Newcastle United's Entertainers were a 'fantastic team' but they 'didn't have the experience' to win the Premier League title in 1996, according to Manchester United great Peter Schmeichel.
With just four months remaining of that crazy campaign, Newcastle were 12 points clear of Sir Alex Ferguson's side but the Red Devils ultimately managed to overhaul that huge deficit.
The reasons for that collapse are still being debated on Tyneside and the Magpies have never come closer to ending their title drought.
Manchester United, in contrast, were going for their third title in four seasons and Schmeichel believes that experience told in the end.
“The kids – I say the kids – were brought into that squad having come all the way through the academy system and all the learning in a high-performance environment," Schmeichel told the Independent. "They were never fazed by anything really. There was always this belief.
“That’s how we ended up on top that season. We knew this was us and all the experience we had from four years of winning and challenging.
"Now, for Newcastle, it was a fantastic team, but they didn’t have that last bit. They didn’t have the experience.”
