1994–95 FA Premier League

Premier League

Season	1994–95
Dates	20 August 1994 – 14 May 1995
Champions	Blackburn Rovers 1st Premier League title 3rd English title
Relegated	Crystal Palace Norwich City Leicester City Ipswich Town
Champions League	Blackburn Rovers
Cup Winners' Cup	Everton
UEFA Cup	Manchester United Nottingham Forest Liverpool Leeds United (through UEFA Respect Fair Play ranking)
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,195 (2.59 per match)
Top goalscorer	Alan Shearer (34 goals)
Best goalkeeper	Peter Schmeichel (20 clean sheets)
Biggest home win	Manchester United 9–0 Ipswich Town (4 March 1995)
Biggest away win	Sheffield Wednesday 1–7 Nottingham Forest (1 April 1995)
Highest scoring	Manchester United 9–0 Ipswich Town (4 March 1995)
Longest winning run	7 games Blackburn Rovers
Longest unbeaten run	13 games Nottingham Forest
Longest winless run	12 games Everton Southampton
Longest losing run	8 games Ipswich Town
Highest attendance	43,868 Manchester United 1–0 Sheffield Wednesday (7 May 1995)
Lowest attendance	5,268 Wimbledon 2–0 Manchester City (21 March 1995)
Total attendance	11,203,236
Average attendance	24,249
← 1993–94 1995–96 →

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, a total of 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). 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) 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 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 with twenty-two teams as all seasons after this one have twenty teams.

Stadiums and locations

London

Aston Villa

Blackburn Rovers

Coventry City

Everton

Ipswich Town

Leeds United

Leicester City

Liverpool

Manchester City

Manchester United

Newcastle United

Norwich City

Nottingham Forest

Sheffield Wednesday

Southampton

London teams:
Arsenal
Chelsea
Crystal Palace
Queens Park Rangers
Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham United
Wimbledon

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Locations of the 1994–95 Premier League teams

Arsenal

Chelsea

Crystal Palace
Wimbledon

Queens Park
Rangers

Tottenham
Hotspur

West Ham United

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Greater London Premier League football clubs

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Arsenal	London (Highbury)	Highbury	38,419
Aston Villa	Birmingham	Villa Park	39,399
Blackburn Rovers	Blackburn	Ewood Park	31,367
Chelsea	London (Fulham)	Stamford Bridge	36,000
Coventry City	Coventry	Highfield Road	23,489
Crystal Palace	London (Selhurst)	Selhurst Park	26,309
Everton	Liverpool (Walton)	Goodison Park	40,157
Ipswich Town	Ipswich	Portman Road	30,300
Leeds United	Leeds	Elland Road	40,204
Leicester City	Leicester	Filbert Street	22,000
Liverpool	Liverpool (Anfield)	Anfield	42,730
Manchester City	Manchester (Moss Side)	Maine Road	35,150
Manchester United	Manchester (Old Trafford)	Old Trafford	55,314
Newcastle United	Newcastle upon Tyne	St James' Park	36,649
Norwich City	Norwich	Carrow Road	27,010
Nottingham Forest	West Bridgford	City Ground	30,539
Queens Park Rangers	London (Shepherd's Bush)	Loftus Road	18,439
Sheffield Wednesday	Sheffield	Hillsborough Stadium	39,859
Southampton	Southampton	The Dell	15,200
Tottenham Hotspur	London (Tottenham)	White Hart Lane	36,230
West Ham United	London (Upton Park)	Boleyn Ground	28,000
Wimbledon	London (Selhurst)	Selhurst Park	26,309

Personnel and kits

(as of 14 May 1995)

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Arsenal	Stewart Houston (caretaker)	Tony Adams	Nike	JVC
Aston Villa	Brian Little	Kevin Richardson	Asics	Müller
Blackburn Rovers	Kenny Dalglish	Tim Sherwood	Asics	McEwan's Lager
Chelsea	Glenn Hoddle	Dennis Wise	Umbro	Coors
Coventry City	Ron Atkinson	Brian Borrows	Pony	Peugeot
Crystal Palace	Alan Smith	Gareth Southgate	Nutmeg	TDK
Everton	Joe Royle	Dave Watson	Umbro	NEC
Ipswich Town	George Burley	Steve Palmer	Umbro	Fisons
Leeds United	Howard Wilkinson	Gary McAllister	Asics	Thistle Hotels
Leicester City	Mark McGhee	Steve Walsh	Fox Leisure	Walkers
Liverpool	Roy Evans	Ian Rush	Adidas	Carlsberg
Manchester City	Brian Horton	Keith Curle	Umbro	Brother
Manchester United	Alex Ferguson	Steve Bruce	Umbro	Sharp
Newcastle United	Kevin Keegan	Peter Beardsley	Asics	McEwan's (home) Newcastle Brown Ale (away)
Norwich City	Gary Megson (caretaker)	Jon Newsome	Ribero	Norwich and Peterborough
Nottingham Forest	Frank Clark	Stuart Pearce	Umbro	Labatt's
Queens Park Rangers	Ray Wilkins	David Bardsley	Clubhouse	Compaq
Sheffield Wednesday	Trevor Francis	Chris Waddle	Puma	Sanderson
Southampton	Alan Ball	Matt Le Tissier	Pony	Dimplex
Tottenham Hotspur	Gerry Francis	Gary Mabbutt	Umbro	Holsten
West Ham United	Harry Redknapp	Steve Potts	Pony	Dagenham Motors
Wimbledon	Joe Kinnear	Vinnie Jones	In-House	Elonex

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
West Ham United	Billy Bonds	Resigned	10 August 1994	Pre-season	Harry Redknapp	10 August 1994
Tottenham Hotspur	Osvaldo Ardiles	Sacked	1 November 1994	11th	Steve Perryman (caretaker)	1 November 1994
Everton	Mike Walker		8 November 1994	22nd	Joe Royle	10 November 1994
Aston Villa	Ron Atkinson		10 November 1994	19th	Jim Barron (caretaker)	10 November 1994
Tottenham Hotspur	Steve Perryman	End of caretaker spell	15 November 1994	13th	Gerry Francis	15 November 1994
Queens Park Rangers	Gerry Francis	Resigned		18th	Ray Wilkins
Leicester City	Brian Little	Resigned	22 November 1994	20th	Kevin MacDonald (caretaker)	22 November 1994
Aston Villa	Jim Barron	End of caretaker spell	25 November 1994	19th	Brian Little	25 November 1994
Ipswich Town	John Lyall	Resigned	5 December 1994	22nd	Paul Goddard (caretaker)	5 December 1994
Leicester City	Kevin MacDonald	End of caretaker spell	14 December 1994	21st	Mark McGhee	14 December 1994
Ipswich Town	Paul Goddard		28 December 1994	22nd	George Burley	28 December 1994
Coventry City	Phil Neal	Sacked	14 February 1995	13th	Ron Atkinson	15 February 1995
Arsenal	George Graham		21 February 1995	12th	Stewart Houston	21 February 1995
Norwich City	John Deehan	Resigned	9 April 1995	20th	Gary Megson (caretaker)	9 April 1995

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Blackburn Rovers (C)	42	27	8	7	80	39	+41	89	Qualification for the Champions League group stage
2	Manchester United	42	26	10	6	77	28	+49	88	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
3	Nottingham Forest	42	22	11	9	72	43	+29	77
4	Liverpool	42	21	11	10	65	37	+28	74
5	Leeds United	42	20	13	9	59	38	+21	73
6	Newcastle United	42	20	12	10	67	47	+20	72
7	Tottenham Hotspur	42	16	14	12	66	58	+8	62
8	Queens Park Rangers	42	17	9	16	61	59	+2	60
9	Wimbledon	42	15	11	16	48	65	−17	56
10	Southampton	42	12	18	12	61	63	−2	54
11	Chelsea	42	13	15	14	50	55	−5	54
12	Arsenal	42	13	12	17	52	49	+3	51
13	Sheffield Wednesday	42	13	12	17	49	57	−8	51
14	West Ham United	42	13	11	18	44	48	−4	50
15	Everton	42	11	17	14	44	51	−7	50	Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round
16	Coventry City	42	12	14	16	44	62	−18	50
17	Manchester City	42	12	13	17	53	64	−11	49
18	Aston Villa	42	11	15	16	51	56	−5	48
19	Crystal Palace (R)	42	11	12	19	34	49	−15	45	Relegation to Football League First Division
20	Norwich City (R)	42	10	13	19	37	54	−17	43
21	Leicester City (R)	42	6	11	25	45	80	−35	29
22	Ipswich Town (R)	42	7	6	29	36	93	−57	27

Source: Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

Results

Home \ Away	ARS	AVL	BLB	CHE	COV	CRY	EVE	IPS	LEE	LEI	LIV	MCI	MUN	NEW	NOR	NFO	QPR	SHW	SOU	TOT	WHU	WIM
Arsenal	—	0–0	0–0	3–1	2–1	1–2	1–1	4–1	1–3	1–1	0–1	3–0	0–0	2–3	5–1	1–0	1–3	0–0	1–1	1–1	0–1	0–0
Aston Villa	0–4	—	0–1	3–0	0–0	1–1	0–0	2–0	0–0	4–4	2–0	1–1	1–2	0–2	1–1	0–2	2–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–2	7–1
Blackburn Rovers	3–1	3–1	—	2–1	4–0	2–1	3–0	4–1	1–1	3–0	3–2	2–3	2–4	1–0	0–0	3–0	4–0	3–1	3–2	2–0	4–2	2–1
Chelsea	2–1	1–0	1–2	—	2–2	0–0	0–1	2–0	0–3	4–0	0–0	3–0	2–3	1–1	2–0	0–2	1–0	1–1	0–2	1–1	1–2	1–1
Coventry City	0–1	0–1	1–1	2–2	—	1–4	0–0	2–0	2–1	4–2	1–1	1–0	2–3	0–0	1–0	0–0	0–1	2–0	1–3	0–4	2–0	1–1
Crystal Palace	0–3	0–0	0–1	0–1	0–2	—	1–0	3–0	1–2	2–0	1–6	2–1	1–1	0–1	0–1	1–2	0–0	2–1	0–0	1–1	1–0	0–0
Everton	1–1	2–2	1–2	3–3	0–2	3–1	—	4–1	3–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–0	2–0	2–1	1–2	2–2	1–4	0–0	0–0	1–0	0–0
Ipswich Town	0–2	0–1	1–3	2–2	2–0	0–2	0–1	—	2–0	4–1	1–3	1–2	3–2	0–2	1–2	0–1	0–1	1–2	2–1	1–3	1–1	2–2
Leeds United	1–0	1–0	1–1	2–3	3–0	3–1	1–0	4–0	—	2–1	0–2	2–0	2–1	0–0	2–1	1–0	4–0	0–1	0–0	1–1	2–2	3–1
Leicester City	2–1	1–1	0–0	1–1	2–2	0–1	2–2	2–0	1–3	—	1–2	0–1	0–4	1–3	1–0	2–4	1–1	0–1	4–3	3–1	1–2	3–4
Liverpool	3–0	3–2	2–1	3–1	2–3	0–0	0–0	0–1	0–1	2–0	—	2–0	2–0	2–0	4–0	1–0	1–1	4–1	3–1	1–1	0–0	3–0
Manchester City	1–2	2–2	1–3	1–2	0–0	1–1	4–0	2–0	0–0	0–1	2–1	—	0–3	0–0	2–0	3–3	2–3	3–2	3–3	5–2	3–0	2–0
Manchester United	3–0	1–0	1–0	0–0	2–0	3–0	2–0	9–0	0–0	1–1	2–0	5–0	—	2–0	1–0	1–2	2–0	1–0	2–1	0–0	1–0	3–0
Newcastle United	1–0	3–1	1–1	4–2	4–0	3–2	2–0	1–1	1–2	3–1	1–1	0–0	1–1	—	3–0	2–1	2–1	2–1	5–1	3–3	2–0	2–1
Norwich City	0–0	1–1	2–1	3–0	2–2	0–0	0–0	3–0	2–1	2–1	1–2	1–1	0–2	2–1	—	0–1	4–2	0–0	2–2	0–2	1–0	1–2
Nottingham Forest	2–2	1–2	0–2	0–1	2–0	1–0	2–1	4–1	3–0	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	0–0	1–0	—	3–2	4–1	3–0	2–2	1–1	3–1
Queens Park Rangers	3–1	2–0	0–1	1–0	2–2	0–1	2–3	1–2	3–2	2–0	2–1	1–2	2–3	3–0	2–0	1–1	—	3–2	2–2	2–1	2–1	0–1
Sheffield Wednesday	3–1	1–2	0–1	1–1	5–1	1–0	0–0	4–1	1–1	1–0	1–2	1–1	1–0	0–0	0–0	1–7	0–2	—	1–1	3–4	1–0	0–1
Southampton	1–0	2–1	1–1	0–1	0–0	3–1	2–0	3–1	1–3	2–2	0–2	2–2	2–2	3–1	1–1	1–1	2–1	0–0	—	4–3	1–1	2–3
Tottenham Hotspur	1–0	3–4	3–1	0–0	1–3	0–0	2–1	3–0	1–1	1–0	0–0	2–1	0–1	4–2	1–0	1–4	1–1	3–1	1–2	—	3–1	1–2
West Ham United	0–2	1–0	2–0	1–2	0–1	1–0	2–2	1–1	0–0	1–0	3–0	3–0	1–1	1–3	2–2	3–1	0–0	0–2	2–0	1–2	—	3–0
Wimbledon	1–3	4–3	0–3	1–1	2–0	2–0	2–1	1–1	0–0	2–1	0–0	2–0	0–1	3–2	1–0	2–2	1–3	0–1	0–2	1–2	1–0	—

Source: 11v11
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Blackburn's Alan Shearer was the top scorer in the 1994–95 Premier League season, with 34 goals.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Alan Shearer	Blackburn Rovers	34
2	Robbie Fowler	Liverpool	25
3	Les Ferdinand	Queens Park Rangers	24
4	Stan Collymore	Nottingham Forest	22
5	Andy Cole	Newcastle United Manchester United	21
6	Jürgen Klinsmann	Tottenham Hotspur	20
7	Matt Le Tissier	Southampton	19
8	Teddy Sheringham	Tottenham Hotspur	18
	Ian Wright	Arsenal
10	Uwe Rösler	Manchester City	15
	Dean Saunders	Aston Villa
	Chris Sutton	Blackburn Rovers

Hat-tricks

Main article: List of Premier League hat-tricks

In addition to his hat-trick, Manchester United's Andy Cole became the first player to score five goals in a Premier League match.

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Chris Sutton	Blackburn Rovers	Coventry City	4–0 (H)	27 August 1994
Robbie Fowler	Liverpool	Arsenal	3–0 (H)	28 August 1994
Andrei Kanchelskis	Manchester United	Manchester City	5–0 (H)	10 November 1994
Alan Shearer	Blackburn Rovers	Queens Park Rangers	4–0 (H)	26 November 1994
Teddy Sheringham	Tottenham Hotspur	Newcastle United	4–2 (H)	3 December 1994
Tony Cottee	West Ham United	Manchester City	3–0 (H)	17 December 1994
Alan Shearer	Blackburn Rovers	West Ham United	4–2 (H)	30 October 1994
		Ipswich Town	4–1 (H)	2 January 1995
Tommy Johnson	Aston Villa	Wimbledon	7–1 (H)	11 February 1995
Andy Cole5	Manchester United	Ipswich Town	9–0 (H)	4 March 1995
Peter Ndlovu	Coventry City	Liverpool	3–2 (A)	14 March 1995
Tony Yeboah	Leeds United	Ipswich Town	4–0 (H)	5 April 1995
Ian Wright	Arsenal		4–1 (H)	15 April 1995

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

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Peter Schmeichel	Manchester United	20
2	David James	Liverpool	17
	John Lukic	Leeds United
4	Tim Flowers	Blackburn	16
5	Nigel Martyn	Crystal Palace	14
	Neville Southall	Everton
7	Mark Crossley	Nottingham Forest	13
	Luděk Mikloško	West Ham United
	Pavel Srníček	Newcastle United
10	Dmitri Kharine	Chelsea	11
	Steve Ogrizovic	Coventry City
	David Seaman	Arsenal
	Ian Walker	Tottenham Hotspur

Discipline

Player

• Most yellow cards: 12
  • Francis Benali (Southampton)
  • Ken Monkou (Southampton)
  • Andy Pearce (Sheffield Wednesday)

• Most red cards: 2
  • Duncan Ferguson (Everton)
  • Vinnie Jones (Wimbledon)
  • Pavel Srníček (Newcastle United)
  • Andy Townsend (Aston Villa)
  • 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

Tottenham's Jürgen Klinsmann was the inaugural Player of the Month.

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
August	Kevin Keegan	Newcastle United	Jürgen Klinsmann	Tottenham Hotspur
September	Frank Clark	Nottingham Forest	Rob Lee	Newcastle United
October	Alex Ferguson	Manchester United	Paul Ince	Manchester United
November	Kenny Dalglish	Blackburn Rovers	Alan Shearer	Blackburn Rovers
			Chris Sutton
December	Gerry Francis	Tottenham Hotspur	Matt Le Tissier	Southampton
January	Brian Little	Aston Villa	Chris Waddle	Sheffield Wednesday
February	Kevin Keegan	Newcastle United	Duncan Ferguson	Everton
March	Ron Atkinson	Coventry City	Tony Yeboah	Leeds United
April	Howard Wilkinson	Leeds United	David Seaman	Arsenal

Annual awards

Flowers

Jones

Pallister

Hendry

Le Saux

Sherwood

Le Tissier

Ince

Klinsmann

Shearer

Sutton

PFA Team of the Year

Award	Winner	Club
Premier League Manager of the Season	Kenny Dalglish	Blackburn Rovers
Premier League Player of the Season	Alan Shearer
PFA Players' Player of the Year
PFA Young Player of the Year	Robbie Fowler	Liverpool
FWA Footballer of the Year	Jürgen Klinsmann	Tottenham Hotspur

PFA Team of the Year
Goalkeeper	Tim Flowers (Blackburn Rovers)
Defenders	Rob Jones (Liverpool)			Gary Pallister (Manchester United)			Colin Hendry (Blackburn Rovers)			Graeme Le Saux (Blackburn Rovers)
Midfielders	Tim Sherwood (Blackburn Rovers)				Matt Le Tissier (Southampton)				Paul Ince (Manchester United)
Forwards	Jürgen Klinsmann (Tottenham Hotspur)				Alan Shearer (Blackburn Rovers)				Chris Sutton (Blackburn Rovers)

See also

• 1994–95 in English football

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