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

Let me take you back in time… to the summer of 1992 to be precise. Sky Television had just taken a huge gamble. The satellite broadcaster had essentially ‘put all their eggs in one basket’, and that basket was English football’s top flight.

In a groundbreaking deal, Rupert Murdoch’s media company had ploughed £304 million into English football in exchange for the exclusive rights to live broadcasts of the newly formed ‘Premier League’ for the next five seasons. Armed with prior knowledge of this deal, 22 Division One clubs had broken away from the Football League to form the inaugural Premier League, under the jurisdiction of the Football Association.

It meant that Howard Wilkinson’s Leeds United would be the last ever Division One Champions, the Whites having dramatically snatched the crown from Manchester United that April.

At Old Trafford, despite that bitter disappointment, Alex Ferguson did not panic and spend heavily during the summer. He knew that his side had simply been unfortunate to lose form at the wrong time. There was little doubt that United had also suffered from fixture congestion after going all the way to successfully winning the 1992 League Cup competition. They were good enough to challenge again. He added a striker in the form of prolific Cambridge United hitman Dion Dublin for a fee of £1 million. Dublin effectively replaced the hero of the 1990 FA Cup run, Mark Robins. Somewhat unfortunate not to establish himself at United, Robins was sold to Norwich City for £800,000.

Elsewhere, however, big-money moves were very much ‘in vogue’ due to clubs’ new-found wealth. Amongst the biggest movers would be strikers Teddy Sheringham (Nottingham Forest to Tottenham Hotspur for £2.1 million), Dean Saunders (Liverpool to Aston Villa for £2.5 million) and young Southampton hitman Alan Shearer, who rebuffed Alex Ferguson to sign for wealthy Lancashire club Blackburn Rovers for £3.6 million.

Aside from United and Leeds, the title challengers were expected to come from the usual suspects: Arsenal (pre-season favourites), Liverpool, possibly even Tottenham Hotspur.

Down at Anfield, Graeme Souness had eased some of the pressure that had been building (following a lacklustre season in the league) by claiming the FA Cup that spring. In preparation for the new season, he brought in midfielder Paul Stewart from Tottenham for £2.3 million and goalkeeper David James from Watford for £1.25 million.

At Highbury, the ever-pragmatic George Graham was focusing on shoring up his defence. He went in for Everton’s Martin Keown (£2 million) and Danish defensive midfielder John Jensen, who had just won the 1992 European Championships with his country.

Tottenham had finally lost patience with boss Peter Shreeves, replacing him over the summer with the duo of Doug Livermore and former ‘keeper Ray Clemence. They had splashed out for Portsmouth’s right-sided attacking midfielder Darren Anderton (£1.75 million) and burly Southampton centre-back Neil Ruddock; Teddy Sheringham would arrive after the new season had commenced. Leaving the Lane, besides Paul Stewart, was England’s hero of World Cup 1990, Paul Gascoigne, who moved to Serie A outfit Lazio for £5.5 million.

At Elland Road, Howard Wilkinson had boosted his midfield options by signing long-time Arsenal star David Rocastle for £2 million.

Of the three newly promoted clubs from the old Division Two, only newly-minted Blackburn Rovers were tipped to do well in the top flight. Now managed by former Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish (who had upset a few people at Anfield by “retiring” from football, only to return at Rovers a few months later), they had the finances to run with the big boys, thanks to multi-millionaire club owner Jack Walker.

The opening day of the first-ever Premier League season, 15 August 1992, provided thrills, spills and a few shocks, as the clubs aired out their shiny new playing kits. Perhaps the biggest shock came at Bramall Lane, where Dave ‘Harry’ Bassett’s unfashionable Sheffield United put Alex Ferguson’s visitors from Manchester to the sword. Brian Deane scored the first-ever Premier League goal after just five minutes in the Blades’ 2-1 victory.

At Highbury, George Graham had early warning of a long season ahead. Despite going in at the break 2-0 up against Norwich City, his men conspired to ship four goals to the Canaries in the second half, Mark Robins with a brace on his debut for the East Anglians.

Elsewhere, Leeds got their title defence off to a winning start, beating Wimbledon 2-1 at home, but Spurs dropped two points when they couldn’t score at Southampton. Game of the day was at Selhurst Park, where Crystal Palace and Blackburn Rovers shared six goals in a 3-3 draw, Alan Shearer bagging two goals on his debut for Rovers.

Ron Atkinson, newly installed at Aston Villa, presided over a 1-1 draw with Ipswich Town, bullish namesake Dalian grabbing a late equaliser at Portman Road.

On the Sunday, the first-ever live Premier League match saw Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest overcome Liverpool 1-0, the soon-to-depart Sheringham with the decisive goal at the City Ground.

If the opening day defeat in Sheffield had been a setback for Alex Ferguson, the following midweek’s 0-3 mauling by Everton at a diminished Old Trafford (the famous Stretford End having been demolished to allow the club to rebuild the stand as an all-seater) was truly shocking. Two games in, United were sitting rock-bottom.

George Graham wasn’t sitting too comfortably either, his Gunners the victims of a late Shearer winner at Ewood Park. Villa and Leeds had fought out a 1-1 draw in the Midlands, but it was Mike Walker’s Norwich City who were setting the early pace. They overcame Chelsea 2-1 at Carrow Road, with that man Robins again finding the net, to have some already questioning whether Ferguson had been too hasty to let him leave Old Trafford.

Elsewhere, Bobby Gould’s Coventry City shocked Spurs at White Hart Lane to win 2-0, and join the Canaries on maximum points.

Indeed, a 2-1 win at former club Wimbledon the following Saturday left Gould and the Sky Blues as the only club with full points after three games. Norwich were held to a 1-1 draw by Everton, while Manchester United’s stuttering start to the campaign continued with a tame 1-1 draw at home to Ipswich Town.

The day’s big victors were Lennie Lawrence’s Middlesbrough, who thrashed defending champions Leeds United 4-1; perhaps an early indicator that there were problems developing at Elland Road. On the Sunday, and with Michael Thomas’ late title-winning goal in 1989 still fresh in everyone’s collective memories, Arsenal once again upset Liverpool at Anfield to win 2-0.

The live Friday evening game the following week saw Manchester United finally claim a first Premier League victory, as new boy Dion Dublin netted his first goal for the club in the 1-0 win at Southampton.

The following day, Eric Cantona claimed the first-ever Premier League hat-trick as Leeds United thrashed Spurs 5-0 at Elland Road. Arsenal chalked up a second win in a row, beating Oldham Athletic 2-0 at Highbury. QPR went top with a single-goal victory at Coventry City.

By the end of August, the novelty factor had not subsided; everyone was hooked on the ‘new’ top division, though some more than others. Relative minnows like Wimbledon and Oldham were not attractive opposition, no matter what amount of ‘dazzle’ Sky tried to manufacture to make it appear otherwise. A paltry 18,000 fans turned up at Goodison Park to watch the Toffees battle to a stupefying 0-0 draw with the ‘Crazy Gang’, the yellow card predictably appearing from ref Howard King’s pocket after only four minutes.

After their poor start, Manchester United started to put a few good results together, including beating the Leeds side who’d pipped them for the previous season’s title 2-0 at home. However, even then they were mostly functional rather than spectacular.

Above them, three sides had started brilliantly: Blackburn Rovers (who had a very capable midfield to provide ammunition for strikers Alan Shearer and Mike Newell), Coventry City (who had ‘pocket rockets’ in Kevin Gallacher and Peter Ndlovu) and Norwich City, who were perhaps, at this early stage, the best pure footballing side in the country. Behind Mark Robins and young Chris Sutton (who started as a centre-half but gradually found himself more often employed as an effective partner for Robins), their midfield was full of invention and industry in the shape of Jeremy Goss, David Phillips, Ian Crook and veteran Gary Megson, with an excellent left-back in Welshman Mark Bowen also to the fore.

Another side coming into form were Aston Villa. Having spent big money to pair ‘little man’ Dean Saunders with big Dalian Atkinson, the Villains gave notice of their title intent when Saunders grabbed a brace on his home debut against his former club Liverpool in a 4-2 win in mid-September. Villa were an odd mix: a collection of hugely experienced warriors like Paul McGrath, Steve Staunton, Ray Houghton, Earl Barrett and Kevin Richardson along with some youthful invention from the likes of Steve Froggatt and Garry Parker.

Meanwhile, at Old Trafford, Ferguson had now been dealt a blow by a serious knee injury sustained by new striker Dion Dublin against Crystal Palace on 2 September. It would rule him out for an extended period. It meant the Scot was now reliant on the veteran front pairing of Mark Hughes and Brian McClair, as he’d sold Mark Robins to Norwich City weeks earlier. In the background, he was busy trying to persuade Sheffield Wednesday boss Trevor Francis to accept an offer for his top striker, David Hirst, amongst others.

The meeting of the pacesetters in early October at Ewood Park witnessed the hosts crash SEVEN goals past Norwich City ‘keeper Bryan Gunn. The visitors simply couldn’t deal with the more physical threat Rovers represented. It was clear that Dalglish’s men were going to have a pivotal say in the title race. Alan Shearer was making the big money given to Southampton for his services in the summer look more and more like a bargain with every passing week.

A few weeks later a 0-0 stalemate between Rovers and United at Ewood Park simply highlighted the problem Alex Ferguson already knew he had. That was the lack of a reliable cutting-edge, a player who could fashion the one chance in a tight game that could change a draw into a win. By now the Red Devils had drawn six of their thirteen games; it was going to cost them a chance at the league title, again, if the Scot couldn’t find an answer.

In fact, a spate of drawn games had prevented any club from really pulling away at the summit of the league table. It wasn’t until Norwich City put together a couple of hard-fought victories over Oldham and Sheffield United that a gap opened between themselves and a resurgent Arsenal; that was after 16 games had been played.

Arsenal’s recovery came to a shuddering halt with a 3-0 defeat at Leeds on 21 November. However, the big news in that game concerned someone who wasn’t even on the pitch: Leeds’ talismanic French striker Eric Cantona. Cantona, with his rebellious streak, had fallen out with the strait-laced Howard Wilkinson, who promptly dropped him from the matchday squad entirely. It paved the way for a most unlikely transfer, one that would fundamentally change the story of the season, and perhaps even the decade. Cantona moved across the Pennines to Alex Ferguson and Manchester United, for £1.2 million, on 26 November. It would prove to be one of the best deals in Ferguson’s entire managerial career.

Cantona hadn’t joined in time to take part in United’s next game: away at Arsenal. His new teammates showed they still had some fire in their bellies with an excellent 1-0 win at Highbury thanks to a Mark Hughes goal just before the half-hour mark; the result just about kept United on the coat-tails of the leaders.

Those leaders were now very much Mike Walker’s Norwich City, who cemented their grip on the top spot with a superb 3-2 win at fellow title rivals Aston Villa, despite conceding goals either side of half-time. Elsewhere the mood of Leeds’ fans didn’t improve much as they got used to life after Cantona by going down 1-0 at Chelsea thanks to a late Andy Townsend goal.

Predictably, Alan Shearer proved the difference in the other big game of the day, his goal enough to keep Blackburn on the heels of the leaders and condemn Gerry Francis and QPR to defeat at Ewood Park.

However, a week later Rovers were undone at the Riverside when Scottish striker John Hendrie fired a hat-trick in just 14 second-half minutes to ruin Kenny Dalglish’s afternoon and give Middlesbrough a valuable 3-2 victory. Aston Villa’s 2-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday thanks to a Dalian Atkinson double saw them draw level on points with Blackburn, but both clubs were now eight points adrift of Norwich City, who scored two late goals to beat Wimbledon 2-1 at Carrow Road. Chelsea won 2-1 at Tottenham thanks to an Eddie Newton double, to join Blackburn and Villa on 31 points.

On the Sunday, Eric Cantona came off the bench at half-time in the Manchester Derby to inspire his new comrades to a 2-1 win over City at Old Trafford, Mark Hughes again the United hero with the winning goal.

Twenty-four hours later, former Liverpool forward Peter Beardsley scored the winning goal for Everton against Liverpool at Goodison Park to write himself into the history books as one of few men to have scored for both sides in the Merseyside Derby.

The following Saturday witnessed a crucial clash in the title race when leaders Norwich made the trip to Old Trafford. United knew they really had to win to try to close the 12-point gap between themselves and the Canaries. They were aided by an early injury to the influential Ian Crook; that disrupted the visitors enough to prevent them from finding an equaliser to Mark Hughes’ goal on the hour mark. Cantona had made his full debut in this game.

George Graham’s season went from bad to worse as a Paul Allen goal gave Spurs a 1-0 win in the North London Derby at the Lane. Elsewhere, Kenny Dalglish continued to endure a miserable December. His return to Anfield ended in a 2-1 defeat as former Aston Villa forward Mark Walters’ brace cancelled out Shearer’s goal for Rovers.

Speaking of Villa, they now found themselves leading the pack behind Norwich. Big Ron’s men fell behind to a Roy Keane goal, but recovered to beat Nottingham Forest 2-1 at Villa Park thanks to goals from veterans Cyrille Regis and Paul McGrath. Brian Clough, in the final season of a majestic managerial career, was in big trouble and he knew it. Forest were rock bottom and simply couldn’t score enough goals to win games. The prolific Teddy Sheringham had been sold to Spurs and had not been replaced. Worse, dependable, experienced centre-back Des Walker had been offloaded to Italians Sampdoria in the summer, too, and Forest were now leaking goals like a sieve.

Having, so far, had a season he could surely only have dreamt of, Mike Walker was brought crashing back to earth just before Christmas in the worst possible way: losing the East Anglian Derby to Ipswich Town. At Carrow Road. A couple of second-half goals (including one from livewire Chris Kiwomya) gave the Tractor Boys the shock result of the weekend. Others took advantage, most notably Blackburn, who beat Sheffield United with a rare goal from former Manchester United legend Kevin Moran!

Elsewhere, Eric Cantona scored his first goal for United to earn a point at Stamford Bridge, whilst Graeme Souness’ woes continued as his Liverpool side slumped to a 5-1 thrashing at Coventry City.

As Christmas approached, the inaugural festive Premier League table looked like this:

The hectic Christmas period witnessed everyone having to play two games within 48 hours. George Graham must have felt his turkey sticking in his throat as Arsenal failed to score at home to Ipswich Town, while Big Ron’s holiday mood would have been truly soured by a 3-0 beating at Coventry, where big Mickey Quinn grabbed a brace.

In the battle of the landlords against the tenants at Selhurst Park, Steve Coppell’s Eagles ‘stuck it’ to their renters from Wimbledon with a 2-0 triumph, the goals coming from Chris Coleman and the excellent Geoff Thomas.

Leaders Norwich City were held to a goalless draw at home by Spurs, which allowed Dalglish and Blackburn to close the gap. Rovers got a 3-1 win over faltering champions Leeds United, Shearer once again too hot to handle. However, crucially, the England striker snapped his right anterior cruciate ligament late in that game, a serious injury which would prove a decisive blow to Blackburn’s hopes of a title challenge.

Alex Ferguson must have felt the point his men earned at Sheffield Wednesday was very much one gained rather than two lost. A strong Wednesday team had led 3-0 after an hour, but the shell-shocked Reds recovered enough to grab two goals in the last ten minutes to salvage some pride, Cantona with the late equaliser.

Neighbours City continued to have a steady season, pacy David White scoring twice to give Peter Reid’s men a 2-0 win at home to Dave Bassett’s Sheffield United.

Two days later Arsenal concluded a miserable year with defeat at Villa Park, a Dean Saunders penalty separating two clubs on very different trajectories. Shearer-less Blackburn began to slide immediately with a 2-1 defeat at Ipswich Town. Leeds halted their own slump with a 0-0 draw at home to Norwich City. Those dropped points at Elland Road allowed Manchester United to close the gap on the Canaries to just three points as they thrashed Coventry City 5-0 at Old Trafford, Cantona putting on a master-class of link-up play and precision passing.

The New Year brought with it a new determination at Old Trafford to get the bit between their teeth and put points on the board. On 9 January, Tottenham came to Manchester and were pulverised by a Cantona-led onslaught; his return ball to set up Denis Irwin for United’s second goal was arguably one of the passes of the decade. The final score of 4-1 flattered the Londoners, who had barely got out of their own half for long periods of the game.

Villa had again shown their own title credentials as they completed a league ‘double’ over Liverpool at Anfield. Dean Saunders had reminded the Kop of just what their manager had sold-off in the summer when he scored the winning goal for the visitors, his third of the season against Liverpool. The ‘Souness Revolution’ was on the crest of a slump.

Without Alan Shearer, Blackburn Rovers couldn’t find the Wimbledon net, a bore 0-0 draw the result at Ewood Park. When Norwich City went down 1-0 at Hillsborough to an absolute collector’s item (a Nigel Worthington goal) on the Sunday, we suddenly had three clubs level at the top with 41 points: United, Norwich and Villa. Rovers were three adrift of that lot, with Ipswich Town (under former West Ham boss John Lyall) in a very creditable fifth place.

A week later, 16 January, Norwich could only draw at home to Coventry City after the influential Ian Crook again picked up an early knock. Playing on the Sunday, Villa took full advantage, hammering Middlesbrough 5-1 with goals shared around the team. Big Ron was top of the league.

He was joined at the top on points by Alex Ferguson on the Monday evening. United demonstrated they were a good side even without Cantona (who missed the game) by winning 3-1 at Loftus Road against a very decent QPR side for whom Bradley Allen scored a fine goal. The United goals came from Russian flyer Andrei Kanchelskis, as well as a spectacular Paul Ince overhead kick and a cool finish from Ryan Giggs. The Welsh teenager had developed a friendship off the pitch with Ince which saw them celebrate each other’s goals on it with an intricate hand-slapping dance routine, possibly the first of its kind. At this point, they were apparently inseparable mates around town.

Coventry City were in great form, pushing for European places in the table. They hammered Oldham Athletic 3-0 on 23 January with quick-fire goals early in the game by Kevin Gallacher and Peter Ndlovu. They then followed up that result three days later with a truly superb 5-2 thrashing of Dalglish’s Blackburn at Ewood Park, Mick Quinn grabbing a late double.

The following day, Norwich returned to winning ways when beating Crystal Palace 4-2, but they still trailed Villa and United by two points at the end of the day. The Villains had seen off Sheffield United 3-1, while the Red Devils had deepened Cloughie’s problems at rock-bottom Forest thanks to goals from Ince and Hughes.

However, in a wider context, and as alluded to by the title of this article, these three clubs were now starting to develop a gap between themselves and the rest at the top of the division. By the end of January 1993, fourth-placed Ipswich Town were five points adrift of Aston Villa, who were third with 47 points, a point behind Norwich.

Join me again in part two, as we continue to look back at season 1992-93, and how it would pan out for the three title contenders.