Newcastle United could only have dreamed of signing stars like John Barnes, Ian Rush and Stuart Pearce at the start of the 1990s.
But by 1997, they had all three on their books after an intriguing summer on Tyneside under Kenny Dalglish. Having qualified for the Champions League for the first time, Dalglish needed experience in his squad but the move resulted in the Toon squad being nicknamed "Dad's Army" due to the veteran nature the Scot's signing spree.
Barnes arrived at St James' Park as a 33-year-old after turning down West Ham following his release from Liverpool. Having sold Les Ferdinand to Tottenham against the wish of the fans, an injury to Alan Shearer in pre-season left Newcastle woefully short of options in attack.
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Barnes said at the time: "I was very close to joining West Ham. And before I heard of the interest from Newcastle I was virtually certain I was going to join them. Newcastle is a huge club, a big stage and I still believe I can perform at the very highest level.
"I believe I have still got a lot to offer Newcastle or any club, but I wish to thank Newcastle for giving me the opportunity to continue my career at the highest level."
Barnes ended up being Newcastle's top scorer in the 1997/98 season with seven goals to his name, including a stunning strike at West Ham in a 1-0 win. But United finished the season in 13th place and slipped down the table from second just a year earlier.
Another who struggled to make a massive impact was one of the greatest goalscorers of his generation in Ian Rush. The ex-Juventus striker was 36 when Dalglish snapped the Wales striker up on a free transfer and his days of scoring an incredible 346 goals for Liverpool were behind him.
Rush always admitted he was merely signed as "cover" but Shearer's injury pushed him up the pecking order and by January, Tino Asprilla had also been sold back to Parma. Rush still managed a couple of goals for United in a 2-0 win over Hull in the League Cup and most famously the winner in the FA Cup against Everton, the team he punished regularly in the red of Liverpool.
Newcastle signed Swedish international Andreas Andersson from AC Milan in January 1998 and Shearer returned from injury meaning Rush was loaned out to Sheffield United before leaving permanently for Wrexham.
Pearce made up the unlikely trio of signings in 1997 when the England star left Nottingham Forest for the Magpies. Pearce was 35 when he made the shock switch to join Rush, Barnes and Dalglish but proved a big hit with the Geordie faithful.
On his time at St James' Park, Pearce says: "My agent made me aware that there might be the potential of going to Newcastle. Kenny Dalglish was the manager at the time and we had just been relegated for the second time with Forest and it was just the right time to go.
"Previously in my career, I had the opportunity to go to Manchester United or Glasgow Rangers when they were recruiting some of the big stars from England and I didn't want to leave Nottingham Forest even for more finance.
"But Newcastle was the challenge I needed. The opportunity to play in the Champions League and I walked into a dressing room with Alan Shearer, Tino Asprilla, Les Ferdinand, Rob Lee, David Batty - it was an international star cast and it was fantastic to be involved."
Pearce rattled home a trademark free-kick in a Champions League group game against Dynamo Kiev in a 2-0 win in 1997. He would be the longest survivor of the "Dad's Army" era at St James' Park, but after 15 appearances in the 1998/99 season he fell foul of Ruud Gullit.
Gullit had replaced the sacked Dalglish and became the first senior star he moved out of the dressing room. Amusingly, Pearce said later in his career he used to love to get a tough tackle in on Gullit in training.
He quipped: "Ruud used to join in training, and I used to say to Rob Lee and Shearer 'leave one short between the pair of them', I used to give him everything I had. To be fair to Ruud, I've got to hold my hands up, he never once said watch your tackling in training."
