Newcastle 'Entertainers' and famous 1996 Liverpool loss recalled
‘They were a joy, a credit to the Premier League… but you can’t always win!’ Newcastle’s ‘Entertainers’ and their dramatic 4-3 defeat at Liverpool in 1996 is recalled by Les Ferdinand and David Ginola in film series to mark 30 years of the competition
- New ‘Iconic Stories’ film series released to mark 30 years of the Premier League
- Latest installment marks Newcastle’s famous 4-3 defeat at Liverpool in 1996
- Kevin Keegan’s thrill-a-minute Newcastle side were chasing the league title
- But their hopes evaporated in a seven-goal thriller at a raucous Anfield
- Newcastle players Les Ferdinand and David Ginola recall the classic match
Many claim that it remains the best game of the Premier League era. Others go so far as to claim it is the best game of the 20th century.
What is for certain is that Liverpool 4 Newcastle United 3 on April 3, 1996 was an outstanding advertisement for English football still fondly recalled today.
It was the night Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle ‘Entertainers’ realised they were destined to become the best team never to lift the Premier League trophy.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=xX6xHnwwLO8%3Frel%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26hl%3Den-US
Stan Collymore blasts home his famous winner for Liverpool against title-chasing Newcastle
It was despair for Newcastle but delight for Liverpool as they won the seven-goal thriller
Their policy of ‘we’ll score one more than you, however many you score’ was stretched to the limit and snapped in a seven-goal thriller on a tumultuous evening at Anfield that profited only eventual champions Manchester United.
That night has been recalled by former Newcastle favourites Les Ferdinand and David Ginola, plus Liverpool’s Jamie Redknapp, in the latest instalment of the Premier League’s 10-part ‘Iconic Stories’ series to mark 30 years of the competition.
Newcastle manager Keegan had assembled a team that was designed for all-out attack and cared little for boring trivialities such as defending.
Towering centre forward Ferdinand and flowing French winger Ginola were among a host of summer signings in 1995 as the Toon went all-out to end a league title drought dating back to 1927.
‘From a centre forwards’ point of view, it was everything I could have dreamed of – and more,’ Ferdinand says in the film. ‘It was like going into a sweet shop.
Keegan can’t bear to watch and slumps underneath the hoardings after Collymore’s goal
Newcastle had already ceded plenty of ground to Man United in the title race but this defeat at Anfield was a killer blow for the ‘Entertainers’
Match facts
Liverpool 4 Newcastle United 3
Premier League; April 3, 1996
Anfield
Liverpool: James; Wright (Harkness 45), Scales, Ruddock; McAteer, Redknapp, Barnes, Jones (Rush 85), McManaman; Collymore, Fowler
Substitute not used: Warner (GK)
Manager: Roy Evans
Scorers: Fowler 2, 55; Collymore 67, 90+2
Newcastle United: Srnicek; Watson, Howey (Peacock 82), Albert, Beresford; Beardsley, Batty, Lee, Ginola; Asprilla, Ferdinand
Substitutes not used: Gillespie, Clark
Manager: Kevin Keegan
Scorers: Ferdinand 10; Ginola 14; Asprilla 57
Booked: Beardsley, Batty, Ferdinand
Referee: Mike Reed
Attendance: 40,702
‘At the time Newcastle were everybody’s second favourite team.
‘Every time I came back to London, everybody I’d see along the way would say, ‘I’m not a Newcastle supporter but anytime they’re on the TV I will watch them.’
‘I always used to feel sorry for our defenders, we were so attack-minded we would leave them to it at times.
‘If you score one, we will score two. If you score two, we will score three. As great as that sounds, it doesn’t always work out that way.’
But it did during the first-half of the season as Newcastle outscored all-comers, establishing what was at one point in the Spring a 12-point advantage at the top of the table.
‘Your duty as a player is not only to win games but to entertain those fans,’ said Ginola.
‘The way we played football, the way we entertained, the way we scored goals, we played for fun. Playing at St James’ Park was a pure joy every time.
‘We were playing every single game the same way, we were trying to score more goals that the opponents.’
But Keegan’s side stumbled badly during February and March, taking only three points from a possible 15 leading into a make-or-break visit to third-placed Liverpool in early April.
Ginola said: ‘The speech with Keegan was very simple. He didn’t emphasise too much the defending aspect of the game and that is why we had been struggling a little bit.’
What unfolded was an end-to-end encounter Ferdinand likened to a ‘basketball match’ with the two teams trading blows roared on by an Anfield crowd of just over 40,000.
Robbie Fowler gave Liverpool a second-minute lead but Newcastle had turned it around by the quarter-hour mark thanks to Ferdinand and Ginola goals.
Keegan knew no other way than all-out attack and Newcastle were the neutrals’ favourites
But Keegan’s Newcastle were never able to get the better of Alex Ferguson’s Man United
Liverpool came out for the second half with renewed vigour, equalising through Fowler on 55 minutes. That lead soon evaporated when Tino Asprilla put Newcastle 3-2 up two minutes later.
‘We go 3-2 up and we were thinking ‘just hold on, just hold on now,’ said Ferdinand.
Ginola recalled: ‘We didn’t think ‘we’re up in the game at Anfield, it’s amazing.’ It was just ‘let’s have some more fun.’
‘We were feeling so confident, we knew we could score goals but we forgot sometimes you concede goals you don’t want to.’
Then came the collapse. Stan Collymore levelled the game at 3-3 and there were still 22 minutes remaining.
Former Newcastle striker Les Ferdinand speaks about his memories of the game in the film
David Ginola, the Newcastle winger from that era, sits by his pool as he reminisces
Anyone who follows the Premier League knows how it ended, with Collymore lashing home Liverpool’s 90th-minute winner as commentator Martin Tyler yelled ‘Collymore closing in!’
The camera cut to the Newcastle dug-out, where Keegan slumped below the advertising board, unable to quite believe what had just happened. He knew it was a fatal blow to their title chances.
Even now, the moment still leaves Ginola shaking his head in disbelief. ‘How did it happen? How did it happen?’ he says in the video.
Having trailed Newcastle by 12 points at one stage but surged back to win the 1995-96 title
Newcastle would ultimately lose out on the title to Man United and Keegan’s ‘Entertainers’ would never know how it felt to win the Premier League.
As Redknapp says: ‘They were a joy, they were a credit to the Premier League. You can’t always win titles, but they entertained so many people.
‘The game had drama, it had everything and that is what the Premier League was all about.’
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