Newcastle United’s love affair with the League Cup – Hard to believe

Newcastle United and the League Cup.

It’s hard to believe.

In 1960/61 the League Cup started for the first time.

Newcastle United start as they wanted to go on.

On October 10, 1960, Colchester United hosted Newcastle United in the first round of this new competition.

Colchester United were playing in the third tier, against Premier League side NUFC.

Only one possible result then?

Yes, Colchester won 4-1 and eliminated Newcastle in their first ever League Cup match.

In fact, that season both Newcastle United and Colchester United managed to get relegated. Newcastle move to the second tier and Colchester find themselves in the fourth tier.

In terms of the League Cup, Newcastle United are set to have a pretty incredible run.

During the first 34 League Cup seasons, Newcastle United only managed to get past the third round three times!

For those of us at the time, these three glorious occasions occurred consecutively.

In 1974/75, Newcastle reached the quarter-finals, then lost the 1975/76 finalists to Man City, in the fourth round in 1976/77.

Until 1994/95, these were the only three times United progressed past the third round of the League Cup.

It’s quite astonishing, isn’t it!

Of course, NUFC’s record since then hasn’t exactly been great.

Before Eddie Howe took charge of team affairs, here is Newcastle United’s entire League Cup history in 62 attempts:

First round exit – Once

Second round exit – Twenty-two times

Third round exit – Twenty times

Fourth round exit – Ten times

Quarter-final exit – Eight times

Lost in the final – Once

It’s hard to believe how bad Newcastle United have been throughout the history of this competition.

Especially considering that for the vast majority of those seasons, Newcastle United entered the competition in the second round.

Additionally, in several seasons when I played in Europe, it meant advancing to the third round.

Since the arrival of Eddie Howe, in the context of the overall history of the NUFC League Cup, the results have been on a whole new level.

Losing finalists in the 2022/23 season, quarter-finalists in 2023/24, now in another quarter-final this 2024/25 season.

As for matches from that time, I think over the course of 20 or so years from the late 1970s onwards I saw United win fewer League Cup matches than I haven’t seen us win under Eddie Howe in the last 28 months!

My last word on this chaos in the League Cup is positive.

If Newcastle beat Brentford on Wednesday night, just remember this.

Newcastle United have never lost a League Cup semi-final in the 64-year history of the competition.

The fact that NUFC only reached two semi-finals is of course irrelevant…

Interestingly, the two clubs that Newcastle United have already met and beaten in the two-legged League Cup semi-final are also still in the competition this season.

In the 1975/76 season, Newcastle beat Tottenham over two legs to reach the League Cup final.

Then in 2022/23, Newcastle beat Southampton home and away to reach their second final.

Drama already for these two clubs since Sunday evening, Southampton were beaten 5-0 at home by Spurs and the Saints then sacked their manager.

Tottenham host Man U on Thursday night, but before that on Wednesday night, as well as Newcastle v Brentford and Arsenal v Palace, Southampton host Liverpool. On their way to relegation this 2022/23 season, Southampton shocked Man City with a 2-0 quarter-final defeat, can they repeat that against eventual champions-elect Liverpool, on their way (for Southampton) to another relegation ?

Of course, all we care about is Newcastle United winning on Wednesday, nothing else matters. That said, if United were to win, then an upset or two elsewhere in the quarter-finals would be a nice little bonus before the semi-final draw…