Watch Premier League Retro: Liverpool v Newcastle on Sky Sports Premier League and Main Event at 7.30pm
Friday 3 April 2020 11:35, UK
At a time when football grounds have closed their doors, we've asked Martin Tyler to share some of his favourite facts and memories of the homes of the 20 Premier League clubs.
In part 10 of the series, Sky Sports' Voice of Football takes us on a virtual visit to Liverpool's Anfield and recalls one of the most famous matches in the history of the Premier League as Liverpool beat Newcastle 4-3 on April 3rd, 1996.
You can watch that match in full on Sky Sports from 7.30pm on Friday evening with a live blog and match clips available on the Sky Sports website and app.
By train from London Euston to Liverpool Lime St. and then a taxi to the ground. The television trucks are parked outside the Anfield Road end of the stadium.
It is no exaggeration to say that the Anfield gantry which served television broadcasters for decades was the best in the world in my experience. Built into the roof of the old Main Stand it was a perfect viewing point and with the fans below, the feeling of involvement was total.
The recent construction of the Centenary Stand changed all that. Of course it is change for the better for Liverpool Football Club, who can now accommodate large crowds, but not for commentators. The current position is much more distant, level with the opposite roof of the Kenny Dalglish stand. The main cameras were moved up there as well but after one season the club found a lower level for them, rather proving the point.
Unfortunately, there is not space for commentators to sit alongside the cameras which is in itself a difficulty. You at home are watching the match from a different angle to we broadcasters. It is the same at Chelsea and Wembley.
"You'll Never Walk Alone" was adopted as the Anfield anthem in 1963. It was a number one hit in the music charts for local group Gerry and the Pacemakers. The song originally came from the musical "Carousel" and was sung by a character surnamed Fowler - a girl called Nettie, not a boy called Robbie!
I do often get asked what is the best game I have ever commentated on. Getting on for a quarter of century after it happened, I have had no reason to change my mind.
It was at Anfield: Liverpool 4-3 Newcastle United 3 (the 1996 version - amazingly a year later we were at the same ground with the same teams and saw the same score!)
Both clubs were going for the Premier League title, though neither would win it.
The aforementioned Robbie Fowler gave Liverpool the lead in the second minute. Les Ferdinand equalised after 10 and Liverpool did not lead again until two minutes into added time.
David Ginola put the away side 2-1 up with only 14 minutes gone in a titanic battle. Fowler equalised 10 minutes into the second half with his second goal. Immediately Newcastle regained the lead, Faustino Asprilla this time. When Stan Collymore made it 3-3 there was still a quarter of the game left, and the draw was no good to either side.
The deciding seventh goal came from "Collymore closing in - and Liverpool led in stoppage time". Kevin Keegan, the former Liverpool star, then in charge of Newcastle, slumped over the advertising hoardings, an iconic image of an amazing evening. Everything we love about football bottled in up in one extraordinary match.
Eighteen years later Stan Collymore and I were in a lift going up to the commentary positions for a World Cup game in Brazil in 2014. The lift doors opened and there staring us in the face was 'Tino' Asprilla. "Stan, it's you. You cost me my Premiers League's winners medal," was the Colombian's instant response.
Unforgettable for everyone involved!
The Liverpool Football Club of today, with its American owners and its German manager, could have easily lost touch with the past, but they understand the significance of the serial winners of the seventies and eighties, and the influence of Shankly, Paisley, Fagan, Dalglish, Rush etc.
It is only 10 years or so since the club were exploring the possibility of a move to a new home. Instead they have invested in the evolution and development of Anfield. You don't have to be a fan of the club to say well done for that.
On Sunday: Martin brings us his guide to Manchester City's Etihad Stadium
