"Barnes, Rush, Barnes, still John Barnes… Collymore closing in!"
If you haven’t been treated to that particular soundbite over the last few days, rest assured you’ll hear plenty of it in the build-up to Saturday’s Premier League game when Liverpool take on Newcastle United at Anfield.
It’s just under 22 years since Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle travelled to Liverpool desperate for a win to keep their flagging Premier League challenge on track.
The Magpies had contrived to turn a 12-point January lead over Manchester United into a three-point deficit and were in freefall, winning just one game from four in March as teams began to work out how to play against Kevin Keegan’s attack-focused side.
Liverpool, meanwhile, were struggling to live up to their tag of pre-season title favourites and a disastrous November period in which they picked up just one point from the 15 on offer, left them trailing Manchester United by eight points and looking unlikely to catch them.
Most soccer fans will be familiar with what transpired at Anfield on that night as Liverpool raced into an early lead courtesy of Robbie Fowler’s second-minute goal.
Newcastle pegged them back eight minutes later through Les Ferdinand while David Ginola then put the visitors in front in a frantic opening 15 minutes.
Fowler bagged his second of the game on 57 minutes to draw Liverpool level before Faustino Asprilla re-established Newcastle’s lead two minutes later, only to see it cancelled out by Stan Collymore.
And so it fell to Collymore deep into injury time to write himself, if not into folklore, then certainly into the collective psyche of all Premier League followers.
The England striker finished off a sweeping passing move to the soundtrack of Martin Tyler's hyperbolic tones, that must have the commentator wishing he was paid residual fees, while a forlorn Keegan slumped over the advertising hoarding for an image that’s every bit as iconic as the Tyler commentary.
The match has been lauded for decades now, voted as the best Premier League game ever played and helped to forge a career in after-dinner speaking for the likes of Warren Barton and Mark Wright. However, in terms of the title race that season, it arguably had only a minor impact.
Manchester United, inspired by a returning Eric Cantona, strolled to the title.
Liverpool showed the lack of consistency that plagues them to this day when they lost 1-0 to Coventry in their very next game while Newcastle’s downward spiral continued, culminating in Keegan’s famous ‘I will love it’ rant.
A sense of mythology has grown around the match itself, helped perhaps by some of the subsequent meetings between the two sides over the immediate following years and, of course, a good dollop of Sky Sports hype.
The teams again met at Anfield the following season and amazingly managed to produce the same result.
Liverpool raced into a 3-0 lead but appeared to suffer a late collapse with Newcastle scoring three times between the 71st minute and 88th, only for the Reds to again win it in injury time courtesy of a Robbie Fowler strike.
In 1998 Newcastle were again on the wrong side of high-scoring thriller as they suffered a late collapse at Anfield.
A first-half Nolberto Solano goal and one from Andreas Andersson appeared to have the Magpies cruising to victory before two goals apiece from Michael Owen and Karl-Heinz Riedle saw the Reds again emerge victorious.
But it’s that 1996 encounter that sticks out and it’s the game that’s really held up as the yardstick by which others are judged, so is it really the best there’s been?
In terms of late drama and high stakes, it’s surely been surpassed by Manchester City’s 3-2 final-day victory over QPR in 2012.
Joey Barton’s red card, Manchester United waiting on the pitch in Sunderland for the outcome only to see Sergio Aguero’s injury time winner hand City their first top flight title in 44 years.
Even Martin Tyler surpassed his work from that Liverpool v Newcastle clash with his famous ‘Agueeerooo’ scream.
So why does the 1996 clash have such an enduring appeal? The attacking verve of both managers certainly played a part as both Keegan and Roy Evans built sides set up to go out and attack first and foremost.
Both teams had some pretty glaring flaws as proven by the lack of league titles for the managers.
Keegan’s tactical naivete and his refusal to alter his attacking principles proved to be Newcastle’s downfall, while Evans never managed to impart a mental strength to his Liverpool side, leaving them brittle and prone to throwing away leads.
All of which made for a great spectacle when the sides met, ably assisted by the still relatively new Sky Sports slickness.
Even if you didn’t see the game live, the new home of the Premier League was determined to spend days telling you just how great it was and how it was defining a new era of soccer. Nonsense clearly, but sometimes that nonsense sticks.
It’s also lends a sense, perhaps a false sense, of Liverpool v Newcastle being one of the season’s big games.
There haven’t been too many classics between the sides in recent years.
Liverpool’s 6-0 victory at St James’ Park towards the end of Brendan Rodgers' first season sticks out for just how abject the Alan Pardew managed Magpies were, but Newcastle have had slightly better results in the last few years.
The Magpies have lost just one of the last five encounters between the two sides and under former Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez have managed to hold Liverpool in their last two encounters.
That will be the aim of Benitez and Newcastle again this weekend and the Spaniard has shown his willingness to go to the top four teams and sit deep in the hope of frustrating their hosts in the attempt to gain a point.
Teams have had success at Anfield with that approach in recent years, frustrating Jurgen Klopp’s side by allowing them to have the ball and sitting back en masse, defending the penalty area.
Whether or not Newcastle have success with that approach this weekend remains to be seen, but whatever the outcome, you’re unlikely to see a last-minute winner in a seven-goal thriller.
