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National
David Morton

Watch Newcastle United in action at St James' Park in this 1973 amateur video clip

We step back albeit briefly to St James' Park in 1973 in our latest video clip, courtesy of the the North East Film Archive.

The short piece of amateur footage taken by Chris Anderson on September 15 that year captures some of the First Division game between Newcastle United and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

It will spark memories for fans who recall St James' and the Magpies stars who graced it in the early '70s.

READ MORE: The Tyne Bridge under construction and the brave men who built it

Taken from the old West Stand paddock, the clip features action from the game, and shows sections of the 36,412 crowd packed into the stands and terraces.

On the day, United were 2-0 winners, with the goals coming from two defenders, right-back Irving Nattrass and centre-half Pat Howard.

The seventh game of the season, it was a result which lifted Joe Harvey's exciting but inconsistent team to third in the league.

This was the Newcastle United of Malcolm Macdonald, John Tudor, Jimmy Smith, Terry Hibbitt, Bobby Moncur, David Craig and Frank Clark.

They could beat anybody on their day (especially at home) - but also lose to anybody.

Come the end of the 1973-74 season, they were 15th in the league.

But it was the FA Cup which was the main source of excitement that campaign. After battling, sometimes brilliantly, through to the final at Wembley, they simply never turned upon the day and were soundly beaten 3-0 by a rampaging Liverpool side featuring a young Kevin Keegan.

As for St James' Park in the film clip, on the far right, we see the Gallowgate End - a roofless terrace which dated from the earliest years of the stadium and was only demolished at the end of the 1993-94 season.

Opposite, is the recently opened East Stand which replaced another roofless terrace, the Popular Side, and provided much-needed extra seating in the ground.

And on the left, we see the Leazes End - virtually a mirror image of the Gallowgate, but with a steel roof acquired around 1930. By 1973, it was the United fans' 'singing end', and sometimes not a place the for the faint-hearted, with missiles often being randomly thrown and trouble breaking out periodically on the open terrace. It was demolished in 1978.

Terry Hibbitt in action, Newcastle United v Wolverhampton Wanderers, St James' Park, September 15, 1973, from a short amateur film by Chris Anderson (Chris Anderson/North East Film Archive)

St James' Park would enjoy long-overdue redevelopment in the mid 1990s when it was transformed into a 36,500 all-seater stadium, before it was further expanded into the 52,000-capacity ground we know today in 2000.

If you would like to watch more archive footage like this, but in DVD form, Newcastle On Film has been specially produced by NEFA.

Presented and narrated by Pam Royle - latterly of ITV Tyne Tees News fame - it pays homage to life on Tyneside and features lots of wonderful archive film footage.

The DVD 'Newcastle On Film' is priced at £12 (including postage and packing), and all profits from the sale go back into the valuable work of the North East Film Archive. Buy it here.

See more from the North East Film Archive at www.yfanefa.com

For more Chronicle nostalgia, including archive pictures and local history stories, click here to sign up to our free newsletter.

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