England eventually were eliminated in the semi-finals of the competition ; Seaman was named alongside Golden Boot winner Alan Shearer and winger Steve McManaman in the UEFA " Team of the Tournament ".

Fowler's partnership with Steve McManaman was largely described as the reason why Liverpool had become the club known for being the most potent attacking force in England at the time, and Fowler was renowned for scoring goals of all varieties, from every angle and distance, with McManaman describing him as the " greatest goalscorer of all time.

The term was subsequently used in a derogatory manner, implying Fowler and colleagues such as Jamie Redknapp, Stan Collymore, David James and Steve McManaman were underachieving playboys.

Though Fowler had been on a contract extension from 1999 ( unlike Steve McManaman – who exercised his Bosman entitlement the very same year ), Fowler was linked to Lazio, Arsenal and Leeds, and Liverpool's management as well as fans and the media constantly reported that what happened with McManaman ( regarded as a huge financial loss ) would never be repeated and thus the club never rejected those bids without consideration.

The goal was followed by the " Dentist's chair " celebration referring to an incident before the Euro 1996, where England team players were photographed on a drunken night with Gascoigne, Teddy Sheringham and Steve McManaman shown drinking in a dentist's chair, as well as causing thousands of pounds worth of damage to a Cathay Pacific first class flight cabin.

Ferdinand was also a resident pundit at Setanta Sports with ex-England International teammate, Steve McManaman.

He was one of a number of young players coming through the team, such as Steve McManaman and Robbie Fowler, but was criticised together with them and others like Stan Collymore and Jason McAteer as " Spice Boys " – a derogatory term that implied that the team were epitomising the lad culture in the game.

Nedvěd was instrumental in leading Juventus into the 2003 Champions League final against Milan, but he was forced to sit out the final because of accumulation of yellow cards, after being booked in the semi-final for tackling Real Madrid midfielder Steve McManaman.

James rose to fame together with Liverpool teammates Steve McManaman, Jamie Redknapp, and Robbie Fowler, who were nicknamed the " Spice Boys " – an epithet named after the Spice Girls that was used by those who alleged the Liverpool team of the 1990s were more focused on partying than winning games.

New coach Vicente del Bosque utilised him in a powerful midfield combination with Steve McManaman ; in the quarterfinals against Manchester United at Old Trafford, he was the author of a spectacular play in which he dribbled past defender Henning Berg by backheeling the ball around him, recovering it and assisting Raúl for Real Madrid's third goal ( 3 – 2 win, 3 – 2 on aggregate ).

Thomas was an unused substitute on the bench during that game, which saw McManaman scoring both the team's goals as Liverpool won 2-1.

By this stage, however, Whelan's days in the Liverpool first team were looking numbered, as the midfield was now featuring recent signings like Mark Walters and Michael Thomas, as well as breakthrough stars Steve McManaman and Jamie Redknapp.

However, new Reds manager Graeme Souness was bringing in his own players and allowed Houghton to leave, partly due to the fact that a highly promising young player on the right side of midfield was emerging in the shape of Steve McManaman.

He has also been responsible for recruiting other former English football stars like Les Ferdinand and fellow ex-Liverpool players, Ian Rush and Steve McManaman, and was part of the draw for bringing them onto the shows like " Football Focus ", " Final Score " and for coverage of live FA Premier League matches.

Evans strengthened his side that was built around McManaman and Fowler, with the acquisition of Czech midfielder Patrik Berger over the summer of 1996, but by the end of the 1996 – 97 season all the talk around Anfield was about a promising 17-year-old striker, Michael Owen, who had shown tremendous potential in a handful of games for the club.

Robinson, who won 24 caps for the Republic of Ireland, stayed in Spain after retiring, having settled very well in the country and learned the language to fluency, a trait that was later picked up on by Steve McManaman ( with Real Madrid from 1999 – 2003 ), who regarded Robinson as his mentor.

The attempt failed, but was repeated in 2006 by a merchants association organized by James McManaman.

The decade also saw footballers merge into the popular culture scene and sporting stars like Robbie Fowler and Steve McManaman were oft labelled by the British media as being scally characters as well as Spice Boys, lending the term an air of innuendo and hedonism.

In 1991 – 92, Saunders partnered Ian Rush ( also his strike partner for Wales ) in attack, backed by young Steve McManaman which saw the club win the FA Cup for the fifth time in its history in manager Graeme Souness's first full season in charge.

* Steve McManaman, footballer sometimes also called ' El Macca '

He also gave further first-team opportunities to youngsters Steve McManaman, Jamie Redknapp and Robbie Fowler, who at the time were among the hottest prospects in English football.

McManaman was the first British player to win the UEFA Champions League title twice, and was also the first English footballer to win the Champions League with a non-English club.

He is also notable for a contractual saga in the late 1990s, that resulted in his football transfer becoming one of the most controversial and high profile Bosman ruling related transfers of all time, with the deal resulting in McManaman once becoming the highest paid British player in history, for the years 1999 through 2001.

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, with many notable managers including then Ajax coach Louis van Gaal, describing it as a role few could pull off the way McManaman had.

McManaman was also criticised for scoring too few goals, although he did make up for this with a formidable rate of assists for the likes of Fowler and later Michael Owen, with Owen saying that " Liverpool at the time was built around McManaman " and was an average team whenever McManaman was not on form.

McManaman also suffered personal tragedy when his mother Irene, who was bedridden with breast cancer for two years, died during this time.

McManaman finished alongside Nick Barmby as joint runner up to Giggs in the PFA Young Player of the Year awards in 1992, was named in the PFA Team of the Year for four consecutive seasons from 1994 – 95 to 1997 – 98, and also made the five man shortlist for PFA Player of the Year for three seasons from 1995 – 96 to 1997 – 98, with the PFA website describing him as one of the most gifted players of his generation.

" The club appointed John Toshack as its new coach and had already been forced to sell key players like Predrag Mijatović, Davor Šuker and Christian Panucci due to mounting debt, while Clarence Seedorf was also released shortly after McManaman arrived.

When McManaman refused to leave unlike the others, manager Del Bosque told McManaman that he had " little chance of playing this year ," and in case he didn't understand his position, the club also declined to give him a squad number for the forthcoming season.

A Sky Sports report in August 2000 also stated that eight other clubs were racing for his signature at the time, including Manchester United, Parma and Fiorentina, but McManaman remained adamant even as Sir Alex Ferguson also declared his admiration for McManaman by arranging a contingent to convince him to sign but McManaman said he wanted to succeed in Spain.

In 2002, McManaman also turned down a transfer to Internazionale at the time when he was made available for exchange as part of Ronaldo's signing.

McManaman first got a taste for media work in 2005 after he became active as a freelance media commentator and pundit, providing analysis to ITV for the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final, in which he provided the analysis as his old club Liverpool won the trophy.

In late 2006, McManaman joined production for the film, Goal II: Living the Dream, the sequel to Goal !.

By the time of release in 2007, McManaman had also become an Associate Producer of the film, and appears in the film as one of the coaching staff for Kuno Becker's lead character.

In an earlier UK Nike commercial, he appeared playing " amateur " football on Hackney Marshes with other stars including Ian Wright, David Seaman, Steve McManaman and Robbie Fowler.

In association with long term friend Steve McManaman, Fowler has invested in several racehorses through a chattily named company The Macca and Growler Partnership, most notably 2003 Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Celebration Chase

In June 2008, Fowler participated alongside McManaman in Steve Nash and Claudio Reyna's Showdown in Chinatown, an 8-on-8 charity soccer game at Sara D. Roosevelt Park in Manhattan with McManaman making five of the goals, including one for Fowler.

After just one year, Hierro returned to Europe, signing with Premier League side Bolton Wanderers on the advice of his English team-mate at Real Madrid Steve McManaman, and teaming up with another former club employee, Iván Campo.

After a goalless first 45, Thomas scored the opening goal of the final after 47 minutes with a spectacular shot from a Steve McManaman cross.

However, probably Nicol's best memory of his time at Hillsborough happened on 7 December 1996 when his Wednesday side travelled to his old stomping ground of Anfield, the Sheffield side completely nullified the Liverpool attack, which contained the likes of Robbie Fowler, Steve McManaman and John Barnes, and came away with a surprise 1 – 0 victory with Nicol playing a major part in the Wednesday defence.

Established players such as John Barnes, Mark Wright and Ian Rush blended well with these young stars as Liverpool finished fourth in the Premier League with 74 points and triumphed in the Football League Cup, beating Bolton Wanderers 2 – 1 with two McManaman goals, and winning the competition for a record fifth time.