1992–93 Nottingham Forest F.C. season

Nottingham Forest

1992–93 season
Chairman	Fred Reacher
Manager	Brian Clough
Stadium	City Ground
FA Premier League	22nd (relegated)
FA Cup	Fifth round
League Cup	Fifth round
Top goalscorer	League: N Clough (10) All: N Clough (12)
Average home league attendance	21,910
← 1991–92 1993–94 →

During the 1992–93 English football season, Nottingham Forest competed in the inaugural season of the FA Premier League.

Season summary

The previous season, Forest had finished 8th and started the new season fairly well with an opening-day 1-0 win over Liverpool in Sky Sports' first-ever 'Super Sunday' match on 16 August 1992 which saw their first-ever live goal scored by Teddy Sheringham. However, after the sale of key players Sheringham and Des Walker, Forest struggled thereafter and after the promising display against Liverpool on the opening day, they went on the receiving end of six successive defeats - during which they leaked 18 goals - which would set the tone for a long season ahead of them. They were virtually never out of the relegation zone after their 2-0 home defeat to eventual champions Manchester United on 29 August 1992 and since the opening day, they won just two of their next 21 games before the new year, leaving them in bottom place, six points from safety.

However, their form after the new year exceptionally improved with a run of five wins in the next seven league games, cumulating in a 1-0 win over Queen's Park Rangers on 24 February 1993, briefly lifting them out of the relegation zone on goal difference, during a very tight relegation dogfight at the time with only seven points separating second-bottom Middlesbrough and 12th-placed Chelsea. However, a 2-0 defeat to Manchester City and a 1-1 draw with relegation rivals Crystal Palace in their next two home games saw them sucked back into the bottom-three and after that, they couldn't quite keep up the momentum for survival, winning just two of the next ten games, leaving them needing to win their final two games in order to stand any chance of avoiding relegation. They were ultimately relegated in bottom place with their fate being confirmed on 1 May 1993 in a 2-0 home defeat to Sheffield United - among other results going against them - which also saw the Blades effectively secure their survival at the expense of Middlesbrough. Brian Clough retired at the end of the season, leaving Frank Clark to try and take Forest back to the Premier League.

During the off-season, young Irish midfielder Roy Keane - who was named in the PFA Team of the Year - was sold to Manchester United. He would play a major role in United's dominance of English football over the next decade.

Final league table

Main article: 1992–93 FA Premier League

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

Nottingham Forest's score comes first

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

FA Premier League

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
16 August 1992	Liverpool	H	1–0	20,038	Sheringham
19 August 1992	Sheffield Wednesday	A	0–2	29,623
22 August 1992	Oldham Athletic	A	3–5	11,632	Pearce (pen), Bannister (2)
29 August 1992	Manchester United	H	0–2	19,694
31 August 1992	Norwich City	A	1–3	14,104	N Clough
5 September 1992	Blackburn Rovers	A	1–4	16,180	Bannister
12 September 1992	Sheffield Wednesday	H	1–2	19,420	Bannister
21 September 1992	Coventry City	H	1–1	17,553	N Clough
26 September 1992	Chelsea	A	0–0	19,760
3 October 1992	Manchester City	A	2–2	22,571	McKinnon, Pearce
17 October 1992	Arsenal	H	0–1	24,862
21 October 1992	Middlesbrough	H	1–0	17,846	Black
24 October 1992	Sheffield United	A	0–0	19,152
31 October 1992	Ipswich Town	H	0–1	21,411
7 November 1992	Everton	H	0–1	20,941
21 November 1992	Crystal Palace	A	1–1	15,330	Bannister
28 November 1992	Southampton	H	1–2	19,942	N Clough
5 December 1992	Leeds United	A	4–1	29,364	N Clough, Keane (2), Black
12 December 1992	Aston Villa	A	1–2	29,015	Keane
20 December 1992	Wimbledon	H	1–1	19,326	N Clough
28 December 1992	Tottenham Hotspur	A	1–2	32,118	Gemmill
9 January 1993	Coventry City	A	1–0	15,264	Woan
16 January 1993	Chelsea	H	3–0	23,249	Bannister (2), Örlygsson
27 January 1993	Manchester United	A	0–2	36,085
30 January 1993	Oldham Athletic	H	2–0	21,240	Woan (2)
6 February 1993	Liverpool	A	0–0	40,463
20 February 1993	Middlesbrough	A	2–1	15,639	N Clough, Stone
24 February 1993	Queens Park Rangers	H	1–0	22,436	Crosby
27 February 1993	Manchester City	H	0–2	25,956
3 March 1993	Crystal Palace	H	1–1	20,603	Keane
13 March 1993	Everton	A	0–3	21,271
17 March 1993	Norwich City	H	0–3	20,799
21 March 1993	Leeds United	H	1–1	25,148	N Clough
24 March 1993	Southampton	A	2–1	18,005	N Clough, Keane
4 April 1993	Aston Villa	H	0–1	26,742
7 April 1993	Blackburn Rovers	H	1–3	20,467	N Clough (pen)
10 April 1993	Queens Park Rangers	A	3–4	16,782	Black, Bannister (2)
12 April 1993	Tottenham Hotspur	H	2–1	25,682	Black, Rosario
17 April 1993	Wimbledon	A	0–1	9,358
21 April 1993	Arsenal	A	1–1	19,024	Keane
1 May 1993	Sheffield United	H	0–2	26,752
8 May 1993	Ipswich Town	A	1–2	22,093	N Clough (pen)

FA Cup

Main article: 1992-93 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	3 January 1993	Southampton	H	2–1	13,592	Keane, Webb
R4	23 January 1993	Middlesbrough	H	1–1	22,296	Webb
R4R	3 February 1993	Middlesbrough	A	3–0	20,514	Bannister, N Clough, Woan
R5	13 February 1993	Arsenal	A	0–2	27,591

League Cup

Main article: 1992-93 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R2 First Leg	23 September 1992	Stockport County	A	3–2	7,964	Örlygsson, N Clough, Bannister
R2 Second Leg	7 October 1992	Stockport County	H	2–1 (won 5-3 on agg)	15,573	Black, Gannon (own goal)
R3	28 October 1992	Crewe Alexandra	A	1–0	7,042	Örlygsson
R4	2 December 1992	Tottenham Hotspur	H	2–0	22,312	Keane, Woan
QF	12 January 1993	Arsenal	A	0–2	25,600

Squad

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

No. Position Player GK Mark Crossley GK Andy Marriott DF Craig Armstrong DF Steve Blatherwick DF Gary Charles DF Steve Chettle DF Chris Hope DF Brian Laws DF Stuart Pearce (captain) DF Carl Tiler DF Brett Williams MF Kingsley Black MF Gary Crosby MF Scot Gemmill MF Bobby Howe

No. Position Player MF Ray McKinnon MF Roy Keane MF Ian Kilford MF Tony Loughlan MF Þorvaldur Örlygsson MF Steve Stone MF Justin Walker MF Neil Webb MF Ian Woan FW Gary Bannister FW Nigel Clough FW Lee Glover FW Steve Guinan FW Paul McGregor FW Robert Rosario

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 DF Terry Wilson (to Dunfermline Athletic)

No. Position Player FW Teddy Sheringham (to Tottenham Hotspur)

Statistics

Starting 11

Considering appearances in all competitions

No.	Pos	Nat	Name	MS	Notes
	GK		Mark Crossley	38
	RB		Brian Laws	33
	CB		Steve Chettle	31
	CB		Carl Tiler	38
	LB		Stuart Pearce	24
	RM		Kingsley Black	20	Gary Crosby has 20 starts
	CM		Roy Keane	41
	CM		Scot Gemmill	34
	LM		Ian Woan	28
	CF		Gary Bannister	27
	CF		Nigel Clough	43

References