January 1997, Newcastle United were hit with perhaps the biggest shock in their history: Kevin Keegan resigned as manager. His reason for quitting was that he felt he had taken the club as far as he could. During his five years at St James's Park, Keegan had overseen a revolution in Newcastle's fortunes. On his appointment in February 1992, the club had been second from bottom in the old Second Division and looked favourites for relegation, but he kept them in the Second Division and they were founder members of the new Division One in 1992–93. A superb run of form kept them at the top of the division all season and they went up to the Premiership as Division One champions. Third and sixth-place finishes followed before Newcastle led the Premiership for most of 1995–96, only to be overhauled by Manchester United in the final weeks of the season. He had walked out on Newcastle as they looked well placed to challenge for a league title. Kenny Dalglish was appointed manager of Newcastle in Keegan's place. Manchester United Manchester United collected their fourth Premiership title in five seasons, despite a testing period which saw them lose their 40-year unbeaten home record in Europe against Turkish club Fenerbahçe, suffer elimination from the FA Cup at the hands of Wimbledon, and concede 13 goals in three Premiership games during late October, including a 5–0 defeat by Newcastle United and a 6–3 defeat by Southampton. Alex Ferguson had built on the success of the previous season's double-winning team thanks largely to two new signings – Norwegians Ronny Johnsen (central defender) and Ole Gunnar Solskjær (striker). The two Norwegians were little known outside their homeland when they arrived at Old Trafford. Johnsen proved himself as one of the Premiership's best defenders, while Solskjær topped the club's goalscoring charts with 18 Premiership goals. Meanwhile, 22-year-old midfielder David Beckham won the PFA Young Player of the Year award. Cantona retires On 18 May, Eric Cantona announced his retirement from playing. Middlesbrough relegated Middlesbrough were relegated from the Premiership despite reaching both domestic cup finals during the season. They finished the season in 19th place, and would have avoided relegation had it not been for a 3-point deduction imposed in January as punishment for postponing a fixture against Blackburn Rovers within 24 hours of the scheduled kick-off. Chairman Steve Gibson had appealed against the ruling, protesting