The 1995–96 season was England's 116th season of competitive football. Newcastle United led Manchester United by twelve points at one point, but Alex Ferguson's very young and inexperienced team overtook them in the second part of the season to win the title. It was their third championship in four years.
Manchester United were the defending champions. They won the league by five points over Newcastle United. The top two teams qualified for the UEFA Champions League group stage while the third placed team had a chance to qualify by winning a play-off match against the fourth-placed team from the Premier League. However, they lost to Blackburn Rovers who thus qualified instead.
Newcastle United finished second behind Manchester United. They too had been undefeated at home all season long and they also managed to beat every opponent they played during that period. Their only loss came at Old Trafford where Alex Ferguson's men proved too strong for them.
Liverpool finished third. They had a good season overall with three wins, two draws and only one loss - away to United - who were actually beaten by Liverpool's home record which is worth mentioning here. This season was known as the "Hewitt era" after Newcastle United's owner Sir John Hall-Jones bought some world-class players including Alan Shearer who was regarded as the best player in the world at the time.
Manchester United won the Premier League for the third time in four seasons, after Newcastle United led for the most of the season, with the Tyneside club's advantage reaching ten points shortly before Christmas. To complete the double, United also won the FA Cup. This was their third league and cup double in four years.
United manager Alex Ferguson began the campaign by signing a new contract to keep him at the club until 2001. His salary was reported as £110,000 a week.
Ferguson started off by taking the team to the Middle East where they played three games against local sides Aal Arabi, Al-Ittihad and Al-Nasr. The first game took place in Bahrain on 28 February 1995. United lost 1-0 to Al-Ittihad with Jaap Stam scoring the only goal of the game. The second game ended in a 2-2 draw with both teams scoring twice in the first half before Al-Nasr ran out 3-2 winners. The final game saw United beat Aal Arabi 4-0 with all four goals coming in the first half. David Beckham scored his first two goals for the club while Chris Sutton and Eric Cantona got the other two.
After these games, Ferguson brought his squad back home where they beat Leeds United 2-1 at Old Trafford in the Football League Cup.
The 2000–01 season was England's 121st competitive football season. Manchester United won their third Premier League title in a row and eighth in the last nine seasons. Liverpool became became the second English club to win both the League Cup and the FA Cup in the same season, adding the UEFA Cup to complete an unprecedented triple. Chelsea completed a domestic treble by winning the FA Women's Cup, the Charity Shield and the WSL Championship.
England made history at the 2000 Olympics when they won all three of their games to secure a place in the semi-finals. The Football Association had hoped that going to the Olympics would provide some extra money to help fund professional football after the Premier League stopped its own lucrative tournament in 1998. But it wasn't to be as England were beaten by hosts Australia in the quarter-finals.
It was also a disappointing day for Manchester United who lost 3–0 to Argentina in the first game, followed by a goalless draw with Nigeria in the second match. This meant that they failed to reach the semi-finals for the first time since 1992. However, this was more than made up for by Liverpool's achievement - they went on to beat Italy 1–0 in the final game to claim their ninth FA Cup triumph in 10 years.
This season was the last one played by Newcastle United before they moved to a new stadium ahead of the 2001–02 season. They finished the season in 11th position.
The 1997–98 English Premiership (known as the Allied Dunbar Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the ninth complete season of rugby union in England's top league. Newcastle Falcons won the league for the first time after being promoted from National Division 2 the previous season. They were joined by four other teams - London Wasps, Leicester Tigers, Northampton Saints and Harlequins FC. This is also the only season where all of the teams used a common set of rules. The season began on 6 August 1997 and ended on 3 May 1998.
Newcastle beat London Wasps 26-24 in the final at Loftus Road, London. It was their first title in just their second season in the top flight. American Larry Kennedy scored two tries for Newcastle while Paul Wallace scored one try for Wasps.
Newcastle had been relegated from the Premiership the previous season but they turned around their form immediately to win their first title. Under head coach John Carver, they made the playoffs each year from then on out, never finishing lower than fourth place. In 1999-2000, they finally won the League when they defeated Leeds 24-19 in the decider at Headingley Stadium. That team finished with 100% record and it wasn't easy either - they played ten matches during the season. Current Newcastle captain Matt Banham was part of that team.
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