Blast from the past: Newcastle United 4 Man United 3

Blast from the past: Newcastle United 4 Manchester United 3 (September 2001)

The above video has been posted in recognition of Newcastle United's first win against Manchester United for over ten years.  The surprise victory on Wednesday night is significant due to the following reasons:

• This was NUFC's first win v MUFC for over 10 years (as shown above).
• First NUFC win since renaming their stadium to "Sports Direct Arena".
• First NUFC win since adopting VirginMoney as their shirt sponsor.
• MUFC's defeat was their first away loss in the league this season.
• Lindegaard conceded his first league goals this season after 5 matches.
• MUFC conceded 3 league goals in consecutive matches since 2004.
• MUFC suffered their second consecutive defeat this season.
• MUFC's title hopes suffered a dent following the surprise defeat.
• Krul, Ba, Tiote and Cabaye showed their true potential and class.

Blast from the past: Liverpool 4-3 Newcastle United (1996)

Blast from the past: Liverpool 4-3 Newcastle United (1996) - Spice Boys v Entertainers

In anticipation of Liverpool v Newcastle United's fixture for this gameweek, I am reminded of a famous match that took place between them over 15 years ago (see above).  It is often cited as the best ever match in Premier League history and inevitable decided the 1995/1996 title race.  For those that don't know Liverpool were known as the "Spice Boys" due to the player culture at the club, where as Newcastle United were known as the "Entertainers" due to their thrilling blend of attacking football that catapulted them to challenge for the title.  Unfortunately I was unable to watch the match live, but vividly remember following it on Ceefax.  The pattern of the scoring was such that it added to the legendary status of the match as follows:

Liverpool lead 1-0 (Robbie Fowler '2)
Newcastle equalised 1-1 (Les Ferdinand '10)
Newcastle lead 1-2 (David Ginola '14)
Liverpool equalised 2-2 (Robbie Fowler '55)
Newcastle lead 2-3 (Fastino Asprilla '57)
Liverpool equalised 3-3 (Stan Collymore '68)
Liverpool lead 4-3 (Stan Collymore '90 + 2)

As can be seen from the video above, Collymore scored the famous injury time winner, followed by Kevin Keegan being literally sunk in disbelief as he realised that Newcastle's title hopes had hit the rocks - after throwing away an amazingly huge 12 point lead from a few months earlier.

They don't make football like that anymore! 

Let's hope that Friday's match is at least half as entertaining.

Blast from the past: The Hurricanes

Blast from the past: The Hurricanes (cartoon)

I came across the following recently and thought it may bring about some nostalgic memories among a section of my readership.  For those of a certain age you may remember The Hurricanes cartoon from the mid-1990s (see above).  It was about a football club (or "soccer club" as they would call it) and for some surreal reason was voiced by American voice actors.  To be honest with you, I vaguely remember watching the cartoon on a few occasions (I think they also launched a computer game).  However the cartoon was so obscure that I can't name any of the main characters.  The cartoon's launch coincided with the rise of the English Premier League and also overlapped with USA 94.  Was it a clever ploy to capitalise on the rising popularity of football/soccer in the 1990s? or a random coincidence?  You decide.  Either way the cartoon was phased out very quickly and nothing of the football-cartoon-sort has really come about since.

Blast from the past: Parklife Nike TV Advert

Blast from the past: Parklife Nike TV Advert

For those British football fans born before the mid-late 1990s internet and mobile phone revolution, you would certainly remember the following famous TV advert.  It's shot on the world famous Hackney Marshes and features the likes of Cantona, Wright, Seaman & Fowler - once highly prized footballing assets of the nascent Premier League (contemporaries of Shearer, Sheringham, Gazza et al).  This was during the early era of the English Premier League boom, which eventually went global and made the English topflight the best league in the world!