2004–05 Newcastle United F.C. season

Newcastle United

2004–05 season
Chairman	Freddy Shepherd
Manager	Bobby Robson (until 30 August)[1] John Carver (caretaker) (from 30 August till 13 September) Graeme Souness (from 13 September)
Stadium	St James' Park
FA Premier League	14th
FA Cup	Semi-finals
League Cup	Fourth round
UEFA Cup	Quarter-finals
Top goalscorer	League: Craig Bellamy, Alan Shearer (7) All: Alan Shearer (19)
Average home league attendance	51,844
Home colours Away colours Third colours
← 2003–04 2005–06 →

The 2004–05 season was Newcastle United's 108th season in English football, and their 22nd in the Premier League. The season began poorly for Newcastle, with no wins in their first four matches, and manager Bobby Robson was sacked, bringing to an end his five-year tenure at the club. His assistant, John Carver took over as caretaker manager, managing one win, but was not considered for the permanent post, and left in September 2004. Blackburn Rovers manager Graeme Souness was brought in, but despite a positive start, he was unable to mount a challenge anywhere near the Champions League challenge the team had managed the previous season.

Towards the end of the season, teammates Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer were sent off for fighting with each other during a game. Their suspensions, coupled with several injuries, left Newcastle light on players. The club finished in 14th place in the league for the 2004–05 season.

After nearly five years in charge, Bobby Robson was dismissed on 30 August, following a largely indifferent start to the season and alleged discontent in the dressing room. The team lost two and drew two of their first four games, three in which they actually surrendered from leading positions: they drew 2–2 at Middlesbrough in the Tyne–Tees derby after taking the lead twice; they surrendered a 2–0 lead against recently promoted Norwich City to draw 2–2 and they surrendered a 2–1 lead at Villa Park to lose 4–2 to Aston Villa. A split had grown between Robson and the club owners when they had made a number of high-profile signings, apparently without consulting him - in particular, that of Patrick Kluivert. He was further undermined by the club's high profile, but ultimately futile, offer for Everton's Wayne Rooney, who instead moved to Manchester United. Following Rooney's transfer, Robson stated his dismay at the tendency for overpaid young players to demand all the perks without proving themselves on the pitch. Events during the ensuing season on and off the pitch would go a long way to confirm Robson's assessment, who was later given a £1 million severance payment by Newcastle.

Graeme Souness, who had guided Blackburn Rovers to the 2002 League Cup trophy and sixth place in the Premiership in recent years, was appointed as Robson's replacement. A ten-match unbeaten run following his appointment suggested that Souness could take Newcastle back to Champions League qualification, but following that the club's form dipped.

Craig Bellamy, a key player in Newcastle's strike force, was loaned to Celtic in January for the remainder of the season, after Souness discovered Bellamy had told teammates he was going to fake an injury. Captain Alan Shearer backed Souness's demand that Bellamy apologise for his behaviour to the whole squad, but he refused to listen. Their dip in performance due to the absence of Shearer through injury worried the fan base, leading to fans debating on whether Bellamy should have departed the club.

In November 2004, club chairman Freddy Shepherd again caused controversy, stating there was no debt owed by the "elite" clubs of the Premiership to the rest of the FA – but with his own team underperforming, this was somewhat ironic as well as inappropriate.

An unbeaten run in all competitions in February and March was ended in April with a home defeat against Aston Villa; during the match, Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer were sent off for an on-pitch fight. As a result of the incident, later described as "the blackest day" by Shepherd, Bowyer was fined six weeks' wages (about £200,000) and both players received playing bans from the FA. The event overshadowed the announcement that Alan Shearer (expected to retire that season) had extended his playing contract for a further year and was to take up a coaching role with the club.

A rift opened up between Souness and Shepherd, with Souness complaining that the squad, lacking strength in depth after poor judgment in the transfer market (with the promised major signings not materialising) was not up to the challenge. Souness also criticised the state of the club's training ground, stating it was the main reason why so many injuries had taken their toll on the players.

Newcastle had qualified for the UEFA Cup with a fifth-placed finish the previous season, and managed to reach the quarter-finals. Newcastle defeated Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon in the home leg, but were most comprehensively outplayed in the away match and lost 4–1, in the process suffering several injuries. In the same week they played Manchester United in an FA Cup semi-final at the Millennium Stadium. The scoreline, again 4–1, reflected the one-sided nature of the encounter. This left the Intertoto Cup as the team's only route into European competition in the 2005–06 season.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
12	Birmingham City	38	11	12	15	40	46	−6	45
13	Fulham	38	12	8	18	52	60	−8	44
14	Newcastle United	38	10	14	14	47	57	−10	44	Qualification for the Intertoto Cup third round
15	Blackburn Rovers	38	9	15	14	32	43	−11	42
16	Portsmouth	38	10	9	19	43	59	−16	39

The team kit for the 2004–05 season was produced by Adidas. The main shirt sponsor was Northern Rock.

Date	Pos	Name	From	Fee
2 July 2004	MF	James Milner	Leeds United	£5,000,000[3]
22 July 2004	FW	Patrick Kluivert	Barcelona	Free[4]
29 July 2004	MF	Nicky Butt	Manchester United	£2,500,000[5]
3 August 2004	MF	Charles N'Zogbia	Le Havre	£250,000[6][7]
10 August 2004	DF	Stephen Carr	Tottenham Hotspur	£2,000,000[8]
16 September 2004	DF	Ronny Johnsen	Aston Villa	Free[9]
1 January 2005	DF	Celestine Babayaro	Chelsea	Undisclosed[10]
2 January 2005	DF	Jean-Alain Boumsong	Rangers	£8,000,000[11]
25 January 2005	DF	Amdy Faye	Portsmouth	£2,000,000[12]

• Total spending: £19,250,000

Date	Pos.	Name	To	Fee
26 May 2004	DF	Andy Griffin	Portsmouth	Free[13]
27 May 2004	FW	Calvin Zola	Tranmere Rovers	Free[14]
28 June 2004	DF	Steven Caldwell	Sunderland	Free[15]
29 June 2004	MF	Brian Kerr	Motherwell	Free[16]
5 July 2004	MF	Bradley Orr	Bristol City	Free[17]
12 July 2004	FW	Lomana LuaLua	Portsmouth	£1,750,000[18]
21 July 2004	MF	Hugo Viana	Sporting CP	Season-long loan[19]
21 July 2004	MF	Gary Speed	Bolton Wanderers	£750,000[20]
20 August 2004	DF	Jonathan Woodgate	Real Madrid	£13,400,000[21]
24 September 2004	FW	Michael Bridges	Sunderland	End of loan[22]
31 January 2005	DF	Olivier Bernard	Southampton	£400,000[23]
31 January 2005	FW	Craig Bellamy	Celtic	Season-long loan[24]

• Total income: £16,300,000

Position	Staff
Manager	Graeme Souness
Assistant Manager	John Carver
First Team coach	Andy Woodman
Goalkeeping Coach	Nigel Pearson
Development Coach	Arthur Cox
Reserve Team Coach	David Ginola
Chief scout	Steve Clarke

Squad at end of season^[25]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  IRL Shay Given (vice-captain) 2 DF  IRL Stephen Carr 3 DF  ENG Robbie Elliott 4 MF  ENG Nicky Butt 5 DF  IRL Andy O'Brien[26] 6 DF  FRA Jean-Alain Boumsong[27] 7 MF  ENG Jermaine Jenas 8 MF  ENG Kieron Dyer 9 FW  ENG Alan Shearer (captain) 10 FW  WAL Craig Bellamy 11 FW  NED Patrick Kluivert 12 GK  ENG Steve Harper 14 MF  FRA Charles N'Zogbia 15 MF  SEN Amdy Faye

No. Pos. Nation Player 16 MF  ENG James Milner 17 MF  ENG Darren Ambrose 18 DF  NIR Aaron Hughes 19 DF  ENG Titus Bramble 22 MF  ENG Jamie McClen 23 FW  ENG Shola Ameobi[28] 24 GK  ENG Tony Caig 27 DF  ENG Steven Taylor 28 FW  ENG Michael Chopra 29 MF  ENG Lee Bowyer 32 MF  FRA Laurent Robert 33 DF  NGA Celestine Babayaro 39 MF  ENG Martin Brittain 42 DF  ENG Peter Ramage

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 6 DF  ENG Jonathan Woodgate (to Real Madrid) 25 DF  NOR Ronny Johnsen (to Vålerenga Fotball) 35 DF  FRA Olivier Bernard (to Southampton)

No. Pos. Nation Player 40 FW  ENG Lewis Guy (to Doncaster Rovers) 45 MF  POR Hugo Viana (on loan to Sporting CP)

The following players did not appear for the first-team this season, and made most of their appearances for the reserve team, but may have also appeared for the under-18s.^[29]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 38 MF  RSA Matty Pattison 41 DF  ENG Kris Gate — GK  ENG Adam Bartlett — DF  ENG Phil Cave — DF  ENG Paul Huntington — MF  ENG Ben Webster

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  NIR Daryl Smylie — MF  IRL Stephen Brennan — MF  IRL Alan O'Brien — FW  ENG Guy Bates —   Danny Howe

The following players made most of their appearances for the under-18 team, but may have also appeared for the reserves.^[30]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 43 GK  ENG Ben Smith — GK  ENG Fraser Forster — DF  ENG Liam Atkin — DF  ENG Craig Baxter — DF  ENG Chris Farman — DF  ENG Paul Huntington — DF  ENG Chris Shanks — DF  CAN David Edgar — MF  ENG Rob Cavener — MF  ENG Dean Critchlow — MF  ENG Nicky Deverdics — MF  ENG Mark Doninger — MF  ENG Callum Little

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ENG Glenn Reay — FW  ENG Tomi Ameobi — FW  ENG Andy Carroll — FW  ENG Brian Dodsworth — FW  ENG Carl Finnigan — FW  ENG Scott Marshall — FW  ENG Marc Walton — DF   Ross Cowan —   Chris Lisle —   Lewis Marr —   Paul O'Brien —   Michael Terrell

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  POR Cícero[31] (on trial from Braga)

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  SUI Christian Schwegler (on trial from FC Luzern)

(Starting appearances + substitute appearances)^[32]

No.	Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		UEFA Cup		Total		Discipline
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	Shay Given	36	0	3	0	1	0	12	0	52	0	1	0
2	DF	Stephen Carr	26	1	4	0	0	0	9	0	39	1	7	0
3	DF	Robbie Elliott	15+2	1	0	0	0	0	5	0	20+2	1	5	0
4	MF	Nicky Butt	16+2	1	2	0	1	0	4+1	1	23+3	1	4	1
5	DF	Andy O'Brien	21+2	2	1+2	0	1	0	9+2	0	32+6	2	5	0
6	DF	Jean-Alain Boumsong	14	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	18	0	1	0
7	MF	Jermaine Jenas	28+3	1	3+1	0	2	1	9+2	0	42+6	2	5	0
8	MF	Kieron Dyer	20+3	4	3	0	0+1	0	6+1	2	29+5	6	0	1
9	FW	Alan Shearer	26+2	7	1	1	1	0	9	11	40+2	19	1	0
10	FW	Craig Bellamy	21	7	4	1	1+1	0	5	3	28+1	10	2	0
11	FW	Patrick Kluivert	15+10	6	3+1	2	2	0	5+1	5	25+12	13	3	0
12	GK	Steve Harper	2	0	2	0	1	0	0+2	0	5+2	0	0	0
14	DF	Charles N'Zogbia	8+6	0	1+1	0	0	0	1+2	0	10+9	0	2	0
15	MF	Amdy Faye	8+1	1	3	0	0	0	5	0	16+1	0	3	0
16	MF	James Milner	13+12	1	1+3	0	1	0	3+8	0	16+23	1	1	0
17	MF	Darren Ambrose	8+4	3	0+1	0	1	0	2+2	0	11+7	3	3	0
18	DF	Aaron Hughes	18+4	1	1+1	0	1+1	0	9+1	0	29+7	1	1	0
19	DF	Titus Bramble	18+1	1	4	0	2	0	6+1	0	30+2	1	4	0
23	FW	Shola Ameobi	17+14	2	3+2	3	1+1	1	6+1	1	27+18	7	6	1
25	DF	Ronny Johnsen	3	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	5	0	2	0
27	DF	Steven Taylor	11+2	0	2	0	0	0	4+3	0	17+5	0	6	1
28	FW	Michael Chopra	0+1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0+1	0	0	0
29	MF	Lee Bowyer	26+1	3	2	1	0+1	0	8+1	3	36+3	7	11	3
32	MF	Laurent Robert	20+11	3	4	0	2	0	8+2	2	34+13	5	5	0
33	DF	Celestine Babayaro	7	0	4	1	0	0	2	0	13	1	0	0
35	DF	Olivier Bernard	19+2	2	0	0	2	0	5+1	0	26+3	0	6	0
40	FW	Lewis Guy	0	0	0	0	0	0	0+1	0	0+1	0	0	0
42	DF	Peter Ramage	2+2	0	0	0	0	0	0+1	0	2+3	0	0	0

Results by round

• FootballSquads - Newcastle United - 2004/05