For the 11th season in succession, Newcastle failed to progress past the fourth round of the FA Cup in the Mike Ashley era, underlining the club’s abominable approach to cup competitions during his reign.
You would have to go back 12 years and before Ashley seized control at St James’ Park for the last time Newcastle contested an FA Cup match beyond the fourth round stage, that being a quarter final defeat to Chelsea in 2006 – the same team that eliminated them from this year’s cup.
A more damning statistic is that 2006 remains the year when Newcastle last won an away fixture in the FA Cup, beating Cheltenham Town 2-0 when Graeme Souness was manager, Alan Shearer still wore the number nine shirt and the wannabe heir to the Shearer throne, Michael Chopra, scored that day.
Supporters are desperate for an adjustment in attitude to cup competitions and hoped that change would come with the appointment of Rafa Benitez, yet that worrying trend has unfortunately continued under the current United boss.
However, the Toon Army are likely to consider this year’s cup failure as more a blessing in disguise than anything else with Newcastle currently embroiled in a battle to avoid relegation and an immediate return to the Championship. Survival was always priority number one this season for Benitez and remaining in the top flight at the expense of a cup run, for this season at least, will be begrudgingly accepted by supporters.
Click here to read why Newcastle going out of the FA Cup this year is a positive rather than a negative.
