Newcastle United F.C. is a club.
Newcastle United F.C. . The club has been a member of the Premier League for all but three years of the competition 's history , spending 85 seasons in the top tier as of May 2016 , and has never dropped below English football 's second tier since joining the Football League in 1893 . Newcastle has a fierce local rivalry with Sunderland , and the two clubs have engaged in the Tyne -- Wear derby since 1898 . The club has been owned by Mike Ashley since 2007 , succeeding long term chairman and owner Sir John Hall . The club is the seventeenth highest revenue producing club in the world in terms of annual revenue , generating $ 169.3 m in 2015 .