Claim: Newcastle United F.C.'s most successful period ended in May of 1910.

Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne , that will play in the Premier League , the top tier of English football , after winning the Championship title in 2017 . Newcastle United was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End , and has played at its current home ground , St James ' Park , ever since . The ground was developed into an all-seater stadium in the mid-1990s and now has a capacity of 52,354 . The club has been a member of the Premier League for all but three years of the competition 's history , spending 85 seasons in the top tier as of May 2016 , and has never dropped below English football 's second tier since joining the Football League in 1893 .   They have won four League Championship titles , six FA Cups and a Charity Shield , as well as the 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and the 2006 UEFA Intertoto Cup . Newcastle United has the ninth highest total of trophies won by an English club . The club 's most successful period was between 1904 and 1910 , when they won an FA Cup and three of their First Division titles . The club were highly successful in the Premier League in the 1990s and early 2000s without winning any trophies , but have been mostly struggling since the 2006 -- 07 season , and were relegated in 2009 and 2016 .   Newcastle has a fierce local rivalry with Sunderland , and the two clubs have engaged in the Tyne -- Wear derby since 1898 . The club 's traditional kit colours are black and white striped shirts , black shorts and black socks . Their traditional crest takes elements of the city coat of arms , which features two grey seahorses .   The club has been owned by Mike Ashley since 2007 , succeeding long term chairman and owner Sir John Hall . The club is the seventeenth highest revenue producing club in the world in terms of annual revenue , generating $ 169.3 m in 2015 . Historically , Newcastle 's highest placing was in 1999 when they were the fifth highest revenue producing football club in the world , and second in England only behind Manchester United .