1993–94 Blackburn Rovers F.C. season

During the 1993–94 English football season, Blackburn Rovers F.C. competed in the FA Premier League.

Blackburn Rovers
1993–94 season
OwnerJack Walker
ChairmanRobert Coar
ManagerKenny Dalglish
StadiumEwood Park
FA Premier League2nd
FA CupThird round
Coca-Cola CupFourth round
Top goalscorerLeague: Shearer (31)
All: Shearer (34)
Average home league attendance17,721

Season summary

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It was another strong season for a resurgent Blackburn, who were in the higher reaches of the Premier League all season long and, at one stage in early April, were level on points with leaders Manchester United, who had led the league almost from start to finish and entered 1994 with a 16-point lead. The return of Alan Shearer from a long-term injury saw him make a swift return to his superb form of old, with the 23-year-old hitman scoring 31 goals in the league, including both of Blackburn's goals in an early April win over Manchester United at Ewood Park. Before the start of the season, Blackburn had been pipped by Manchester United to the signature of Nottingham Forest midfielder Roy Keane for a national record fee of £3.75million.

In the end, though, it wasn't quite enough to snatch the title crown off Manchester United, who had returned to their winning ways before the end of April, after Blackburn took their turn to drop points, and Kenny Dalglish's men had to settle for runners-up spot and a UEFA Cup place. This meant that Blackburn would be competing in Europe for the very first time in their history, although in the UEFA Cup rather than the European Cup as would have happened if they had won the league. Blackburn's fourth-place finish a year earlier had not been enough for a UEFA Cup place due to English clubs still not having all their UEFA Cup places back despite their ban from European competitions arising from the Heysel disaster having been lifted for the 1990–91 season.

Blackburn fans were thrilled after the end of the season when 21-year-old Norwich City striker Chris Sutton joined the club for an English record fee of £5 million, following competition from the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United for his signature. With the most expensive striker-partnership in the country, the club's fans were given all the more reason to expect their team to succeed in at least one of the four major competitions that they would be contesting next season.

Japanese company Asics manufactured Blackburn's kit this season. British brewery McEwan's Lager were the kit sponsors.

Final league table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Manchester United (C) 42 27 11 4 80 38 +42 92 Qualification for the Champions League group stage
2 Blackburn Rovers 42 25 9 8 63 36 +27 84 Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
3 Newcastle United 42 23 8 11 82 41 +41 77
4 Arsenal 42 18 17 7 53 28 +25 71 Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round[a]
5 Leeds United 42 18 16 8 65 39 +26 70
Source: Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions
Notes:
  1. ^ Arsenal qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup as the defending champions.

Results

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Blackburn Rovers' score comes first[1]

Legend

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Win Draw Loss

FA Premier League

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Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
14 August 1993 Chelsea A 2–1 29,189 Newell, Ripley
18 August 1993 Norwich City H 2–3 14,236 Atkins, Wilcox
21 August 1993 Oldham Athletic H 1–0 14,397 Moran
24 August 1993 Manchester City A 2–0 25,185 Newell, Gallacher
29 August 1993 Newcastle United A 1–1 34,272 Shearer
2 September 1993 Arsenal H 1–1 14,051 Gallacher
12 September 1993 Liverpool A 1–0 37,355 Newell
18 September 1993 West Ham United H 0–2 13,943
25 September 1993 Sheffield Wednesday H 1–1 13,917 Shearer
2 October 1993 Swindon Town A 3–1 15,224 Shearer (2), Ripley
18 October 1993 Sheffield United H 0–0 13,505
23 October 1993 Leeds United A 3–3 37,827 Shearer (3)
30 October 1993 Tottenham Hotspur H 1–0 16,849 Shearer
6 November 1993 Queens Park Rangers A 0–1 17,636
20 November 1993 Southampton H 2–0 16,666 Shearer (2)
23 November 1993 Coventry City H 2–1 15,136 Shearer (2)
27 November 1993 Ipswich Town A 0–1 14,582
5 December 1993 Chelsea H 2–0 15,736 Le Saux, Shearer
11 December 1993 Oldham Athletic A 2–1 13,887 Shearer (2)
18 December 1993 Manchester City H 2–0 18,741 Gallacher, Shearer
26 December 1993 Manchester United A 1–1 44,511 Gallacher
29 December 1993 Everton H 2–0 26,015 Shearer (2)
1 January 1994 Aston Villa A 1–0 40,903 Shearer
15 January 1994 Sheffield United A 2–1 19,124 Shearer (2)
23 January 1994 Leeds United H 2–1 16,938 Shearer (2)
5 February 1994 Wimbledon H 3–0 16,215 Shearer, Wilcox, Ripley
12 February 1994 Tottenham Hotspur A 2–0 30,236 Shearer, Gallacher
19 February 1994 Newcastle United H 1–0 21,269 May
22 February 1994 Norwich City A 2–2 15,193 Gallacher (2)
26 February 1994 Arsenal A 0–1 35,030
5 March 1994 Liverpool H 2–0 20,831 Wilcox, Sherwood
20 March 1994 Sheffield Wednesday A 2–1 24,699 Wilcox, Newell
26 March 1994 Swindon Town H 3–1 20,046 Shearer (2, 1 pen), Sherwood
29 March 1994 Wimbledon A 1–4 10,537 Wilcox
2 April 1994 Manchester United H 2–0 20,866 Shearer (2)
4 April 1994 Everton A 3–0 27,427 Newell (2), Wilcox
11 April 1994 Aston Villa H 1–0 19,287 Shearer
16 April 1994 Southampton A 1–3 19,105 Ripley
24 April 1994 Queens Park Rangers H 1–1 19,913 Shearer
27 April 1994 West Ham United A 2–1 22,186 Berg, Pearce
2 May 1994 Coventry City A 1–2 16,653 Le Saux
7 May 1994 Ipswich Town H 0–0 20,633

FA Cup

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Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Goalscorers
R3 8 January 1994 Portsmouth H 3–3 17,219 Gallacher, Shearer, Sherwood
R3R 19 January 1994 Portsmouth A 3–1 23,035 Shearer, Wilcox, May
R4 29 January 1994 Charlton Athletic A 0–0 8,532
R4R 8 February 1994 Charlton Athletic H 0–1 15,348

League Cup

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Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Goalscorers
R2 1st leg 21 September 1993 Bournemouth H 1–0 10,733 Shearer
R2 2nd leg 5 October 1993 Bournemouth A 0–0 (won 1–0 on agg) 10,321
R3 26 October 1993 Shrewsbury Town H 0–0 10,603
R3R 9 November 1993 Shrewsbury Town A 4–3 7,330 Newell (2), May, Pearce
R4 1 December 1993 Tottenham Hotspur A 0–1 22,295

Squad

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK   ENG Bobby Mimms
2 DF   ENG David May
3 DF   ENG Alan Wright
4 MF   ENG Tim Sherwood (captain)
5 DF   SCO Colin Hendry
6 DF   ENG Graeme Le Saux
7 MF   ENG Stuart Ripley
8 FW   SCO Kevin Gallacher
9 FW   ENG Alan Shearer
10 FW   ENG Mike Newell
11 MF   ENG Jason Wilcox
12 DF   ENG Nicky Marker
No. Pos. Nation Player
13 GK   AUS Frank Talia
14 MF   ENG Lee Makel
15 DF   ENG Richard Brown
18 DF   SCO Andy Morrison
19 MF   ENG Simon Ireland
20 DF   NOR Henning Berg
21 MF   IRL Kevin Moran
22 MF   ENG Mark Atkins
23 MF   ENG David Batty
24 DF   ENG Paul Warhurst
25 DF   ENG Ian Pearce
26 GK   ENG Tim Flowers

Left the club during season

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
16 DF   ENG Tony Dobson (to Portsmouth)
No. Pos. Nation Player
17 DF   SWE Patrik Andersson (to Borussia Mönchengladbach)

References

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  1. ^ "Blackburn Rovers 1993-1994 Home - statto.com". Archived from the original on 17 May 2012. Retrieved 21 May 2012.