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1992-93 In English Football





OVERVIEW

This season saw the birth of the FA Premier League . This meant a break-up of the 104-year-old Football League that had operated until then with four divisions.

In 1992 all of the First Division Clubs resigned from the football league and on 27th May 1992 the FA Premier League was formed as a Limited Company , which worked out of an office at the then Football Association 's headquarters, Lancaster Gate .

The three divisions which remained in the Football League were renamed. The old Division Two was now called Division One. The old Division Three was now called Division Two and the old Division Four was now called Division Three.


EVENTS

  • The FA launched its new Premier League of 22 elite clubs, who broke away from The Football League .

  • Manchester United won the first Premier League championship to end their 26-year wait for the league title, Aston Villa were runners-up.

  • Brian Clough retired after 18 years as manager of Nottingham Forest . In his final season as manager they were relegated from the Premier League, but earlier in his reign he had brought league championship and European Cup glory to the previously unfashionable club.

  • Bobby Moore died of cancer aged 51. He is best remembered for captaining England to World Cup glory in 1966 . He also won the FA Cup and Cup Winners' Cup with West Ham United .

  • Arsenal became the first team to win the FA Cup and League Cup in the same season, beating Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 in both finals. Steve Morrow scored the winning goal in the League Cup final, but was accidentally dropped by captain Tony Adams during the post-match celebrations, broke his arm and missed the FA Cup triumph.

  • Swindon Town finally reached the top flight of English football by beating Leicester City 4-3 in the Division One playoff final. They had been denied promotion three years earlier because of financial irregularities.

  • Martin O'Neill , who played in the great Nottingham Forest team of the late 1970s and early 1980s, achieved his first success in management by getting Wycombe Wanderers promoted to the Football League.

  • Barclay's Bank ended their six-year sponsorship of the Football League. They were replaced by Endsleigh Insurance , who put pen to paper in a three-year sponsorship deal.

  • Controversial chairman Stan Flashman quit Barnet after a season of turmoil in which he regularly sacked and reinstated manager Barry Fry , but the club still managed to win promotion from Division Three despite spending months on the verge of oblivion due to a mounting financial crisis.

  • Maidstone United , struggling in the league's basement division with huge debts, no registered stadium and just two registered players, had their first game of the 1992-93 season cancelled and were given two days to guarantee that they would be able to fulfill their fixtures. Unable to comply with these requirements, the club resigned from the league on 17th August 1992. The club was soon reformed and applied to join the Kent County League for the following season. The League decided that Maidstone would not be replaced by another club, so the top four tiers of the English league pyramid would revert to the 92-club format which it had adopted until 1991.

  • Swindon Town won the Division One playoffs to reach the top division for the first time in their history.

  • Nottingham Forest were relegated after 16 straight seasons in the top flight during which they had won one league championship, two European Cups and four League Cups.



HONOURS



ENGLISH NATIONAL TEAM



LEAGUE TABLES


FA Premier League



Football League Division One

Newcastle United's first full season under the management of Kevin Keegan ended in Division One championship glory and promotion to the Premiership. They have not looked back since. Following the Tynesiders into football's big-money league were West Ham United and Swindon Town.

Going down were Cambridge United (who had just missed out on promotion a year earlier), Brentford and Bristol Rovers.

Third-placed Portsmouth had opened up a 10-point gap over fourth-placed Tranmere Rovers, but lost to Leicester City in the playoff semi-finals and this ended any promotion hopes for a club who had begun the season as favourites for promotion.


Football League Division Two

Lou Macari guided Stoke City to their first successful season in years as they were crowned Division Two champions. Bruce Rioch brought some long-awaited success to Bolton Wanderers as they occupied the division's second promotion place. Osvaldo Ardiles guided West Bromwich Albion to promotion via the playoffs.

Preston North End, Wigan Athletic, Mansfield Town and Chester City occupied Division Two's four relegation places.


Football League Division Three

Cardiff City and Wrexham continued their good progress by occupying Division Three's top two places. They were joined in third place by Barnet, who had spent most of the season on the brink of expulsion from the league due to financial problems. The final promotion place went to York City.

Halifax Town finished bottom of the league and were replaced by Conference champions Wycombe Wanderers.


TRANSFER DEALS

For subsequent transfer deals see 1993-94 In English Football .


DEATHS

  • Tommy Caton , 30, who played for Manchester City, Arsenal, Oxford United and Charlton Athletic. Was on the losing side for Manchester City in the 1981 F.A Cup final.

  • Bobby Moore , 51, who captained England to World Cup glory in 1966 as well as winning an F.A Cup and Cup Winners Cup with West Ham, died after a two-year battle against bowel cancer.

  • Melvin Rees , Sheffield United goalkeeper, died of cancer aged 25. Had previously played for Cardiff City and West Bromwich Albion.

  • Daniel Yorath , 15-year-old son of Wales manager Terry , collapsed and died as a result of a rare heart condition, just after joining the Leeds United youth team.

  • John Atyeo , who played for Bristol City during the postwar years, scored a total of 350 goals in nearly 600 games for his club - a club record which remains to this day.