The summer of ’95
I will always look back on the summer of 1995 with the fondest of memories. It was the hottest summer on record in the UK at the time, second only to 1976 and it seemed as if every day was a scorcher.
With no World Cup to watch, it also meant that the players were available to negotiate transfers earlier than the previous summer. This was particularly exciting for me as a nine-year-old obsessed with the game. My Dad had recently purchased a television with teletext and I was now able to see the transfers being announced throughout the summer before having to wait for the six o’clock news!
On 17th June, Liverpool announced the first big-name signing of the summer and it turned out to be a record-breaker. The Merseyside club parted with a British-record £8.5 million to bring striker Stan Collymore to Anfield from Nottingham Forest.
If it was Tottenham Hotspur who signed the biggest name in the previous summer in Jurgen Klinsmann, it was their North London rivals Arsenal who stole the headlines in 1995.
Three days after Stan Collymore was being paraded at Anfield for the national press, Arsenal’s new manager Bruce Rioch announced the signing of striker Dennis Bergkamp. The Dutchman had spent two unhappy years at Inter Milan and was now going to try his luck in the English league.
Tottenham Hotspur signed Crystal Palace striker Chris Armstrong the following day for £4.5 million and on 22nd June, Paul Ince joined Inter Milan for £7 million.
A second Dutchman moved to a club in the capital on the 23rd when Ruud Gullit was unveiled by Chelsea manager Glenn Hoddle at Stamford Bridge. He had moved from Sampdoria on a free transfer. Chelsea also signed Mark Hughes from Manchester United on the same day, but this was decidedly under the radar compared to the signing of Gullit.
Aston Villa broke their transfer record by signing Savo Milosevic for £3.5 million from Partizan Belgrade before Newcastle United turned heads when signing French midfielder David Ginola from Paris Saint-Germain for £2.5 million.
Before the month was out, England captain David Platt joined Dennis Bergkamp at Arsenal from Sampdoria after a fee of £4.75 million was agreed by the two clubs.
On the same day as David Platt put pen to paper at Highbury, his England team-mate Paul Gascoigne joined Scottish champions Glasgow Rangers.
With Bergkamp, Gullit, Platt and Gascoigne all leaving Italy, the Premier League was quickly becoming the best place to play and watch football. By the start of the 1995/96 season, it was rapidly approaching Italy’s Serie A to be the best league in the world.
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