Newcastle reached their first semi-final for 18 years when they beat Leicester on Tuesday evening to make it to the last four of the Carabao Cup.
The Magpies have not won a domestic trophy since 1955 and collected their last piece of major silverware 14 years later when they lifted the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, although there have been near misses, including two Premier League runners-up finishes, along the way.
Here we take a look at the semi-finals the Tyneside club has contested since they last tasted glory.
1974 FA Cup: Newcastle 2-0 Burnley
Malcolm Macdonald’s superb double at Hillsborough took the six-times winners back to Wembley for the first time in almost two decades. However, the trip to the capital to face Liverpool was to end in disappointment as future Magpies hero Kevin Keegan’s double either side of Steve Heighway’s strike saw off Joe Harvey’s side 3-0.
1976 League Cup: Newcastle 3-2 Tottenham (on aggregate)
John Pratt’s goal at White Hart Lane had handed Spurs a first-leg lead, but Alan Gowling, Glen Keeley and Geoff Nulty scored for Gordon Lee’s men in the return at St James’ Park, with Don McAllister replying to no avail for the visitors. Once again, however, it was to prove a false dawn as Dennis Tueart’s overhead kick secured a 2-1 final victory for Manchester City beneath the Twin Towers.
1998 FA Cup: Sheffield United 0-1 Newcastle
Alan Shearer was Newcastle’s hero at Old Trafford, stabbing home from close range after Sheffield United keeper Alan Kelly had parried his initial header to take Kenny Dalglish’s Magpies to the final. Unfortunately for them, Arsenal’s double winners stood in their way and goals from Marc Overmars and Nicolas Anelka secured the trophy for the Gunners.
1999 FA Cup: Newcastle 2-0 Tottenham
The Magpies were back at Old Trafford 12 months later and this time it was Shearer at the double with a penalty and a piledriver in extra-time to hand Ruud Gullit a trip to headquarters during his brief reign. Their misfortune was to come up against Manchester United, who won 2-0 with goals from Teddy Sheringham and Paul Scholes on their way to an unprecedented treble.
2000 FA Cup: Newcastle 1-2 Chelsea
Sir Bobby Robson was at the helm when Newcastle last played at Wembley, but once again, a big day out ended in tears. The Toon Army were daring to dream once again when Rob Lee cancelled out Gus Poyet’s first-half opener, but the future Sunderland boss struck again 18 minutes from time to deny the club a third successive final appearance.
2004 UEFA Cup: Marseille 2-0 Newcastle (on aggregate)
Robson guided the Magpies to the last four in Europe in 2003-04 as they went close to making amends for the disappointment of losing a Champions League qualifier to Partizan Belgrade. Shorn of the services of Craig Bellamy, Kieron Dyer, Jermaine Jenas and Lee Bowyer for the first leg on Tyneside, they drew 0-0 and Didier Drogba’s double at the Stade Velodrome took the Frenchmen through.
2005 FA Cup: Newcastle 1-4 Manchester United
Three days after seeing their UEFA Cup hopes dashed at the quarter-final stage by Sporting Lisbon in Portugal, Graeme Souness’ side went head-to-head with United at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium and came off distinctly second best. Ruud van Nistelrooy scored twice, with Scholes and Cristiano Ronaldo also finding the back of the net as Shola Ameobi replied.
