FA Youth Cup 1995 1996 Liverpool West Ham United

Final
First and Second Leg

 The TIA Panel have voted Liverpool’s 1996 Youth Cup win in at Number 96 in the Days We’ll Remember all our Lives countdown. This was Liverpool first ever youth Cup win, a team full of bright prospects such as David Thompson, Phil Brazier, Jon Newby, Michael Owen and Jamie Carragher. On the way to the Final in 1996, the Liverpool youth team overcame Bradford City, Luton Town, Sheffield United, Manchester United and Crystal Palace. The semi final seen a fascinating 7-5 aggregate win against Crystal Palace. A week after the ‘˜white Armani suits’ FA Cup Final, the Liverpool Youth Team faced West Ham over a two-legged Final, the club who had beaten the Reds in the Final more than 30 years earlier. 

 The first leg of the Final drew a crowd of 15,386 to Upton Park and a goal in each half, by Jon Newby and David Larmour, gave Liverpool a 2-0 win. The second leg was at Anfield infront of more than 20,000 spectators. Michael Owen, still only 16, had scored two hat-tricks in the competition including one against Man United, came on as a substitute in this match. He helped clinch The Cup for Liverpool, scoring their first goal in a 2-1 victory on the night. Stuart Quinn netted the other and Frank Lampard was on target for the Hammers. Liverpools Youth Cup captain that night, Phil Brazier, recently told The Guardian Newspaper “You believe you’re in touching distance of the first team, you’ve got to. So it comes as a big shock when you get released.” After 18 months on a senior contract, the defender was encouraged by boss Roy Evans to look elsewhere. “The manager of Vauxhall Motors asked me to train with them. I stayed for four years.” Now 31 and a Home Office employee, Brazier plays for non-league Marine FC .

First Leg
Upton Park, London
Attendance 15,386 

resumé 

https://uptobox.com/wevwos66yij4

https://uptostream.com/wevwos66yij4

Second Leg
17 May 1996
Anfield Road, Liverpool
Attendance 20000

Michael Owen and Jamie Carragher showed just why they would go on to become Anfield greats of the future as they helped Liverpool clinch the FA Youth Cup for the first time in the club's history at the expense of West Ham United. The Reds took on a Hammers outfit that boasted the much-vaunted talents of Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand in the first-leg at Upton Park, and despite being unable to call upon the goalscoring prowess of Owen in East London, they still ran out 2-0 winners courtesy of strikes from Jon Newby and substitute Davy Larmour. 

 It set up a mouthwatering second-leg at Anfield in which a bumper crowd of 20,600 supporters packed into Anfield hoping to witness the club's first success at youth level. However, they did not get off to the best of starts as Frank Lampard slashed the Reds' lead in half when he gave West Ham a shock lead in the first minute. But with Carragher starring in a central defensive role that he would one day make his own in the senior side, the hosts stood firm, and it was no surprise when Owen showed the type of finishing quality that would see him become a Kop idol to drag the home side level on 40 minutes. It was just the lift the young Reds needed and they went on to wrap up a 2-1 victory and a 4-1 win on aggregate 10 minutes after the restart courtesy of Stuart Quinn. The full-time whistle was greeted by jubilant celebrations both on and off the pitch, with boss Hugh McAuley laying particular praise at the feet of central midfielder cum centre back Jamie Carragher. "Jamie's proved his worth in this position and there's a fair possibility that it will be his best," said McAuley. "He's a natural footballer who understands the game. He's a good passer and he also competes in the air. "The lads did the club and themselves proud. We are all delighted."

1mt

https://uptobox.com/cgzpxnr5kvjw

https://uptostream.com/cgzpxnr5kvjw

2mt

https://uptobox.com/xhgikd5b6hf4

https://uptostream.com/xhgikd5b6hf4

mt

https://uptobox.com/6h2sozj0fy8s

https://uptostream.com/6h2sozj0fy8s

prematch

https://uptobox.com/b5ig6dz7c4y5

https://uptostream.com/b5ig6dz7c4y5

pubs

https://uptobox.com/5gh2sv9gfeb0

https://uptostream.com/5gh2sv9gfeb0

"The infamous 'white suits' FA Cup final was a week before," recalls the Reds' 1996 youth captain, Phil Brazier, of this FA Youth Cup final second leg at Anfield. "Had Liverpool won, they were going to parade the trophy at this game." Oh well, the 25,000 fans instead saw their kids beat West Ham 2-1 on the night and 4-1 on aggregate in a match that featured a promising quartet of future stars: Michael Owen, Jamie Carragher, Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand. Football wasn't so kind to every player on the field that night.

1. Rio Ferdinand
A fortnight earlier, 17-year-old Ferdinand had made his debut for the Hammers' first team, coming on as a substitute against Sheffield Wednesday; with his very first touch of the ball, he muffed a pass straight into the crowd. This swansong outing for the youth team didn't offer much relief but Ferdinand, playing out of position in midfield, made his mark. "I was man of the match, wasn't I?" he remembers (correctly) now.

2. Sean Hessey
Raised in the same area of Merseyside as Steven Gerrard, Hessey suffered rejection twice after youth-team stints with Liverpool and Leeds. He went on to play for various clubs, including Kilmarnock and Chester City, and is now the captain of Macclesfield Town. Last month, the Silkmen lost a third-round FA Cup match to Everton. 'Being a Red makes defeat especially disappointing,' Hessey said after the game.

3. Lee Prior
The excitable defender - "biting people's ankles all game," according to former team-mate Phil Brazier - was offered a senior contract at Liverpool after the match, but couldn't break into the first team and soon moved to semi-pro clubs including Prescot Cables and Runcorn Linnets. Now a labourer, Prior missed out on another Anfield final in 2004 when his then-club, Newton, were knocked out of the FA Sunday Cup in the semis.

4. Phil Brazier
"You believe you're in touching distance of the first team," Brazier tells OSM. "You've got to. So it comes as a big shock when you get released." After 18 months on a senior contract, the defender was encouraged by boss Roy Evans to look elsewhere. "The manager of Vauxhall Motors asked me to train with them. I stayed for four years." Now 31 and a Home Office employee, Brazier plays for non-league Marine FC.

5. Davy Larmour
The striker moved to Doncaster Rovers soon after this game, before returning to his native Northern Ireland to join Linfield. There, with 150 goals in four seasons, he became a minor legend - see YouTube for the slightly amateurish videos made by fans in his honour. He left for Crusaders in 2006 but, hampered by injury, joined Glenavon last summer, and dropped down a division to sign for Carrick Rangers in January.

6. Michael Owen
Just 16, and a year away from his (goal-scoring) debut for the Liverpool first team, Michael Owen was the youth player in the country. "Even when he was 13 or 14, there were rumours around the club," says Brazier. "Something special was coming..." Owen, who had scored two hat-tricks in the competition, one against Man United, came on as a substitute in this match. And he scored - as everyone knew he would.

Liverpools Team
Naylor, Prior, Brazier, Carragher, Roberts, Quinn S., Quinn M., Thompson, Cassidy, Owen, Newby.

West Hams Team
Finn, Moore, Coyne, McFarlane, Partridge, Keith, Ferdinand, Lampard, Boylan, Hodges, Omoyinmi.

Caps First Leg

Caps Second Leg