In the fourth Premier League campaign, in 1995-96, Manchester United just edged Newcastle for the title. That year, Man. United defended their championship crown and went on to claim a second double in their history by lifting the FA Cup.
After transferring key players Paul Ince, Mark Hughes and Andrei Kanchelskis, Alex Ferguson saw his fine crop of youngsters complete the job for United to become the first English club to repeat the double of league title and FA Cup. Ferguson signed no new players that season and relied mostly on Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt, David Beckham and Neville brothers Gary and Phil.
Fiery Frenchman Eric Cantona added experience to the side along with Denis Irwin, Gary Pallister, Brian McClair and Steve Bruce.
The Red Devils amassed ten points less than their feat of two years before when they claimed their first double. Yet, this was mostly due to the fact that in 1996 the teams in the top flight were reduced to 20 and the total number of games played became 38 instead of 42.
Under Kevin Keegan, Newcastle looked on their way to become champions of England for the first time since 1927. At the start of the New Year in 1996, Newcastle held an amazing 12-point advantage. However, they fell by the wayside in the second phase of the campaign.
The most damage was done when Man. United beat the Magpies home and away. With one match to go, Manchester United only led the standings by two points.
The Mancunians made sure when they won against Middlesbrough 3-0 away. Newcastle only earned a 1-1 draw with Tottenham at St James Park and finished four points adrift.
A week later United completed another magnificent season when they beat Liverpool 1-0 (Cantona) at Wembley in the FA Cup final to claim a second double in three years.
Major transfers
Arsenal: Dennis Bergkamp from Inter, David Platt from Sampdoria. Kevin Campbell to Nottingham Forest.
Aston Villa: Gareth Southgate from Crystal Palace, Mark Draper from Leicester. Dean Saunders to Galatasaray.
Blackburn: Chris Coleman from Crystal Palace, Gary Flitcroft from Manchester City. David Batty to Newcastle.
Bolton: Sasa Curcic from Partizan Belgrade, Nathan Blake from Sheffield United. Jason McAteer to Liverpool.
Chelsea: Ruud Gullit from Sampdoria, Dan Petrescu from Sheffield Wednesday. David Hopkin to Crystal Palace.
Coventry: John Salako from Crystal Palace, Noel Whelan from Leeds. Mike Marsh to Galatasaray.
Everton: Andrei Kanchelskis from Manchester United, Craig Short from Derby. Stuart Barlow to Oldham.
Leeds: Richard Jobson from Oldham, Tomas Brolin from Parma. David White to Sheffield United.
Liverpool: Stan Collymore from N. Forest. Nigel Clough to Manchester City; Jan Molby to Norwich.
Manchester City: Georgi Kinkladze from Tbilisi, Kit Symons from Portsmouth. Terry Phelan to Chelsea.
Manchester United: Tony Coton from Manchester City. Paul Ince to Inter, Gary Walsh to Middlesbrough.
Middlesbrough: Juninho from Sao Paolo, Branco from Internacional. Paul Wilkinson to Tranmere.
Newcastle: Warren Barton from Wimbledon, David Ginola from Paris SG, Faustino Asprilla from Parma. Ruel Fox to Tottenham.
N. Forest: Chris Bart Williams from Sheffield Wednesday, Andrea Silenzi from Torino. Carl Tiler to Aston Villa.
QPR: Simon Osborn from Reading, Ned Zelic from Borussia Dortmund. Les Ferdinand to Newcastle.
Sheffield Wednesday: Marc Degryse from Anderlecht, Mark Pembridge from Derby. Klas Ingesson to Bari.
Southampton: Alan Neilsen from Newcastle, Barry Venison from Galatasaray. Craig Maskell to Brighton.
Tottenham: Chris Armstrong from Crystal Palace, Andy Sinton from Sheffield Wednesday. Nick Barmby to Middlesbrough.
West Ham: Iain Dowie from Crystal Palace, Ilie Dumitrescu from Tottenham. Martin Allen to Portsmouth.
Wimbledon: Andy Pearce from Sheffield Wednesday. Steve Anthrobus to Shrewsbury.
Other statistics
Alan Shearer, of Blackburn, chalked up five hat-tricks throughout the Premier League campaign: Home vs Coventry, Home vs N. Forest, Home vs West Ham, Home vs Bolton and Away vs Tottenham.
Since Newcastle started the campaign very positively, Kevin Keegan was named manager of the month for August and September. Other managers who won the accolade twice during the 1995/96 season, were Alex Ferguson, of Man.United, and Roy Evans, of Liverpool.
Robbie Fowler, of Liverpool, grabbed the monthly award twice, one of them he shared with team-mate Stan Collymore (in February).
While champions Manchester United claimed eight doubles throughout the season, second-placed Newcastle chalked up six.
Wimbledon finished with a total of seven sendings off − all in league action. Vinny Jones saw red on two occasions. Tottenham were the only club not to have a player dismissed throughout the campaign.
Individual awards
Writers Footballer of the Year − Eric Cantona (Manchester United).
PFA Player of the Year − Les Ferdinand (Newcastle).
PFA Young Player of the Year − Robbie Fowler (Liverpool) for the second year running.
Premier's Manager of the Year − Alex Ferguson (Manchester United).
Managers' Association Boss of the Year − Peter Reid (Sunderland).