During the 1978 World Cup finals in Argentina, one striking feature for viewers watching the big games on television during the tournament was the sight of snowstorms of shredded newspaper torn up by home supporters blowing around the stands and across the pitch. When the new domestic football season kicked off, copycat fans at English football grounds, including St James' Park, were quick to try the same thing out.
With the 2022 finals in Qatar well under way, we're looking back at previous tournaments, recalling any Newcastle United connections, and remembering what else was going on in those years. So far, we've covered the World Cup finals from 1950 to 1974.
On June 25, 1978, the host nation's powerful team lifted the trophy, beating the Netherlands 3-1 after extra time in Buenos Aires. Among the Argentina XI was 25-year-old midfielder Ossie Ardiles who would go on to endure a torrid time as Newcastle United manager in the early 1990s and was sacked with the team teetering on the brink of relegation to the old Third Division, something that was thankfully averted - albeit by the skin of the teeth - thanks to the arrival of Kevin Keegan. The Netherlands team, defeated in a second successive World Cup final, again featured striker Johnny Rep who had put the Magpies to the sword in their short-lived UEFA Cup jaunt the previous season.
READ MORE: Newcastle United at the World Cup: 1950 - Wor Jackie and George Robledo
The celebratory snowstorms of shredded newspaper would be a short-lived phenomenon at St James' Park as the post-World Cup 1978-79 season progressed. Newly-relegated United found themselves toiling in Division Two with the dour Bill McGarry sitting uncomfortably in the managerial hot seat. Come the end of the campaign, they would finish in 8th place.
St James' itself also seemed to have lost much of its intimidating potency with the demolition that year of the old Leazes End, the club's singing end, destroying the ground's formerly ferocious 'atmosphere'. The positivity and excitement of the Supermac era earlier in the decade felt a lifetime away. Newcastle United were in decline and it would take years to stop the rot and for a sustained rebuilding process to begin.
Once again, England had failed to qualify for the World Cup finals, despite the abundance of talent in the domestic game. Adding insult to injury for English fans, Scotland did qualify for Argentina 1978. Kenny Dalglish and Graeme Souness were part of a Scotland squad packed with star names, many of whom plied their trade in the English top flight. As players, both were giants, but later as Newcastle United managers both would be sacked after highly disappointing reigns.
Away from football in 1978, there was major building work going on in Newcastle city centre at the Central Station, Grey’s Monument and the Haymarket with the Tyne & Wear Metro under construction. The system would revolutionise public transport in the region when it opened two years later. Elsewhere in the city, Prince Charles formally opened the pioneering Freeman Hospital.
In the wider world, Labour Prime Minister Jim Callaghan found himself with a 60% popularity rating in 1978, before widespread strikes culminated in the ‘winter of discontent’ bringing hardship and shortages across the country. He would lose the landmark 1979 General Election to Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party.
For those living their lives 44 years ago, it was a time when the average price of a house was £13,000; 20 ciggies cost 54p; a pint of beer was 29p; a loaf of bread 26p; and a pint of milk 10p. On TV, folk were watching the Good Life, Happy Days, The Sweeney , and a two new series called Grange Hill and Dallas . At the cinema, it was the year of Grease , Close Encounters of the Third Kind , and Saturday Night Fever as the disco craze reached a peak. And in the pop charts, a single called Can’t Stand Losing You scraped in at number 42. The song would be re-released the following year, reaching number two. The band was The Police - and their lead singer was a milkman’s son from Wallsend called Gordon Sumner, nicknamed Sting. The rest is history...
READ NEXT:
- Newcastle United at the World Cup: 1954 - The sometimes-forgotten Magpies striker
- Newcastle United at the World Cup: 1958 - three Magpies and the arrival of Pele
Newcastle United at the World Cup: 1962 - The infamous 'Battle of Santiago'
Newcastle United at the World Cup: 1966 - the Magpie who nearly made the England squad
Newcastle United at the World Cup: 1970 - Pele's Brazil and the 'beautiful game'
