May 1989 Newcastle finish bottom of the First Division under the management of Jim Smith. The club win seven matches all season.
1992 John Hall takes over the club. With Newcastle sliding towards the Third Division, manager Ossie Ardiles is sacked and replaced by Kevin Keegan.
August 1993 Having won the First Division title, Newcastle move into the Premier League and, led by the returning Peter Beardsley and 34-goal striker Andy Cole, finish third.
January 1995 Keegan sells Cole to Manchester United for £7m. Newcastle finish sixth.
May 1996 With David Ginola and Les Ferdinand added to the squad, Newcastle storm to the top of the table but blow a 12-point lead and finish second behind Manchester United.
August 1996 Newcastle pip United to the signature of Alan Shearer for £15m, a British record.
January 1997 With Shearer and Ferdinand combining to devastating effect, Newcastle look like title-contenders, but the club is rocked after Keegan resigns at the turn of the year. He is replaced by Kenny Dalglish who steers the club to second place.
May 1998 Newcastle reach the FA Cup final but also finish 13th in the league. Dalglish is sacked in August and Ruud Gullit appointed.
August 1999 Gullit is sacked. The Dutchman took the side to a second FA Cup final and to 13th in the league in his debut season but is doomed after falling out with Shearer. He is replaced by Bobby Robson the following month.
June 2004 After three encouraging seasons, during which Newcastle finish fourth, third and fifth respectively, Robson is told by the club's chairman, Freddy Shepherd, that the coming season will be his last. But he does not even last the first month and is replaced by Graeme Souness in September.
February 2006 Shearer breaks Jackie Milburn's all-time scoring record when he gets his 201st goal for the club against Portsmouth. Glenn Roeder had replaced Souness as manager earlier in the month.
May 2007 Having retired as chairman a decade earlier, Sir John Hall sells his 41.6% shareholding in Newcastle for £55m to the sports retail magnate Mike Ashley who takes full control of the club during the summer. Sam Allardyce is appointed manager following Roeder's resignation.
January 2008 Ashley sacks Allardyce and replaces him with Keegan. Ashley also appoints a three-man management and scouting team comprising Dennis Wise, Tony Jiminez and Jeff Vetere.
September 2008 Keegan resigns for the second time in 11 years.
September 2008 Following a furious backlash from Newcastle supporters, Ashley releases a statement confirming he wants to sell the club. He then makes the shock decision to appoint Joe Kinnear as interim manager. Kinnear swears 52 times during a press conference.
February 2009 Kinnear suffers a heart attack prior to Newcastle's 3-2 win at West Bromwich. He undergoes a triple heart bypass operation the same month.
April 2009 With Newcastle hurtling towards relegation under Chris Hughton, Alan Shearer, left, is appointed caretaker manager. He has eight games to save the club.
May 2009 With no victories in his first four games in charge, Shearer takes Newcastle to Anfield with the team three points from safety.
