Newcastle, the other United in this title race, were hugely popular with the neutrals. Sky Sports was in its infancy and christened Kevin Keegan’s attacking side “The Entertainers”. In 1992/93, they won promotion to the Premier League and the following season, astonishingly, they finished third in the top flight, their highest league finish since 1927. By January 1996, Newcastle had a 12 point lead at the top of the table and a first league trophy in almost 70 years looked on the horizon. Indeed, some bookmakers even paid out.
Newcastle struggled in the first few months of the new year while United were relentless, 1-0 wins courtesy of Cantona becoming laughably predictable. In early March, United went to Newcastle, Peter Schmeichel was outstanding, Cantona scored and the gap was cut to a single point.
If this season ended with a whimper, not a bang then the latter stages of the 1995/96 season could not provide a more marked contrast. As United’s form started to look ominous, Ferguson decided to turn the screw by suggesting teams like Nottingham Forest might not try as hard against Newcastle as they did against his side. After victory at Leeds at the tail end of the season, Keegan snapped on television:
QuoteWhen 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.
But 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.
