Alan Pardew would leave just a matter of weeks after Papiss Cisse scored the landmark 1,100th Premier League goal for Newcastle. John Carver took over the role until the end of the season which saw the club in the worst form in their Premier League history with eight consecutive defeats.

Following a narrow escape from relegation, John Carver was given the boot and replaced by Steve McClaren, who had just failed to get Derby into the Championship play-offs despite being five points clear of third placed Ipswich with thirteen matches remaining. With relegation looking more and more likely as the weeks went on, McClaren was sacked and replaced, on the same day, by Rafa Benitez but it was too little too late for the Spaniard to prevent the drop to the Championship.

Inspired by Rafa, the club made an immediate return to the top flight and gained a top half finish despite having a Championship quality squad at his disposal, something which has not been improved upon despite gaining many millions from being in the Premier League.

Date: 6th December 2014 to 7th April 2018 (1,217 days)

First goal

Newcastle 2 (Papiss Cisse 79) Chelsea 0 - 06/12/14

This is not said very often but this goal was thanks to an excellent piece of refereeing by Martin Atkinson who played a much warranted advantage when Ayoze Perez was fouled in the centre circle and the ball fell kindly to Jack Colback who set up a promising attack. He threaded the ball to Moussa Sissoko through on goal. A poor first touch from the Frenchman made it look as if the chance had gone but he recovered the situation in squaring the ball to Cisse who placed it low into the corner to double the lead. Chelsea did pull one back late on through Didier Drogba after Steven Taylor was sent off but the Magpies held on to hand Chelsea their first defeat of the season.

Most important goal

Newcastle 2 (Jonas Gutierrez 85) West Ham 0 - 24/05/15

Goal 1,124: This goal was important for several reasons. It was the goal that secured the victory which was essential to staying up on the final day of the season as Hull City simultaneously drew against Man United. But it was a goal that would have meant so much to Jonas Gutierrez who ended his seven years as a Newcastle player in style. A player who had gone through cancer treatment and was disgracefully mistreated by Alan Pardew, John Carver and others at the club during that time. In addition there was the joint phone call with Ryan Taylor as the two individuals were informed that their contracts were not going to be renewed. The Argentine had put so much into the club. He stuck with us following our 2009 relegation and played a huge part in helping the club back up immediately and keeping them there. He was, and still is, much loved by many fans.

Best goal

Newcastle United 1 (Kenedy 2) Southampton 0 - 10/03/18

Goal 1,196: In the quickest goal of the season in our favour, Kenedy's moment of magic took many people's vote for the club's best goal in the 2017/18 in a must win match against Southampton. With a lot of the season hinging on this game, Kenedy's volley got us off to the perfect start. In addition to this, as we went on to win the game with an easy 3-0, this win was the first of four consecutive wins which played a key part in achieving a top half finish. For the goal itself, Shelvey lifted a ball onto the edge of the box where Kenedy was. The Brazilian chested the ball over himself and over his marker, Cedric. Kenedy latched onto the ball quicker than the onrushing Alex McCarthy which gave him the advantage and although he maynot have struck it as sweetly as he hoped, it still gave us the all important opening goal of the important game.

Most goals in a match

Newcastle United 6 (Georginio Wijnaldum 14, 26, 66, 85, Ayoze Perez 33, Aleksandar Mitrovic 64) Norwich 2 - 18/10/15

This match brought the first league win of the season in 2015/16 and Steve McClaren's first league win as manager of the club. On a Sunday afternoon, it was a very topsy-turvy first half which saw Newcastle 3-2 up at the break but the second half was a very different story as Wijnaldum doubled his first half tally with a further two goals to his name to give Newcastle a comfortable 6-2 win against the Canaries - both teams would then get relegated at the end of the season and play out a thrilling 4-3 encounter at St. James' Park the following season in the Championship. Aleksandar Mitrovic scored his first goal at St. James' Park and Wijnaldum became the first Newcastle player to score three or more in a game since Alan Shearer against Sheffield Wednesday in September 1999.

Favourite opponents

West Ham (Moussa Sissoko, Jonas Gutierrez, Ayoze Perez, Georginio Wijnaldum, Joselu, Ciaran Clark, Aleksandar Mitrovic, Henri Saivet, Mohamed Diame, Christian Atsu) - 10 goals.

There were a lot of games against West Ham in this era that brought really important moments to the club as we went on to win four from a possible five matches against the Hammers. This includes the memorable final day of the 2014/15 season where we secured safety by ending a ten-game win drought. Notably, Jonas Gutierrez scored his first goal following his successful battle with cancer on his last game for the club.

The following season brought a 2-0 victory in January 2016 which took the club out of the relegation zone for a short period. Steve McClaren would only last one more victory after this before getting sacked the following March. Jonjo Shelvey made his debut for the club that day and provided an exquisite cross-field pass to Daryl Janmaat who then set up Georginio Wijnaldum for an easy finish to double the lead after a quarter of an hour of play.

Following relegation and then, subsequently, promotion, West Ham were the victims of Newcastle's first win back in the Premier League on the August bank holiday weekend. Joselu scoring his first Newcastle goal on his home debut.

In December 2017, we completed the double over the London club on our first visit to the Olympic Stadium. It brought a much needed win just before the Christmas period. Going into the game, we were in the relegation zone after just one win from the previous thirteen games. A first goal for the club for Henri Saivet through a beauty of a free kick to atone for the error he did just a moment beforehand which set up Marko Arnautovic to open the scoring for the Hammers.

Highest scorer

Ayoze Perez (Arsenal, Everton , Swansea, West Brom, Chelsea, Norwich, Bournemouth x2, Tottenham, West Ham, Southampton, Stoke, Huddersfield) - 13 goals.

Statistics

Right foot: 46 (down 11 from Goals 1,001-1,100)

Left foot: 31 (up 7)

Header: 22 (up 6)

Other: 1 (down 2)

Inside the box: 85 (up 3)

Outside the box: 15 (down 3)

Open play: 73 (down 7)

Set piece situation: 21 (up 10)

Penalty: 4 (down 1)

Free kick (directly): 2 (down 2)

At St. James' Park: 65 (up 12)

- Gallowgate End: 32 (down 5)

- Leazes End: 33 (up 15)

Away from home: 35 (down 12)

Strikers: 44 (down 13)

Midfielders: 42 (up 11)

Defenders: 12 (up 4)

Own goals: 2 (down 2)