Stan Collymore: ‘Liverpool 4-3 Newcastle would blow up the internet if it happened now’

Memories of football matches can fade quickly, even if they serve up some magical moments, but one fixture that will always have a golden ring around it took place on a memorable night at Anfield on April 3, 1996.

This match has its own Wikipedia page and a fixture that stirred the emotions across the football world to such an extent that it is still regarded by many as the best Premier League match of all time.

Liverpool and Newcastle may have ended the 1995-96 season without lifting a trophy, but for one captivating night they served up a script that was as compelling as it was dramatic and as unpredictable as it was thrilling.

Stan Collymore scored the winning goal in the final seconds of an epic match to hand Liverpool a 4-3 win and put a huge dent in the hopes of Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle, as they battled with Manchester United for the title.

Almost 30 years later, Collymore has reflected on that epic night in an exclusive interview with Planet Football, as he insisted the sands of time have not diluted the emotions behind a match that is remembered fondly to this day.

“It was a remarkable game and without a doubt the best 90 minutes of football I ever played in,” Collymore told Planet Football.

“It would just be me saying that, as I’m sure if you asked Steve McManaman and Robbie Fowler on the Liverpool side and David Ginola, Les Ferdinand and Tino Asprilla on the Newcastle team, they would also say it was the best match they were a part of.

“The reason why it was special was that it didn’t just serve up some memorable goals, or great passages of play. It was the intensity of the match for 90 minutes and the twists and turns along the way. That’s why people still talk about it now.

“We forget that the Liverpool vs Newcastle game the following season also finished 4-3, but that one was not at such a high quality and you just need to look at the team-sheet for both teams to realise the quality of the forward on both sides. They were very hard to stop.”

Collymore believes the Liverpool vs Newcastle game in 1996 contributed to the early boom of the Premier League around the world, as he suggests the global reach was expanded by its impact.

“From minute one to the last minute, it was absolutely sensational and people have never forgotten it,” he continued.

“I’m fortunate to travel around the world and meet a lot of football fans and whether I’m in Australia or America or wherever it might be, that’s the game that comes up.

“The Premier League is massive now and we were at the very start of it all. That Liverpool v Newcastle game would blow up the internet if it happened now, but that was a time when social media was not part of our lives and it was a very different time.

“I see a lot of younger people and influencers on social media now saying this match is the greatest of all-time or this player is the best striker in the history of the Premier League. I don’t blame them because they haven’t seen too much football and that’s all they know.

“All I would say to anyone is get a tape of that Liverpool vs Newcastle game in 1996, watch it from start to finish and tell me if you have ever seen a better 90 minutes of Premier League football.

“We still get a lot of very good football matches now and see some dramatic moments. This season’s Newcastle vs Liverpool game was dramatic and was won with a last-minute goal, but it did not have the quality of goals and drama as that game back in 1996.”

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READ: Roy Evans: We should have won title, maybe we were too attack-minded

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Liverpool fans around the world may have been celebrating Collymore’s iconic winning goal at Anfield, but they may have enjoyed the reality that the win for a side managed by Roy Evans helped their old rivals, Manchester United, lift another Premier League title.

“We didn’t think about what it meant to the league title race on the night,” reflected Collymore.

“We just wanted to win against Newcastle, but I often get Manchester United fans reminding me that we helped their team win the Premier League that season by beating Newcastle on that famous night at Anfield.

“At the time, there were two or three clubs in the title race and we fancied our chances of getting in the mix after that win against Newcastle, but we dropped points in our next match against Coventry at Highfield Road and that’s why we didn’t end up winning the title that season.

“We dropped too many points in games we should have won.

“A regret I have from that season is we didn’t give ourselves a chance to get into that title race by dropping silly points, but we only have ourselves to blame.”

Collymore’s late goal against Newcastle is one of the classic moments of the early Premier League story, and while the annals of football history are being constantly updated, that memorable night at Anfield will never be forgotten.

By Kevin Palmer

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