#2 Newcastle United, 1995/96
The season prior had seen Manchester United fail to chase down eventual league winners Blackburn Rovers, but 1995/96 was a different story. Despite Newcastle United leading by a monstrous 12 points in January, the Red Devils were able to overhaul the deficit to win the league, mainly due to the individual genius of Eric Cantona, who scored goal after goal in 1-0 wins for United.
While Newcastle had some tremendous talent in their squad – Les Ferdinand, David Ginola, Peter Beardsley, Phillipe Albert – they just didn’t have an individual as good as Cantona. When manager Kevin Keegan did attempt to buy one, in the form of mercurial Colombian striker Faustino Asprilla, it didn’t really work out as he disrupted the balance of the squad and only contributed three goals.
Going into the last day of the season, Newcastle trailed United and needed to beat Tottenham – and hope that Middlesborough could defeat United – to win the title. It was always unlikely and of course United won out in the end.
But with Messi on board – an individual as important as Cantona was for United – could things have been different? We certainly think so. A Messi-inspired Newcastle would never have let that lead slip, even with Kevin Keegan’s gung-ho tactics on hand, and the Premier League title could’ve gone to Tyneside for the first time.
