This is the full story, unofficial and uncensored, of one of the greatest football clubs in the country. From its birth in the 1890s to its rebirth in the 1990s, "The Toon" tells of a small soccer club, long in the shadow of an enormous rival, which grew to eclipse that rival - and every other club in Great Britain. Roger Hutchinson brings to life the sensational early successes of Newcastle United in late-Victorian and Edwardian times, recreating the great Anglo-Scottish team which dominated the Football League before World War I; he describes the helter-skelter attacking sides of the 1930s and the Cup giants of the 1950s; gives us the European conquerers of the 1960s and the Macdonald and Keegan squads of the 1970s and '80s, before showing us how the most exciting side of all, the international team of all the talents, was assembled to take Newcastle United into the 21st century.