1991–92 Football League First Division

Football League First Division

Season	1991–92
Champions	Leeds United 3rd English title
Relegated	Luton Town Notts County West Ham United
Champions League	Leeds United
European Cup Winners' Cup	Liverpool
UEFA Cup	Manchester United Sheffield Wednesday
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,175 (2.54 per match)
Top goalscorer	Ian Wright (29 goals)
Biggest home win	Arsenal 7–1 Sheffield Wednesday (15 February 1992)
Biggest away win	Sheffield Wednesday 1–6 Leeds United (12 January 1992)
Highest scoring	Oldham Athletic 3–6 Manchester United (26 December 1991)
Longest winning run	6 matches Southampton
Longest unbeaten run	17 matches Arsenal
Longest losing run	6 matches Norwich City
← 1990–91 Premier League 1992–93 →

The 1991–92 season was the 93rd in the history of the Football League First Division, as well as the division's final season as the top flight of English football.

Overview

Aston Villa

Coventry City

Everton

Leeds United

Liverpool

Greater London

Luton Town

Manchester City

Manchester United

Norwich City

Nottingham Forest

Notts County

Oldham Athletic

Sheffield United

Sheffield Wednesday

Southampton

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Locations of the Premier League 1992–93 teams

Arsenal

Chelsea

Crystal Palace

QPR

Tottenham Hotspur

Wimbledon

West Ham United

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Greater London Premier League football clubs

Leeds United won the last ever league championship before the Premier League was born, thanks to the efforts of players like Gordon Strachan, Lee Chapman, David Batty and Gary McAllister. On 26 April 1992, Leeds beat Sheffield United 3–2 at Bramall Lane and with the news that their challengers Manchester United lost 2–0 to Liverpool at Anfield, it confirmed them as champions.

Newly promoted Sheffield Wednesday finished in third and secured UEFA Cup qualification.

The previous season's defending champions Arsenal slipped to 4th place and never made a serious threat to retain their title. The previous season's runners-up Liverpool slipped to 6th in their first full season under the management of Graeme Souness, although they did win the FA Cup. Liverpool's Merseyside rivals Everton finished a disappointing 12th – a three-place setback on their finish the previous season.

Newly promoted West Ham United were relegated in bottom place. On 25 April 1992, West Ham's relegation was confirmed when they lost 1–0 at Coventry City. This win for Coventry also relegated Notts County – another newly promoted side – rendering their 2–0 defeat at Manchester City on the same day as academic. The last day of the season saw Luton Town lose their top flight status after ten seasons. They needed to win at Notts County and for Coventry to lose at Aston Villa. Coventry did lose 2–0 at Villa Park but unfortunately for Luton, they lost 2–1 which kept Coventry up and sent Luton down. Seventeen years later The Hatters would fall into the Conference (the 5th level of the English football system), while Notts County fell into it 10 years after them. Luton would not return to the top division until 2023, while Notts County have remained outside the top two divisions since 1995.

For much of the season, Southampton's 21-year-old striker Alan Shearer was the target of much media speculation about a move to a leading First Division club. The likes of Liverpool and Manchester United were strongly linked with his signature during the autumn, but Shearer decided to stay put on the south coast before making a decision about his future at the end of the season. Shearer was capped for the senior England side for the first time in February 1992, and scored on his debut. Another English striker who established himself as a top scorer at this level this season was the Sheffield Wednesday striker David Hirst, scoring the goals that helped the Owls win the League Cup and an instant return to the First Division in 1990–91, and finishing among the First Division's leading scorers in 1991–92.

Manchester United's teenage winger Ryan Giggs, who had played twice for the first team the previous season, received plaudits for his outstanding performances and picked up the PFA Young Player of the Year award as well as a League Cup winner's medal, establishing himself as a regular player before his 18th birthday. Other young players who made the headlines this season were Liverpool's teenage winger Steve McManaman and new signing Rob Jones, Aston Villa's Trinidadian striker Dwight Yorke and Nottingham Forest midfielder Roy Keane.

As a wave of new names began to dominate the English game, Tottenham Hotspur's high scoring striker Gary Lineker announced in November that he would be leaving the club at the end of the season to sign for the Japanese side Grampus Eight, and also confirmed his decision to retire from the England team after the European championships that summer.

Personnel and kits

(As of May 1992)

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Arsenal	George Graham	Tony Adams	Adidas	JVC
Aston Villa	Ron Atkinson	Stuart Gray	Umbro	Mita Copiers
Chelsea	Ian Porterfield	Andy Townsend	Umbro	Commodore International
Coventry City	Terry Butcher	Brian Borrows	Asics	Peugeot
Crystal Palace	Steve Coppell	Geoff Thomas	Bukta	Tulip Computers NV
Everton	Howard Kendall	Kevin Ratcliffe	Umbro	NEC
Leeds United	Howard Wilkinson	Gordon Strachan	Umbro	Yorkshire Evening Post
Liverpool	Graeme Sounessa	Mark Wright	Adidas	Candy
Luton Town	Jimmy Ryan	Trevor Peakeb	Umbro	Universal Salvage Auctions
Manchester City	Peter Reid	Steve Redmond	Umbro	Brother Industries
Manchester United	Alex Ferguson	Bryan Robson	Adidas	Sharp
Norwich City	David Williams (caretaker)	Ian Butterworth	Asics	Asics
Nottingham Forest	Brian Clough	Stuart Pearce	Umbro	Shipstones (home), Labatts (away)
Notts County	Neil Warnock	Craig Short	Matchwinner	Home Bitter (home), McEwan's Lager (away)
Oldham Athletic	Joe Royle	Mike Milligan	Umbro	Bovis
Queens Park Rangers	Gerry Francis	Ray Wilkins	Brooks	Brooks
Sheffield United	Dave Bassett	Brian Gayle	Umbro	Laver
Sheffield Wednesday	Trevor Francis	Nigel Pearson	Umbro	None (Until December) Mr. Tom (From January)
Southampton	Ian Branfoot	Glenn Cockerill	Admiral	Draper Tools
Tottenham Hotspur	Peter Shreeves	Gary Mabbutt	Umbro	Holsten
West Ham United	Billy Bonds	Ian Bishop	Bukta	BAC Windows
Wimbledon	Joe Kinnear	John Scales	Admiral	No sponsor

a.^ Souness was absent from his duties after being diagnosed with a heart condition on 8 April 1992. Though Souness officially remained team manager, Ronnie Moran effectively took over the role for the remainder of the season.

b.^ Trevor Peake is understood to have been team Captain in January but it is unknown when he was appointed.

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Aston Villa	Jozef Vengloš	Mutual consent	28 May 1991	Pre-season	Ron Atkinson	8 June 1991
Queens Park Rangers	Don Howe	Sacked	31 May 1991		Gerry Francis	1 June 1991
Tottenham Hotspur	Terry Venables	Became general manager	1 June 1991		Peter Shreeves	1 June 1991
Sheffield Wednesday	Ron Atkinson	Signed by Aston Villa	8 June 1991		Trevor Francis	8 June 1991
Luton Town	Jim Ryan	Sacked	13 June 1991		David Pleat	15 June 1991
Wimbledon	Ray Harford	Resigned	7 October 1991	8th	Peter Withe	10 October 1991
Coventry City	Terry Butcher	Sacked	6 January 1992	17th	Don Howe	7 January 1992
Wimbledon	Peter Withe	Sacked	19 January 1992	19th	Joe Kinnear	19 January 1992
Norwich City	Dave Stringer	Resigned	1 May 1992	18th	David Williams	1 May 1992

League standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Leeds United (C)	42	22	16	4	74	37	+37	82	Qualification for the UEFA Champions League first round
2	Manchester United	42	21	15	6	63	33	+30	78	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
3	Sheffield Wednesday	42	21	12	9	62	49	+13	75
4	Arsenal	42	19	15	8	81	47	+34	72
5	Manchester City	42	20	10	12	61	48	+13	70
6	Liverpool	42	16	16	10	47	40	+7	64	Qualification for the European Cup Winners' Cup first round
7	Aston Villa	42	17	9	16	48	44	+4	60
8	Nottingham Forest	42	16	11	15	60	58	+2	59
9	Sheffield United	42	16	9	17	65	63	+2	57
10	Crystal Palace	42	14	15	13	53	61	−8	57
11	Queens Park Rangers	42	12	18	12	48	47	+1	54
12	Everton	42	13	14	15	52	51	+1	53
13	Wimbledon	42	13	14	15	53	53	0	53
14	Chelsea	42	13	14	15	50	60	−10	53
15	Tottenham Hotspur	42	15	7	20	58	63	−5	52
16	Southampton	42	14	10	18	39	55	−16	52
17	Oldham Athletic	42	14	9	19	63	67	−4	51
18	Norwich City	42	11	12	19	47	63	−16	45
19	Coventry City	42	11	11	20	35	44	−9	44
20	Luton Town (R)	42	10	12	20	39	71	−32	42	Relegated
21	Notts County (R)	42	10	10	22	40	62	−22	40
22	West Ham United (R)	42	9	11	22	37	59	−22	38

Source: World Football
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

Results

Home \ Away	ARS	AST	CHE	COV	CRY	EVE	LEE	LIV	LUT	MCI	MUN	NWC	NOT	NTC	OLD	QPR	SHU	SHW	SOU	TOT	WHU	WDN
Arsenal		0–0	3–2	1–2	4–1	4–2	1–1	4–0	2–0	2–1	1–1	1–1	3–3	2–0	2–1	1–1	5–2	7–1	5–1	2–0	0–1	1–1
Aston Villa	3–1		3–1	2–0	0–1	0–0	1–4	1–0	4–0	3–1	0–1	1–0	3–1	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–1	0–1	2–1	0–0	3–1	2–1
Chelsea	1–1	2–0		0–1	1–1	2–2	0–1	2–2	4–1	1–1	1–3	0–3	1–0	2–2	4–2	2–1	1–2	0–3	1–1	2–0	2–1	2–2
Coventry City	0–1	1–0	0–1		1–2	0–1	0–0	0–0	5–0	0–1	0–0	0–0	0–2	1–0	1–1	2–2	3–1	0–0	2–0	1–2	1–0	0–1
Crystal Palace	1–4	0–0	0–0	0–1		2–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–3	3–4	0–0	1–0	0–0	2–2	2–1	1–1	1–0	1–2	2–3	3–2
Everton	3–1	0–2	2–1	3–0	2–2		1–1	1–1	1–1	1–2	0–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	2–1	0–0	0–2	0–1	0–1	3–1	4–0	2–0
Leeds United	2–2	0–0	3–0	2–0	1–1	1–0		1–0	2–0	3–0	1–1	1–0	1–0	3–0	1–0	2–0	4–3	1–1	3–3	1–1	0–0	5–1
Liverpool	2–0	1–1	1–2	1–0	1–2	3–1	0–0		2–1	2–2	2–0	2–1	2–0	4–0	2–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	0–0	2–1	1–0	2–3
Luton Town	1–0	2–0	2–0	1–0	1–1	0–1	0–2	0–0		2–2	1–1	2–0	2–1	1–1	2–1	0–1	2–1	2–2	2–1	0–0	0–1	2–1
Manchester City	1–0	2–0	0–0	1–0	3–2	0–1	4–0	2–1	4–0		0–0	2–1	2–1	2–0	1–2	2–2	3–2	0–1	0–1	1–0	2–0	0–0
Manchester United	1–1	1–0	1–1	4–0	2–0	1–0	1–1	0–0	5–0	1–1		3–0	1–2	2–0	1–0	1–4	2–0	1–1	1–0	3–1	2–1	0–0
Norwich City	1–3	2–1	0–1	3–2	3–3	4–3	2–2	3–0	1–0	0–0	1–3		0–0	0–1	1–2	0–1	2–2	1–0	2–1	0–1	2–1	1–1
Nottingham Forest	3–2	2–0	1–1	1–0	5–1	2–1	0–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	2–0		1–1	3–1	1–1	2–5	0–2	1–3	1–3	2–2	4–2
Notts County	0–1	0–0	2–0	1–0	2–3	0–0	2–4	1–2	2–1	1–3	1–1	2–2	0–4		2–0	0–1	1–3	2–1	1–0	0–2	3–0	1–1
Oldham Athletic	1–1	3–2	3–0	2–1	2–3	2–2	2–0	2–3	5–1	2–5	3–6	2–2	2–1	4–3		2–1	2–1	3–0	1–1	1–0	2–2	0–1
Queens Park Rangers	0–0	0–1	2–2	1–1	1–0	3–1	4–1	0–0	2–1	4–0	0–0	0–2	0–2	1–1	1–3		1–0	1–1	2–2	1–2	0–0	1–1
Sheffield United	1–1	2–0	0–1	0–3	1–1	2–1	2–3	2–0	1–1	4–2	1–2	1–0	4–2	1–3	2–0	0–0		2–0	0–2	2–0	1–1	0–0
Sheffield Wednesday	1–1	2–3	3–0	1–1	4–1	2–1	1–6	0–0	3–2	2–0	3–2	2–0	2–1	1–0	1–1	4–1	1–3		2–0	0–0	2–1	2–0
Southampton	0–4	1–1	1–0	0–0	1–0	1–2	0–4	1–1	2–1	0–3	0–1	0–0	0–1	1–1	1–0	2–1	2–4	0–1		2–3	1–0	1–0
Tottenham Hotspur	1–1	2–5	1–3	4–3	0–1	3–3	1–3	1–2	4–1	0–1	1–2	3–0	1–2	2–1	0–0	2–0	0–1	0–2	1–2		3–0	3–2
West Ham United	0–2	3–1	1–1	0–1	0–2	0–2	1–3	0–0	0–0	1–2	1–0	4–0	3–0	0–2	1–0	2–2	1–1	1–2	0–1	2–1		1–1
Wimbledon	1–3	2–0	1–2	1–1	1–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	3–0	2–1	1–2	3–1	3–0	2–0	2–1	0–1	3–0	2–1	0–1	3–5	2–0

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

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Ian Wright	Crystal Palace/Arsenal	29
2	Gary Lineker	Tottenham Hotspur	28
3	John Fashanu	Wimbledon	18
	David Hirst	Sheffield Wednesday
	Brian McClair	Manchester United
	David White	Manchester City
7	Mark Bright	Crystal Palace	17
8	Lee Chapman	Leeds United	16
9	Peter Beardsley	Everton	15
10	Robbie Earle	Wimbledon	14

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref
Carlton Palmer	Sheffield Wednesday	Queens Park Rangers	4–1 (H)	31 August 1991
Peter Beardsley	Everton	Coventry City	3–0 (H)	21 September 1991
Gary Lineker (4)	Tottenham Hotspur	Wimbledon	5–3 (A)	21 September 1991
Ian Wright	Arsenal	Southampton	4–0 (A)	28 September 1991
Tony Cottee	Everton	Tottenham Hotspur	3–1 (H)	5 October 1991
Ian Wright (4)	Arsenal	Everton	4–2 (H)	21 December 1991
Dennis Bailey	Queens Park Rangers	Manchester United	4–1 (A)	1 January 1992
Lee Chapman	Leeds United	Sheffield Wednesday	6–1 (A)	12 January 1992
Lee Chapman	Leeds United	Wimbledon	5–1 (H)	14 March 1992
Darren Beckford	Norwich City	Everton	4–3 (H)	21 March 1992
Gordon Durie	Tottenham Hotspur	Coventry City	4–3 (H)	28 March 1992
Gary Lineker	Tottenham Hotspur	West Ham United	3–0 (H)	1 April 1992
Paul Merson	Arsenal	Crystal Palace	4–1 (H)	11 April 1992
Graeme Sharp (4)	Oldham Athletic	Luton Town	5–1 (H)	11 April 1992
David White	Manchester City	Oldham Athletic	5–2 (A)	2 May 1992
Ian Wright	Arsenal	Southampton	5–1 (H)	2 May 1992
Frank McAvennie	West Ham United	Nottingham Forest	3–0 (H)	2 May 1992

Note: (H) – Home; (A) – Away

References

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