1994–95 Crystal Palace F.C. season

Crystal Palace

1994–95 season
Chairman	Ron Noades
Manager	Alan Smith
Stadium	Selhurst Park
Premiership	19th (relegated)
FA Cup	Semi-finals
League Cup	Semi-finals
Top goalscorer	League: Armstrong (8) All: Armstrong (19)
Highest home attendance	18,224 vs Manchester United (25 Jan 1995, Premier League) vs Liverpool (8 Mar 1995, League Cup)
Lowest home attendance	6,541 vs Lincoln City (8 Jan 1995, FA Cup)
Average home league attendance	14,992
← 1993–94 1995–96 →

During the 1994–95 English football season, Crystal Palace competed in the FA Premier League.

Season summary

Crystal Palace returned to the Premiership a year after leaving it, and, over the next few months, they would experience one of the most unusual seasons in their history. They were the division's lowest scoring team with just 34 goals, but reached the semi-finals of both cup competitions. They also finished fourth from bottom in the Premiership, which – due to the streamlining of the division to 20 clubs – cost them their top flight status, thus giving them the distinction of finishing in the last four of all competitions they'd entered that year. Manager Alan Smith was sacked just days afterwards, with Steve Coppell returning to the manager's seat two years after handing the reins over to his former assistant Smith.

The aftermath of Palace's relegation saw the sale of numerous players including Richard Shaw, John Salako, Chris Armstrong and Gareth Southgate. A barely recognisable Palace squad would kick off the Endsleigh League Division One campaign with one of the youngest-ever squads to be faced with a challenge for promotion to the Premiership.

Final league table

Main article: 1994–95 FA Premier League

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Blackburn Rovers (C)	42	27	8	7	80	39	+41	89	1995–96 UEFA Champions League Group stage
2	Manchester United	42	26	10	6	77	28	+49	88	1995–96 UEFA Cup First round
3	Nottingham Forest	42	22	11	9	72	43	+29	77
4	Liverpool	42	21	11	10	65	37	+28	74
5	Leeds United	42	20	13	9	59	38	+21	73
6	Newcastle United	42	20	12	10	67	47	+20	72
7	Tottenham Hotspur	42	16	14	12	66	58	+8	62
8	Queens Park Rangers	42	17	9	16	61	59	+2	60
9	Wimbledon	42	15	11	16	48	65	−17	56
10	Southampton	42	12	18	12	61	63	−2	54
11	Chelsea	42	13	15	14	50	55	−5	54
12	Arsenal	42	13	12	17	52	49	+3	51
13	Sheffield Wednesday	42	13	12	17	49	57	−8	51
14	West Ham United	42	13	11	18	44	48	−4	50
15	Everton	42	11	17	14	44	51	−7	50	1995–96 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup First round 1
16	Coventry City	42	12	14	16	44	62	−18	50
17	Manchester City	42	12	13	17	53	64	−11	49
18	Aston Villa	42	11	15	16	51	56	−5	48
19	Crystal Palace (R)	42	11	12	19	34	49	−15	45	Relegation to 1995–96 Football League First Division
20	Norwich City (R)	42	10	13	19	37	54	−17	43
21	Leicester City (R)	42	6	11	25	45	80	−35	29
22	Ipswich Town (R)	42	7	6	29	36	93	−57	27

Updated to games played on 14 May 1995.
Source: Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
¹ Everton qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup as FA Cup winners.
(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 Summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
42	11	12	19	34	49	−15	45	6	6	9	16	23	−7	5	6	10	18	26	−8

Source: Statto

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42
Ground	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	A
Result	L	D	D	L	D	D	L	W	L	L	W	W	W	W	L	D	L	D	L	D	D	L	L	W	L	D	W	L	L	D	W	L	W	D	D	W	L	L	L	W	L	L
Position	22	20	18	18	17	21	21	16	19	21	17	16	12	10	12	13	15	13	16	17	16	18	18	16	17	16	16	18	19	20	18	19	18	19	20	19	19	19	19	19	19	19

Source: Statto.com
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Loss; W = Win; P = Postponed.

Results

Crystal Palace's score comes first

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

FA Premier League

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
20 August 1994	Liverpool	H	1-6	18,084	Armstrong
24 August 1994	Norwich City	A	0-0	19,015
27 August 1994	Aston Villa	A	1-1	23,305	Southgate
30 August 1994	Leeds United	H	1-2	13,654	Gordon
10 September 1994	Manchester City	A	1-1	19,971	Dyer
17 September 1994	Wimbledon	H	0-0	12,100
24 September 1994	Chelsea	H	0-1	16,030
1 October 1994	Arsenal	A	2-1	34,136	Salako (2)
8 October 1994	West Ham United	A	0-1	16,959
15 October 1994	Newcastle United	H	0-1	17,760
22 October 1994	Everton	H	1-0	14,505	Preece
29 October 1994	Leicester City	A	1-0	20,022	Preece
2 November 1994	Coventry City	A	4-1	10,732	Preece (2), Newman, Salako
5 November 1994	Ipswich Town	H	3-0	13,349	Newman, Armstrong, Salako
19 November 1994	Manchester United	A	0-3	43,788
26 November 1994	Southampton	H	0-0	14,007
3 December 1994	Sheffield Wednesday	A	0-1	21,930
11 December 1994	Liverpool	A	0-0	30,972
17 December 1994	Norwich City	H	0-1	12,252
26 December 1994	Queens Park Rangers	H	0-0	16,372
27 December 1994	Tottenham Hotspur	A	0-0	27,730
31 December 1994	Blackburn Rovers	H	0-1	14,232
2 January 1995	Nottingham Forest	A	0-1	21,326
14 January 1995	Leicester City	H	2-0	12,707	Newman, Ndah
21 January 1995	Everton	A	1-3	23,733	Coleman
25 January 1995	Manchester United	H	1-1	18,224	Southgate
4 February 1995	Ipswich Town	A	2-0	15,570	Dowie, Gordon (pen)
11 February 1995	Coventry City	H	0-2	11,871
25 February 1995	Arsenal	H	0-3	17,092
5 March 1995	Chelsea	A	0-0	14,130
14 March 1995	Sheffield Wednesday	H	2-1	10,422	Armstrong, Dowie
18 March 1995	Wimbledon	A	0-2	8,835
1 April 1995	Manchester City	H	2-1	13,312	Armstrong, Patterson
4 April 1995	Aston Villa	H	0-0	12,606
14 April 1995	Tottenham Hotspur	H	1-1	18,149	Armstrong
17 April 1995	Queens Park Rangers	H	1-0	14,227	Dowie
20 April 1995	Blackburn Rovers	A	1-2	28,005	Houghton
29 April 1995	Nottingham Forest	H	1-2	15,886	Dowie
3 May 1995	Southampton	A	1-3	15,151	Southgate
6 May 1995	West Ham United	H	1-0	14,227	Armstrong
9 May 1995	Leeds United	A	1-3	30,942	Armstrong
14 May 1995	Newcastle United	A	2-3	35,626	Houghton, Armstrong

FA Cup

Main article: 1994-95 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	8 January 1995	Lincoln City	H	5-1	6,541	Coleman, Armstrong, Gordon (pen), Salako (2)
R4	28 January 1995	Nottingham Forest	A	2-1	16,790	Armstrong, Dowie
R5	18 February 1995	Watford	A	0-0	13,814
R5R	1 March 1995	Watford	H	1-0	10,321	Ndah
QF	11 March 1995	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	1-1	14,604	Dowie
QFR	22 March 1995	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	4-1	27,548	Armstrong (2), Pitcher, Dowie
SF	9 April 1995	Manchester United	N	2-2	38,256	Dowie, Armstrong
SFR	12 April 1995	Manchester United	N	0-2	17,987

League Cup

Main article: 1994-95 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R2 1st Leg	20 September 1994	Lincoln City	A	0-1	4,310
R2 2nd Leg	4 October 1994	Lincoln City	H	3-0 (won 3-1 on agg)	6,870	Gordon, Armstrong, Dyer
R3	25 October 1994	Wimbledon	A	1-0	9,394	Armstrong
R4	30 November 1994	Aston Villa	H	4-1	12,653	Armstrong (2), Southgate (2)
R5	11 January 1995	Manchester City	H	4-0	16,668	Pitcher, Salako, Preece, Armstrong
SF 1st Leg	15 February 1995	Liverpool	A	0-1	25,480
SF 2nd Leg	8 March 1995	Liverpool	H	0-1 (lost 0-2 on agg)	18,224

Squad

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Nigel Martyn 2 DF John Humphrey 3 DF Dean Gordon 4 MF Gareth Southgate (captain) 5 DF Eric Young 6 DF Chris Coleman 7 MF Simon Rodger 8 FW Iain Dowie 9 FW Chris Armstrong 10 FW Bruce Dyer 11 MF John Salako 12 MF Damian Matthew 14 DF Richard Shaw

No. Position Player 15 MF Bobby Bowry 16 MF Darren Pitcher 17 FW Paul Williams 18 FW Andy Preece 19 GK Rhys Wilmot 20 MF Ray Houghton 21 DF Ian Cox 22 DF Darren Patterson 23 MF Ricky Newman 24 FW George Ndah 25 GK Jimmy Glass 26 MF Brian Launders

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 8 MF Ray Wilkins (to Queens Park Rangers) 20 DF Andy Thorn (to Wimbledon)

No. Position Player MF Glen Little (on loan to Derry City)

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 Paul Sparrow DF Jamie Vincent DF Danny Boxall MF Björn Enqvist

No. Position Player MF Glen Little MF Rob Quinn MF Tony Scully

Transfers

In

Date	Pos	Name	From	Fee
26 May 1994	MF	Ray Wilkins	QPR	Free transfer
23 June 1994	FW	Andy Preece	Stockport County	£350,000
5 July 1994	MF	Darren Pitcher	Charlton Athletic	£700,000
9 August 1994	GK	Rhys Wilmot	Grimsby Town	£80,000
13 January 1995	FW	Iain Dowie	Southampton	£400,000
10 February 1995	MF	Björn Enqvist	Malmö FF	Signed
23 March 1995	MF	Ray Houghton	Aston Villa	£300,000

Out

Date	Pos	Name	To	Fee
4 July 1994	GK	Andy Woodman	Exeter City	Free transfer
5 July 1994	MF	Stuart Massey	Oxford United	Free transfer
5 July 1994	FW	David Whyte	Charlton Athletic	£450,000
5 July 1994	MF	Paul Mortimer	Charlton Athletic	£200,000
16 August 1994	MF	Mark Hawthorne	Sheffield United	Free transfer
17 August 1994	MF	Simon Osborn	Reading	£90,000
5 October 1994	DF	Andy Thorn	Wimbledon	Free transfer
17 November 1994	MF	Ray Wilkins	QPR	Free transfer

Transfers in: £1,830,000

Transfers out: £740,000

Total spending: £1,090,000