Newcastle United vs Manchester United was the fixture in England football in 1996.
The two sides engaged in a title fight throughout the 1995/96 season, with Manchester United's ultimate elation in triumph only matched by the despair Newcastle United felt at letting the trophy slip from their grasp.
But when it comes to the actual meetings between the two sides around that period, there is one game that stands out in the memory above all others.
"If you beat Man United then it’s great, if you beat them 5-0 it’s absolutely fantastic"
Ten games in to the 1996/97 season, in October 1996, not-yet-Sir Alex Ferguson brought his side to St James' Park with the two teams again expected to fight for the Premier League title.
Newcastle were top, but the Red Devils had gone undefeated thus far and were still high on having beaten Liverpool at Old Trafford in the previous league game
What followed was an absolute shellacking. Darren Peacock and David Ginola had Newcastle 2-0 up inside half an hour; by the 75th minute, Les Ferdinand and Alan Shearer had got in on the act to make it 4-0.
But it was the sumptuous final goal that meant that when speaking to FourFourTwo in 2007, manager Kevin Keegan had a simple answer to his favourite moment as Newcastle boss.
"Philippe Albert beating Peter Schmeichel to seal that 5-0 win over Manchester United," he said
"If you beat Man United then it’s great, if you beat them 5-0 it’s absolutely fantastic, and if you’ve just lost a league to them the season before, it’s even better.
"I shook Alex Ferguson’s hand afterwards, but [Eric] Cantona was the only one that spoke to me. He shook my hand and said: 'F**king great team'.
"The crowd were really proud of those players.
"We had a side full of players who still had something to prove, the John Beresfords and Rob Lees.
"Fortunately for me, and for Newcastle, they all still wanted to achieve things."
This interview first appeared in the April 2007 edition of FourFourTwo magazine
