1995-96
Don’t ask me when I was most happy. Ask me instead when I was most excited, and I’ll tell you it was in the mid-1990s. Oh to be a teenager again, with Britpop on the radio, TFI Friday on the telly, and English football in the midst of a golden era. The birth of the Premier League had brought glamour to the game but there were still enough old-school vibes in those early days to make it feel relatable, and that was no more so the case than in the 1995-96 season as Tony Yeboah and Georgi Kinkladze scored goals from the Gods while West Ham wore shirts sponsored by Dagenham Motors. And then there was the drama, namely Newcastle’s blowing of a 12-point lead involving that loss to Liverpool and that rant by Kevin Keegan. It was wild, intoxicating stuff, with more to come that summer in the shape of Euro 96 and Oasis playing Knebworth. Aged 15, I’ll tell you, honestly, I loved it. Loved it. Sachin Nakrani
1996-97
This season might seem like an odd choice for a Middlesbrough fan given it ended in relegation and two cup final defeats, but the drama made it unforgettable. Fabrizio Ravanelli’s hat-trick on the opening day, Emerson going awol in Brazil, Juninho being utterly brilliant, and having three points docked after the fiasco of the postponed game with Blackburn. But events were not restricted to the Riverside. There was Alan Shearer’s record-breaking £15m transfer to Newcastle, David Beckham’s goal from the halfway line against Wimbledon, Southampton 6 Manchester United 3 coming six days after Newcastle 5 Manchester United 0 (the Philippe Albert chip game), and Liverpool 4 Newcastle 3 for a second season in a row. United finished as champions with a meagre 75 points, helped by some video game-induced clangers from David James, but Eric Cantona’s shock retirement made it a bittersweet triumph. Rich Flower
2001-02
In what might generously be described as my prime years, from 17 to 27, the team I supported were Premier League champions eight times. Yet I keep coming back to a season in which Manchester United won nothing. There are a few possible reasons; the title race was uniquely two-faced, with shocks galore before Christmas and an unprecedented sprint from Arsenal, Liverpool and United in the second half of the season; and life was bursting with potential. YouTube rabbit holes are also time portals, triggering ephemeral snapshots of my life at that time, and I suspect that’s why I cherish the memory of 2001-02. I was in my mid-20s, I had a full head of hair, I started my dream job at Wisden (two days after Roy Keane tried to chin Alan Shearer), I moved to London (the day before a very costly draw at Derby), I was falling in love for the first time. Not even Arsenal winning the league at Old Trafford could harsh that buzz. Rob Smyth
2004-05
This is quite simple, isn’t it? You go back to the age of seven or eight, maybe nine, and that’ll be when the pixels turn high-def, when sticker books and Match of the Day replace ice-cream and cartoons, when you begin to believe you’ll be one of them someday, when the game is everything. I’d found my team, Manchester United, through the previous season’s FA Cup final, and the Euros introduced a magnetic character; Wayne Rooney signing for United was perfection. But the first hero was Ruud van Nistelrooy, who inspired plenty of playground goal-hanging. The Dutchman’s season was injury-plagued but he still had his corner-flag roar after slotting in against Arsenal to end their unbeaten run at 49, a redemptive strike after missing a penalty against the same team the previous season. But the Battle of the Buffet was no title-decider, the season belonging to Chelsea and their establishment-breaking manager. The age of José had begun. Taha Hashim
2011-12
There is a risk of overthinking things like this, so I won’t. The year was 2012 and Manchester City were in a two-way battle with Manchester United as they tried to win their first Premier League title. A few years prior, a suggestion that this could be the situation would have been met with guffaws of laughter and medical evaluation. Admittedly, morals surrounding the ownership had to be put aside as Vincent Kompany, Sergio Agüero and Mario Balotelli tried to make dreams come true. With three games to go City and United were neck and neck going into a crucial derby; Kompany headed home to earn the upper hand and immediate bragging rights. All that was required to complete this stupendous campaign was to brush aside relegation-threatened QPR on the final day. Glory was euphorically earned when it all looked to be falling away, all while beating the club that ruined your childhood. Will Unwin
2013-14
Football loves a vacuum. The first season without Alex Ferguson as the Premier League’s godfather produced a chaotic power struggle. Manchester United slumped almost immediately, David Moyes dragged down by the undertow. If that wasn’t dramatic enough, the title race became a four-way battle between Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City, each having their moment. Arsenal played fine football until being ransacked 5-1 at Anfield in February by Brendan Rodgers’ relentless attacking side. Could Liverpool be champions for the first time in 24 years? José Mourinho, back at Chelsea on a charm offensive, delivered the psychological, conniving masterclass that propagated Steven Gerrard’s infamous slip. In stepped Manuel Pellegrini’s City, Yaya Touré their inspiration. They did not blink when seizing on Liverpool’s sorrow. John Brewin
2015-16
Leicester’s achievement in winning the Premier League title is one of the most remarkable sporting stories of all time. The 5,000-1 no-hopers were viewed as relegation candidates at the start of the season but Claudio Ranieri’s team made the seemingly impossible possible, fuelled by peak Jamie Vardy, Ranieri’s ‘dilly ding, dilly dong’ soundbite, pizza-motivated clean-sheet bonuses and the promise of Gary Lineker presenting Match of the Day in his pants. This was the season that had it all, a tale worthy of a Hollywood movie, and, in some ways, the beginning of the end given the following campaign marked the start of Pep Guardiola’s reign at Manchester City. Six titles later, four of which have come in succession, and we are now officially in the era of state-funded dominance and the hugely diminished prospect of another monumental upset. Simon Mail
2022-23
A colleague from another newspaper once described the role of north-east football correspondent as a “chronicler of misery”. Talk about many a true word. During 17 years in the role for the Guardian, I have reported on so many relegations and managerial sackings that the 2022-23 season came as a relief. Newcastle finished fourth, qualifying for the Champions League, and I encountered the welcome if strangely challenging culture shock of writing positive match reports. Then, quite apart from the pleasure of watching Bruno Guimarães and co in action, there was the reassuring return to full normality following the pandemic, with its eerie fan-free stadiums. Not that it was a standard season. A winter World Cup in Qatar failed to please everyone but, football-wise at least, a superb tournament was crowned with a final for the ages. Louise Taylor
• This article was amended on 11 August 2024. A previous version referred to Southampton 6-3 Manchester United as “the infamous grey kit game”, which was Southampton 3-1 Manchester United the previous season.
