The 1994–95 season was the 115th season of competitive football in England.
Overview Premiership
Blackburn Rovers ended their 81-year wait for the league title thanks to the strike partnership of Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton which scored a total of more than 50 league goals. On the final day of the season, Manchester United failed to beat West Ham United, confirming Blackburn as champions, despite losing to Liverpool. Newly promoted Nottingham Forest finished third and qualified for the UEFA Cup along with fourth placed Liverpool (also League Cup winners) and fifth placed Leeds United.
After this season the Premier League would be reduced to 20 clubs, so there were four teams relegated this time around. They were occupied by Crystal Palace, Norwich City (who had finished third two seasons earlier), Leicester City, and Ipswich Town.
Division One The streamlining of the Premier League meant that just two clubs would be promoted from Division One in 1995. Middlesbrough won the Division One title in their first season under Bryan Robson, while Reading were the club that were to fail to win promotion despite finishing second in the table. Instead, they competed in the playoffs, losing to Bolton Wanderers in the final, who achieved their second promotion in three years under Bruce Rioch – as well as being League Cup runners-up.
1995 saw four clubs relegated from Division One to Division Two – Swindon Town (relegated for the second straight season), Burnley, Bristol City, and Notts County. Sunderland narrowly avoided the drop following the arrival of enthusiastic new manager Peter Reid, who over the next few years would bring dramatic improvements to the Wearsiders.
Division Two There were only two promotion places in Division Two for 1994–95. They were occupied by champions Birmingham City and playoff winners Huddersfield Town, both enjoying success after seasons of disappointment. Birmingham City also won the Football League Trophy and completed the "lower-league Double".
1995 saw five teams relegated – Cambridge United, Plymouth Argyle, Cardiff City, Chester City, and Leyton Orient
Division Three This season saw three clubs go up from Division Three instead of four clubs. They were champions Carlisle United, runners-up Walsall, and playoff winners Chesterfield.
Exeter City, who almost went out of business in mid-season, finished bottom of Division Three but kept their league status because Conference champions Macclesfield Town were unable to meet the league's stadium capacity requirements.
Successful players Alan Shearer was the English league's top scorer with 34 Premiership goals for champions Blackburn Rovers.
20-year-old Robbie Fowler collected a League Cup winner's medal with Liverpool as well as the PFA Young Player of the Year award, following another season of strong goalscoring.
Peter Schmeichel established himself as a world-class goalkeeper by conceding just 4 goals in 18 home Premiership fixtures with Manchester United.
Stan Collymore scored 22 Premiership goals for Nottingham Forest and was soon on his way to Liverpool for an English record fee of £8.4 million.
Experienced Scottish striker John Hendrie was the driving force in Middlesbrough's return to the Premiership after a two-year absence.
36-year-old Tranmere Rovers striker John Aldridge was Division One's leading goalscorer with 24 league goals.
Bolton Wanderers midfielder Jason McAteer established himself as a young talent in England and would soon be on his way to Liverpool.
Wrexham striker Gary Bennett scored a staggering 39 goals in all competitions.
Huddersfield Town striker Andy Booth who scored an impressive 30 goals during this season as well as make international honours with the England Under 21 squad.
Walsall wingers Scott Houghton and Martin O'Connor almost single-handedly earned their club's promotion to Division Two.
Successful managers Kenny Dalglish become only the third manager to win the English league title with different clubs after he guided Blackburn Rovers to their first league title since 1914.
Joe Royle completed his first season as Everton manager by winning the FA Cup.
Roy Evans won the League Cup in his first full season as Liverpool manager.
Frank Clark took newly promoted Nottingham Forest to third place in the Premiership to achieve UEFA Cup qualification and bring European football to the club for the first time since the early 1980s.
Bryan Robson made an excellent start to his management career by winning the Division One championship and gaining promotion to the Premiership with Middlesbrough.
Bruce Rioch won the Division One playoffs and took Bolton Wanderers to their first cup final in nearly 40 years.
Jimmy Quinn took Reading to a second-place finish in Division One and only the streamlining of the Premiership prevented them from reaching the top flight for the very first time.
Neil Warnock achieved his fourth promotion in less than a decade as he guided Huddersfield Town to glory in the Division Two playoffs.
John Duncan helped Chesterfield F.C. win the Division Three playoffs and brought some long-awaited success to Saltergate.
Chris Nicholl had a strong first season as Walsall F.C. manager by gaining promotion to Division Two.
Barry Fry won the Division Two title with Birmingham City, who were also Auto Windscreen Shield winners.
Attendances
The 1994–95 season was the first season in which clubs in the top two tiers were required to have all-seater stadia. A total of 26,150,028 attended matches in competitions organised by The Football Association and the Football League and hosted by league clubs. Of that number, 21,856,223 attended Premiership and Football League matches. This ensured that attendance at league matches had increased for the ninth consecutive season.News of the World: The News of the World Football Annual 1995-6, p.6. London: Invincible Press, 1995
In the Premiership, 11,213,371 attended the 420 matches held in 1994–95, the highest attendance in the top division since the 1980–81 season. Meanwhile, Football League clubs attracted 10,583,498, a decline of half a million from the previous season.
The ten most supported teams in league matches this season were as follows: RankTeamStadiumAverage attendanceLeague division1Manchester UnitedOld Trafford43,682Premier League2ArsenalHighbury35,505Premier League3Newcastle UnitedSt James' Park34,690Premier League4LiverpoolAnfield34,176Premier League5Leeds UnitedElland Road32,925Premier League6EvertonGoodison Park31,294Premier League7Aston VillaVilla Park29,280Premier League8Tottenham HotspurWhite Hart Lane27,259Premier League9Sheffield WednesdayHillsborough Stadium26,572Premier League10Wolverhampton WanderersMolineux Stadium25,940First Division
The attendance at FA Cup matches from the First Round to the Final was 2,015,261, an increase of 25,641 from the previous season. The attendance at the Final was 79,592.News of the World: The News of the World Football Annual 1995-6, p. 89. London: Invincible Press, 1995.
Events
Walker's title dream comes true for Blackburn The five-year revival of Blackburn Rovers under the ownership of Jack Walker paid off as they were crowned Premiership champions and finished top of the English league for the first time in 81 years. A key force in the title glory was striker Alan Shearer, who scored 34 League goals and was named PFA Players' Player of the Year. His strike partner Chris Sutton also had a major influence on Blackburn's success, as did captain Tim Sherwood and defenders Colin Hendry and Graeme Le Saux. Manager Kenny Dalglish, who had won three titles as a manager with Liverpool, became only the third manager in English football to win the league title with different clubs.
Everton's triumph leaves United with nothing Everton had a terrible start to the 1994–95 season. Failure to win any of their first twelve Premiership games cost manager Mike Walker his job, but the appointment of Oldham Athletic's Joe Royle as his successor and the signing of controversial striker Duncan Ferguson helped to revive Everton's fortunes. Their Premiership survival was confirmed at the end of April and on 20 May they beat Manchester United 1–0 in the FA Cup final thanks to a Paul Rideout goal. Rideout's goal – and the brilliant goalkeeping of veteran Neville Southall – meant that Everton had won their first major honour in eight years, while United endured their first trophyless season in six years. To date, this remains Everton's last major trophy.
The Eric Cantona kung-fu incident On 25 January 1995, Eric Cantona, the Manchester United and France forward, was sent off in a Premiership game against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park for lashing out at Eagles defender Richard Shaw. Cantona then kicked Palace supporter Matthew Simmons, who taunted him from the stands.
His club fined him two weeks wages and banned him from playing for the rest of the season. The FA fined Cantona £10,000 and extended his ban from football to 30 September 1995, for a total of eight months – one of the longest suspensions ever handed out in English football. FIFA later confirmed that this ban was worldwide. A jury at Croydon Magistrates Court found him guilty of common assault and the judge sentenced him to fourteen days in prison, although he was immediately released on bail pending an appeal – which was successful in quashing his prison sentence. He received a 120-hour community service order instead, opting to coach children in the Greater Manchester area.
Cantona was not the only player facing jail. Chelsea captain Dennis Wise was convicted of assaulting a taxi driver and jailed for three months, although a successful appeal saw both his conviction and his prison sentence quashed.
Arsenal caught up in bungs scandal and drugs controversy
Arsenal were another Premiership club to be hit by controversy in the 1994–95 season. In November 1994, winger Paul Merson admitted that he was addicted to alcohol, cocaine and gambling. He went on a three-month rehabilitation course before resuming his career. Just before Merson's return, it was revealed that manager George Graham had accepted £425,000 worth of illegal payments from a Scandinavian agent who had overseen the signings of Pål Lydersen and John Jensen three years earlier. Graham, one of the most successful managers in the club's history, was sacked after nine years at the helm.
Nayim ends Arsenal's Euro dream
Despite the controversy of George Graham's sacking and Paul Merson's personal problems, Arsenal reached the European Cup Winners' Cup final under caretaker manager Stewart Houston, where they faced Real Zaragoza of Spain. The scores were level at 1–1 after 90 minutes, but a freak goal from 40 yards out in the last minute of extra-time by Nayim – a former Tottenham Hotspur player – won the trophy for the Spaniards. Grobbelaar Match-fixing allegations
Bruce Grobbelaar faced match-fixing allegations resulting in the October 2002 judgement by Lord Bingham of Cornhill. He and his co-defendants had been cleared in November 1997. Grobbelaar later successfully sued The Sun for libel. The Sun appealed, and the case was eventually reached the House of Lords. The Lords slashed Grobbelaar's award to £1 and ordered him to pay The Sun'''s legal costs, estimated at £500,000. Grobbelaar was unable to pay the costs and was declared bankrupt.
Honours CompetitionWinnerFA CupEverton (5)League CupLiverpool (5*)FA Premier LeagueBlackburn Rovers (3/1)Football League First DivisionMiddlesbroughFootball League Second DivisionBirmingham CityFootball League Third DivisionCarlisle United
Notes = Number in parentheses is the times that club has won that honour (First Division & Premier League). Number after slash is Premier League only. * indicates new record for competition
England national team