1994–95 FA Premier League

Overview

Transfers

Just before the start of the season, the English transfer record was broken when Blackburn Rovers paid £5 million for 21-year-old Norwich City striker Chris Sutton. But that record was broken again in January when Manchester United paid £6 million for Newcastle United's Andy Cole, in a deal which also saw £1 million-rated Keith Gillespie move to Newcastle. Other significant transfers before and during the 1994–95 season included: Vinny Samways (Tottenham to Everton, £2 million), David Rocastle (Manchester City to Chelsea, £1.25 million), Jürgen Klinsmann (Monaco to Tottenham Hotspur, £2 million), John Scales (Wimbledon to Liverpool, £3 million) and Paul Kitson (Derby County to Newcastle United, £2.2 million).

Summary

The title was won by Blackburn Rovers, whose last title success was in 1914, and also was Blackburn's first major trophy in 67 years (the last being 1927–28 FA Cup). Kenny Dalglish's side secured the championship on the last day of the season despite losing 2–1 at his former club Liverpool, as Manchester United could only manage a 1–1 draw at West Ham. This meant that Blackburn Rovers qualified for the European Cup for the first time in their history, while Manchester United finished second earning a UEFA Cup place. A single point separated the two sides, who for more than half of the season enjoyed a wide gap in terms of point between themselves and the rest of the league, despite the likes of Nottingham Forest, Liverpool and Newcastle United looking like title contenders during the first three months of the season.

Also qualifying for the UEFA Cup were Nottingham Forest (who finished third in their first season back in the Premier League), Liverpool (who finished fourth and won their fifth League Cup in the club's first full season following the appointment of Roy Evans). Fifth-placed Leeds United also secured a place via the newly-introduced UEFA Fair Play ranking, by virtue of the Premier League's exemplary disciplinary record through the season.

The number of teams in the league for the following year would be reduced to 20. This was to be achieved by increasing the number of teams facing relegation to four, and reducing the number of teams being promoted from Division 1 to two. Ipswich Town were relegated in bottom place after winning just seven league games and conceding 93 goals. Newly promoted Leicester City also went down, winning just six times in the league and never being outside the bottom two after November. Norwich City, who had been in contention for a UEFA Cup place halfway through the season, suffered a nosedive in form during the second half of the season and were relegated just two seasons after being title contenders. The final relegation place on the last day of the season went to Crystal Palace, who still lost 3-2 despite a strong fightback at Newcastle after being 3-0 down.

Controversial incidents

In January 1995, Manchester United's 28-year-old French striker Eric Cantona (then holder of the PFA Players' Player of the Year award) assaulted a Crystal Palace fan who verbally abused him in his team's 1–1 draw at Selhurst Park. Cantona was banned from football for eight months, fined £20,000 and sentenced to 14 days in prison. The prison sentence was later reduced to 120 hours community service on appeal.

Chelsea midfielder Dennis Wise was convicted of criminal damage and assault, relating to a fight with a taxi driver in London. He was given a three-month prison sentence but the conviction and prison sentence were quickly overturned on appeal.

Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson admitted in November 1994 that he was an alcoholic and was also addicted to cocaine and gambling. He underwent a three-month drug rehabilitation programme before being allowed to resume his playing career.

Crystal Palace striker Chris Armstrong failed a drugs test in February 1995 but admitted that he had done wrong and returned to action after just four weeks undergoing rehabilitation. Armstrong was Palace's leading goalscorer in 1994–95, helping them reach the semi-finals of both domestic cup competitions, but was unable to prevent them from being relegated back to the First Division just one season after winning promotion.

Arsenal manager George Graham was sacked in February 1995 after nearly nine years in charge, when it was revealed that he had accepted an illegal payment of £425,000 from Norwegian agent Rune Hauge relating to the purchases of Norwegian and Danish players Pål Lydersen and John Jensen three years earlier. Graham was later banned from football for one year by the FA.

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 Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest (both teams returning to the top flight after a season's absence), and Leicester City (returning after a top flight absence of seven years). This was also Leicester City's first season in the Premier League. They replaced Sheffield United, Oldham Athletic and Swindon Town, who were relegated to the First Division after their top flight spells of four, three and one year respectively. This was the final season to be contested by twenty-two teams as all seasons after were contested by twenty teams.

Stadiums and locations

Arsenal

Chelsea

Crystal Palace

Queens Park Rangers

Tottenham Hotspur

West Ham United

Wimbledon

Personnel and kits

(as of 14 May 1995)

Managerial changes

League table

Results

Season statistics

Top scorers

Hat-tricks

Main article: List of Premier League hat-tricks

:Note: 5 – player scored 5 goals; (H) – Home; (A) – Away

Clean sheets

Discipline

Player

• Most yellow cards: 12

  • ENG Francis Benali (Southampton)
  • NED Ken Monkou (Southampton)
  • ENG Andy Pearce (Sheffield Wednesday)

• Most red cards: 2

  • SCO Duncan Ferguson (Everton)
  • WAL Vinnie Jones (Wimbledon)
  • CZE Pavel Srníček (Newcastle United)
  • IRL Andy Townsend (Aston Villa)
  • ENG Jason Wilcox (Blackburn Rovers)

Club

• Most yellow cards: 72

  • Wimbledon

• Fewest yellow cards: 35

  • Liverpool

• Most red cards: 8

  • Leicester City

• Fewest red cards: 0

  • Leeds United
  • Southampton

Awards

Monthly awards

Annual awards

Attendances

Manchester United drew the highest average home attendance in the third edition of the Premier League. !#!!Football club!!Home games!!Average attendance |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Manchester United || 21 || 43,677 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Arsenal FC || 21 || 35,353 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Newcastle United || 21 || 34,692 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Liverpool FC || 21 || 34,225 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Leeds United || 21 || 32,798 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Everton FC || 21 || 30,894 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Aston Villa || 21 || 29,756 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Tottenham Hotspur || 21 || 27,259 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Sheffield Wednesday || 21 || 26,568 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Blackburn Rovers || 21 || 25,272 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Nottingham Forest || 21 || 23,633 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Manchester City || 21 || 22,655 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Chelsea FC || 21 || 21,057 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || West Ham United || 21 || 20,223 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Leicester City || 21 || 19,532 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Norwich City || 21 || 18,625 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Ipswich Town || 21 || 16,880 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Coventry City || 21 || 15,979 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Crystal Palace FC || 21 || 14,879 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Southampton FC || 21 || 14,685 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Queens Park Rangers || 21 || 14,637 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Wimbledon FC || 21 || 10,207 |- |} }}

References and notes

References

1. "English Premier League 1994–95". statto.com.
2. "Premier League 1994/1995 – Attendances".
3. (14 May 2015). "Blackburn Rovers winning the Premier League might never be surpassed". The Telegraph.
4. "Liverpool 2 Blackburn 1". LFC History.
5. (31 January 2020). "Remember when... Eric Cantona kung-fu kicked a fan".
6. "Premier League Player Stats – Goals". Premier League.
7. Barton, Mark. (29 August 1994). "Football: Sutton punishes sorry Coventry: Rovers leave it late". The Independent.
8. McNulty, Phil. (25 February 2004). "The hat-trick Hall of Fame". BBC Sport.
9. Smith, Rory. (8 May 2009). "Manchester United v Manchester City: Five classic derbies". Daily Telegraph.
10. (November 2018). "Blackburn 4–0 QPR". Soccerbase.
11. "Tottenham Hotspur 4–2 Newcastle United". Soccerbase.
12. "West Ham United 3–0 Manchester City". Soccerbase.
13. Hodgson, Guy. (3 January 1995). "Blackburn put clear by superb Shearer". The Independent.
14. "Liverpool 4–0 Southampton". Soccerbase.
15. Bramwell, Neil. (12 February 1995). "Seven up for Villa". The Independent.
16. (3 July 2000). "A nightmare revisited". BBC Sport.
17. Tyler, Martin. (23 April 2009). "Andrey the giant". Sky Sports.
18. Allsop, Derick. (6 April 1995). "Yeboah's hat-trick buries Ipswich". The Independent.
19. Houston, Bob. (16 April 1995). "Hat-trick is the Wright response". The Independent.
20. "Premier League Player Stats – Clean Sheets". Premier League.
21. "Premier League Player Stats – Yellow Cards".
22. "Premier League Player Stats – Red Cards".
23. "Premier League Club Stats – Yellow Cards".
24. "Premier League Club Stats – Red Cards".
25. "Manager profile, Kenny Dalglish". Premier League.
26. "Seasonal Awards 1994/95". Premier League.
27. [http://www.englandfootballonline.com/TeamHons/HonsPFAPlyr.html England Player Honours – Professional Footballers' Association Players' Players of the Year]
28. [http://www.englandfootballonline.com/TeamHons/HonsPFAYngPlyr.html England Player Honours – Professional Footballers' Association Young Players of the Year]
29. [http://www.englandfootballonline.com/TeamHons/HonsFWAFbYr.html England Player Honours – Football Writers' Association Footballers of the Year]
30. Lynch, Tony. "The Official P.F.A. Footballers Heroes". Random House UK.
31. "Premier League 1994/1995 - Attendance".