FA Premier League 1992-93: A three-horse race (Part Two)

As the season progressed into the early weeks of 1993, Sky continued to pour bucket-loads of money into hyping and promoting the new Premier League, so that the next “must see” fixture was only ever a few days away. No matter who might be contesting that game, the TV company made sure you felt as if “you couldn’t miss it”! In that context, the fact that two of the three emerging title contenders were previously largely unfancied clubs in Norwich City and Aston Villa, rather than traditional heavyweights like Arsenal or Liverpool, mattered not a jot.

The gap at the top between the leading three clubs (Norwich City, Aston Villa and Manchester United) and the chasing pack widened a week later when Villa beat the Tractor Boys 2-0 with first-half goals from Dwight Yorke and a 35-yard “Goal of the Season” contender (from a seemingly impossible angle) from Dean Saunders. Meanwhile, United grabbed pole position by defeating Sheffield United 2-1 at Old Trafford, Cantona with the decisive goal. That defeat left Dave Bassett’s Blades bottom, as Nottingham Forest grabbed an unlikely point at Anfield.

Elsewhere, Coventry City continued to have an excellent season. Peter Ndlovu and Mick Quinn were again on target as the Sky Blues deepened the gloom at Middlesbrough, who simply could not keep a clean sheet. The North-East club would end the season having conceded the most goals of any club…. 75 in just 42 games.

The following day, the 7th of February, Southampton keeper Tim Flowers conceded four goals in only five minutes as a Teddy Sheringham-inspired Tottenham triumphed 4-2 at the Lane. Youngster Nicky Barmby was really blossoming playing alongside Sheringham.

There was no time to breath, as two days after blunting the Blades, United made the daunting trip across the Pennines to Elland Road. The only thing the capacity home crowd had to cheer was a booking for new arch-villain Eric Cantona in a riveting 0-0 draw, with both keepers earning their wages. John Lukic had produced a save that even had Brian McClair applauding his agility. Then Peter Schmeichel pulled off a fantastic low save from a Gary McAllister header just minutes from time to ensure the visitors took a point home.

That away point looked even more valuable 48 hours later when rivals Aston Villa crashed to a shock 1-0 defeat at Crystal Palace. Alex Ferguson must have been even happier a day later as Norwich City were thrashed 3-0 by Matt Le Tissier and Southampton. It left United a point clear and in charge of their own destiny with 28 games played.

Southampton warmed up for a trip to Old Trafford by adding to Graeme Souness’ headaches following a 2-1 win at The Dell on 13 February. Meanwhile, Big Ron’s Villa performed a “smash and grab” at Stamford Bridge, Ray Houghton with the decisive early goal against Chelsea which took the men in claret and blue shirts to the top of the table again.

Seven days later, all three title challengers emerged with 2-1 home victories, with United ending Saints’ winning streak. Those results deepened the conviction amongst pundits that the first Premier League title would almost certainly be heading to Villa Park, Carrow Road or Old Trafford. Third placed Norwich, on 51 points, were now seven points clear of Q.P.R. in fourth. Rangers, with Les Ferdinand and Bradley Allen performing the regular goalscoring duties, had seen off Coventry City 2-0 at Loftus Road.

One place the title would not be staying was Leeds. Howard Wilkinson cut a stony-faced figure as he witnessed a Teddy Sheringham hat-trick give Spurs a 4-0 win in North London. The Whites had now conceded 45 goals in just 29 matches. Instead of a title defence, they were now nervously looking over their shoulders at the relegation squabble. It was bizarre, given the quality of the players at Elland Road.

Blackburn finally seemed to be coming to grips with life without Alan Shearer. The determined Mike Newell scored a brace to beat Chelsea 2-0 on 21 February, as left-back Graeme Le Saux made his final appearance for the Blues before ironically signing for Dalglish at Ewood Park. Kenny had an eye for good players.

In the battle of the basement, Dave Bassett’s Sheffield United overcame Joe Royle’s Oldham 2-0 at Bramall Lane to climb above Forest and Middlesbrough; the Latics were conceding goals “for fun”, so staying up was looking like a difficult task for them already.

At the weekend, United put a poor Middlesbrough to the sword to comfortably win 3-0 at home. The goals came from Ryan Giggs, Denis Irwin and Cantona, who was increasingly looking like the conductor of a well-drilled philharmonic orchestra. Seventy miles to the south, Villa battled to a 1-0 win over a Wimbledon side that included future Hollywood actor Vinnie Jones, in his previous incarnation as “a rather enthusiastic” professional footballer. Dwight Yorke grabbed a late decisive goal to maintain Villa’s grip on top spot.

A day later, Norwich couldn’t find a way past a stubborn Blackburn defence at Carrow Road, and suddenly they were five points adrift of second-placed United and in danger of being left behind by the two frontrunners.

The following midweek (3 March) at Carrow Road, the Canaries were desperate for a result to keep their title dreams alive. However, a late Ian Wright equaliser for Arsenal meant tricky winger Ruel Fox’s goal only counted for a point. Elsewhere, Sheffield United secured perhaps the most shocking result of the season by thrashing Spurs 6-0, Scottish midfielder Ian Bryson scoring twice in a minute during that romp. Blackburn’s title challenge continued to fall away at Goodison Park, where Colin Hendry scored an own-goal before Tim Sherwood’s dismissal and a Tony Cottee winner for Everton completed a miserable evening back on Merseyside for Kenny Dalglish.

Manchester United made the usually daunting trip down the M62 to Anfield on 6 March. However, Liverpool were enduring an indifferent season under Souness, and the resultant 2-1 victory for the Red Devils was not unexpected, though still had to be earned. Goals from Mark Hughes and a late Brian McClair header in front of the Kop cancelled out an excellent Ian Rush equaliser.

Alex Ferguson’s day was brightened even further by news that Norwich had gone down 3-1 at Q.P.R., where big Les Ferdinand had added another couple of goals to his growing tally for the season.

Three days later Ferguson’s mirth had very much disappeared. Oldham Athletic had been struggling all year, but they shocked United to win 1-0 at Boundary Park, little Neil Adams with the only goal, heading past Peter Schmeichel at his far post. Villa couldn’t take full advantage of United’s slip, held to a 0-0 draw at home by Spurs. However, Norwich put themselves back into the title race with a hard-fought 1-0 win at Sheffield United, Ruel Fox on the mark at Bramall Lane.

After their defeat to United, Liverpool recovered to beat Q.P.R. with another goal from veteran Ian Rush, while Manchester City won ‘the battle of the Sky Blues’, Garry Flitcroft with the only goal at home to Coventry City.

So, with most sides having ten games left to play in the first ever Premier League season, the top of the table looked as follows:

TEAM	PLD	W	D	L	F	  A	    GD	 PTS
Manchester United	      32	  17	      9	    6	  49	      25	     24	    60
Aston Villa	      32	   17	      9	    6	  48	      31	    17	    60
Norwich City	      32	   16	      8	    8	  45	      46	  -1	    56
Sheffield Wed.	      31	   13	    10	    8	  41	      34	      7	    49
Q.P.R.	      32	   13	      8	  11	  44	      38	      6	    47
Blackburn Rovers	      31	    12	    10	    9	  43	      32	     11	    46
Manchester City	      31	   13	      7	  11	  44	      34	     10	    46
Coventry City	      33	   12	    10	  11	  45	      42	      3	    46

 

A few days later Norwich showed United how to beat the Latics, Dave Phillips with the only goal at Carrow Road. That game came 24 hours before United hosted Aston Villa in the most eagerly anticipated showdown of the season.

Locked on 60 points, neither side was willing to give an inch, and it should have been little surprise when they ended up sharing the spoils at Old Trafford. Irish full-back Steve Staunton had given Villa the lead early in the 2nd half with a trademark thunderbolt left-foot strike which thudded the underside of Peter Schmeichel’s crossbar as it arrowed past him into the Stretford End goal. However, minutes later Mark Hughes found an equaliser for the hosts.

At the foot, Cloughie’s struggles were heartbreaking to people of my generation who had idolised the great man for many years. By now it was clear that Forest were in dire trouble. That was confirmed by two consecutive heavy 3-0 beatings at Everton and then at home to Norwich City. That second result lifted the rejuvenated Canaries back into pole position in the league table, after United and Villa had cancelled each other out three days earlier.

As alluded to previously, Peter Reid and Manchester City were chugging along nicely in upper mid-table, the former Everton star still donning his boots occasionally in midfield. He was part of the City side that gave United a tough examination at a packed Maine Road on 20 March. Niall Quinn, as he so often seemed to do, headed the Blues into the lead just before the hour mark, but a classy goal from ice-cool Eric Cantona ensured United took a point back across town.

It was a differing day for the other two contenders. At a raucous Villa Park, a double from Tobagan striker Dwight Yorke gave Villa a 2-0 victory over a very decent Sheffield Wednesday side that included England star Chris Waddle and the prolific Mark Bright. However, Mike Walker didn’t enjoy his day out at Wimbledon, where the pacy Dean Holdsworth smashed in two of the Crazy Gang’s three goals in a comfortable home win.

Elsewhere, Israeli substitute striker Ronny Rosenthal broke Everton hearts with a well-taken injury-time goal at Anfield to win the Merseyside Derby for the Reds. In his last ever tussle with his arch-enemies at Leeds, father Brian watched son Nigel Clough score the goal which earned a precious point for Forest at the City Ground.

Midweek on 24 March witnessed the top two clash at Carrow Road, where a late goal from Norwich City’s bit-part centre-back John Polston proved the difference between the sides; it moved Walker’s men onto 65 points. They retained top spot because at Old Trafford George Graham’s Arsenal had successfully stifled the hosts into a 0-0 ‘submission’, the fans bored to tears in their seats.

As April came in, the pressure at both ends of the table intensified dramatically. The rewards and penalties for success and failure in the old First Division had been nothing compared to those awaiting the clubs in the new league set-up. Revenue streams from having their top-flight games televised had rapidly become the main source of income to virtually all the Premier League clubs. Relegation from this financial paradise back down into the Football League structure was to be avoided at any cost!

Having ended March with a superb 3-0 win away at Q.P.R., Kenny Dalglish and Blackburn Rovers began April with a 4-1 hammering of his former charges, Liverpool. The goals were shared around the team now that a fit Alan Shearer was a fading memory. New signing from Coventry, Kevin Gallacher, wasted no time endearing himself to the Rovers fans, grabbing a goal on his home debut!

The Merseysiders were a spent force. Their side comprised aging stars from the late 1980s title-winning sides like Ian Rush, John Barnes and Ronnie Whelan, mixed with players who were either patently not good enough to represent the club or didn’t yet have enough experience to count in big games: David Burrows, Steve Harkness, Don Hutchison, Steve McManaman. Souness had a massive rebuilding job on his hands.

On Teesside, Boro fans had plenty to worry about. The team continued to ship goals. That habit remained to the fore when they were on the end of a 4-0 battering at Chelsea, for whom even veteran Northern Ireland left-back Mal Donaghy scored! Lenny Lawrence’s side were now rock-bottom.

Up at Oldham, Joe Royle’s men had started to show some fight, and that resulted in a spectacular 6-2 victory over Wimbledon on 3 April, emerging talent Darren Beckford with the final strike in that bonanza for Latics’ fans.

On the Sunday, Aston Villa took centre-stage ahead of the big Monday night clash at Carrow Road between Norwich City and Manchester United. Villa travelled to Nottingham and kept the pressure on the other two by condemning Cloughie to yet another defeat, big Paul McGrath with the only goal of the game.

United traveled to East Anglia knowing they now trailed Villa by four points. With the head of steam Big Ron’s men were building up, any slip-up might prove fatal. Ferguson clearly drummed that message into his troops, because when referee Ward’s whistle sounded, the Red Devils tore into their hosts as if their lives depended on it.

The game was effectively over after just 20 minutes. With a swashbuckling, rapid counter-attacking style not seen in many years, United tore Norwich apart, the resultant goals coming from Giggs, Cantona and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-him lightning charge from Russian flyer Andrei Kanchelskis.

Former United man Mark Robins did manage a reply on the hour mark for the shell-shocked Canaries, but it was merely a consolation. This was probably the first time that the fear-inducing dominating side Manchester United would transform into later in the decade had made an appearance. Cantona was its ‘head chef’. Norwich had no answer.

In midweek, Blackburn consolidated fourth position with a 3-1 win at Forest, who increasingly looked doomed.

That home defeat by United had knocked the stuffing out of Norwich. On the Friday they went to White Hart Lane and got thrashed 5-1 by a Tottenham side for whom Sheringham and Nicky Barmby were ‘on fire’. It increasingly looked like one of Villa or United as the inaugural championship winners.

However, Saturday 10 April brought joy for only one of the contenders. At an expectant and thrumming Villa Park, the hosts tore into local rivals Coventry City, but could get no change from Sky Blues keeper Jonathan Gould, son of team manager Bobby. Big Ron knew 0-0 at home at this stage of the campaign was two points dropped rather than one gained.

Up at Old Trafford, United played host to a very dangerous Sheffield Wednesday side, who frustrated the hosts time and time again during a tense opening period. At one stage former United man Viv Anderson threw himself to the ground to block a goal-bound effort from Brian McClair. That was followed soon after by a superb double-save from Mark Hughes and McClair by sometime England keeper Chris Woods. Then things took a turn for the worse for Ferguson’s men. On 65 minutes, the Owls won a penalty following a poor, late challenge on Chris Waddle by Paul Ince. John Sheridan converted the kick, and suddenly United were staring at a costly defeat.

With only four minutes left on the clock, Steve Bruce met an out-swinging corner from Giggs to loop a header back over Woods and into the far side of the Wednesday net. Despite the relief around the ground at that equaliser, Ferguson urged his troops forward again. In scenes now etched in the annals of Premier League history, deep into stoppage time United found a dramatic winner.

Another Giggs corner from the left was cleared back out to the young Welshman; his cross was half-cleared to Gary Pallister on the right. The big centre-half swung a ball across the goal, which was deflected up into the air for Bruce to run onto and plant another header firmly past Woods from seven yards out. Ferguson and assistant Brian Kidd danced on the pitch in delirium; they knew that late, late winner was a huge psychological boost to the United players, and a huge blow to Aston Villa.

 

Just two days later both protagonists were away from home; Villa at Arsenal, United at Coventry’s Highfield Road. The Gunners had developed into a very competent cup side (they would win both domestic cup competitions in 1993) and always made Highbury a difficult place to get a result for visiting teams. Therefore, Villa emerging with a 1-0 win thanks to a Tony Daley goal was a superb result.

Back in the Midlands, United were again made to sweat hard for any rewards. This time, only an opportunist strike by left-back Denis Irwin gave the visitors the victory they needed to maintain an advantage in the table over the Villains. It was a crucial goal and a crucial win, hot on the heels of the memorable late comeback against Wednesday.

Norwich City had to watch on as the deficit grew. Their game against Leeds United was on the Wednesday evening and they knew they needed a win to keep their fading title hopes alive. Despite conceding to Lee Chapman after only 120 seconds, Mike Walker had struck gold by moving Chris Sutton into the strikers’ position. He plundered a hat-trick against the deposed champions to give his manager a 4-2 triumph.

With only a couple weeks of the season left, on 14 April the top of the league table was as follows:

TEAM	PLD	W	D	L	F	  A	    GD	 PTS
Manchester United	      38	  20	     12	    6	  57	      29	    28	    72
Aston Villa	      38	   20	     11	    7	  53	      33	    20	    71
Norwich City	      39	   20	      8	   11	  56	      59	    -3	    68
Blackburn Rovers	      37	   16	     11	   10	  58	      41	     17	    59
Q.P.R.	      38	   15	    10	   13	  57	      52	      5	    55

 

On Saturday 17 April, United welcomed Chelsea to Old Trafford, knowing a win would put huge pressure on both Villa and Norwich. Neither of the other two were playing that afternoon, and they could only sit and watch as goals from Hughes, Cantona and a Steve Clarke own-goal gave the Red Devils breathing room at the summit.

At the bottom, Joe Royle had found no answer to Oldham’s defensive frailties. Despite leading at half-time, the Latics lost 4-1 at the Lane, top-scoring Teddy Sheringham with another two strikes for Spurs, both converted penalties. Nottingham Forest went down to a 1-0 defeat at Wimbledon, who were now safely in mid-table.

Kevin Gallacher was on target again as Blackburn kept up their push for European football with a 3-1 win at Bramall Lane, which deepened Dave Bassett’s relegation worries.

A day later Villa entertained Manchester City, knowing a victory was crucial; United were now within sight of the finish line. At half-time, they trailed to a Niall Quinn goal, and fingernails were getting shortened on the Holte End. However, second-half goals from Saunders, Parker and Houghton wrapped up a 3-1 win and kept the title race alive for another few days.

Then three became two. Monday 19 April 1993 was a dark day in Norfolk. Knowing anything other than a win at bitter rivals Ipswich Town would end their slim hopes of the title, Mike Walker’s Canaries were comprehensively ousted from the title race by the Tractor Boys, Jason Dozzell with two of the hosts’ goals in a pulsating 3-1 win.

Three days after hitting Oldham for four, Spurs showed their fickle nature by losing 3-0 at lowly Middlesbrough on the Tuesday evening.

There were six games played on Wednesday 21 April. Both title contenders were on the road, Manchester United at Crystal Palace, while Villa faced a tricky trip to Blackburn. Elsewhere, the “Steel City Derby” saw Wednesday host United at Hillsborough. Arsenal faced a desperate Forest side, Manchester City entertained Wimbledon, while Leeds travelled to Anfield.

It was a pivotal evening. At Highbury, Ian Wright looked to have sealed Cloughie’s demise with a goal on 67 minutes, only for a last-gasp Roy Keane equaliser to earn Forest a valuable point. On Merseyside, Leeds’ horrible season continued with a 2-0 defeat to a Liverpool side that were improving after a dismal winter. In Sheffield, a 1-1 draw wasn’t really ideal for either side; the Owls were pushing for a high league placing whilst the Blades were hovering nervously above the relegation trapdoor.

Meanwhile, at Ewood Park, Aston Villa ‘froze’ in the spotlight. Blackburn were pushing for European football and needed the points on offer to further their own ambitions. By the time Villa realised they were in a scrap, 15 minutes into the game, Rovers were already 2-0 up thanks to goals from Gallacher and Mike Newell. When the clinical Newell added a third just before the break, Big Ron knew the game was over; they’d need a big favour from Crystal Palace down in South London that evening. In the dressing room at half-time, he must have been buoyed a little by news that it was still 0-0 at Palace.

At Selhurst Park, United knew victory would all but seal their first league championship triumph since the halcyon days of Law, Charlton and Best in 1967. Palace, then under the management of United legend Steve Coppell, were nobody’s pushovers. They proved that by frustrating their visitors for over an hour.

 

Alex Ferguson replaced Kanchelskis with veteran Bryan Robson just after the hour mark and almost immediately his men took the lead through Mark Hughes; and what a goal it was! Bruce met a Nigel Martyn goal-kick powerfully to head the ball out left to Eric Cantona. The French maestro came inside and cut back onto his right boot to send an exquisite ball across the area for the marauding Hughes to spectacularly volley home first-time, giving Martyn no chance. A minute from time, Paul Ince sealed victory after running 30 yards with the ball before slotting right-footed past Martyn into the far corner.

 

It was all but over. With just two games left to play for the leaders, United needed just a victory, or to avoid defeat in both of their remaining fixtures to become champions. Aston Villa now needed to win both remaining games and pray for a miracle:

TEAM	PLD	W	D	L	F	  A	    GD	 PTS
Manchester United	      40	  22	     12	    6	  62	      29	     33	    78
Aston Villa	      40	   21	    11	    8	  56	      37	    19	    74
Norwich City	      40	   20	      8	   12	  57	      62	   -5	    68

 

The first day of May brought a sad end to the glorious managerial career of the legendary Brian Clough. Hosting fellow relegation strugglers Sheffield United, Forest lost their battle against the drop, losing 0-2. Afterward, Cloughie held his hands up, took the blame and admitted his side simply weren’t up to the standard required. Ultimately the sale of Teddy Sheringham had left them without a cutting edge; they’d scored just 40 goals in their 41 games played.

At Hillsborough, Middlesbrough must have been in despair. Despite holding on to win their game 3-2 against Wednesday, the result from the City Ground condemned them to relegation as well. Lennie Lawrence knew his defence had leaked goals too readily.

Norwich City rounded off their home fixtures for the season by putting a dent in Liverpool’s recent recovery, Dave Phillips scoring the only goal from the penalty spot.

Manchester United were not scheduled to play until Monday evening, the 3rd of May. On the Sunday afternoon, Villa played host to Joe Royle and Oldham Athletic, knowing anything other than victory would hand the league title to United. Ferguson, knowing there was nothing he could do to affect what happened at Villa Park, took himself off to the golf course for 18 holes, though it’s hard to imagine he was able to concentrate fully on his golf swing!

Oldham were now desperate for points themselves. Sitting second-bottom on 40 points, they had three games left to play but trailed 19th-placed Sheffield United by six points, with a vastly inferior goal difference. In short, anything other than victory in Birmingham would see them relegated that afternoon.

There was only one goal at Villa Park, and it came as a break-away against the general siege that Villa laid on the visitors’ goalmouth. Midfielder Nick Henry found the Villa net after half an hour, and the Latics spent most of the next hour defending valiantly against repeated surges of claret and blue. When the referee blew for time, not only did it confirm Manchester United as champions of England for the first time in 26 years, it also meant Oldham Athletic still had a fighting chance to retain their Premier League status.

Alex Ferguson was famously informed that he was now manager of the new League Champions by a total stranger as he made his way back towards the clubhouse on the back nine holes. Outside Old Trafford, the United fans began a title party that would last well into the summer.

On the Monday evening, the game against Blackburn Rovers at Old Trafford was almost incidental to the carnival that had been going on around the city for the previous 24 hours. However, business-like as he could be, Ferguson reminded his players that they had a duty to put on a show for the fans that had paid good money to watch them… and they did.

An early goal by Kevin Gallacher was a reminder that Rovers wanted the three points themselves; they could still finish third above Norwich and qualify for the UEFA Cup. However, Ryan Giggs equalised on 21 minutes, and after Ince gave United the lead on the hour-mark, Rovers’ resistance faded visibly. The fairytale evening was completed in dramatic fashion in the last minute when big Gary Pallister, the only regular member of the first team without a goal that season, was allowed to take a late free-kick on the edge of the Rovers area- which he drilled home like a top striker!

Afterwards, in front of a jubilant crowd of 41,000, joint club captains Steve Bruce and Bryan Robson held aloft the new Premier League trophy as an emotional Sir Matt Busby beamed proudly from his seat in the South Stand. It was quite an evening!

There were a number of issues still to be resolved as the season approached its final few days. Nottingham Forest and Middlesbrough were down, but who would join them? The foot of the table looked like this on 3 May:

TEAM	PLD	W	D	L	F	  A	    GD	 PTS
Leeds United	      40	  12	    13	   15	  53	      58	    -5	    49
Ipswich Town	      41	  11	    16	   14	  48	      54	    -6	    49
Crystal Palace	      40	   11	     15	   14	  48	     58	   -10	    48
Sheffield United	      40	   12	    10	   18	  48	     51	    -3	    46
Oldham Athletic	      40	   11	    10	   19	  56	     69	   -13	    43
Middlesbrough (R)	      41	   11	    10	  20	  51	      72	   -21	    43
Nott’m Forest (R)	      41	   10	    10	   21	  40	      60	    -20	    40

 

On Tuesday 4 May, Sheffield United all but guaranteed their own safety when winning 2-0 at Everton. Despite winning at Villa, Oldham now looked doomed; they were five points adrift of Crystal Palace just above them.

The following evening, whilst Palace traveled to Manchester City, Joe Royle’s Oldham team hosted Liverpool; it was “do or die” time.

What followed was little short of a miraculous fifteen first-half minutes of football during which the Latics scored three times (Beckford with the opener, before lanky forward Ian Olney grabbed a double), with Ian Rush replying once for the Merseysiders. After the break, Souness’ men put Oldham under siege, but only managed to claw one goal back, Rush again on target. At the final whistle, Royle knew his men had achieved a great win, but they were still in the relegation placings on 46 points.

Over at Maine Road, Palace had ground out a point in a 0-0 stalemate with City. Steve Coppell, now three points above Oldham and with a slightly better goal-difference, must have been confident his side were just about safe going into the final round of fixtures.

I’d have been lost for words of comfort for a man who was my boyhood idol at United if I’d met Steve on the evening of 8 May. His Palace team went to Highbury that afternoon and were beaten 3-0 by an Arsenal side whose players had F.A. Cup Final places to play for. Crucially, the Eagles conceded two late goals to Paul Dickov and Kevin Campbell; those goals would prove fatal.

At Oldham, the fans were treated to a seven-goal bonanza, with Southampton wizard Matt Le Tissier bagging a hat-trick. However, the home side got the other four of those goals, and that incredible 4-3 win had the Latics level with Crystal Palace on 49 points… but with a final-day swing of the goal difference to be in their favour. Palace were relegated with an inferior goal difference of just two goals. Joe Royle and his Oldham troops had achieved one of the greatest escapes from relegation ever seen in the top division.

Brian Clough’s last ever game in football ended with a 2-1 defeat for Forest at Ipswich Town. Despite beating Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 at home with a Tim Sherwood goal, Blackburn Rovers had to settle for fourth position. They missed out on Europe, as Norwich grabbed the point they needed to secure third place and UEFA Cup football when drawing 3-3 at doomed Middlesbrough.

There were plenty of goals elsewhere; Liverpool went into the close season on the back of a 6-2 thrashing of Spurs at Anfield, veterans Rush and Barnes with a brace apiece. Teddy Sheringham scored one of Tottenham’s two goals, which took him to 22 goals for the season and the golden boot, a couple more than Les Ferdinand had managed for Q.P.R.

At Maine Road, Everton also got amongst the goals, winning 5-2, winger Peter Beagrie with two of them. Sheffield United closed with a 4-2 win over a disappointing Chelsea.

On Monday 9 May, Aston Villa rounded off a season that had promised so much just weeks earlier with a narrow 2-1 defeat at Q.P.R., for whom Ferdinand and Bradley Allen again found the net. Rangers also had a veteran midfielder by the name of Ray Wilkins starring for them, despite being well into his 30s.

Across London, the new champions completed a wonderful campaign with a 2-1 victory at Joe Kinnear’s Wimbledon, the decisive goal coming from club legend Bryan Robson. The crowd of over 30,000 inside Selhurst Park was comprised of at least 80% United fans, still celebrating the club’s first title in over two decades.

The season drew to a close with two games on 11 May. Spurs claimed a 3-1 win at Highbury in the second North London Derby of the year, little-known Scottish striker John Hendry with the decisive goals. George Graham had named an understrength Arsenal team, his eyes very much on the upcoming F.A. Cup Final against Sheffield Wednesday by then, so the result wasn’t that much of a surprise.

Fellow finalists Wednesday fell to a similar 3-1 defeat at Q.P.R., though worryingly for Owls boss Trevor Francis, he had named a strong side for the last League game. Bradley Allen (two goals) and Ferdinand were simply too hot for the Wednesday defence to handle, despite Q.P.R. having played two games within the space of 48 hours.

 

So the first Premier League season drew to a close, and I would imagine Rupert Murdock was a very contented investor. Whilst the attendances at many games were ‘nothing to write home about’, the Sky Television audiences (and therefore numbers of satellite dishes sold!) had been more than satisfactory.

Many clubs were still in the process of expanding the capacity of their stadia (most as a reaction to the Lord Justice Taylor Report into the Hillsborough Disaster, which had stipulated that all-seater stadia be introduced into English football’s top divisions as a matter of urgency), so crowds at arenas like Old Trafford and Ewood Park would increase as the construction of seated stands was completed.

The final league table looked like this:

TEAM	PLD	W	D	L	F	  A	    GD	 PTS
Manchester Utd. (C)	      42	  24	    12	    6	  67	      31	    36	    84
Aston Villa	      42	   21	    11	   10	  57	      40	    17	    74
Norwich City	      42	   21	      9	   12	  61	      65	    -4	    72
Blackburn Rovers	      42	   20	    11	   11	  68	      46	    22	    71
Q.P.R.	      42	   17	     12	   13	  63	      55	      8	    63
Liverpool	      42	   16	    11	   15	  62	      55	      7	    59
Sheffield Wed.	      42	   15	     14	   13	  55	      51	      4	    59
Tottenham Hotspur	      42	   16	     11	    15	  60	      66	     -6	    59
Manchester City	      42	   15	     12	    15	  56	      51	      5	    57
Arsenal	      42	   15	     11	   16	  40	      38	      2	    56
Chelsea	      42	   14	     14	   14	  51	      54	    -3	    56
Wimbledon	      42	   14	     12	   16	  56	      55	      1	    54
Everton	      42	   15	      8	  19	  53	      55	    -2	    53
Sheffield United	      42	   14	    10	   18	  54	      53	     1	    52
Coventry City	      42	    13	     13	   16	  52	      57	    -5	    52
Ipswich Town	      42	   12	     16	   14	  50	      55	    -5	    52
Leeds United	      42	   12	     15	   15	  57	      62	    -5	    51
Southampton	      42	   13	     11	   18	  54	      61	    -7	    50
Oldham Athletic	      42	   13	    10	   19	  63	      74	   -11	    49
Crystal Palace (R)	      42	   11	     16	   15	  48	      61	   -13	    49
Middlesbrough (R)	      42	   11	     11	  20	  54	      75	   -21	    44
Nott’m Forest (R)	      42	   10	    10	   22	  41	      62	    -21	    40

 

Manchester United would play in the following season’s European Champions’ Cup competition for the first time since attempting to defend the trophy during the 1968-69 season.

Aston Villa and Norwich City would play in the UEFA Cup competition; the Canaries would famously knock German giants Bayern Munich out of the competition in the 2nd Round before succumbing to Italian heavyweights Inter Milan in Round 3.

The bottom three clubs were banished to the “outer darkness” of the Football League, to be replaced by Newcastle United, Swindon Town and West Ham United.

 

The individual awards were presented as follows:

PFA Player of the Year: Paul McGrath (Aston Villa)- a marvelous achievement by a colossus of a man;
PFA Young Player of the Year: Ryan Giggs (Manchester United)- the first of many medals & trophies;
FWA Player of the Year: Chris Waddle (Sheffield Wednesday)- a truly underrated player;
PFA Manager of the Year: Alex Ferguson (Manchester United).

 

Tomorrow, as Sky were keen to remind us, was going to be a beautiful day… 1993-94 was just around the corner. So it was time to get down to that TV shop and get your satellite dish installation ordered!