The 1991–92 season was the 93rd completed season of The Football League.

Final league tables and results

The tables and results below are reproduced here in the exact form that they can be found at the RSSSF website,^[1] with home and away statistics separated.

First Division

Overview

With the announcement halfway through the season that the Football Association would be creating a new Premier League of 22 clubs for the 1992–93 season, this was the final season of the old Football League First Division as the top flight of English football. The race for the title was mostly a two-horse race between Leeds United (promoted just two years earlier and previously league champions in 1969 and 1974) and a Manchester United who were fresh from back-to-back successes in cup competitions, but who had not won the First Division title since 1967. Alex Ferguson's side had a strong first half of the season, losing just once before the end of 1991, but then lost 4–1 at home to QPR on New Year's Day 1992, and a shortage of goals and wins during the second half of the season cost them the title, with Leeds clinching it on the penultimate weekend of the season when they won 3–2 at Sheffield United and Alex Ferguson's side lost 2–0 to Liverpool at Anfield, although they did manage to win the Football League Cup for the first time two weeks earlier. The catalyst in the West Yorkshire side's title triumph had been a mid-season signing from France, 25-year-old striker Eric Cantona, who joined pre-season signing Rod Wallace and established stars including Gary McAllister, Lee Chapman and Gordon Strachan as well as promising midfielders Gary Speed and David Batty as part of the team which clinched the title. The latest additions to Manchester United's ever-changing squad were goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, defender Paul Parker and winger Andrei Kanchelskis, while teenage winger Ryan Giggs established himself as a regular and crucial member of the first team squad before his 18th birthday, having made his debut the previous season.

Newly promoted Sheffield Wednesday had won the Football League Cup to end their 56-year wait for a major trophy, but were then left without a manager when Ron Atkinson accepted the offer to take over at Aston Villa. The Hillsborough club then turned to veteran striker Trevor Francis, who was appointed player-manager and took them to third place in the final table and into the UEFA Cup, delivering European qualification to the club for the first time since the 1960s. Defending champions Arsenal had a disappointing start to the season, but the £2.5million signing of striker Ian Wright from Crystal Palace in late September helped the Gunners recover their form, and they finished fourth in the final table, although their first venture into the European Cup for 20 years ended in the second round, and they then suffered a shock first-hurdle exit from the FA Cup at the hands of Fourth Division side Wrexham. Manchester City finished fifth for the second season running, while a Liverpool side in transition in their first full season under the management of Graeme Souness finished a disappointing sixth in the league but still managed to win the FA Cup.

West Ham United and Notts County went straight back down to the First Division after just one season, while Luton Town were relegated on the final day of the season after a decade in the First Division, with their defeat at the season's end ensuring that Coventry City secured a 26th successive season among the elite. Norwich City, who reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup for the second time in four seasons but finished 18th after a dismal end to the league season, saw their manager Dave Stringer resign after an eventful five seasons and hand over the reins to coach Mike Walker. Oldham Athletic's first top flight campaign since the 1920s saw them secure survival with a 17th-place finish and book a place in the new Premier League. Southampton spent much of the season battling against relegation before a seven-match winning run during the second half of the campaign helped lift them to safety, with all eyes at The Dell being on Southampton's top scorer, 21-year-old striker Alan Shearer, who scored on his England debut in February and was subject of interest from a string of bigger clubs throughout the campaign, although he decided to remain on the South Coast until the end of the season before manager Ian Branfoot invited offers with "cash plus unwanted players" in return to Shearer's services, with fees in the region of £3million being quotes and the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool being strongly linked with Shearer's signature.

As one highly promising English striker's career was taking off, a goalscoring legend was on his way out of the English league. In November 1991, Tottenham and England striker Gary Lineker accepted an offer to sign for Japanese side Nagoya Grampus Eight at the end of the season. Lineker finished the season as PFA Player of the Year and was among the top scorers with 28 First Division goals, before bowing out of the international scene at the European Championship in Sweden, making the last of his 80 appearances for the national side in a 2–1 defeat to Sweden at the end of an international career where a total of 48 goals left him just one goal short of Bobby Charlton's then-record of 49 England goals.

Table

Results