I was interested in reading this from a star from Newcastle United.
It was in an article on The Mag, this Wednesday morning.
Newcastle United Star Anthony Elanga spoke with the media in Sweden about his accession to United, the start of the season and what may unfold.
One of Elanga’s quotes was this; “We will play sixty games this year and the coach is smart and know what he does. The way we play requires a lot of pressure on the body … It requires intensity. He (Eddie Howe) tries to keep everyone fresh and ready.”
That made me think.
Whether he really thought about it, or if it was just a figure who was picked from the sky on a whim, I wondered what 60 games this season would mean for Newcastle United …
The last four seasons of Newcastle United – Number of games played in total, then broken down into the various competitions:
40 in 2021/22 (38 Premier League, 1 FA Cup, 1 League Cup)
46 in 2022/23 (38 Premier League, 1 FA Cup, 7 League Cup)
51 in 2023/24 (38 Premier League, 4 FA Cup, 3 League Cup, 6 Champions League)
48 in 2024/25 (38 Premier League, 3 FA Cup, 7 League Cup)
As you can see, there has been a considerable change since Eddie Howe arrived for the first time halfway through the season, ranging from 40 games for NUFC in 2021/22 to an average fraction under 50 a year in the past two seasons.
This is the minimum number of competitions that Newcastle United is currently guaranteed this season:
49 (***) in 2025/26 (38 Premier League, 1 FA Cup, 2 League Cup, 8 Champions League)
Compare this with striking years in the past-Newcastle United seasons and number of games played:
59 in 1968/69 (42 Division One, 3 FA Cup, 2 League Cup, 12 Fairs Cup)
51 in 1996/97 (38 Premier League, 3 FA Cup, 2 League Cup, 8 UEFA Cup)
56 in 1997/98 (38 Premier League, 7 FA Cup, 3 League Cup, 8 Champions League)
53 in 2003/04 (38 Premier League, 5 FA Cup, 4 League Cup, 6 Intertoto)
54 in 2002/03 (38 Premier League, 1 FA Cup, 1 League Cup, 14 Champions League)
55 in 2003/04 (38 Premier League, 2 FA Cup, 1 League Cup, 2 Champions League, 12 UEFA Cup)
57 in 2004/05 (38 Premier League, 5 FA Cup, 2 League Cup, 12 UEFA Cup)
Of everything I could see, it seems that if Newcastle United would eventually play more than sixty league games, this would be a new club record.
The Fairs Cup season 1968/69 had a total of 59 NUFC competitions.
The League Cup was only introduced in the early 1960s, the 1968/69 season was the first for Newcastle in the European competition.
The only season I could find with 60 or more ‘competitive’ matches in it, was the 1973/74 season.
Whether you would regard this as a 60+ competitive competition season depends on how to look at the Texaco Cup. It only existed from 1970 to 1975 and was aimed at clubs from England, Scotland and Ireland that had not qualified for European competitions. To give them extra competitions, so that they did not feel so excluded compared to those fighting in Europe. Then it went a while as the Anglo-Scottish Cup, after the Irish clubs no longer participated from 1975.
If we count the Texaco Cup, Newcastle United would have no less than 62 ‘competitive’ competitions in 1973/74, with 42 Division One, 10 FA Cup, 3 League Cup, 7 Texaco Cup. That season Newcastle United reached the FA Cup final and needed repetitions against Hendon and Scunthorpe, plus three against Nottingham Forest!
We go back to this current season and this is the minimum and maximum number of matches that Newcastle United could play:
49 in 2025/26 (38 Premier League, 1 FA Cup, 2 League Cup, 8 Champions League)
67 in 2025/26 (38 Premier League, 6 FA Cup, 6 League Cup, 17 Champions League)
If Newcastle United wanted to achieve the magic 67 matches, they would have to reach the final of both the FA Cup and the League Cup, as well as the final of the Champions League (and between the 9th and 24th have ended in the competition phase and a two-legged play-off to reach the last 16).
It is amazing how quickly you forget those miserable seasons from the past, some of which are recently … where Newcastle United, in addition to no European competition, would also soon leave both domestic cups and eventually end up at the absolute minimum, or would get very close. With 38 Premier Leagues and sometimes only one match in the FA Cup and one in the League Cup.
You can imagine how the fans of Manchester United will feel nowadays after they experienced the riches of not so long ago. They have no European competition this season and are eliminated by Grimsby in the League Cup, which means they are waiting for a season of 40 games if they are eliminated from the FA Cup in the third round!
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