Newcastle 01/02 — Sir Bobby's Revival: Full Squad & Ratings

Newcastle 2001/02 season — all 18 players rated, best XI, and how to draft them in 38-0.

Newcastle 2001/02 — Season Story

Newcastle United's 2001/02 season was the revival that nobody saw coming: fourth place in the Premier League and Champions League football for the first time in the club's history, achieved under Sir Bobby Robson — a Geordie managing his boyhood club at the age of 68, in the final great act of an extraordinary career.

The previous season had ended in relegation anxiety, with Robson arriving in September 1999 to steady a sinking ship. Two years later he had built a team that combined the old Newcastle DNA — attacking football, wingers, goals — with a defensive discipline the club had rarely shown. The 4-4-2 was simple: Shay Given in goal, a solid back four, wingers Kieron Dyer and Laurent Robert, and Alan Shearer leading the line with Craig Bellamy's pace alongside him.

The season's defining moment came in December, when a 4-3 win over Manchester United at St James' Park — with Shearer scoring twice and Robert curling in a free kick — announced Newcastle as genuine contenders. The team lost only twice at home all season, won their last five games, and secured fourth place on the final day with a 2-1 win at Fulham.

The achievement was remarkable for its context: Newcastle had spent heavily but never enough to match the top three, and Robson was coaxing a career-best season out of a 31-year-old Shearer, who scored 23 league goals. The Champions League qualification brought European nights back to St James' Park for the first time since the 1960s, and the 2001/02 squad — rated 78.4 OVR in the 38-0 dataset — is remembered as Sir Bobby's masterpiece.

Sir Bobby's Revival

Robson took over a club in crisis in 1999 and rebuilt it in his own image: honest, attacking, and warm. His man-management was the key — Shearer, who had fallen out with previous managers, was given the armband and the respect he deserved; the young players — Bellamy, Dyer, Robert — were trusted to express themselves; and the dressing room became a happy place for the first time in years.

The statistics of the revival are striking: from 11th in his first full season to 4th in 2001/02, with a points total that would have qualified for Europe in any season. Robson's Newcastle played the game the way the fans wanted it played — fast, direct, and never boring — and the fourth-place finish remains one of the great overachievements in the club's modern history.

The 4-3 Over Manchester United

The result that proved Newcastle were back came on 15 December 2001: a 4-3 win over the champions, Manchester United, at St James' Park. Shearer scored twice, including a penalty, Robert curled in a magnificent free kick, and the game swung back and forth until the final whistle. It was Newcastle's first win over United since 1996, and it sent the stadium into delirium.

The match became the symbol of the season: Newcastle could not match United's spending, but for 90 minutes they matched them everywhere else. The win took Newcastle to third, and the belief it created carried the team through the winter — they lost only one league game between December and March.

Shearer's Indian Summer

Alan Shearer was 31 at the start of the season, written off by many after two injury-hit years, and responded with the best season of his later career: 23 league goals, second in the Golden Boot race, and a performance level that earned him a recall to the England squad. His partnership with Bellamy — the target man and the sprinter — was the most effective pairing in the league outside the top two.

The goals were typical Shearer: penalties, headers, poacher's finishes, and the occasional thunderbolt. He scored in the 4-3 win over United, in the crucial win over Derby in the run-in, and in the final-day victory at Fulham that confirmed fourth place. In the 38-0 dataset he is rated 86 OVR — the highest-rated player in this squad, and proof that great strikers age like fine wine.

Key Players & Ratings

Alan Shearer (86 OVR) is the star — 23 league goals at 31 years old, and the best target man in the pool. Shay Given (84) was one of the most consistent goalkeepers of the era, Laurent Robert (82) and Craig Bellamy (82) provided the width and pace, and Nolberto Solano (81) and Kieron Dyer (80) completed a strong attacking midfield.

The squad average of 78.4 OVR sits below the 80.7 pool average, and the ratings tell the truth about the team: excellent in attack and goal, ordinary in defence. The back line — Aaron Hughes (78), Andy O'Brien (78), Nikos Dabizas (76) — is the weakest area, which makes the draft strategy here obvious.

Full 18-Man Squad

Best XI — Newcastle 2001/02

The highest-rated eleven available from this squad in 38-0:

• GK Shay Given 84 OVR
• RB Aaron Hughes 78 OVR
• RCB Andy O'Brien 78 OVR
• CB Sylvain Distin 78 OVR
• RM Nolberto Solano 81 OVR
• RM Kieron Dyer 80 OVR
• CM Gary Speed 81 OVR
• CM Rob Lee 77 OVR
• LM Laurent Robert 82 OVR
• ST Alan Shearer 86 OVR
• ST Craig Bellamy 82 OVR

Drafting This Squad in 38-0

This squad rewards attacking picks: Shearer is an elite striker, Robert a left winger with a world-class free kick, Bellamy a genuine speed merchant, and Given a top-tier goalkeeper. Take Shearer first if you need goals, Given if you need a keeper — the rest of the squad is draftable but unexceptional.

In Legend mode, the hierarchy is: Shearer (86), Given (84), then Robert, Bellamy (82), Solano (81), Dyer (80). The defenders are all 74-78 — never draft a defender from this squad when a top name is available.

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