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I denied Man United the Premier League title – and I'll never get tired of talking about it

Ludek Miklosko
-Credit:Reach Publishing Services Limited


Ludek Miklosko has admitted that he'll never tire talking about the 1994/95 Premier League campaign, in which he denied Manchester United a third consecutive title.

Under Sir Alex Ferguson's stewardship, the Red Devils clinched the inaugural Premier League title in the 1992/93 season, before doubling down with another championship the following season. And while many fans expected to see three pieces of league silverware in a row courtesy of the Old Trafford elite, the 1994/95 campaign simply wasn't meant to be brought back to Manchester.

That's because Blackburn Rovers ultimately won the Premier League during that season, pipping Manchester United to the post by a single point. Everything was to play for on the final day of the season, with Rovers facing Liverpool while United travelled to Upton Park to face West Ham.

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Already trailing by two points going into the fixture, United were handed a lifeline when Liverpool ran out 2-1 winners over Blackburn - Alan Shearer opened the scoring for Rovers, before John Barnes and Jamie Redknapp spoiled their Premier League party. A victory for United therefore meant that the title would return to Old Trafford for the third consecutive year, but Hammers keeper Miklosko had other plans for the north-western powerhouses.

Michael Hughes put West Ham 1-0 up with 31 minutes played, before Brian McClair offered the Reds a glimmer of hope six minutes into the second half. Unfortunately, a Miklosko masterclass - in which he denied Lee Sharpe, Mark Hughes and Andy Cole - saw the fixture finish 1-1, leaving United a point shy of achieving Premier League greatness once again.

Speaking to West Ham's official website in 2020 about his emphatic performance exactly 25 years earlier, Miklosko said: "I have been asked about the 1-1 draw with Manchester United at the Boleyn Ground in May 1995 so many times, but I will never get tired of talking about it.

Ludek Miklosko
Ludek Miklosko

"In fact, I was at United's training ground recently with some young goalkeepers - I am now a player representative - and there were staff members there who remembered that game. Some of them came up to me and talked about the game and a few of them said, 'I was there and remember that game and I hated you'.

"We had a good laugh about it. It was one of those games when everything went for me but it was also a good team performance, too." Czech Republic international Miklosko kicked off his footballing career with RH Cheb in 1980, spending two years with the outfit before making the move to Banik Ostrava in 1982.

The number one stayed with the Czech side for eight years before landing at West Ham in 1990 - where he went on to keep 58 clean sheets in 219 games. He made a permanent move to QPR in 1998 before hanging up his boots in 2001. While United were denied of glory in the 1994/95 campaign, the side would ultimately learn from their mistakes that season - back to winning ways in 1995/96.