1994–95 FA Premier League
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The 1994–95 FA Premier League (known as the FA Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the third season of the competition, since its formation in 1992 as the top division of professional football in England. Due to the decision to reduce the number of clubs in the FA Premier League from 22 to 20 starting from the following season, four clubs were to be relegated.
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).[1] 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.[2] 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) and fifth placed Leeds United.
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[3] 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
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Personnel and kits
(as of 14 May 1995)
Managerial changes
League table
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Results
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Season statistics
Top scorers
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals[4] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Template:Flagicon Alan Shearer | Blackburn Rovers | 34 |
| 2 | Template:Flagicon Robbie Fowler | Liverpool | 25 |
| 3 | Template:Flagicon Les Ferdinand | Queens Park Rangers | 24 |
| 4 | Template:Flagicon Stan Collymore | Nottingham Forest | 22 |
| 5 | Template:Flagicon Andy Cole | Newcastle United Manchester United |
21 |
| 6 | Template:Flagicon Jürgen Klinsmann | Tottenham Hotspur | 20 |
| 7 | Template:Flagicon Matt Le Tissier | Southampton | 19 |
| 8 | Template:Flagicon Teddy Sheringham | Tottenham Hotspur | 18 |
| Template:Flagicon Ian Wright | Arsenal | ||
| 10 | Template:Flagicon Uwe Rösler | Manchester City | 15 |
| Template:Flagicon Dean Saunders | Aston Villa | ||
| Template:Flagicon Chris Sutton | Blackburn Rovers |
Hat-tricks
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| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Flagicon Script error: No such module "Sort". | Blackburn Rovers | Coventry City | 4–0 (H)[5] | Template:Dts |
| Template:Flagicon Script error: No such module "Sort". | Liverpool | Arsenal | 3–0 (H)[6] | Template:Dts |
| Template:Flagicon Script error: No such module "Sort". | Manchester United | Manchester City | 5–0 (H)[7] | Template:Dts |
| Template:Flagicon Script error: No such module "Sort". | Blackburn Rovers | Queens Park Rangers | 4–0 (H)[8] | Template:Dts |
| Template:Flagicon Script error: No such module "Sort". | Tottenham Hotspur | Newcastle United | 4–2 (H)[9] | Template:Dts |
| Template:Flagicon Script error: No such module "Sort". | West Ham United | Manchester City | 3–0 (H)[10] | Template:Dts |
| Template:Flagicon Script error: No such module "Sort". | Blackburn Rovers | West Ham United | 4–2 (H)[11] | Template:Dts |
| Ipswich Town | 4–1 (H)[12] | Template:Dts | ||
| Template:Flagicon Script error: No such module "Sort". | Aston Villa | Wimbledon | 7–1 (H)[13] | Template:Dts |
| Template:Flagicon Script error: No such module "Sort".5 | Manchester United | Ipswich Town | 9–0 (H)[14] | Template:Dts |
| Template:Flagicon Script error: No such module "Sort". | Coventry City | Liverpool | 3–2 (A)[15] | Template:Dts |
| Template:Flagicon Script error: No such module "Sort". | Leeds United | Ipswich Town | 4–0 (H)[16] | Template:Dts |
| Template:Flagicon Script error: No such module "Sort". | Arsenal | 4–1 (H)[17] | Template:Dts |
- Note: 5 – player scored 5 goals; (H) – Home; (A) – Away
Clean sheets
| Rank | Player | Club | Clean sheets[18] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Template:Flagicon Peter Schmeichel | Manchester United | 20 |
| 2 | Template:Flagicon David James | Liverpool | 17 |
| Template:Flagicon John Lukic | Leeds United | ||
| 4 | Template:Flagicon Tim Flowers | Blackburn | 16 |
| 5 | Template:Flagicon Nigel Martyn | Crystal Palace | 14 |
| Template:Flagicon Neville Southall | Everton | ||
| 7 | Template:Flagicon Mark Crossley | Nottingham Forest | 13 |
| Template:Flagicon Luděk Mikloško | West Ham United | ||
| Template:Flagicon Pavel Srníček | Newcastle United | ||
| 10 | Template:Flagicon Dmitri Kharine | Chelsea | 11 |
| Template:Flagicon Steve Ogrizovic | Coventry City | ||
| Template:Flagicon David Seaman | Arsenal | ||
| Template:Flagicon Ian Walker | Tottenham Hotspur |
Discipline
Player
- Most yellow cards: 12[19]
- Template:Flagicon Francis Benali (Southampton)
- Template:Flagicon Ken Monkou (Southampton)
- Template:Flagicon Andy Pearce (Sheffield Wednesday)
- Most red cards: 2[20]
- Template:Flagicon Duncan Ferguson (Everton)
- Template:Flagicon Vinnie Jones (Wimbledon)
- Template:Flagicon Pavel Srníček (Newcastle United)
- Template:Flagicon Andy Townsend (Aston Villa)
- Template:Flagicon Jason Wilcox (Blackburn Rovers)
Club
- Most yellow cards: 72[21]
- Wimbledon
- Fewest yellow cards: 35[21]
- Liverpool
- Most red cards: 8[22]
- Leicester City
- Fewest red cards: 0[22]
- Leeds United
- Southampton
Awards
Monthly awards
Annual awards
|
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PFA Team of the Year
Flowers
Jones
Pallister
Hendry
Le Saux
Sherwood
Le Tissier
Ince
Klinsmann
Shearer
Sutton
|
| Award | Winner | Club |
|---|---|---|
| Premier League Manager of the Season | Template:Flagicon Kenny Dalglish[23] | Blackburn Rovers |
| Premier League Player of the Season | Template:Flagicon Alan Shearer[24][25] | |
| PFA Players' Player of the Year | ||
| PFA Young Player of the Year | Template:Flagicon Robbie Fowler[26] | Liverpool |
| FWA Footballer of the Year | Template:Flagicon Jürgen Klinsmann[27] | Tottenham Hotspur |
| PFA Team of the Year[28] | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goalkeeper | Template:Flagicon Tim Flowers (Blackburn Rovers) | |||||||||||
| Defenders | Template:Flagicon Rob Jones (Liverpool) |
Template:Flagicon Gary Pallister (Manchester United) |
Template:Flagicon Colin Hendry (Blackburn Rovers) |
Template:Flagicon Graeme Le Saux (Blackburn Rovers) | ||||||||
| Midfielders | Template:Flagicon Tim Sherwood (Blackburn Rovers) |
Template:Flagicon Matt Le Tissier (Southampton) |
Template:Flagicon Paul Ince (Manchester United) | |||||||||
| Forwards | Template:Flagicon Jürgen Klinsmann (Tottenham Hotspur) |
Template:Flagicon Alan Shearer (Blackburn Rovers) |
Template:Flagicon Chris Sutton (Blackburn Rovers) | |||||||||
Attendances
Manchester United drew the highest average home attendance in the third edition of the Premier League. Template:Row counter
See also
References and notes
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- ↑ England Player Honours – Professional Footballers' Association Players' Players of the Year
- ↑ England Player Honours – Professional Footballers' Association Young Players of the Year
- ↑ England Player Honours – Football Writers' Association Footballers of the Year
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External links
- League and cup results for all the 1994/95 Premier Division clubs at footballsite
- 1994–95 Premier League Season at RSSSF
- 1994–95 League statistics from RSSSF
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