Alternative Football History Part VIII – Newcastle United win the 1995/96 Premiership!
A little over 24 years ago, Kevin Keegan had a mini-meltdown live on Sky Sports after his Newcastle United side won 1-0 at Leeds United to close the gap on leaders Manchester United to three points. Newcastle United had a game in hand and only two games of the season to go. That game in hand was away to Nottingham Forest just three days later.
Before the Leeds game, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson couldn’t help but make a snide remark to the press about the Nottingham Forest game. He implied that Forest might not try as hard against Newcastle as they did against his Manchester United side.
This comment was like a red rag to a bull to Keegan, an emotional man at the best of times. During his post-match interview with Sky’s Richard Keys and Andy Gray, Keegan made his feelings known about Ferguson’s comments:
“When you do that with footballers like he said about Leeds – and when you do things like that about a man like Stuart Pearce…I’ve kept really quiet but I’ll tell you something, he went down in my estimations when he said that. We have not resorted to that. You can tell him now, we’re still fighting for this title and he’s got to go to Middlesbrough and get something – and I’ll tell you, honestly, I will love it if we beat them. Love it. It really has got to me. I’ve voiced it live, not in front of the press or anywhere. I’m not even going to the press conference but the battle is still on and Man United have not won this yet.”
Newcastle ended up drawing 1-1 with Nottingham Forest on their visit to the City Ground. This meant that they had to beat Tottenham on the final day of the season and hope that Middlesbrough could beat Manchester United. Neither of these happened as United won 3-0 and Newcastle laboured to a 1-1 draw against Spurs. It meant Manchester United won the league by four points.
But what if things worked out differently? What if Newcastle managed to win the league? Here is an alternative ending to the 1995/96 season in the Premier League:
Following Kevin Keegan’s outburst after Newcastle United’s 1-0 win at Leeds United, they went to the City Ground to play Nottingham Forest knowing that a win would put them level on points with league leaders Manchester United.
The Newcastle manager had used the comments made by Alex Ferguson to create a siege mentality at St James’s Park. He told the players that everyone was out to get them and do anything possible to stop them winning their first league title in 69 years.
With that in mind, United raced into a three-goal lead after only 12 minutes. Peter Beardsley opened the scoring after 27 seconds before Les Ferdinand grabbed Newcastle’s second after 6 minutes.
In the 12th minute, Keith Gillespie fired in an effort from 30 yards to send the travelling Newcastle fans into euphoria.
If Newcastle were to hold on and win the game, they would go level on points with Manchester United but they had a slightly goal difference was now +32 compared to Manchester United’s +35.
After the restart, it was almost as if the Nottingham Forest players could hear Alex Ferguson’s words in their minds. Ian Woan scored within a minute before Steve Stone prodded in Forest’s after a goalmouth scramble.
The referee signalled the end of a pulsating half. The second half was uneventful in comparison to the first and the game ended 3-2.
This was the league table going into the final weekend of the season:
Manchester United Played: 37 Won: 24 Drawn: 7 Lost: 6 Goals scored: 70 Goals against: 35 Goal Difference: +35 Points: 79
Newcastle United Played: 37 Won: 25 Drawn: 4 Lost: 8 Goals scored: 67 Goals against: 37 Goal Difference: +30 Points: 79
Newcastle knew that they would need to go all out and attack. They would need goals (and plenty of them!) to catch Manchester United at the top of the table. They were at home to Tottenham Hotspur who were 8th in the table. They would certainly be no pushovers, as they proved earlier in the season with a 1-1 draw between the two clubs at White Hart Lane.
Manchester United were playing X miles away, away to Middlesbrough, who had an excellent first season back in the top flight. They were in 12th position and were managed by former Manchester United legend Bryan Robson.
Roared on by a partisan crowd at St James’s Park, it was Newcastle who scored first. Peter Beardsley threaded a neat pass through the Spurs defence for Les Ferdinand, and the former QPR frontman blasted the ball under Ian Walker to put Newcastle top of the table after only three minutes.
Word travelled fast and within a minute, Alex Ferguson got out of his seat and started pacing nervously up and down the touchline at Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium. Things were about to get even worse though for Ferguson as Middlesbrough forced a corner after Phil Stamp’s header was pushed over the bar by Peter Schmeichel in the United goal.
Former United man Clayton Blackmore whipped in a corner and Neil Cox beat his marker Gary Pallister to head Middlesbrough into an unlikely lead. As word spread to Newcastle of Middlesbrough’s goal, a huge cheer erupted around St James’s Park. This initially confused the players on the pitch as the ball had just gone out for a Tottenham throw but when the Newcastle players realised what the cheer meant, they upped their game.
Ten minutes had gone when Middlesbrough scored a second goal. Craig Hignett played a quick one-two with Nick Barmby at the edge of the box before hitting a low shot at goal. The ball hit United defender David May and went to the opposite corner of the net, sending Peter Schmeichel the wrong way. Manchester United still had a better goal difference but that didn’t matter one bit as Newcastle had the three point lead at the top of the table!
Newcastle scored a second just before half time when Faustino Asprilla hit a thunderbolt from 25 yards out. The scores at half-time were Middlesbrough 2 Manchester United 0 and Newcastle United 2 Tottenham Hotspur 0.
Manchester United came out for the start of the second half like a completely different side to the one who played in the first half. Eric Cantona and Andy Cole scored in the first ten minutes of the second half to level the scores but they still trailed Newcastle by two points. The Toon Army held on to their 2-0 win and took the title by two points.
In an interview at the final whistle, Kevin Keegan grabbed a hold of the pitchside reporter Nick Clarke and shouted into the microphone “This one’s for you Alex!” before running onto the pitch to celebrate with his players.
Meanwhile, Manchester United’s players wandered around the pitch at the Riverside Stadium, looking lost and not quite sure how they had blown the league title.
This was the league table going into the final weekend of the season:
Newcastle United Played: 38 Won: 26 Drawn: 4 Lost: 8 Goals scored: 69 Goals against: 37 Goal Difference: +32 Points: 82
Manchester United Played: 38 Won: 24 Drawn: 8 Lost: 6 Goals scored: 72 Goals against: 37 Goal Difference: +35 Points: 80
The following weekend Liverpool compounded Manchester United’s misery by beating them 1-0 in the FA Cup Final. Robbie Fowler’s 12th minute goal was enough to settle the game and for the second season in a row, United finished runners-up in the League and FA Cup.
As the domestic season came to an end, the 1996 European Championships began in England. Alex Ferguson and United Chairman Martin Edwards were busy at Edwards’ home, drawing up a battle plan for the immediate future of Manchester United.
Part Two of this article will be published on Sunday!
I wrote an article about this season in the ‘A Season to Remember’ series. A link can be found here.
About Author
