WHEN Kevin Keegan brought Alan Shearer back to St James’ after the Geordie’s Golden Boot-winning antics in Euro 96 the Toon Army were typically jubilant. Today in 1996 however, they fell quite when Big Al made his Newcastle debut in the Charity Shield, losing 4-0 to Manchester United.

Shearer had famously turned down Fergie’s advances, choosing to return to the club that had put him in goal during his trial there as a youngster. His £15m move back north had seen him become the world’s most expensive player, but if it was trophies he was after he shouldn’t have bothered.

Incredibly, the 1996 Charity Shield was the last, until Portsmouth took on Manchester United yesterday, to feature a team from outside the ‘big four’, as the next 11 contests would be a closed-shop affair.

Mancehster United had secured their second double after Fergie had out-mind-gamed Keegan to the title and Eric Cantona’s strike in the FA Cup Final put paid to Liverpool’s cup hopes.

Fergie was determined not to let his side fall behind the Premiership pace-setters again this season and his charges got off the best possible start, finding themselves 2-0 up after only half-an-hour of the season’s curtain raiser thanks to goals from Cantona and Nicky Butt.



Newcastle managed to steady the ship and began to press forward as the clock ran down, but KK’s gung-ho tactics backfired leaving David Beckham and Roy Keane to add another couple of goals to turn the scoreline into a bit of a drubbing.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom for Keegan and the lads that season though, as two months later they turned the tables spectacularly, beating Manchester United 5-0 at St James’ Park, a match which Keegan decribed as: “Undoubtedly the most enjoyable day I have had as a manager… Unfortunately, the League won’t give us more than three points for it.” By the end of the season though, Fergie was back on the ball and United romped home to the title.

See what happened when Kev told his side to go for the jugular that day below, have a look at what else happened today in history here and come back tomorrow for a look at where one of KK’s former charges was ending up.

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