page_title: List of Newcastle United F.C. managers
section_title: Managerial history
hierarchical_section_title: List of Newcastle United F.C. managers / Managerial history
caption_attribution_description: English: Osvaldo Ardiles
context_page_description: Newcastle United Football Club is an English football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, North East England. Since 1930, there have been thirty-three official managers, with the current incumbent, Steve Bruce, appointed on 11 July 2019. Statistically, the club's most successful manager is Chris Hughton, with a win percentage of 59.38. The club's longest-serving manager was Stan Seymour, who had three spells managing the club from 1939 to 1958, totalling almost fourteen years, while the most successful manager was Joe Harvey, who won five trophies and also had the longest uninterrupted spell as manager, lasting thirteen years from 1962 to 1975. All but three of the club's managers – Tom Mather, Norman Smith and Osvaldo Ardiles – have managed the club in the top-flight.
context_section_description: From 1892 to 1929, the team was selected by a committee. It was represented by Frank Watt, who was appointed the club's secretary in 1895. Watt was responsible for the success the Edwardian Newcastle side had in the early 1900s, winning the First Division four times, the Northern League three times and were FA Cup finalists four times (although the team only won once, in 1910). The club's first official manager was Andy Cunningham, who was appointed in 1930, with Watt remaining secretary until 1935. Cunningham was on the club's books at the time as a striker, and initially began as a player-manager but retired the following year to become full-time manager of the club. He won the FA Cup in 1932, but the club was also relegated to the Second Division in the 1933–34 season. After failing to earn an immediate promotion back to the top-flight, Cunningham was replaced by Tom Mather, whose four years in charge saw Newcastle fail to mount a serious promotion challenge, and look more likely to fall into the Third Division North, with Mather resigning at the onset of World War II.
  The late 1930s to mid 1950s were to be dominated by one man: Stan Seymour. Seymour played for Newcastle in the 1920s, and was often a crowd favourite. He left the club in acrimonious circumstances, but returned in 1938, as a director. Like Watt, he could not pick the team under the Director's Committee, but he had more influence on who could play (perhaps due to his stature). In 1947, he stepped down to allow George Martin to take over, but was back for a second spell in 1950 after Martin moved to Aston Villa, despite having steered the club to promotion and a series of strong First Division finishes. During Seymour's second spell, Newcastle won the FA Cup in consecutive years (1951 and 1952), and as a result, he became the first person in English football history to win the FA Cup with the same club as a player and manager. In 1954, Seymour would again step down to allow another man to take the helm, this time, it was Doug Livingstone. However, when the club reached the cup final in 1955, Livingstone attempted to drop Jackie Milburn, and Seymour, who was behind Milburn's successful trial, took affront to this and picked the cup final team by himself. Victory in the final meant for Seymour that he was right, and as a result, Livingstone was barred from any involvement with the first team, resigning the following year. Seymour took over for the third time, but in a cruel twist of fate, the club's form deteriorated rapidly under him, and they avoided relegation on goal difference. This was to be the final straw for chairman and boardroom rival William McKeag, and he appointed Charlie Mitten as Seymour's successor. He would remain on the board until his death in 1978. Despite a successful first few seasons in charge, Mitten's spell as manager culminated in Newcastle being relegated in 1961, and he was sacked later that year with the team struggling. Experienced trainer Norman Smith took over as manager for the remainder of the season and prevented a second consecutive relegation, but at 64 years old, Smith held no desire to occupy the manager's job on a long-term basis. 
  In the 1960s and up to the mid 1970s, Newcastle had a steady presence in Joe Harvey. Also a former player, having captained the club to FA Cup success the previous decade, the club were moderately successful under his tenureship. They were the Second Division champions in 1965, and won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Final in 1969, the last major silverware that the club has won. He also brought in Malcolm Macdonald, Tony Green, Terry McDermott, Geoff Nulty and Micky Burns, all of whom at some point, made notable contributions to the club. Harvey resigned in 1975 after a poor season, and was replaced by Gordon Lee, whose first season saw another mediocre league campaign, albeit with a run to the final of the League Cup. Lee walked out on the club halfway through his second season in charge, leading to inexperienced coach Richard Dinnis being the surprise choice to replace him. Despite initially
caption: Osvaldo Ardiles, pictured here in 2006, managed the club from 1991 to 1992.
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