Yeah, but a great time
Newcastle 1995-1996
- Thread starter JSArsenal
- Start date
About to be beat by Arteta
The latter statement doesn't make the former any more true. Cantona and Schmeichel were pivotal.
If you think Winterburn and Arsenal were dirty think again
Watch this, only 1 player was booked!
I remember going 5-0 up away to Chelsea in the FA Cup third round in January 1998 and thinking we were gonna win everything. Insanely good first half of that season, but really suffered from the Keane injury in the long-term and some others (esp. Giggs) in the run-in. And in fairness, Arsenal were great, we just didn't fully understand yet what Wenger was capable of.
Still remember Barnsley knocking us out of the FA Cup in replay at Oakwell. Scott Jones scoring two goals then doing nothing since sticks with me
Feeguson played a weakened side. I remember most of the first team not playing. But yes, beating us 3-2 and then 2-0 in the league after United pasted them by 7 earlier on in the season showed how much United's form had dipped by March. Sheffield Wednesday (whom United beat 6-1 earlier on) also beat us that same spring. So did Leicester by a goal.
It was a disastrous finish to the season and I think most of us was due to Giggs pulling his hamstring.
2 late Blackburn goals, if I remember correctly, that flipped the match. And yes, that seemed to put United in pole position to win the title.
There was very little squad depth back then, we had the likes of McClair and Thornley coming off the bench.
No but you guys had a game in hand that would’ve put you level 2nd with us and Liverpool… Maybe that’s what you’re remembering?
So it really was just a catastrophic meltdown, with more points and fewer games remaining than Arsenal have now.
The Keegan rant is the one that’s a bit of a myth as it came about 3 games from the end, so whilst it probably helped us get over the line, we had already basically caught them by then.
Yep 2 goals in the last 5 minutes for us, after David Batty (who a few months earlier had left us to join Newcastle not long after his fight with Le Saux on the pitch in Moscow) had given them the lead not longer before,
Utd's home win against Newcastle during the festive period, came a poor run of results right (something like 5-6 matches without a win)? Newcastle probably went to Old Trafford reasonably confident of getting a result, before Utd convincingly won to send out a big warning.
Recently I tried to explain the brilliance and importance of Cantona (including the fact that he gave other players around him a big lift) to some younger fans I know, who only focus on goals scored and assists stats.
People focus on Newcastle and Cantona, but a lot of it was about United's kids getting up to speed.
The core of that team (the Nevilles, Butt, Beckham and Scholes) would go on to win six Premier League titles in eight years and would have won 97-98 too, without injuries. And of course there was a treble in there too.
The first half of that season they were bedding in and there were quite a few thumpings along the way. By the second half of the season they'd got the measure of the league, as the results proved.
The core of that team (the Nevilles, Butt, Beckham and Scholes) would go on to win six Premier League titles in eight years and would have won 97-98 too, without injuries. And of course there was a treble in there too.
The first half of that season they were bedding in and there were quite a few thumpings along the way. By the second half of the season they'd got the measure of the league, as the results proved.
And the fact the board were so tight they wouldn't buy any depth! Not to sound spoilt, but United would have won even more in that period had we not had a bunch of penny-pinching directors who were more concerned with dividends than improving the team.
Ferguson produced arguably the second-best crop of young players ever, behind the Barca generation of Messi, Xavi etc, and we hardly made any big-name signings to complement them.
People talk about the Glazers being awful (and they are) but the PLC were crap too. We just had a brilliant manager to win things for them.
We won the league game but you are right we played the likes of Thornley & Nevland in that replay,mind you Cole,Sheringham & Becks all played a part in game.
It got frustrating for Ferguson during that period and it was frustrating as a fan. I remember the Batistuta "saga" in 98 and rumours about Oretega and you just knew none of that was ever going to come to fruition because the club simply didn't spend.
Newcastle were paying GBP 15m during the summer of 96 when our all time record was the Cole-Guillespie swap (9m or so going Newcastle's way).
United were the richest club on the planet during the time and it was outrageous to see how tight the PLC was.
I just looked it up and you're right. I remember a 2-0 loss but this wasn't it. It was a 2-0 Barnsley win.
It's interesting when you hear Sutton talk about that season and how in spite of winning the league they were bricking it in the final weeks and bottled it. It's just lucky that Cole et al didn't have their shooting boots at Upton Park.
It was a lead that was enough for Fred Done to pay out and Fergie hated him ever since.
Arsenal hit form at the right time and it was one of those seasons. They did the same in 98-99 and it was all the more special given what happened in the FA Cup and final day. And even more sweet in 2003!
It's so weird how younger fans can't grasp that at all. But then, so much is about the tactics and systems these days... who was the last player who could actually do that? Not just being committed, ranting or even inspiring, but noticeably lifting the level of those around them. I'm thinking somewhat Scholes or Rooney, but not to the extent of Cantona. He was immense.
They had tough away fixtures at the back end of the season - Liverpool, Blackburn. We had Eric on a mission (and beat them 1-0 at St James’s Park).
They were a fantastic team to watch. Ginola was brilliant. I would have loved to have seem him playing for us.
I'm not sure in English football there's ever been another player that did what Cantona did, in my lifetime at any rate, the closest I can think of was maybe Juninho at Middlesborough although they didn't win the trophies he seemed to lift the level of those around him
When he was in the mood he was great, the problem was that he wasn't in the mood half the time and was then just a moody Frenchman
You could say the same for Cantona. And just like SAF did with Eric, i think he would have gotten the very best out of Ginola. Consistently.
David was never "Head Over Heels In Love" with Keegan, that's for fecking sure.
Cantona was moody and way more consistent than Ginola, but i wouldn't disagree what SAF would have gotten out of him but I do suspect that Mrs SAF wouldn't have let him use the hairdryer on him, that would have been a month on the couch at least
Yeah, Cantona just had an impact on the team that no amount of stats could quantify.
Young lads will only know him by what player card he has on FIFA.
His impacts gets lost in today's stats-centric world but that run during the spring when he seemed to score the only goal in a stretch of 1-0 wins to win us the title was special. Even in the match against Leeds away (Keane scored the winner with less than 10 minutes remaining), Cantona was easily the best performer.
People remember his FA cup final goal against Liverpool in that dire final, but he blocked a Chelsea shot on the line in the semi final at Samford Bridge when he was the only United player behind Shchmeichel. Which just shows how involved he was, as oppposed to some modern strikers whose only focus is their goal count and are only seen standing around in the opposition penalty box.
they lost 5 in 8 starting in Feb and we were relentless
the 2nd defeat was the 1-0 to us and I think that broke them mentally
we were already top in March despite being 12 behind in January
the 2nd defeat was the 1-0 to us and I think that broke them mentally
we were already top in March despite being 12 behind in January
We had already reduced the difference to 7 by that point, if I'm not mistaken. They'd dropped points going into the match but yes, given how dominant they were in that match and how United managed to weather the storm and cut the deficit, all the momentum was United's, and I still find it crazy to see how defeated their fans were after the final whistle blew. It was as if United went ahead on points.
Didn't think 6 points from 36 could be possible. 1 win and 2 draws or 2 wins from 12 games?!
It was actually 4 points from 18 points (6 games) or 7 points from 24 (8 games )