10 Seasons Awards. By now, McManaman was ranked as one of the finest midfielders in England and had developed a strong reputation on the European stage following UEFA Euro 1996, earning praise from many at the time including Kevin Keegan, who said "there are few finer sights in world football than the sight of Steve McManaman running down the length of the pitch". 1995–97: Continued success McManaman had also been noted for his versatility in his free role, switching from right to left wings, and his ability to play in central midfield, behind the front pair, or as a forward. McManaman was credited for making the free role that manager Evans gave him work, with the result being that Liverpool were playing some of the most aesthetically pleasing attacking football at the time in England. McManaman was also said to have been one of only a handful of so-called "talismanic" players along with Eric Cantona and Gianfranco Zola in the league at the time believed to have the charisma to lift supporters from their seats each time they got the ball. From 1996 through 1998, McManaman consistently won several 'Man of the Match' awards, and Premier League managers were forced to deploy a man-marker specifically to follow him for an entire game. The then Middlesbrough manager, Bryan Robson, was quoted as saying that "everyone in the Premiership knows that if you stop McManaman, you stop Liverpool". According to interviews on an ITV documentary titled The Alex Ferguson Story (1998), Peter Schmeichel stated that Sir Alex Ferguson was also tactically fixated on stopping McManaman each time Manchester United played Liverpool, with Schmeichel adding Ferguson was so concerned about stopping McManaman dictating the play; it became "Groundhog Team Talk": "We've heard it every time we're playing Liverpool—McManaman's doing this ... We know that," said Schmeichel, while Ferguson himself told his players: "We lost the league (title in 1994–95) at Anfield by not listening to instructions about McManaman..." Schmeichel would later detail in his autobiography that: "McManaman was the only opposing player he (Ferguson) ever paid attention to in the Premier League. I mean, he would mention Alan Shearer and other major opposing players in team talks but never with any fear. However, McManaman always had him in a sweat." 1997–98: Contract wrangles In August 1997, Liverpool, having been unable to agree a new contract with McManaman and fearing that the player might