1993–94 FA Premier League

The 1993–94 FA Premier League (known as the FA Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the second season of the Premier League, the top division of professional football in England. Manchester United won the league by eight points over nearest challengers Blackburn Rovers, their second consecutive league title. Swindon Town finished bottom of the league in their first season of top-flight football and were relegated along with Sheffield United and Oldham Athletic.

New league sponsors

From the start of the 1993–94 season, the FA Premier League was sponsored by Carling Breweries.

Promoted teams

Newcastle United and West Ham United were promoted to the Premier League from the First Division as champions and runners-up respectively. The last promotion place was won by Swindon Town after their victory over Leicester City in the 1992–93 playoff final.^[3] Newcastle had been relegated from the old First Division in 1989 and West Ham United had been relegated the season before the start of the Premier League. Swindon had never played top-division football before. They had won the old First Division playoffs in 1990 but were later denied promotion because of financial irregularities.

Transfers

Just before the start of the season, Roy Keane became the most expensive footballer signed by an English football team. The 22-year-old Irish midfielder left relegated Nottingham Forest for Manchester United for a fee of £3.75 million.

During the 1993–94 season, many players were transferred between Premier League clubs for fees exceeding £1 million. They included David White (Manchester City to Leeds United), David Rocastle (Leeds United to Manchester City), Roy Wegerle (Blackburn Rovers to Coventry City) and Tim Flowers (Southampton to Blackburn Rovers). At £2.5 million, Flowers became the most expensive goalkeeper in English football.

Personnel and kits

Aston Villa

Blackburn

Coventry

Everton

Ipswich

Leeds

Liverpool

London

Man City

Man Utd

Newcastle

Norwich

Oldham

Sheffield U

Wednesday

Southampton

Swindon

London teams

Arsenal
Chelsea
QPR Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham
Wimbledon

Locations of the Premier League 1993-94 teams

Arsenal

Chelsea

QPR

Tottenham Hotspur

West Ham

Wimbledon

Greater London Premier League football clubs

(as of 8 May 1994)

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Arsenal	George Graham	Tony Adams	Adidas	JVC
Aston Villa	Ron Atkinson	Kevin Richardson	Asics	Müller
Blackburn Rovers	Kenny Dalglish	Tim Sherwood	Asics	McEwan's Lager
Chelsea	Glenn Hoddle	Dennis Wise	Umbro	Amiga
Coventry City	Phil Neal	Brian Borrows	Ribero	Peugeot
Everton	Mike Walker	Dave Watson	Umbro	NEC
Ipswich Town	John Lyall	Steve Palmer	Umbro	Fisons
Leeds United	Howard Wilkinson	Gordon Strachan	Asics	Thistle Hotels
Liverpool	Roy Evans	Ian Rush	Adidas	Carlsberg
Manchester City	Brian Horton	Keith Curle	Umbro	Brother
Manchester United	Alex Ferguson	Bryan Robson	Umbro	Sharp
Newcastle United	Kevin Keegan	Peter Beardsley	Asics	McEwan's Lager
Norwich City	John Deehan	Ian Butterworth	Ribero	Norwich and Peterborough
Oldham Athletic	Joe Royle	Mike Milligan	Umbro	JD Sports
Queens Park Rangers	Gerry Francis	David Bardsley	Clubhouse	CSF
Sheffield United	Dave Bassett	Brian Gayle	Umbro	Laver
Sheffield Wednesday	Trevor Francis	Chris Waddle	Puma	Sanderson
Southampton	Alan Ball	Matt Le Tissier	Pony	Dimplex
Swindon Town	John Gorman	Shaun Taylor	Loki	Burmah
Tottenham Hotspur	Osvaldo Ardiles	Gary Mabbutt	Umbro	Holsten
West Ham United	Billy Bonds	Steve Potts	Pony	Dagenham Motors
Wimbledon	Joe Kinnear	Vinnie Jones	Ribero	LBC

Manchester United's Premier League and FA Cup double

Manchester United led the 1993–94 Premier League for almost all of the season, eventually finishing as champions eight points ahead of runners-up Blackburn Rovers. They also won the FA Cup after beating Chelsea 4–0 in the final, thereby becoming only the fourth team to achieve this feat in the 20th century (after Tottenham in 1961, Arsenal in 1971 and Liverpool in 1986). Their lead of the Premier League stood at 11 points by the end of October and peaked at 16 points two months later, but a run of bad results in March was followed by defeat at Blackburn at the beginning of April, which meant that they now led the league merely on goal difference. A return to form then saw United seal the league title with two games still to play.

Norwich City, Leeds United, Newcastle United, Everton and Aston Villa were among the sides who showed promise early in the season before Manchester United established a runaway lead. Norwich reached the third round of the UEFA Cup after famously beating Bayern Munich in the second round, but their league form slumped after manager Mike Walker departed to Everton in January, and the Norfolk side finished 12th. Everton's brief lead of the league in the opening stages of the season was followed by a slump in form, and manager Howard Kendall stepped down at the beginning of December with the Toffees now in the bottom half of the table. They only narrowly avoided relegation on the final day of the season. Aston Villa finished a disappointing 10th in the league, but won the Football League Cup for the fourth time.

Runner-up clubs

Finishing runners-up in the Premier League were Blackburn Rovers. In third place came Newcastle United, whose 22-year-old striker Andy Cole was the Premier League's leading scorer with 34 goals in 40 games, with a total of 41 goals in all competitions. In fourth place came Arsenal, who achieved success in European competition with a 1–0 win over Parma in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final.

Relegated teams

Swindon Town managed just five league wins all season and were relegated in bottom place having conceded 100 league goals in 42 games. Oldham Athletic, who had avoided relegation on goal difference the previous season, were relegated on the final day of the season after failing to win at Norwich City. The final relegation place went to Sheffield United, who were relegated from the top flight after a 3–2 defeat at Chelsea, with the winning goal coming in injury time (a draw would have been enough to survive, and a loss would have still been enough had Everton not won their final match). As of 2015, only one of these sides has returned to the top flight – Sheffield United in 2006, and they were relegated after one season, once again on the last day requiring only a draw to survive.

Player and managerial awards

• PFA Players' Player of the Year was Eric Cantona, who scored 25 goals in all competitions that season.^[4]
• PFA Young Player of the Year was Andy Cole, the leading Premier League goal scorer for the 1993–94 season.^[5]
• Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year was Alan Shearer, second highest Premier League goal scorer for the 1993–94 season.^[6]
• Alex Ferguson was the first recipient of the FA Premier League Manager of the Year.

Managerial changes

• Chelsea's new manager for the 1993–94 season was former Swindon Town manager Glenn Hoddle, who was replaced at Swindon by former assistant John Gorman.
• Coventry City manager Bobby Gould resigned in December and was succeeded by Phil Neal, who had already managed Bolton Wanderers and assisted Graham Taylor in the England team.
• Everton manager Howard Kendall resigned in December, marking the end of his second spell as manager, and was replaced by Norwich City's Mike Walker.
• Ipswich Town manager John Lyall moved up to the role of Director of Football prior to the start of the season, with Mick McGiven taking over the manager's duties. With the club deep in relegation trouble however, McGiven was demoted back to being assistant manager in February, and Lyall was reinstated as manager.
• Liverpool sacked Graeme Souness in January and named long-serving coach Roy Evans as their new manager.
• Manchester City sacked Peter Reid four games into the season and replaced him with Oxford United manager Brian Horton.
• Norwich City appointed assistant John Deehan as Mike Walker's successor after their manager moved to Everton.
• Southampton sacked Ian Branfoot in January and replaced him with Exeter City's Alan Ball.
• Tottenham Hotspur chairman Alan Sugar dismissed chief executive Terry Venables and head coaches Doug Livermore and Ray Clemence and named West Bromwich Albion's Osvaldo Ardiles as their new manager.

Final league table

Source: Barclays Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
¹ Arsenal qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup as defending champions.
² Aston Villa qualified for the UEFA Cup as League Cup winners.
³Chelsea qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup as FA Cup runners-up.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Club by club review

Arsenal

Arsenal found goals easier to come by this time around, and combined with their ever-reliable defence, overcame this obstacle to improve to fourth place in the league up from 10th place a year earlier. There was also glory for the club in the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup.

Aston Villa

Villa dipped to 10th place in the league a year after finishing runners-up, but compensated for this by defeating manage Ron Atkinson's old club Manchester United 3-1 in the final of the League Cup.

Blackburn Rovers

With Alan Shearer back from injury, their record signing was instrumental, finding the net 31 times in the league to secure runners-up spot. Although the chasm between themselves and runaway leaders Manchester United had peaked at 16 points halfway through the season, they managed to narrow the gap between themselves and the leaders down to goal difference at the beginning of April after beating them 2-0 at Ewood Park, before a United resurgence and a couple of disappointing results for the Rovers resulted in the championship trophy staying at Old Trafford.

Chelsea

Chelsea struggled a bit in the league and dipped slightly to 14th in the final table after finishing 11th a year earlier, but new manager Glenn Hoddle took them to their first FA Cup final in 24 years, and they managed to keep Manchester United at bay until the second half, when Chelsea's defence began to leak goals and they ended up losing 4-0. Consolation for the lack of silverware was the club's first European place for over 20 years.

Coventry City

Bobby Gould had overseen some of Coventry City's best performance in a top flight spell which began in 1967, but he was gone before Christmas with Coventry still mid-table and largely free of that once all too familiar fear of relegation. His successor Phil Neal guided the Sky Blues to a secure 11th place finish.

Everton

Everton topped the Premier League after winning their first three games of the season, but then surrendered their lead to Manchester United and by the time Howard Kendall walked out on the club in early December, fear of relegation was engulfing Goodison Park. Mike Walker took over as manager in the new year, but the Toffees continued to struggle and looked set to go down after going two goals down against Wimbledon, only to go on to win the match 3-2 and avoid the drop.

Ipswich Town

John Lyall began the season as general manager at Portman Road after handing over control of the first team to coach Mick McGiven, but after the season's end he regained his first team duties as Ipswich had only avoided relegation by the narrowest of margins.

Leeds United

Leeds recovered from a dismal Premier League debut and finished fifth in the league, with the new stars of the team proving to be record signing striker Brian Deane and promising young defender Gary Kelly.

Liverpool

After nearly three years in charge, during which his popularity at Anfield had gradually slumped, Graeme Souness finally fell on his sword at the end of January after an FA Cup exit at the hands of Bristol City. Long-serving coach and former player Roy Evans was then promoted to the manager's seat, and things soon began to look up for Liverpool after a couple of barren seasons, not least with high-scoring teenage Robbie Fowler now in the first team.

Manchester City

A shortage of goals, largely due to the mid-season sale of top scorer David White and the long-term injury absence of striker Niall Quinn, counted heavily against Manchester City, who finished 16th in the league with just 36 goals all season and no player finding the net more than six times in the league.

Manchester United

A year after ending their 26-year wait for the league title, Manchester United became only the fourth team this century to win the double of the league title and FA Cup. They went top of the league after four games and stayed top for the rest of the season, although their lead which had once peaked at 16 points was slowly reduced to merely goal difference before they finally pulled together after a scare in March and early April (during which they also lost the League Cup final and the chance of a unique treble) and finished seven points clear at the top. Eric Cantona, top scorer and PFA Player of the Year, was the undoubted key driving force in United's success once again, although the likes of Ryan Giggs, Paul Ince and Mark Hughes also excelled.

Newcastle United

Newcastle United came back to the top flight with a bang after four years away, with the effective tactics and heavy spending of manager Kevin Keegan continuing to pay dividends for the Tynesiders. Andy Cole's first season of regular top flight football saw him top the Premier League's goalscoring charts with 34 goals, and a total of 41 in all competitions, while returning local hero Peter Beardsley found the net 24 times overall. Although they failed to threaten Manchester United's largely rock solid lead of the table throughout the campaign, they finally secured a third place finish in the league, and with it their first UEFA Cup place since the 1970s.

Norwich City

Qualifying for the UEFA Cup as the English league's third-placed team was indeed the pinnacle of Norwich City's history, but the success story under Mike Walker was not quite yet over at that point. They began the 1993-94 season well, regularly featuring among the teams immediately behind runaway leaders Manchester United, and pulled off one of the biggest shocks in the history of European football when they knocked Bayern Munich out of the UEFA Cup in the second round. But the European dream ended in the next stage of the competition, and in the new year Walker was on his way out of Carrow Road to succeed Howard Kendall at Everton. His assistant John Deehan took over, but Norwich's league form slumped and they finished 12th.

Oldham Athletic

Four years after taking Manchester United to a replay in the semi-finals of the FA Cup, it was the same scene again for Oldham Athletic, although this time they had the upper hand over their illustrious opponents until the final minute of the game, after going ahead in extra time at Wembley. Then came an equaliser for United from Mark Hughes, which forced a replay at Maine Road. This time Oldham were overpowered, losing 4-1. They went into the final day of the season needing victory in order to preserve their Premier League status, but could only manage a 1-1 draw at Norwich, which ended their three-year stay among the elite.

Queens Park Rangers

After finishing top out of the London clubs in the Premier League's first season, Queens Park Rangers dipped slightly to finish ninth, but at least managed to stay well clear of the relegation threat which was very real for a few of the division's more illustrious clubs.

Sheffield United

With goal machine Brian Deane now at Leeds, the Blades had a hard time in 1993-94, and on the final day of the season they went down in dramatic fashion when they surrendered a 2-1 lead over Chelsea in the final few minutes and lost 3-2, ending a four-year stay among the elite.

Sheffield Wednesday

It was another exciting season for the fans at Sheffield Wednesday, who saw their team finished seventh in the league for the second season running, and enjoy yet another good cup run, this time in the shape of a run to the semi-finals of the League Cup.

Southampton

Matthew Le Tissier was once again the hero at Southampton, as his prolific scoring kept Southampton up in 18th place. However, their disappointing form in the league had seen maanger Ian Branfoot ousted halfway through the season, with legendary former Lawrie McMenemy returning to the club as director of football, and former player Alan Ball being named as manager of the first team.

Swindon Town

Swindon Town began their first top flight campaign without the man who had guided them there - their manager Glenn Hoddle, who had accepted the offer to take over at Chelsea within a week of taking Swindon to glory in the playoffs. His assistant John Gorman stayed at the County Ground as his successor, but Swindon never really adjusted to the pace of top flight football, failing to win any of their first 15 Premier League fixtures. They went down with just five wins to their name and 100 goals conceded.

Tottenham Hotspur

After a close season of drama in which chief executive and former manager Terry Venables was axed from the Tottenham board by chairman Alan Sugar, two years after the pair had joined force to take over the club, the task of steering the Tottenham ship through calm waters after a stormy few weeks fell to new manager Ossie Ardiles, an iconic former player at the club. As a manager, Ardiles had employed tactics which relied largely on attackers with very little emphasis on defence, with mixed results. At White Hart Lane, however, it didn't quite work. Spurs finished 15th in the final table, although this could also be put down to the absence of top scorer Teddy Sheringham for much of the campaign due to injuries.

West Ham United

West Ham's top flight comeback and Premier League debut brought a respectable 13th place finish, despite the loss of defender Julian Dicks to Liverpool early in the season and a shortage of top quality players in other positions.

Wimbledon

Wimbledon continued to defy the odds and once again gave the elite a serious run for their money after two seasons of mid-table mediocrity. They equalled their previous best finish of sixth place, and inflicted one of just four defeats in the league all season on double winners Manchester United.

Results

Source:
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Top goal scorers

Awards

Managers of the Month

See also

• 1993–94 in English football

References and notes

External links

• 1993–94 Premier League Season at RSSSF