Newcastle United's 'Great Days', 1904 to 1911, are recalled in an entertaining new book

For roughly the first half of Newcastle United's 130-year history, the club was one of the most successful in English football.

When Magpies' skipper Jimmy Scoular hoisted the FA Cup above his head at Wembley Stadium in 1955, it was the third time in five years the Magpies had claimed the revered trophy and the sixth since the club formed around six and a half decades earlier. Along with the four league titles in the bag, it added up to a substantial haul of major trophies.

Since then, for myriad reasons, Newcastle have slipped way behind their one-time equals - Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and the likes - with the 1969 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup being the only meaningful trophy to find its way into the St James' Park trophy cabinet since those distant '50s triumphs.

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The 2021 takeover at Newcastle United has had fans dreaming of a brighter future after years of mediocrity, and maybe one day the club can compete at the very top once again. We have to cast our minds back to the first decade of the last century to a time when United were last considered the finest team in the land. They were champions of England three times in five years, they won the FA Cup and had several other near misses, while supplying many players for the England and Scotland national teams.

A fascinating new book, Newcastle United: The Great Days - 1904 to 1911 , by David Potter recreates the atmosphere surrounding the club in those sepia-tinted years when men like Colin Veitch, Peter McWilliam and Albert Shepherd walked tall. That great era, the author points out, is a potent reminder to the current generation of Newcastle fans that "it doesn't need to be like