1993–94 FA Premier League

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 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

Arsenal

Chelsea

Queens Park Rangers

Tottenham Hotspur

West Ham United

Wimbledon

Manchester City

Manchester United

Oldham Athletic|position=right}}

Personnel and kits

(as of 8 May 1994)

Managerial changes

League table

Results

Season statistics

Top scorers

Hat-tricks

Main article: List of Premier League hat-tricks

:Note: 4 – player scored 4 goals; (H) – Home; (A) – Away

Clean sheets

Discipline

Player

• Most yellow cards: 10

  • ENG Dane Whitehouse (Sheffield United)

• Most red cards: 2

  • FRA Eric Cantona (Manchester United)
  • ENG Chris Makin (Oldham Athletic)

Club

• Most yellow cards: 44

  • Sheffield United

• Fewest yellow cards: 12

  • Coventry City

• Most red cards: 4

  • Oldham Athletic
  • Sheffield United

• Fewest red cards: 0

  • Blackburn Rovers
  • Coventry City
  • Everton
  • Ipswich Town
  • Leeds United
  • Manchester City
  • Wimbledon

Awards

Monthly awards

Annual awards

Attendances

Manchester United drew the highest average home attendance in the second edition of the Premier League. !#!!Football club!!Home games!!Average attendance |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Manchester United || 21 || 44,244 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Liverpool FC || 21 || 38,503 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Leeds United || 21 || 34,495 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Newcastle United || 21 || 33,689 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Arsenal FC || 21 || 30,564 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Aston Villa || 21 || 29,015 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Sheffield Wednesday || 21 || 27,191 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Tottenham Hotspur || 21 || 27,160 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Manchester City || 21 || 26,709 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Everton FC || 21 || 22,868 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || West Ham United || 21 || 20,593 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Sheffield United || 21 || 19,564 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Chelsea FC || 21 || 19,416 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Norwich City || 21 || 18,164 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Blackburn Rovers || 21 || 17,690 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Ipswich Town || 21 || 16,379 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Swindon Town || 21 || 15,248 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Southampton FC || 21 || 14,751 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Queens Park Rangers || 21 || 14,228 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Coventry City || 21 || 13,353 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Oldham Athletic || 21 || 12,477 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Wimbledon FC || 21 || 10,474 |- |} }}

References and notes

References

1. "English Premier League 1993–94". statto.com.
2. "Match Report".
3. (3 March 2024). "Premier League 1994/1995 – Attendances - Home matches".
4. "Premier League Player Stats - Goals". Premier League.
5. (17 August 2007). "On this week...". Coventry City F.C..
6. Dobson, Frank. (22 August 1993). "Football: Cottee hits heights". The Independent.
7. "Arsenal 4–0 Ipswich". Soccerbase.
8. "Everton 1–5 Norwich". Soccerbase.
9. Winter, Henry. (24 October 1993). "Leeds upstage Shearer show". The Independent.
10. "Newcastle 4–0 MK Dons". Soccerbase.
11. "Liverpool 4–0 Southampton". Soccerbase.
12. Houston, Bob. (21 November 1993). "Football: Everton lose dignity". The Independent.
13. Culley, Jon. (22 November 1993). "Football: Cole collects hat-trick to humble Liverpool: Strikers display their talents as Newcastle's passing game destroys weakened visitors and West Bromwich are punished for errors". The Independent.
14. "GGG35: Ian Wright v Swindon Town, 1993". Arsenal F.C..
15. "Everton 6–0 Swindon". Soccerbase.
16. Slot, Owen. (6 February 1994). "Football: The age of Fjortoft". The Independent.
17. Houston, Bob. (13 February 1994). "Football: Sizzling Saunders". The Independent.
18. Haylett, Trevor. (15 February 1994). "Football: Le Tissier sets up the rout of poor Liverpool". The Independent.
19. Dobson, Frank. (24 February 1994). "Football: Newcastle lifted by brilliant Cole: Familiar figure helps youthful Magpies return to winning ways". The Independent.
20. "On this day in ...". Arsenal F.C..
21. Slot, Owen. (20 March 1994). "Football: Wright floors revivalists". The Independent.
22. Culley, Jon. (10 April 1994). "Football: Le Tissier hat-trick keeps Saints afloat". The Independent.
23. (25 September 1993). "MK Dons 3–0 Oldham". Soccerbase.
24. "Premier League Player Stats – Clean Sheets". Premier League.
25. "Premier League Player Stats – Yellow Cards".
26. "Premier League Player Stats – Red Cards".
27. "Premier League Club Stats – Yellow Cards".
28. "Premier League Club Stats – Red Cards".
29. "Carling Premiership Manager of the Month 1993/94". Premier League.
30. "Alex Ferguson Manager Profile, Record & Stats {{!". Premier League.
31. [http://www.englandfootballonline.com/TeamHons/HonsPFAPlyr.html England Player Honours – Professional Footballers' Association Players' Players of the Year]
32. [http://www.englandfootballonline.com/TeamHons/HonsPFAYngPlyr.html England Player Honours – Professional Footballers' Association Young Players of the Year]
33. [http://www.englandfootballonline.com/TeamHons/HonsFWAFbYr.html England Player Honours – Football Writers' Association Footballers of the Year]
34. Lynch, Tony. "The Official P.F.A. Footballers Heroes". Random House UK.
35. "Premier League 1993/1994 » Attendance » Home matches".