Opposition Overview: Newcastle U21s
Chris Millington’s Solihull Moors are set to take a break from their 2026/27 National League campaign as they take on Newcastle United’s Under 21s in their latest match of this season’s National League Cup at Damson Park. The Moors will be hoping to secure their first win in this competition this term after being beaten by Leeds’ Under 21s last time out.
The most recent game for the Newcastle Under 21s, led by manager Robbie Stockdale, was in the EFL Trophy against League One outfit Bradford City at Valley Parade. They narrowly lost 2 – 1, with Matheos Ferreira scoring the only goal for the ten man Magpies, whilst Nick Powell got the goals for the hosts.
In terms of their Premier League 2 campaign, their last match saw them get beaten 2 – 0 by Leeds United at the LNER Community Stadium in York. The most recent competitive victory for Newcastle’s Under 21s was actually against York City in an EFL Cup encounter at the same stadium where the Magpies won 3 – 1.
As of the time of writing, Newcastle United’s Under 21s team are languishing all the way down in 30th place in the Premier League 2 table, sitting on 0 points after three games. They have avoided being bottom of the table courtesy of Wolves’ Under 21s, who have a worse goal difference than their counterparts from the North East.
As a whole, Newcastle United are a club with a significant amount of history, having been founded all the way back in 1881, though the sport of football didn’t really take off in the North East until 1890.
Newcastle United are a result of a combination of two clubs. One began life being known as Stanley, though after being often confused with clubs of the same name in County Durham, they decided to change their name to Newcastle East End.
The other was West End Football Club. They initially played their football at a pitch off the Great North Road, doing so in the summer of 1885, and a year later they took over the lease of St. James’ Park. 1884 had seen West End and East End Football Clubs become the area’s best football teams.
Despite the fact that the English Football League was formed in April 1888, the clubs in Tyneside instead helped form a local Northern League, and in the 1889/90 season, West End Football Club ended up in second place behind Darlington St. Augustine.
However, in the years that followed, West End Football Club did struggle financially, and in May 1892 East End agreed a deal to move to St. James’ Park, taking charge of what remained of West End’s defunct assets. East End were now Tyneside’s only senior football club.
In a meeting in December 1892 at Bath Lane Hall, close to St. James’ Park, they concluded that they wanted to attract a wider support from the city as a whole. After several discussions, East End became how we know them today, Newcastle United, on Friday 9th December 1892.
The Magpies’ first major trophy was the First Division title in the 1904/05 season, and they did go on to win it a further three times, most recently winning it for a fourth time back in the 1926/27, when they were able to finish 5 points ahead of runners-up Huddersfield Town. They have also won the Second Division four times, doing so in 1964/65, 1992/93, 2009/10, and again in 2016/17.
Newcastle have won the historic FA Cup on a number of occasions, having lifted it 6 times so far, as of the time of writing. They first won it in the 1909/10 season, following it up with wins in 1923/24, 1931/32, 1950/51, 1951/52, and most recently in 1954/55. Their 1955 FA Cup trophy win was of course at Wembley; it saw them beat Manchester City 3 – 1.
Newcastle United scored through Jackie Milburn, Bobby Mitchell, and George Hannah, whilst the Cityzens scored their only goal from the boot of inside forward Bobby Johnstone.
The Magpies’ only FA Charity Shield was won in 1909, with them beating Northampton Town 2 – 0 in the end. They have been runners-up to win this trophy five times in 1932, 1951, 1952, 1955, and 1996, losing to Everton, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United (1952 & 1996), and Chelsea respectively.
Newcastle won the Texaco Cup in both 1973/74 and 1974/75, whilst also lifting the Anglo-Italian Cup back in 1973. On the European Stage, they first won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup back in the 1968/69 season, beating Hungarian outfit Ujpest 6 – 2 over two legs. They won the first leg 3 – 0 and then the second leg was won narrowly 3 – 2. They also won the now-defunct UEFA Intertoto Cup back in 2006.
The club has played in Europe several times over the years, most recently in the highly coveted UEFA Champions League last season (2025/26), reaching the Round of 16, where they lost 8 – 3 on aggregate to FC Barcelona.
In the league phase, they finished in 12th place with 14 points to their name, while beating the likes of Belgium’s Union Saint-Gilloise 4 – 0, Portugal’s Benfica 3 - 0, Spain’s Athletic Bilbao 2 – 0 ], and finally the Netherlands’ PSV Eindhoven 3 – 0. They also earned credible draws against Germany’s Bayer Leverkusen 2 – 2 and France’s Paris Saint-Germain 1 – 1.
They were drawn against Azerbaijan’s Qarabag in the knockout phase play-offs. They won 6 – 1 away from home in Baku before being victorious again on Tyneside, this time winning 3 – 2 at St. James’ Park to secure a 9 – 3 victory on aggregate.
Over the years, Newcastle United have spent only a few seasons outside of the Premier League, with the Magpies being one of the mainstays of the English top flight, and they have not dropped back down to the second tier since their Premier League return in 2017.
They have had many famous, iconic players over the years. One of them is, of course, Alan Shearer, who is the Premier League’s all-time leading goalscorer with 260 goals, and he also has 64 assists. Shearer was part of the team that finished runners-up twice, in consecutive seasons, back in 1995/96 and in 1996/97.
Last season (2025/26), Newcastle United finished in 12th place in the Premier League, and this term (2026/27), they will hope to make their return to European Football by finishing somewhere in the top seven of the top flight of English Football.
In the opposition dugout – Robbie Stockdale
Robbie Stockdale has been Newcastle United Under 21s manager since his appointment back on 13th March 2026, with the 2026/27 campaign being his first full season in charge of the Magpies’ Under 21 side.
Stockdale has been in coaching before. He was joint caretaker of Grimsby Town in 2011 before being in charge of their youth team for the 2011/12 campaign. He then moved on to a similar role at Sunderland, having the job from 2012 to 2018, though he was in caretaker charge of the Black Cats on several occasions back in 2015, 2017, and 2018. He took charge of Rochdale in 2021, but left a year later in 2022 after just one season.
In terms of a playing career, Robbie Stockdale played as a defender for 15 years, from 1997 until his retirement in 2012. He played for the likes of Middlesbrough (1997 - 2004), Sheffield Wednesday (Loan, 2000), West Ham United (Loan, 2003 - 2004), Rotherham United (Loan, 2004; 2004 - 2005), Hull City (2005 - 2006), Darlington (Loan, 2006), Tranmere Rovers (2006 - 2008), and finally the aforementioned Grimsby Town, who he played for, for four years between 2008 and 2012.
Key Player – Vakhtang Salia
Georgian footballer Vakhtang Salia, who plays as a forward, is arguably Newcastle United Under 21s’ key player, being their leading goalscorer in all competitions so far this season with as many as 3 goals in all so far.
He made the move to the Magpies from Georgian giants Dinamo Tbilisi back in 2025, having agreed the deal back on 29th October 2024. He joined Tbilisi’s academy before becoming part of their second team in 2023, before making his professional debut for the club’s senior team against Torpedo Kutaisi on 24th November 2023. Salia then scored his first goal against the same opponents later on in the 2023/24 season on 10th March 2024. He scored the winning goal in a 1 – 0 triumph.
Opposition overview written by Adam Holt
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