Background In May 1992, the breakaway league signed a broadcasting rights contract with
Sky and the
BBC valued at £304 million, the largest such agreement in the history of British sport. The league's executive committee was unable, however, to secure title sponsorship for the new competition after eight clubs blocked a proposed £13 million deal with brewers
Bass. Nonetheless, clubs began to utilise their dramatically increased wealth to fund a series of high-profile
transfers. Although the idea of a super league had been mentioned by football's governing bodies and evaluated by the media since the mid-1980s, plans for a new Premier League of 22 clubs were first unveiled by the
Football Association in October 1990, and included in the Football Association's
Blueprint for the Future of Football, published in June 1991. The majority of
First Division clubs, particularly long-established top clubs including
Arsenal and
Manchester United, were in favour of a breakaway from the
Football League, although Football League president Bill Fox criticised the planned Premier League as an attempt by the Football Association to "hijack" the First Division. Shortly before the season began, newly promoted
Blackburn Rovers signed
Southampton's 21-year-old
England international striker
Alan Shearer for a new British record fee variously reported as £3.3 million,
Season summary The first Premier League title went to
Manchester United, the club's first title in 26 years. Their title was achieved with a 10-point lead over runners-up
Aston Villa, after overcoming a slow start to the season which had seen them slip to mid table, with the signing of
French striker
Eric Cantona in late November proving to be the catalyst for their improved form which saw them lose just two league games after his arrival.
Aston Villa were in close contention for the title right up to the end, topping the table at several points in the season, but fell short at the end, losing all of their last three games.
Norwich City led the table for most of the first half of the season, but their challenge faded in the final weeks of the campaign, and were out of contention with three games remaining, after they lost 3–1 to Ipswich Town. Norwich did however finish in third place, achieving European qualification in
Mike Walker's debut season as manager; with a goal difference of −4, this is the highest Premier League finish by a team with a negative goal difference. Blackburn, in the top division for the first time in almost 30 years, finished in fourth place. They briefly led the league early in the season, but suffered a shortage of goals after
Alan Shearer, who had scored 16 times before the turn of the year, suffered a torn cruciate ligament and missed the second half of the season. A strong end of season finish nearly knocked Norwich City off third, but it was ultimately not enough. The title race was largely between the clubs who finished in the top four after early challenges from the likes of
Arsenal,
Coventry City, and
Queens Park Rangers were not sustained. Nottingham Forest's league form had suffered through the sale of key players including
Des Walker and
Teddy Sheringham, and they were bottom of the Premier League for the majority of the season. Their relegation was confirmed in early May when they lost to
Sheffield United, and manager
Brian Clough announced his retirement after 18 years as manager, which had yielded one league title, two
European Cups and four
League Cups. Next to go were newly promoted
Middlesbrough, who fell from mid-table at Christmas to go down in second from bottom place. Last to go down were
Crystal Palace, who failed to win their final game of the season which would have instead consigned
Oldham Athletic to the final relegation place. Oldham had been bottom of the table for all of February and in the relegation zone for nearly all of the latter half of the season, but secured their survival with a thrilling 4–3 win over
Southampton. Title holders
Leeds United finished 17th, which was the lowest finish from a defending league champion since
Ipswich Town finished 17th in
1962–63 after having won the title in
1961–62, and the lowest any top tier champions have so far finished in the Premier League. Leeds failed to win an away game in the league. The lowest a defending champion has finished since then has been 12th (
Leicester City in
2016–17, having won the title in
2015–16).
Liverpool, who had been the English league’s dominant force of the previous two decades with an honours list including 11 league titles between 1973 and 1990, finished a disappointing sixth, and had been in the bottom half of the table as late as March. In total 1,222 goals were scored, which until the
2023–24 Premier League, stood as a Premier League record, mainly due to significantly fewer number of games from
1995–96 season onward. The top scorer in the new Premier League was
Teddy Sheringham, who found the net for
Nottingham Forest in their opening game of the season before being sold to
Tottenham Hotspur, scoring a further 21 goals for the
North London side in the league.
PFA Player of the Year was
Paul McGrath of
Aston Villa.
FWA Player of the Year was
Chris Waddle, who helped
Sheffield Wednesday achieve runners-up spot in both of the cups after ending his three-year spell in France.
PFA Young Player of the Year was
Ryan Giggs, who won the award for the second year running, and also picked up a league title medal with Manchester United. On 26 January, Wimbledon hosted Everton at
Selhurst Park in front of a crowd of just over 3,000. More than 30 years on, this remains the lowest attendance recorded at a Premier League match. Despite their frequently low attendances, Wimbledon managed to climb clear of the relegation battle during the second half of the season to finish 12th. ==Teams==