The 1993–94 FA Premier League (known as the FA Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the second season of the FA 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. Manchester United also broke their own record of the most points in a season, set by themselves the previous season. This would be surpassed by Chelsea in the 2004–05 season.
Season | 1993–94 |
---|---|
Dates | 14 August 1993 – 8 May 1994 |
Champions | Manchester United 2nd Premier League title 9th English title |
Relegated | Sheffield United Oldham Athletic Swindon Town |
Champions League | Manchester United |
Cup Winners' Cup | Arsenal Chelsea |
UEFA Cup | Blackburn Rovers Newcastle United Aston Villa |
Matches played | 462 |
Goals scored | 1,195 (2.59 per match) |
Top goalscorer | Andy Cole (34 goals) |
Best goalkeeper | David Seaman (19 clean sheets) |
Biggest home win | Newcastle United 7–1 Swindon Town (12 March 1994) |
Biggest away win | Swindon Town 0–5 Liverpool (22 August 1993) Swindon Town 0–5 Leeds United (7 May 1994) |
Highest scoring | Norwich City 4–5 Southampton (9 April 1994) |
Longest winning run | 8 games[1] Manchester United |
Longest unbeaten run | 22 games[1] Manchester United |
Longest winless run | 15 games[1] Swindon Town |
Longest losing run | 7 games[1] Tottenham Hotspur |
Highest attendance | 45,347[2] Aston Villa 2–1 Liverpool (7 May 1994) |
Lowest attendance | 4,739[2] Wimbledon 1–2 Coventry City (26 December 1993) |
Total attendance | 10,642,228[3] |
Average attendance | 23,035[3] |
← 1992–93 1994–95 → |
Overview
New league sponsors
From the start of the 1993–94 season, the FA Premier League was sponsored by Carling Breweries.
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.
Summary
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 at one stage, 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 towards the end of April 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.
Finishing runners-up in the Premier League were Blackburn Rovers, whose top scorer Alan Shearer found the net 31 times in the league. 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 Cup Winners' Cup final.
Swindon Town managed just five league wins all season and were relegated in bottom place having conceded 100 league goals in 42 games; their record for the most goals conceded in a Premier League season would last for three decades before it was surpassed by Sheffield United in 2024. 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, 3–2 at home to Wimbledon after coming from 0–2 down). Ipswich Town, who failed to win any of their final 11 games, avoided relegation by holding Blackburn to a goalless draw at Ewood Park, and were less than a minute from being relegated, only to be saved by Chelsea’s late win over Sheffield United.
Teams
Twenty-two teams competed in the league—the top nineteen teams from the previous season and the three teams promoted from the First Division. The promoted teams were Newcastle United, West Ham United and Swindon Town. Newcastle United and West Ham United returned to the top flight after absences of four and one year, respectively, while Swindon Town played in the top flight for the first and only time. They replaced Crystal Palace, Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest, who were relegated to the First Division after their top flight spells of four, one and sixteen years, respectively.
Stadiums and locations
- Due to Wimbledon lacking a home stadium, they played their home games at Selhurst Park, which is the home stadium of Crystal Palace.
Personnel and kits
(as of 8 May 1994)
Managerial changes
Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chelsea | David Webb | End of caretaker spell | 11 May 1993 | Pre-season | Glenn Hoddle | 4 June 1993 |
Ipswich Town | John Lyall | Promoted to Director of Football | 30 May 1993 | Mick McGiven | 1 June 1993 | |
Swindon Town | Glenn Hoddle | Signed by Chelsea | 4 June 1993 | John Gorman | 4 June 1993 | |
Tottenham Hotspur | Doug Livermore Ray Clemence |
Sacked | 19 June 1993 | Osvaldo Ardiles | 19 June 1993 | |
Manchester City | Peter Reid | Sacked | 26 August 1993 | 20th | Tony Book (caretaker) | 27 August 1993 |
Tony Book | End of caretaker spell | 28 August 1993 | 17th | Brian Horton | 28 August 1993 | |
Coventry City | Bobby Gould | Resigned | 23 October 1993 | 14th | Phil Neal | 23 October 1993 |
Everton | Howard Kendall | 4 December 1993 | 13th | Jimmy Gabriel (caretaker) | 4 December 1993 | |
Jimmy Gabriel | End of caretaker spell | 6 January 1994 | 19th | Mike Walker | 6 January 1994 | |
Norwich City | Mike Walker | Signed by Everton | 8th | John Deehan | ||
Southampton | Ian Branfoot | Sacked | 10 January 1994 | 21st | Dave Merrington (caretaker) | 10 January 1994 |
Dave Merrington | End of caretaker spell | 20 January 1994 | 20th | Alan Ball | 20 January 1994 | |
Liverpool | Graeme Souness | Sacked | 28 January 1994 | 5th | Roy Evans | 30 January 1994 |
Ipswich Town | Mick McGiven | Became assistant manager | 15 February 1994 | 14th | John Lyall | 16 February 1994 |
League table
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Manchester United (C) | 42 | 27 | 11 | 4 | 80 | 38 | +42 | 92 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage |
2 | Blackburn Rovers | 42 | 25 | 9 | 8 | 63 | 36 | +27 | 84 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
3 | Newcastle United | 42 | 23 | 8 | 11 | 82 | 41 | +41 | 77 | |
4 | Arsenal | 42 | 18 | 17 | 7 | 53 | 28 | +25 | 71 | Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round[a] |
5 | Leeds United | 42 | 18 | 16 | 8 | 65 | 39 | +26 | 70 | |
6 | Wimbledon | 42 | 18 | 11 | 13 | 56 | 53 | +3 | 65 | |
7 | Sheffield Wednesday | 42 | 16 | 16 | 10 | 76 | 54 | +22 | 64 | |
8 | Liverpool | 42 | 17 | 9 | 16 | 59 | 55 | +4 | 60 | |
9 | Queens Park Rangers | 42 | 16 | 12 | 14 | 62 | 61 | +1 | 60 | |
10 | Aston Villa | 42 | 15 | 12 | 15 | 46 | 50 | −4 | 57 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round[b] |
11 | Coventry City | 42 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 43 | 45 | −2 | 56 | |
12 | Norwich City | 42 | 12 | 17 | 13 | 65 | 61 | +4 | 53 | |
13 | West Ham United | 42 | 13 | 13 | 16 | 47 | 58 | −11 | 52 | |
14 | Chelsea | 42 | 13 | 12 | 17 | 49 | 53 | −4 | 51 | Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round[c] |
15 | Tottenham Hotspur | 42 | 11 | 12 | 19 | 54 | 59 | −5 | 45 | |
16 | Manchester City | 42 | 9 | 18 | 15 | 38 | 49 | −11 | 45 | |
17 | Everton | 42 | 12 | 8 | 22 | 42 | 63 | −21 | 44 | |
18 | Southampton | 42 | 12 | 7 | 23 | 49 | 66 | −17 | 43 | |
19 | Ipswich Town | 42 | 9 | 16 | 17 | 35 | 58 | −23 | 43 | |
20 | Sheffield United (R) | 42 | 8 | 18 | 16 | 42 | 60 | −18 | 42 | Relegation to Football League First Division |
21 | Oldham Athletic (R) | 42 | 9 | 13 | 20 | 42 | 68 | −26 | 40 | |
22 | Swindon Town (R) | 42 | 5 | 15 | 22 | 47 | 100 | −53 | 30 |
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:
- Arsenal qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup as the defending champions.
- Aston Villa qualified for the UEFA Cup as League Cup winners.
- Chelsea qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup as FA Cup runners-up, as winners Manchester United qualified for the Champions League.
Results
Home \ Away | ARS | AVL | BLB | CHE | COV | EVE | IPS | LEE | LIV | MCI | MUN | NEW | NOR | OLD | QPR | SHU | SHW | SOU | SWI | TOT | WHU | WIM |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Arsenal | — | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 |
Aston Villa | 1–2 | — | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 5–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 0–1 |
Blackburn Rovers | 1–1 | 1–0 | — | 2–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–3 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 3–0 |
Chelsea | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | — | 1–2 | 4–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 4–3 | 2–0 | 2–0 |
Coventry City | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | — | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 |
Everton | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 4–2 | 0–0 | — | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 1–5 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 4–2 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 6–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 3–2 |
Ipswich Town | 1–5 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | — | 0–0 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–3 | 3–2 | 1–4 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 |
Leeds United | 2–1 | 2–0 | 3–3 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 0–0 | — | 2–0 | 3–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–4 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 4–0 |
Liverpool | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | — | 2–1 | 3–3 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 4–2 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 |
Manchester City | 0–0 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | — | 2–3 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 |
Manchester United | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | — | 1–1 | 2–2 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 5–0 | 2–0 | 4–2 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 3–1 |
Newcastle United | 2–0 | 5–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | — | 3–0 | 3–2 | 1–2 | 4–0 | 4–2 | 1–2 | 7–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 4–0 |
Norwich City | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–2 | — | 1–1 | 3–4 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 4–5 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 |
Oldham Athletic | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 3–3 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 2–5 | 1–3 | 2–1 | — | 4–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 |
Queens Park Rangers | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 5–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 0–4 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 2–0 | — | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 |
Sheffield United | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | — | 1–1 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 3–2 | 2–1 |
Sheffield Wednesday | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 5–1 | 5–0 | 3–3 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 0–1 | 3–3 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 3–1 | — | 2–0 | 3–3 | 1–0 | 5–0 | 2–2 |
Southampton | 0–4 | 4–1 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 4–2 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 3–3 | 1–1 | — | 5–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 |
Swindon Town | 0–4 | 1–2 | 1–3 | 1–3 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 0–5 | 0–5 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 3–3 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | — | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–4 |
Tottenham Hotspur | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–3 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 1–3 | 5–0 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 1–3 | 3–0 | 1–1 | — | 1–4 | 1–1 |
West Ham United | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 2–4 | 3–3 | 2–0 | 0–4 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 3–3 | 0–0 | 1–3 | — | 0–2 |
Wimbledon | 0–3 | 2–2 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 4–2 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | — |
Season statistics
Top scorers
Rank | Player | Club | Goals[4] |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Andy Cole | Newcastle United | 34 |
2 | Alan Shearer | Blackburn Rovers | 31 |
3 | Matt Le Tissier | Southampton | 25 |
Chris Sutton | Norwich City | ||
5 | Ian Wright | Arsenal | 23 |
6 | Peter Beardsley | Newcastle United | 21 |
7 | Mark Bright | Sheffield Wednesday | 19 |
8 | Eric Cantona | Manchester United | 18 |
9 | Dean Holdsworth | Wimbledon | 17 |
Rod Wallace | Leeds United | ||
10 | Tony Cottee | Everton | 16 |
Les Ferdinand | Queens Park Rangers |
Hat-tricks
Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
Micky Quinn | Coventry City | Arsenal | 3–0 (A)[5] | 14 August 1993 |
Tony Cottee | Everton | Sheffield United | 4–2 (H)[6] | 21 August 1993 |
Kevin Campbell | Arsenal | Ipswich Town | 4–0 (H)[7] | 11 September 1993 |
Efan Ekoku4 | Norwich City | Everton | 5–1 (A)[8] | 25 September 1993 |
Alan Shearer | Blackburn Rovers | Leeds United | 3–3 (A)[9] | 23 October 1993 |
Peter Beardsley | Newcastle United | Wimbledon | 4–0 (H)[10] | 30 October 1993 |
Robbie Fowler | Liverpool | Southampton | 4–2 (H)[11] | |
Bradley Allen | Queens Park Rangers | Everton | 3–0 (A)[12] | 20 November 1993 |
Andy Cole | Newcastle United | Liverpool | 3–0 (H)[13] | 21 November 1993 |
Kevin Campbell | Arsenal | Swindon Town | 4–0 (A)[14] | 27 December 1993 |
Tony Cottee | Everton | 6–2 (H)[15] | 15 January 1994 | |
Jan Åge Fjørtoft | Swindon Town | Coventry City | 3–1 (H)[16] | 5 February 1994 |
Dean Saunders | Aston Villa | Swindon Town | 5–0 (H)[17] | 12 February 1994 |
Matt Le Tissier | Southampton | Liverpool | 4–2 (H)[18] | 14 February 1994 |
Andy Cole | Newcastle United | Coventry City | 4–0 (H)[19] | 23 February 1994 |
Ian Wright | Arsenal | Ipswich Town | 5–1 (A)[20] | 5 March 1994 |
Southampton | 4–0 (A)[21] | 19 March 1994 | ||
Matt Le Tissier | Southampton | Norwich City | 5–4 (A)[22] | 9 April 1994 |
Dean Holdsworth | Wimbledon | Oldham Athletic | 3–0 (H)[23] | 26 April 1994 |
- Note: 4 – player scored 4 goals; (H) – Home; (A) – Away
Clean sheets
Rank | Player | Club | Clean sheets[24] |
---|---|---|---|
1 | David Seaman | Arsenal | 19 |
2 | Peter Schmeichel | Manchester United | 15 |
3 | Luděk Mikloško | West Ham United | 14 |
4 | Tim Flowers | Southampton | 13 |
5 | Dmitri Kharine | Chelsea | 11 |
Steve Ogrizovic | Coventry City | ||
Hans Segers | Wimbledon | ||
Neville Southall | Everton | ||
9 | Tony Coton | Manchester City | 10 |
Craig Forrest | Ipswich Town | ||
Bryan Gunn | Norwich City |
Discipline
Player
- Most yellow cards: 10[25]
- Dane Whitehouse (Sheffield United)
- Most red cards: 2[26]
- Eric Cantona (Manchester United)
- Chris Makin (Oldham Athletic)
Club
- Most yellow cards: 44[27]
- Sheffield United
- Fewest yellow cards: 12[27]
- Coventry City
- Most red cards: 4[28]
- Oldham Athletic
- Sheffield United
- Fewest red cards: 0[28]
- Blackburn Rovers
- Coventry City
- Everton
- Ipswich Town
- Leeds United
- Manchester City
- Wimbledon
Awards
Monthly awards
Month | Manager of the Month | References | |
---|---|---|---|
Manager | Club | ||
August | Alex Ferguson | Manchester United | [29] |
September | Joe Kinnear | Wimbledon | [29] |
October | Mike Walker | Norwich City | [29] |
November | Kevin Keegan | Newcastle United | [29] |
December | Trevor Francis | Sheffield Wednesday | [29] |
January | Kenny Dalglish | Blackburn Rovers | [29] |
February | Joe Royle | Oldham Athletic | [29] |
March | Joe Kinnear | Wimbledon | [29] |
April | [29] |
Annual awards
Award | Winner | Club |
---|---|---|
Premier League Manager of the Season | Alex Ferguson[30] | Manchester United |
PFA Players' Player of the Year | Eric Cantona[31] | |
PFA Young Player of the Year | Andy Cole[32] | Newcastle United |
FWA Footballer of the Year | Alan Shearer[33] | Blackburn Rovers |
PFA Team of the Year[34] | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Goalkeeper | Tim Flowers (Blackburn Rovers) | |||||||||||
Defenders | Gary Kelly (Leeds United) |
Gary Pallister (Manchester United) |
Tony Adams (Arsenal) |
Denis Irwin (Manchester United) | ||||||||
Midfielders | Paul Ince (Manchester United) |
Gary McAllister (Leeds United) |
David Batty (Blackburn Rovers) | |||||||||
Forwards | Alan Shearer (Blackburn Rovers) |
Eric Cantona (Manchester United) |
Peter Beardsley (Newcastle United) | |||||||||
See also
References and notes
External links
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