The 1995–96 season was the 116th season of competitive football in England.
Overview
Premiership Newcastle United were at one stage twelve points clear of Manchester United at the top of the table, but Alex Ferguson's relatively young and inexperienced side overhauled them during the second half of the season to win the title. Manchester United were England's entrants for the Champions League, while Newcastle United were joined in the UEFA Cup by Liverpool, the League Cup winners Aston Villa and Arsenal.
The teams relegated were Manchester City, Queens Park Rangers and Bolton Wanderers.
Division One Sunderland and Derby County returned to the Premiership after a five-year exile, joined by Division One play-off winners Leicester City.
Watford and Luton Town, who had both been established top division sides a decade earlier, were relegated to the league's third tier. On the last day of the season they were joined by Millwall, who had been top of the division five months earlier but slumped dramatically after Mick McCarthy's departure for the Republic of Ireland manager's job.
Division Two Swindon Town after two consecutive relegations returned to Division One at the first attempt after lifting the Division Two championship trophy. They were joined by runners-up Oxford United, who were enjoying their first successful season since the mid-1980s, and playoff winners Bradford City.
Going down were Carlisle United, Swansea City (who got through five managers in a season), Brighton & Hove Albion (sinking further into a financial crisis) and Hull City.
Division Three Preston North End, Gillingham, Bury and playoff winners Plymouth Argyle won promotion to Division Two. Preston's win made them the third club to win all four top tiers of English football, next to Wolverhampton Wanderers and Burnley.
Torquay United finished at the bottom of Division Three, having won just five games all season, but were saved from demotion because Conference champions Stevenage Borough did not meet the league's required minimum stadium capacity.
Successful managers
Alex Ferguson guided Manchester United to a unique second double of the league title and FA Cup.
Brian Little guided Aston Villa to victory in the League Cup as well as a fourth-place finish in the Premiership.
Peter Reid brought some long-awaited success to Sunderland as they finished champions of Division One and won promotion to the Premiership.
Experienced manager Jim Smith achieved another managerial success by winning promotion to the Premiership with Derby County.
Martin O'Neill achieved his third promotion in four seasons by winning promotion to the Premiership with Leicester City.
Steve McMahon succeeded in getting Swindon Town back into Division One at the first attempt as they were crowned champions of Division Two.
Denis Smith built on the success he achieved earlier in his career (with York City and later Sunderland) by gaining promotion to Division One with Oxford United.
Gary Peters had a dream start to his reign as Preston North End manager as they were crowned champions of Division Three.
Stan Ternent finally enjoyed some success in his long management and coaching career by winning promotion to Division Two with Bury.
Neil Warnock achieved the fifth promotion of his managerial career (and his fourth via the playoffs) by winning the Division Three playoffs with Plymouth Argyle.
Chris Kamara got Bradford City promoted via the Division 2 playoffs just 6 months after taking over as manager. The feat was all the more amazing considering they lost 0–2 at home to Blackpool in the 1st leg of the play off semi final. A 3–0 victory in the 2nd leg saw Bradford City reach Wembley for the first ever time defeating Notts County 2–0 in the final with goals from 19-year-old local boy Des Hamilton and Kamara's first signing Mark Stallard.
Tony Pulis guided Gillingham F.C. out of Division Three and was named the Manager of the Season.
Successful players
Alan Shearer topped the Premiership scoring charts with 31 goals, the highest number of goals in the league charted at the time. Shearer was followed closely by Robbie Fowler on 28, Ian Wright and Les Ferdinand, who won the PFA Players' Player of the Year award.
Steve McManaman led the assists chart with 15 assists this season, also a new record for the league.
Eric Cantona was awarded the FWA Footballer of the Year for his comeback and galvanising influence over a successful young Manchester United side.
Events
Double delight for United Manchester United made history as the first English club to win the double of the league title and FA Cup twice. They did so despite having sold key players Paul Ince, Mark Hughes and Andrei Kanchelskis before the start of the season. Manager Alex Ferguson selected young players like Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt, David Beckham, Gary Neville and Phil Neville, alongside more experienced players Steve Bruce, Gary Pallister and Eric Cantona. Cantona, who returned from his suspension to spearhead United's chase for trophies, was voted the FWA Footballer of the Year.
At Christmas, United trailed Newcastle United by 12 points. On 27 December they beat Newcastle 2–0 to cut the gap to seven points, and a 1–0 win at St. James' Park on 4 March cut the gap to a single point. A 1–0 win against Tottenham Hotspur on 24 March put United on top of the Premiership and they remained in that position for the rest of the season. On the final day of the season they confirmed their status as Premiership champions for the third time in four seasons thanks to a 3–0 away win over Middlesbrough, who were managed by former United captain Bryan Robson.
On 11 May, United faced Liverpool in the FA Cup final at Wembley. A late goal from Cantona saw United make history and lift the FA Cup as England's first 'double double' winners.
Venables out, Hoddle in Terry Venables announced in January that he would not be continuing as England manager after the 1996 European Championships, so the FA began their hunt for his successor. The likes of Alex Ferguson, Howard Kendall, Steve Coppell, Gerry Francis and Kevin Keegan were all linked with the job, but all quickly ruled themselves out either because of club commitments or a lack of experience.
In the end, the 39-year-old Chelsea manager Glenn Hoddle agreed to take charge of the England team on a four-year contract. Hoddle's successor at Chelsea was the 33-year-old Dutch legend Ruud Gullit.
Euro '96: So close for England In 1996 England hosted the European Championships for the first time. They went through to the quarter-finals after drawing with Switzerland and beating Scotland and the Netherlands in the group stages. They drew 0–0 with Spain in the quarter finals but England went through on penalties. A goal by Alan Shearer gave them an early lead over Germany in the semi-finals, but the Germans forced extra-time and England lost the ensuing penalty shoot-out. Germany went on to beat Czech Republic 2–1 in the final.
European competitions English clubs endured a tough time in European competition during the 1995–96 season. Manchester United, Liverpool and Leeds United suffered early exits from the UEFA Cup, while Blackburn Rovers were eliminated from the Champions League at the group stages and Everton were dumped out of the Cup Winners Cup in the Second Round. That left Nottingham Forest as the only English club still in Europe after Christmas.
Forest took on Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup quarter-finals and lost 2–1 away in the first leg. Jürgen Klinsmann scored twice as the German side defeated Forest 5–1 at the City ground and went on to win the competition.
Bosman ruling A legal challenge in the European Court of Human Rights by the Belgian midfielder Jean-Marc Bosman gave out-of-contract players aged 23 or above the right to become free agents and move to other clubs for no fee. There was widespread controversy following the announcement, as many clubs feared that they would lose expensively signed players for nothing. The Bosman ruling also saw an end to the three foreigner rule which restricted teams to fielding a maximum of three players born outside the country that they were employed in. In the Premiership, the limit of three foreigners in a match squad had covered Welsh, Scottish and Northern and Southern Irish players. The Bosman ruling allowed clubs in EU countries to field an unlimited number of players who were of EU nationalities, although they were still restricted to fielding 3 players of non-EU nationalities.
Honours CompetitionWinnerFA Premier LeagueManchester United (10/3*)FA CupManchester United (9*)Football League CupAston Villa (5)Football League First DivisionSunderlandFootball League Second DivisionSwindon TownFootball League Third DivisionPreston North EndFA Community ShieldEverton
England national team As England was hosting the 1996 UEFA European Football Championship the England national team did not play any competitive fixtures up until the championships themselves but played a number of friendlies this season.
Date Opposition Venue Result 6 September 1995 Colombia Wembley Stadium, London D 0-0 11 October 1995 Norway Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo D 0-0 15 November 1995 Switzerland Wembley Stadium, London W 3-1 12 December 1995 Portugal Wembley Stadium, London D 1-1 27 March 1996 Bulgaria Wembley Stadium, London W 1-0 24 April 1996 Croatia Wembley Stadium, London D 0-0 18 May 1996 Hungary Wembley Stadium, London W 3-0 23 May 1996 China Workers Stadium, Beijing W 3-0
League tables
Premiership
Manchester United were Premiership champions for the third time in four seasons, after Newcastle United led for most of the season, the Tyneside club's lead having peaked at 10 points just before Christmas. Manchester United also won the FA Cup to complete the double. The star of their season was undoubtedly striker Eric Cantona, who returned from his eight-month suspension at the beginning of October to spearhead United's attack with 19 goals in all competitions, several of them in crucial late season games as they took the initiative in the title race, and the last being the winning goal in the FA Cup final.
Liverpool continued to show signs of a return to their former glory by finishing third and ending the season as runners-up in the FA Cup final. Aston Villa, enjoying a revival with a reshaped squad under Brian Little, finished fourth and won the Football League Cup. Arsenal built the foundations for a revival under new manager Bruce Rioch by finishing fifth and coming within a goal of reaching the League Cup final. However, Rioch was gone by the start of the following season after a dispute with the club's directors.
FA Cup holders Everton failed to retain the cup and finished in sixth place in the league one place outside of a UEFA Cup place.
Blackburn Rovers failed to retain their league title and finished seventh in the league, with Alan Shearer finding the net more than 30 times for the third season in a row.
Nottingham Forest finished ninth in the league and were the only English side to progress to the quarter-finals of any of the European competitions, doing so in reaching the quarter-final UEFA Cup. 1995-96 was one of the worst seasons ever for English clubs in European competitions.
Bolton Wanderers were relegated in bottom place, having won just twice before New Year's Day, with not even an improvement under caretaker manager Colin Todd helping them. Queens Park Rangers were unable to recover from the sale of star striker Les Ferdinand to Newcastle and finished second bottom, ending 13 seasons in the top division. Manchester City were the last team to be relegated, eventually undone by their failure to win in their first 11 matches, but they did manage to take the fight to the last day of the season. Coventry City and Southampton stayed up on goal difference.
Leading goalscorer: Alan Shearer (Blackburn Rovers) - 31
Division One