1992–93 Football League

Football League, Second Division
Season	1992–93
Champions	Stoke City (3rd third tier title)
Direct promotion	Stoke City,; Bolton Wanderers
Promoted through play-offs	West Bromwich Albion
Relegated	Chester,; Mansfield Town,; Preston North End,; Wigan Athletic
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1,479 (2.68 per match)
Top goalscorer	Bob Taylor (West Bromwich Albion), 30
	← 1991–92 1993–94 →

Football League, First Division
Season	1992–93
Champions	Newcastle United (2nd second tier title)
Direct promotion to FA Premier League	Newcastle United,; West Ham United
Promoted to FA Premier League through play-offs	Swindon Town
Relegated	Brentford,; Bristol Rovers,; Cambridge United
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1,449 (2.63 per match)
Top goalscorer	Guy Whittingham (Portsmouth), 42
	← 1991–92 1993–94 →

The Football League
Season	1992–93
Champions	Newcastle United
Promoted	Newcastle United; West Ham United; Swindon Town
Relegated	Halifax Town
	← 1991–92 1993–94 →

The 1992–1993 season was the 94th completed season of the Football League.

This season saw the birth of the Premier League. 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, which worked out of an office at the Football Association’s then headquarters, Lancaster Gate. Hence, the 104-year-old Football League was reduced from four divisions to three, with the old Second, Third and Fourth Divisions becoming the new First, Second and Third Divisions respectively.

The league was sponsored this season by Barclays.

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 Premier League, where they remained for 16 seasons until relegation at the end of the 2008–09 season. Following the Geordies into football’s big-money league were West Ham United and Swindon Town. West Ham had suffered relegation just one season earlier, and had been many people’s favourites for an automatic return to the elite. Swindon, meanwhile, had finally reached the top flight after 73 years of trying — they had actually won promotion via the play-offs three years earlier, but promotion had been denied a few weeks later due to financial irregularities.

Going down were Cambridge United (who had just missed out on promotion a year earlier and are now in League Two), Brentford and Bristol Rovers. Brentford, newly promoted a season earlier, had stood in 10th place at the turn of 1993, but a sharp decline in form during the final few months of the season saw them relegated on the final day of the season.

Third-placed Portsmouth had opened up a 9-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, and ended it with 88 points.

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 play-offs, bringing some long-awaited success to another club who had once enjoyed better times.

Preston North End, Wigan Athletic, Mansfield Town and Chester City occupied Division Two’s four relegation places. Mansfield were newly promoted, while the other three teams had been established at this level for no less than six years.

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, who won the play-offs just weeks after Alan Little was appointed manager.

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.

Final league tables and results

The tables and results below are reproduced here in the exact form that they can be found at The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation website,^[1] 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 to finished second. Portsmouth's promotion bid 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. 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, while pre-season promotion favourites Derby County could only manage an eighth-place finish despite having the most expensively-assembled squad in the division. 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 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.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Newcastle United	46	16	6	1	58	15	13	3	7	34	23	92	38	+54	96
2	West Ham United	46	16	5	2	50	17	10	5	8	31	24	81	41	+40	88
3	Portsmouth	46	19	2	2	48	9	7	8	8	32	37	80	46	+34	88
4	Tranmere Rovers	46	15	4	4	48	24	8	6	9	24	32	72	56	+16	79
5	Swindon Town	46	15	5	3	41	23	6	8	9	33	36	74	59	+15	76
6	Leicester City	46	14	5	4	43	24	8	5	10	28	40	71	64	+7	76
7	Millwall	46	14	6	3	46	21	4	10	9	19	32	65	53	+12	70
8	Derby County	46	11	2	10	40	33	8	7	8	28	24	68	57	+11	66
9	Grimsby Town	46	12	6	5	33	25	7	1	15	25	32	58	57	+1	64
10	Peterborough United	46	7	11	5	30	26	9	3	11	25	37	55	63	−8	62
11	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46	11	6	6	37	26	5	7	11	20	30	57	56	+1	61
12	Charlton Athletic	46	10	8	5	28	19	6	5	12	21	27	49	46	+3	61
13	Barnsley	46	12	4	7	29	19	5	5	13	27	41	56	60	−4	60
14	Oxford United	46	8	7	8	29	21	6	7	10	24	35	53	56	−3	56
15	Bristol City	46	10	7	6	29	25	4	7	12	20	42	49	67	−18	56
16	Watford	46	8	7	8	27	30	6	6	11	30	41	57	71	−14	55
17	Notts County	46	10	7	6	33	21	2	9	12	22	49	55	70	−15	52
18	Southend United	46	9	8	6	33	22	4	5	14	21	42	54	64	−10	52
19	Birmingham City	46	10	4	9	30	32	3	8	12	20	40	50	72	−22	51
20	Luton Town	46	6	13	4	26	26	4	8	11	22	36	48	62	−14	51
21	Sunderland	46	9	6	8	34	28	4	5	14	16	36	50	64	−14	50
22	Brentford	46	7	6	10	28	30	6	4	13	24	41	52	71	−19	49
23	Cambridge United	46	8	6	9	29	32	3	10	10	19	37	48	69	−21	49
24	Bristol Rovers	46	6	6	11	30	42	4	5	14	25	45	55	87	−32	41

Pld = Matches ; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

Key
	Football League Champions, promoted to Premier League
	Promoted to FA Premier League
	Participated in play-offs
	Promoted to Premier League through play-offs
	Relegated

^[1]

First Division results

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Semi-finals 1st leg – 16 May; 2nd leg – 19 May 1993			Final at Wembley 31 May 1993

3rd	Portsmouth	0

6th	Leicester City	1
			5th	Swindon Town	4

			6th	Leicester City	3
4th	Tranmere Rovers	1

5th	Swindon Town	3

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Stoke City	46	17	4	2	41	13	10	8	5	32	21	73	34	+39	93
2	Bolton Wanderers	46	18	2	3	48	14	9	7	7	32	27	80	41	+39	90
3	Port Vale	46	14	7	2	44	17	12	4	7	35	27	79	44	+35	89
4	West Bromwich Albion	46	17	3	3	56	22	8	7	8	32	32	88	54	+34	85
5	Swansea City	46	12	7	4	38	17	8	6	9	27	30	65	47	+18	73
6	Stockport County	46	11	11	1	47	18	8	4	11	34	39	81	57	+24	72
7	Leyton Orient	46	16	4	3	49	20	5	5	13	20	33	69	53	+16	72
8	Reading	46	14	4	5	44	20	4	11	8	22	31	66	51	+14	69
9	Brighton & Hove Albion	46	13	4	6	36	24	7	5	11	27	35	63	59	+4	69
10	Bradford City	46	12	5	6	36	24	6	9	8	33	43	69	67	+2	68
11	Rotherham United	46	9	7	7	30	27	8	7	8	30	33	60	60	0	65
12	Fulham	46	9	9	5	28	22	7	8	8	29	33	57	55	+2	65
13	Burnley	46	11	8	4	38	21	4	8	11	19	38	57	59	−2	61
14	Plymouth Argyle	46	11	6	6	38	28	5	6	12	21	36	59	64	−5	60
15	Huddersfield Town	46	10	6	7	30	22	7	3	13	24	39	54	61	−7	60
16	Hartlepool United	46	8	6	9	19	23	6	6	11	23	37	42	60	−18	54
17	Bournemouth	46	7	10	6	28	24	5	7	11	17	28	45	53	−8	53
18	Blackpool	46	9	9	5	40	30	3	6	14	23	45	63	75	−12	51
19	Exeter City	46	5	8	10	26	30	6	9	8	28	39	54	69	−15	50
20	Hull City	46	9	5	9	28	26	4	6	13	18	43	46	69	−23	50
21	Preston North End	46	8	5	10	41	47	5	3	15	24	47	65	94	−29	47
22	Mansfield Town	46	7	8	8	34	34	4	3	16	18	46	52	80	−28	44
23	Wigan Athletic	46	6	6	11	26	34	4	5	14	17	38	43	72	−29	41
24	Chester City	46	6	2	15	30	47	2	3	18	19	55	49	102	−53	29

Semi-finals 1st leg – 16 May; 2nd leg – 19 May 1993			Final at Wembley 30 May 1993

3rd	Port Vale	1

6th	Stockport County	1
			3rd	Port Vale	0

			4th	West Bromwich Albion	3
4th	West Bromwich Albion	1

5th	Swansea City	2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GD	Pts	Notes
1	Cardiff City	42	13	7	1	42	20	12	1	8	35	27	77	47	+30	83	1993–94 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup First round
2	Wrexham	42	14	3	4	48	26	9	8	4	27	26	75	52	+23	80
3	Barnet	42	16	4	1	45	19	7	6	8	21	29	66	48	+18	79
4	York City	42	13	6	2	41	15	8	6	7	31	30	72	45	+27	75
5	Walsall	42	11	6	4	42	31	11	1	9	34	30	76	61	+15	73
6	Crewe Alexandra	42	13	3	5	47	23	8	4	9	28	33	75	56	+19	70
7	Bury	42	10	7	4	36	19	8	2	11	27	36	63	55	+8	63
8	Lincoln City	42	10	6	5	31	20	8	3	10	26	33	57	53	+4	63
9	Shrewsbury Town	42	11	3	7	36	30	6	8	7	21	22	57	52	+5	62
10	Colchester United	42	13	3	5	38	26	5	2	14	29	50	67	76	−9	59
11	Rochdale	42	10	3	8	38	29	6	7	8	32	41	70	70	0	58
12	Chesterfield	42	11	3	7	32	28	4	8	9	27	35	59	63	−4	56
13	Scarborough	42	7	7	7	32	30	8	2	11	34	41	66	71	−5	54
14	Scunthorpe United	42	8	7	6	38	25	6	5	10	19	29	57	54	+3	54
15	Darlington	42	5	6	10	23	31	7	8	6	25	22	48	53	−5	50
16	Doncaster Rovers	42	6	5	10	22	28	5	9	7	20	29	42	57	−15	47
17	Hereford United	42	7	9	5	31	27	3	6	12	16	33	47	60	−13	45
18	Carlisle United	42	7	5	9	29	27	4	6	11	22	38	51	65	−14	44
19	Torquay United	42	6	4	11	18	26	6	3	12	27	41	45	60	−15	43
20	Northampton Town	42	6	5	10	19	28	5	3	13	29	46	48	74	−26	41
21	Gillingham	42	9	4	8	32	28	0	9	12	16	36	48	64	−16	40
22	Halifax Town	42	3	5	13	20	35	6	4	11	25	33	45	68	−23	36

Final league tables and results

First Division results

First Division maps

Second Division results

Second Division maps

Third Division results

Third Division maps

See also

References