The 1992–93 season was the 94th completed season of the
Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
.
This season saw the birth of the
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
. In 1992, all of the
First Division clubs resigned from the Football League and, on 27 May 1992, the FA Premier League was formed as a
limited company
In a limited company, the liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a company limited by ...
, which worked out of an office at
the Football Association
The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...
’s then headquarters,
Lancaster Gate
Lancaster Gate is a mid-19th century development in the Bayswater district of central London, immediately to the north of Kensington Gardens. It consists of two long terraces of houses overlooking the park, with a wide gap between them openi ...
. Hence, the 104-year-old Football League was reduced from four divisions to three, with the old
Second
The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...
,
Third
Third or 3rd may refer to:
Numbers
* 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3
* , a fraction of one third
* Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute''
Places
* 3rd Street (d ...
and
Fourth Division
Fourth or the fourth may refer to:
* the ordinal form of the number 4
* ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971
* Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision
* Fourth (music), a musical interval
* ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...
s becoming the new First, Second and Third Divisions respectively.
The league was sponsored this season by
Barclays
Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services.
Barclays traces ...
.
Final league tables and results
The tables and results below are reproduced here in the exact form that they can be found a
The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundationwebsite,
with home and away statistics separated. Play-off results are from the same website.
First Division
Newcastle United, who won their first 10 league games, clinched the Division One title with an impressive 96 points to end a four-year exile from the top flight of English football. West Ham United sealed an instant return to the top flight a year after relegation, edging ahead of Portsmouth on goal difference to finished second. Portsmouth's promotion bid, dominated by the form of 42-goal striker
Guy Whittingham
Guy Whittingham (born 10 November 1964) is an English football manager and former professional footballer.
As a player, he was a striker from 1988 until 2005, notably in the Premier League for Aston Villa and Sheffield Wednesday. Having start ...
, ended in the playoff semi-finals when they were beaten by Leicester City, who went on to lose the final 4-3 to Swindon Town after clawing back from 3-0 down before a late penalty from
Paul Bodin
Paul John Bodin (born 13 September 1964) is a Welsh former professional footballer and coach who is now the coach of the Wales under-21 team. His son, Billy Bodin, is also a professional footballer.
A former Chelsea youth team graduate, he mo ...
saw Swindon clinch victory and a place in the top flight for the first time ever. The other losing semi-finalists in the playoffs were Tranmere Rovers, playing only their second season at this level in the postwar era.
Millwall finished one place outside the playoff zone in the first season in management for
Mick McCarthy
Michael Joseph McCarthy (born 7 February 1959) is a professional football manager, pundit, and former player. He was last in charge of EFL Championship club Cardiff City.
McCarthy began his playing career at Barnsley in 1977, and he later had ...
, while pre-season promotion favourites Derby County could only manage an eighth-place finish despite having spent millions on new players over the previous two years. Unfancied Grimsby Town and Peterborough United finished in the top half of the table, comfortably above bigger clubs like Wolverhampton Wanderers and Birmingham City.
Luton Town and Notts County, newly relegated from the top flight, spent the season battling at the wrong end of the division but managed to avoid a second successive relegation, as did a Sunderland side who had been FA Cup finalists one season earlier and members of the top flight two seasons earlier.
Bristol Rovers went down in bottom place after a dismal season. Cambridge United, playoff semi-finalists the previous season, struggled after the sale of
Dion Dublin
Dion Dublin (born 22 April 1969) is an English former professional footballer, television presenter and pundit. He is a club director of Cambridge United.
As a player he was a centre-forward, notably playing in the Premier League for Manchest ...
and went down on the last day of the season, as did a Brentford side who had been on the fringe of the playoff places at Christmas before a slump in form during the second half of the season cost the Bees their Division One status and manager
Phil Holder
Philip Holder (born 19 January 1952) is an English former association football player and manager. As player, he made more than 150 appearances in the Football League representing Tottenham Hotspur, Crystal Palace and AFC Bournemouth, and playe ...
his job.
Results
Play-offs
The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...
Maps
Second Division
In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...
Stoke City sealed promotion as Division Two champions in
Lou Macari's second season as manager, having topped the table for most of the season, as did
Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...
under their new manager
Bruce Rioch
Bruce David Rioch (; born 6 September 1947) is a football manager and former player for the Scotland national team. His last managerial post was at AaB in the Danish Superliga in 2008.
As a player, he made more than 550 appearances in the Fo ...
. The third promotion place went to playoff winners West Bromwich Albion, who beat Port Vale 3-0 in the Wembley promotion decider to secure their first promotion for 17 years and end their two-year spell in the league's third tier, as well as recording a first Wembley victory for 25 years.
Swansea City and Stockport County were the losing semi-finalists.
Leyton Orient missed out on the playoff places as they had scored fewer goals than Stockport. Managing director and former manager
Frank Clark then left the club after accepting the offer to return to
Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...
as manager as successor to
Brian Clough
Brian Howard Clough ( ; 21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004) was an English football player and manager, primarily known for his successes as a manager with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He is one of four managers to have won the Englis ...
.
Chester City's first season at the new
Deva Stadium
Deva Stadium is an association football stadium which is the home of Chester F.C., the effective successor club to the liquidated Chester City. The stadium straddles the England-Wales border at Sealand, on the outskirts of Chester.
The stad ...
saw them relegated in bottom place and also spelled the end of
Harry McNally's seven-year reign as manager in October, with his successor
Mike Pejic
Michael Pejic (born 25 January 1950) is a former England international footballer who played in the English Football League for Stoke City, Everton and Aston Villa.
Pejic started his career with Stoke City under the management of Tony Waddin ...
being unable to steer the club to safety. Wigan Athletic finished second from bottom and suffered their first relegation as a Football League side. Mansfield Town finished third from bottom and suffered an immediate return to the league's fourth tier. The final relegation place went to Preston North End, who had replaced
Les Chapman
Leslie Chapman (born 27 September 1948), commonly known as Les and sometimes as Chappy, is an English former football player and manager. As a player, he made 747 appearances in the Football League in a career that spanned 22 seasons, playing ...
with
John Beck as manager in October, but not even the man who was fresh from a successful spell in charge of Cambridge United could save the
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
side from relegation. Hull City narrowly avoided a second relegation in three seasons, while once again England World Cup winner
Alan Ball was able to guide Exeter City to safety.
Results
Play-offs
The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...
Maps
Third Division
The season began with the demise of
Maidstone United, who had only reached the
Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
three years earlier and were hundreds of thousands of pounds in debt, having been tenants at
Dartford
Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and
is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in ...
since 1988 and having been refused planning permission to build a new stadium on land in
Maidstone
Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the c ...
which had since been purchased. A move to relocate the club to the North-East and merge the with non-league
Newcastle Blue Star
Newcastle Blue Star F.C. is a football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It was established in 1930 and joined the Wearside League in 1973. In 1978, it won the FA Vase. Having won promotion to the Northern Premier League Premier Divi ...
was vetoed by the
Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
, and as the season dawned the club had just two players still registered. Their first league game of the new Division Three season was cancelled and they were given until the following Monday to guarantee that they would be able to fulfill their fixtures. Unable to come up with the necessary backing, they resigned from the league and went into liquidation on 17 August.
As the Division Three campaign got underway, the two
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
based sides in the division emerged as the pace-setters, with Cardiff City finishing as champions and Wrexham as runners-up.
Barnet
Barnet may refer to:
People
*Barnet (surname)
* Barnet (given name)
Places United Kingdom
*Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below.
*East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...
, who had spent much of the season under threat of going the same way as Maidstone due to mounting debts, being banned from the transfer market for failing to pay staff wages, and being threatened with expulsion from the Football League over an unapid fine, clinched the final automatic promotion place in only their second season in the
Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
. The season also brought the end of
Stan Flashman's eight-year ownership of the club, when he resigned as chairman of the club he had paid £50,000 to save from receivership in 1985. Just before promotion was clinched, manager
Barry Fry
Barry Francis Fry (born 7 April 1945) is an English former football player and manager. A winger, Fry was an apprentice at Manchester United in his youth, and had brief spells with Bolton Wanderers, Luton Town and Leyton Orient, before he reti ...
left to take charge of Southend United, with his assistant
Edwin Stein overseeing the final few games of the season before goalkeeper
Gary Phillips took over as player-manager for the 1993-94 season.
Halifax Town, after 72 years of league membership, finished bottom of the league and were replaced by Conference champions Wycombe Wanderers. Maidstone United went out of business on 17 August after their first game was postponed, and were not replaced.
Results
Play-offs
The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...
Maps
See also
*
1992–93 in English football
The 1992–93 season was the 113th season of competitive football in England. The season saw the Premier League in its first season, replacing Division One of the Football League as the top league in England. Every team in the Premier League p ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:1992-93 Football League
English Football League seasons
2