are somewhat surprising. Newcastle have won six times, and Oxford seven. Five games have been drawn.
Oxford found themselves playing in football’s top flight for three seasons in the late 1980s.
Our photograph, taken on April 30, 1988, captures a 3-1 Division One win for Newcastle over Oxford at St James’ Park. The United scorers on the day were Anth Lormor, Paul Goddard and Michael O’Neill. The game was also notable for being Paul Gascoigne’s penultimate appearance at St James’ in a black and white shirt.
