1992–93 Aston Villa F.C. season

Aston Villa

1992–93 season
Chairman	Doug Ellis
Manager	Ron Atkinson
Stadium	Villa Park
Premier League	2nd
FA Cup	Fourth round
League Cup	Fourth round
Top goalscorer	League: Saunders (13) All: Saunders (16)
Average home league attendance	29,594
← 1991–92 1993–94 →

During the 1992–93 English football season, Aston Villa competed in the inaugural season of the Premier League.

Season summary

Aston Villa spent most of the season challenging for the title, and were top of the Premier League with six games left to play, but were eventually overhauled by manager Ron Atkinson's old club Manchester United, who sealed the title without kicking a ball when on 2 May 1993 Villa were surprisingly beaten 1-0 at home by an Oldham Athletic side who were in the process of pulling off a surprise escape from relegation. The club lost their last three games, allowing United to pull ten points clear at the end of the season.^[1]

The season began with three successive 1-1 draws, with striker Dalian Atkinson scoring in each of these games. They then lost 1-0 to Everton, meaning that victory did not come until their fifth league game, when they triumphed 2-0 at Sheffield United.

On 9 September, Villa paid a club record £2.5million for Liverpool striker Dean Saunders, who 10 days later scored twice against his former employers in a 4-2 win for Villa at home. This came during a 10-match unbeaten run which sent Villa to the top of the table. That unbeaten run ended on 28 November when they lost 3-2 at home to a Norwich City side who were emerging as title contenders after being among the pre-season relegation favourites. A 3-0 defeat at Coventry City on Boxing Day was followed by a five-match winning run which restored Villa's leadership of the league from the East Anglians.

On 14 March, Villa travelled to the league's new leaders Manchester United for what was billed by many as the title decider, and came away with a 1-1 draw. Before the month was out, Villa lost at Norwich, but it was not until a 3-0 defeat at Blackburn Rovers towards the end of April that Villa's title challenge was really looking dead and buried.

Villa had to win their penultimate game of the season at home to Oldham Athletic to stand any chance of catching Manchester United in the title race. But their opponents also had to win that game to have any hope of avoiding relegation, and it was the unfashionable Greater Manchester side who came away victorious from Villa Park, handing the league title to Manchester United.

Kit

English apparel manufacturer Umbro remained Aston Villa's kit sponsors, and introduced a new kit for the season, featuring a blue circle around a lace-up collar.^[2] The club retained the previous season's away and third kits.^[3] A new crest, featuring a yellow lion rampant on a blue and maroon striped design, was introduced, although the away and third kits retained the old club crest. Mita Copiers remained the kit sponsors.

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Manchester United (C)	42	24	12	6	67	31	+36	84	1993–94 UEFA Champions League First round
2	Aston Villa	42	21	11	10	57	40	+17	74	1993–94 UEFA Cup First round
3	Norwich City	42	21	9	12	61	65	−4	72
4	Blackburn Rovers	42	20	11	11	68	46	+22	71
5	Queens Park Rangers	42	17	12	13	63	55	+8	63
6	Liverpool	42	16	11	15	62	55	+7	59
7	Sheffield Wednesday	42	15	14	13	55	51	+4	59
8	Tottenham Hotspur	42	16	11	15	60	66	−6	59
9	Manchester City	42	15	12	15	56	51	+5	57
10	Arsenal	42	15	11	16	40	38	+2	56	1993–94 European Cup Winners' Cup First round ^1
11	Chelsea	42	14	14	14	51	54	−3	56
12	Wimbledon	42	14	12	16	56	55	+1	54
13	Everton	42	15	8	19	53	55	−2	53
14	Sheffield United	42	14	10	18	54	53	+1	52
15	Coventry City	42	13	13	16	52	57	−5	52
16	Ipswich Town	42	12	16	14	50	55	−5	52
17	Leeds United	42	12	15	15	57	62	−5	51
18	Southampton	42	13	11	18	54	61	−7	50
19	Oldham Athletic	42	13	10	19	63	74	−11	49
20	Crystal Palace (R)	42	11	16	15	48	61	−13	49	Relegation to 1993–94 Football League First Division
21	Middlesbrough (R)	42	11	11	20	54	75	−21	44
22	Nottingham Forest (R)	42	10	10	22	41	62	−21	40

Updated to games played on 11 May 1993.
Source: Soccerbase
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
¹Arsenal qualified by winning the FA Cup.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Premier League

Match	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
1	15 August 1992	Ipswich Town	A	1 – 1	16,818	Atkinson 84'
2	19 August 1992	Leeds United	H	1 – 1	29,151	Atkinson 77'
3	22 August 1992	Southampton	H	1 – 1	17,894	Atkinson 64'
4	25 August 1992	Everton	A	0 – 1	22,372
5	29 August 1992	Sheffield United	A	2 – 0	18,773	Parker (2) 2', 86'
6	2 September 1992	Chelsea	H	1 – 3	19,125	Richardson 30'
7	5 September 1992	Crystal Palace	H	3 – 0	17,120	Froggatt 18', Staunton 42', Yorke 72'
8	13 September 1992	Leeds United	A	1 – 1	27,817	Parker 19'
9	19 September 1992	Liverpool	H	4 – 2	37,863	Saunders (2) 44', 66', Atkinson 54', Parker 78'
10	26 September 1992	Middlesbrough	A	3 – 2	20,905	Saunders (2) 22', 74', Atkinson 71'
11	3 October 1992	Wimbledon	A	3 – 2	6,849	Saunders (2) 5', 29', Atkinson 77'
12	19 October 1992	Blackburn Rovers	H	0 – 0	30,398
13	24 October 1992	Oldham Athletic	A	1 – 1	13,457	Atkinson 81'
14	1 November 1992	Queens Park Rangers	H	2 – 0	20,140	Saunders 43', Atkinson 79'
15	7 November 1992	Manchester United	H	1 – 0	39,063	Atkinson 12'
16	21 November 1992	Tottenham Hotspur	A	0 – 0	32,852
17	28 November 1992	Norwich City	H	2 – 3	28,837	Houghton 45', Parker 46'
18	5 December 1992	Sheffield Wednesday	A	2 – 1	29,964	Atkinson (2) 19', 67'
19	12 December 1992	Nottingham Forest	H	2 – 1	29,015	Regis 33', McGrath 47'
20	19 December 1992	Manchester City	A	1 – 1	23,525	Parker 34'
21	26 December 1992	Coventry City	A	0 – 3	24,245
22	28 December 1992	Arsenal	H	1 – 0	35,170	Saunders 45'
23	9 January 1993	Liverpool	A	2 – 1	40,826	Parker 54', Saunders 64'
24	17 January 1993	Middlesbrough	H	5 – 1	19,997	Parker 26', McGrath 32', Yorke 44', Saunders 58', Teale 68'
25	27 January 1993	Sheffield United	H	3 – 1	20,266	McGrath 54', Saunders 58', Richardson 89'
26	30 January 1993	Southampton	A	0 – 2	19,087
27	6 February 1993	Ipswich Town	H	2 – 0	25,395	Yorke 32', Saunders 42'
28	10 February 1993	Crystal Palace	A	0 – 1	12,270
29	13 February 1993	Chelsea	A	1 – 0	20,081	Houghton 22'
30	20 February 1993	Everton	H	2 – 1	32,931	Cox 12', Barrett 18'
31	27 February 1993	Wimbledon	H	1 – 0	34,496	Yorke 79'
32	10 March 1993	Tottenham Hotspur	H	0 – 0	37,727
33	14 March 1993	Manchester United	A	1 – 1	36,163	Staunton 63'
34	20 March 1993	Sheffield Wednesday	H	2 – 0	38,024	Yorke (2) 2', 56'
35	24 March 1993	Norwich City	A	0 – 1	19,528
36	4 April 1993	Nottingham Forest	A	1 – 0	26,742	McGrath 63'
37	10 April 1993	Coventry City	H	0 – 0	38,543
38	12 April 1993	Arsenal	A	1 – 0	27,123	Daley 68'
39	18 April 1993	Manchester City	H	3 – 1	33,108	Saunders 47', Parker 67', Houghton 89'
40	21 April 1993	Blackburn Rovers	A	0 – 3	15,127
41	2 May 1993	Oldham Athletic	H	0 – 1	37,427
42	9 May 1993	Queens Park Rangers	A	1 – 2	18,904	Daley 38'

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
R3	2 January 1993	Bristol Rovers	H	1 – 1	27,040	Cox 38'
R3 Replay	20 January 1993	Bristol Rovers	A	3 – 0	8,880	Saunders 23', 75', Houghton 83'
R4	23 January 1993	Wimbledon	H	1 – 1	21,008	Yorke 3'
R4 Replay	3 February 1993	Wimbledon	A	0 – 0 (5 – 6 pens)	8,048

League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
R2 1st leg	23 September 1992	Oxford United	A	2 – 1	8,837	McGrath 52', Teale 72'
R2 2nd leg	7 October 1992	Oxford United	H	2 – 1	19,808	Atkinson 11', Richardson 90'
R3	28 October 1992	Manchester United	H	1 – 0	35,964	Saunders 75'
R4	2 December 1992	Ipswich Town	H	2 – 2	21,545	Atkinson 65', Saunders 77'
R4 Replay	15 December 1992	Ipswich Town	A	0 – 1	19,196

First-team squad

Squad at end of season^[4]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Michael Oakes GK Nigel Spink GK Mark Bosnich DF Earl Barrett DF Neil Cox DF Ugo Ehiogu DF Bryan Small DF Paul McGrath[5] DF Steve Staunton MF Mark Blake MF Tony Daley MF David Farrell MF Steve Froggatt

No. Position Player MF Garry Parker MF Kevin Richardson (captain) DF Shaun Teale MF Ray Houghton[6] MF Stefan Beinlich MF Matthias Breitkreutz DF Dariusz Kubicki FW Dalian Atkinson FW Martin Carruthers FW Cyrille Regis FW Dean Saunders FW Frank McAvennie FW Dwight Yorke

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Les Sealey (to Manchester United)

No. Position Player MF Richard Crisp (on loan to Scunthorpe United)

Reserve squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player DF Chris Boden MF Trevor Berry MF Richard Crisp

No. Position Player MF Graham Fenton MF Gareth Farrelly FW Neil Davis

References

1. http://www.statto.com/football/teams/aston-villa/1992-1993
2. http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Aston_Villa/Aston_Villa.htm
3. http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Aston_Villa/Aston_Villa-change-kits.html
4. http://www.11v11.com/teams/aston-villa/tab/players/season/1993
5. McGrath was born in Ealing, England, but was raised in Dublin, Republic of Ireland and made his international debut for the Republic of Ireland in 1985.
6. Houghton was born in Glasgow, Scotland, but qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland internationally through his father and made his international debut for the Republic of Ireland in March 1986.