The two seasons from 1995 to 1997 saw Newcastle kiss the sky and almost win their first top flight title since 1927.
It wasn't to be and we all know what happened, but despite that crushing disappointment fans still enjoy harking back to this incredible period and we've done exactly that in today's installment of our NUFC history series.
Warren Barton joined myself and Club Historian Paul Joannou for this episode and was the perfect special guest having joined the club as a high profile defensive arrival right at the beginning of this exciting chapter.
Go here for more Newcastle United history content
Barton not only quickly slotted into the right back slot, he assumed another important role at the club off the pitch. " I think Kevin Keegan knew straightaway I was going to be the Entertainment’s Manager and club captain off the field," said Barton, speaking on today's episode of Chronicled.
One of Barton's first tasks was to look after fellow new arrival David Ginola.
"Me and Les [Ferdinand] were having breakfast at the Gosforth Park Hotel and KK s aid ‘Do me a favour, bring David down to training’.
"We knew of David and we’d seen David. So me and Les were having breakfast, then all of a sudden something just caught my eye, a guy in a white linen shirt, glasses on, shirt undone a little bit to his chest, Les was like ‘****ing hell, who’s that!?’ and I was like ‘I think that’s David’.
"We called him Dave - he hated it, he wanted to be called ‘Daveed’. He came walking over and me and Les were like ‘Wow - he’s a good looking fella’. He was very stylish, French accent: ‘How are you? Nice to meet you’. He sat down, he was chatting, wonderful, wonderful player and a really good man. It was a shame he didn’t stay for longer, and Les too."
The episode covers the elation and trauma of the infamous 1995-96 season, when United flew out of the traps and established a big lead at the top by Christmas. Sadly, draws and losses at key stages of the campaign saw Manchester United eventually claim the title by four points.
Fingers were pointed at Kevin Keegan's defence, but history reveals the side conceded just 37 goals that season, only Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Aston Villa conceded less that campaign, and 1995-96 remains the best defensive performance in the club’s Premier League history - that's 26 seasons.
"Gary Neville came out and said ‘We knew they’d score goals, but knew they couldn’t defend’. Well we could defend, it was just crucial moments that we let it slip.
"Momentum is such a big thing, and confidence is such a big thing at the time. Being ahead at Ewood Park, and then conceding killer goals at turning points of the season. If we tied against Liverpool 3-3, or we’d tied against Man. United 0-0... it’s all ifs and buts.
"Defensively, we worked on it, I remember Mark Lawrenson saying on Match of the Day that we couldn’t defend. We asked him to come down, he couldn’t put a session on! We could defend - he [Lawrenson] actually asked Arthur Cox how to put a session on.
"We did work on things like that, but because of our dominance and because we were defending on the front foot we put teams under pressure. I remember the games at home against Man. City, Coventry, Wimbledon - we’d win games in the first 20 minutes, we were two, three goals up.
"We didn’t have to defend. But our record, we took pride in that, we had two outstanding goalkeepers. Darren Peacock was a hell of a defender, Steve Howey, Phillipe Albert. We had people who could defend.
"But because of ‘The Entertainers’, because of the 4-3, people point their finger, but we did take pride in our defence."
The full episode of Chronicled is available to listen for free HERE, as well as via Spotify , Google , Apple , and most other podcast platforms.
