Statistics of The Football League in season 1992/1993.

Overview

This season saw the birth of the FA Premier League. This meant a break-up of the 104-year-old Football League that had operated until then with four divisions.

In 1992 all of the First Division Clubs resigned from the football league and, on May 27 1992, the FA Premier League was formed as a limited company, which worked out of an office at the then Football Association's headquarters, Lancaster Gate.

The three divisions which remained in the Football League were renamed. The old Division Two was now called Division One. The old Division Three was now called Division Two, and the old Division Four was now Division Three.

League Standings

Barclays 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 Premiership. They have not looked back since. 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 playoffs 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), 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 10-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.

Pos.	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
1.	Newcastle	46	29	9	8	92	38	96
2.	West Ham	46	26	10	10	81	41	88
3.	Portsmouth	46	26	10	10	80	46	88
4.	Tranmere	46	23	10	13	72	56	79
5.	Swindon	46	21	13	12	74	59	76
6.	Leicester	46	22	10	14	71	64	76
7.	Millwall	46	18	16	12	65	53	70
8.	Derby	46	19	9	18	68	57	66
9.	Grimsby	46	19	7	20	58	57	64
10.	Peterborough	46	16	14	16	55	63	62
11.	Wolves	46	16	13	17	57	56	61
12.	Charlton	46	16	13	17	49	46	61
13.	Barnsley	46	17	9	20	56	60	60
14.	Oxford	46	14	14	18	53	56	56
15.	Bristol City	46	14	14	18	49	67	56
16.	Watford	46	14	13	19	57	71	55
17.	Notts C	46	12	16	18	55	70	52
18.	Southend	46	13	13	20	54	64	52
19.	Birmingham	46	13	12	21	50	72	51
20.	Luton	46	10	21	15	48	62	51
21.	Sunderland	46	13	11	22	50	64	50
22.	Brentford	46	13	10	23	52	71	49
23.	Cambridge	46	11	16	19	48	69	49
24.	Bristol Rovers	46	10	11	25	55	87	41

Barclays 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 playoffs, 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.

Pos.	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
1.	Stoke	46	27	12	7	73	34	93
2.	Bolton	46	27	9	10	80	41	90
3.	Port Vale	46	26	11	9	79	44	89
4.	West Brom	46	25	10	11	88	54	85
5.	Swansea	46	20	13	13	65	47	73
6.	Stockport	46	19	15	12	81	57	72
7.	Leyton Orient	46	21	9	16	69	53	72
8.	Reading	46	18	15	13	66	51	69
9.	Brighton	46	20	9	17	63	59	69
10.	Bradford City	46	18	14	14	69	67	68
11.	Rotherham	46	17	14	15	60	60	65
12.	Fulham	46	16	17	13	57	55	65
13.	Burnley	46	15	16	15	57	59	61
14.	Plymouth	46	16	12	18	59	64	60
15.	Huddersfield	46	17	9	20	54	61	60
16.	Hartlepool	46	14	12	20	42	60	54
17.	Bournemouth	46	12	17	17	45	52	53
18.	Blackpool	46	12	15	19	63	75	51
19.	Exeter	46	11	17	18	54	69	50
20.	Hull	46	13	11	22	46	69	50
21.	Preston	46	13	8	25	65	94	47
22.	Mansfield	46	11	11	24	52	80	44
23.	Wigan	46	10	11	25	43	72	41
24.	Chester	46	8	5	33	49	102	29

Barclays 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 playoffs 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.

Pos.	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
1.	Cardiff	42	25	8	9	77	47	83
2.	Wrexham	42	23	11	8	75	52	80
3.	Barnet	42	23	10	9	66	48	79
4.	York City	42	21	12	9	72	45	75
5.	Walsall	42	22	7	13	76	61	73
6.	Crewe	42	21	7	14	75	56	70
7.	Bury	42	18	9	15	63	55	63
8.	Lincoln	42	18	9	15	57	53	63
9.	Shrewsbury	42	17	11	14	57	52	62
10.	Colchester	42	18	5	19	67	76	59
11.	Rochdale	42	16	10	16	70	70	58
12.	Chesterfield	42	15	11	16	59	63	56
13.	Scarborough	42	15	9	18	66	71	54
14.	Scunthorpe	42	14	12	16	57	54	54
15.	Darlington	42	12	14	16	48	53	50
16.	Doncaster	42	11	14	17	42	57	47
17.	Hereford	42	10	15	17	47	60	45
18.	Carlisle	42	11	11	20	51	65	44
19.	Torquay	42	12	7	23	45	67	43
20.	Northampton	42	11	8	23	48	74	41
21.	Gillingham	42	9	13	20	48	64	40
22.	Halifax	42	9	9	24	45	68	36

See also

• 1992-93 in English football

References