We're counting down to the start of the 2022 FIFA World Cup finals in Qatar at the weekend, looking back at previous tournaments, recalling the Newcastle United connections, and remembering what else was going on in those years.
Sixty years ago, the finals touched down in the South American nation of Chile. Here on Tyneside, meanwhile, a decade on from the second of their glorious trio of 1950s FA Cup wins, Newcastle United found themselves at a low ebb. Back in Division Two after being relegated at the end of the previous season, United finished the 1961-62 campaign 11th in football's second tier, having also been knocked out of the FA Cup in the third round by Spurs, and dispensed from a new competition called the League Cup in the second round by Norwich City.
With the club toiling domestically, there were no Newcastle United players on international duty in Chile that summer, but there were several with past and future Magpies connections. George Eastham and Stan Anderson were in attendance with England, along with a certain Three Lions inside-forward called Bobby Robson who would return to his native North East in 1999 to manage United for several successful seasons.
