1993–94 Swindon Town F.C. season

Swindon Town
1993–94 season
Chairman	Ray Hardman
Manager	John Gorman
Stadium	County Ground
FA Premier League	22nd (relegated)
FA Cup	Third round
Coca–Cola Cup	Third round
Top goalscorer	League: Fjørtoft (12); All: Fjørtoft (13)
Average home league attendance	15,274
	← 1992–93 1994–95 →

During the 1993–94 English football season, Swindon Town F.C. competed in the FA Premier League. It was Town's first (and, to date, only) season in the top flight of English football.

Season summary[]

Three years after winning promotion, and then being denied top-flight football for financial irregularities, the Robins finally reached the elite after 73 years of trying thanks to a pulsating 4–3 win over Leicester City in the Division One playoff final.

Soon after securing promotion, player-manager Glenn Hoddle left to take charge of Chelsea. His assistant John Gorman was expected to follow Hoddle to Stamford Bridge, but instead accepted Swindon’s offer to become manager. He signed Norwegian striker Jan Aage Fjortoft from Rapid Vienna as well as another striker, Andy Mutch, from Wolves.

Swindon did not record a league win until their 17th game, winning just five games and becoming the first top division team in 30 years to concede 100 league goals, with only four clean sheets all season. They would have fared worse still had it not been for the strong form during the second half of the season of Jan Åge Fjørtoft, who was on target 12 times in the league, with all of his goals coming after the turn of the new year.

Swindon’s first ever top-flight victory came on 24 November 1993 when a Keith Scott goal gave them a 1–0 home win over Queen's Park Rangers.^[1] Their 20th game of the season was a memorable one. They travelled to Anfield to face Liverpool, and managed to hold the home side to a 2–2 draw just over three months after they had crushed Swindon 5–0 at the County Ground. Midfielder John Moncur had put Swindon 1–0 up on the hour, and although Liverpool equalised after 71 minutes, Swindon restored their lead three minutes later with a goal from Keith Scott. They were still ahead with five minutes remaining, before an 86th-minute equaliser from Liverpool's Mark Wright denied Swindon a famous victory.^[2] Swindon won their next game 2–1 at home to Southampton. They held Sheffield Wednesday to a thrilling 3–3 draw at Hillsborough on 29 December with two goals from striker Craig Maskell.^[3] However, after the turn of the new year, Swindon found themselves on the receiving end of some more heavy defeats. On 15 January, they lost 6–2 to Everton at Goodison Park, though they did manage a narrow victory over Tottenham Hotspur in their next game, and within a month had fallen to a 5–0 defeat at Aston Villa. They were then crushed 7–1 at Newcastle on 12 March. A 2–2 home draw with Manchester United on 19 March sparked fresh hope that Swindon might just about climb to safety, but they collected just two points from their final eight games and were firmly rooted in bottom place. They had won just five league games all season and conceded 100 goals. Although a string of teams have since recorded fewer wins and points in the Premier League, none have yet matched Swindon’s record for conceding the most goals.^[4]

John Gorman spoke of his hope that Swindon would soon return to the Premiership, saying that "[Swindon] wouldn't be in Division One for long . . . ". True to his word, Gorman lead Swindon to a consecutive relegation the following season, finishing in 21st place.

Final league table[]

Pos	Team v t	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
18	Southampton	42	12	7	23	49	66	−17	43
19	Ipswich Town	42	9	16	17	35	58	−23	43
20	Sheffield United (R)	42	8	18	16	42	60	−18	42	Relegation to the Football League First Division
21	Oldham Athletic (R)	42	9	13	20	42	68	−26	40
22	Swindon Town (R)	42	5	15	22	47	100	−53	30

Source: Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(R) Relegated

Results[]

Swindon Town's score comes first^[5]

Legend[]

Win	Draw	Loss

FA Premier League[]

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
14 August 1993	Sheffield United	A	1–3	20,904	Moncur
18 August 1993	Oldham Athletic	H	0–1	11,940
22 August 1993	Liverpool	H	0–5	17,364
25 August 1993	Southampton	A	1–5	12,505	Maskell (pen)
28 August 1993	Norwich City	A	0–0	17,614
1 September 1993	Manchester City	H	1–3	16,067	Summerbee
11 September 1993	West Ham United	A	0–0	15,777
18 September 1993	Newcastle United	H	2–2	15,393	Ling, Mutch
25 September 1993	Manchester United	A	2–4	44,583	Mutch, Bodin (pen)
2 October 1993	Blackburn Rovers	H	1–3	15,847	Taylor
16 October 1993	Everton	H	1–1	14,437	Taylor
23 October 1993	Tottenham Hotspur	A	1–1	31,394	Bodin (pen)
30 October 1993	Aston Villa	H	1–2	16,322	Bodin (pen)
6 November 1993	Wimbledon	A	0–3	7,758
20 November 1993	Ipswich Town	H	2–2	13,860	Scott, Bodin (pen)
24 November 1993	Queens Park Rangers	H	1–0	14,674	Scott
27 November 1993	Leeds United	A	0–3	32,630
4 December 1993	Sheffield United	H	0–0	12,882
7 December 1993	Oldham Athletic	A	1–2	19,498	Mutch
11 December 1993	Liverpool	A	2–2	32,739	Moncur, Scott
18 December 1993	Southampton	H	2–1	13,565	Bodin, Scott
27 December 1993	Arsenal	H	0–4	17,214
29 December 1993	Sheffield Wednesday	A	3–3	30,570	Mutch, Maskell (2)
1 January 1994	Chelsea	H	1–3	16,261	Mutch
3 January 1994	Coventry City	A	1–1	15,869	Mutch
15 January 1994	Everton	A	2–6	20,760	Moncur, Bodin
22 January 1994	Tottenham Hotspur	H	2–1	16,464	Fjørtoft, Whitbread
5 February 1994	Coventry City	H	3–1	14,635	Fjørtoft (3, 2 pens)
12 February 1994	Aston Villa	A	0–5	27,637
19 February 1994	Norwich City	H	3–3	15,405	Taylor, Fjørtoft (2)
25 February 1994	Manchester City	A	1–2	26,360	Fjørtoft
5 March 1994	West Ham United	H	1–1	15,929	Fjørtoft
12 March 1994	Newcastle United	A	1–7	32,219	Moncur
19 March 1994	Manchester United	H	2–2	18,102	Nijholt, Fjørtoft
26 March 1994	Blackburn Rovers	A	1–3	20,046	Fjørtoft
2 April 1994	Arsenal	A	1–1	31,635	Bodin (pen)
4 April 1994	Sheffield Wednesday	H	0–1	13,927
16 April 1994	Ipswich Town	A	1–1	14,760	Fjørtoft
23 April 1994	Wimbledon	H	2–4	13,309	Summerbee, Barton (own goal)
27 April 1994	Chelsea	A	0–2	11,180
30 April 1994	Queens Park Rangers	A	3–1	9,875	Taylor, Fjørtoft, Summerbee
7 May 1994	Leeds United	H	0–5	17,228

FA Cup[]


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	8 January 1994	Ipswich Town	H	1–1	12,105	Mutch
R3R	18 January 1994	Ipswich Town	A	1–2 (a.e.t.)	12,796	Fjørtoft

League Cup[]


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R2 1st leg	22 September 1993	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	2–0	8,649	Summerbee, Mutch
R2 2nd leg	5 October 1993	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	1–2 (won 3–2 on agg)	11,756	Summerbee
R3	26 October 1993	Portsmouth	A	0–2	12,554

Squad[]

[3] 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	Fraser Digby
2	MF	ENG	Nicky Summerbee
3	DF	WAL	Paul Bodin
4	MF	ENG	Micky Hazard
5	MF	NED	Luc Nijholt
6	DF	ENG	Shaun Taylor
7	MF	ENG	John Moncur
8	MF	SCO	Ross MacLaren
9	FW	NOR	Jan Åge Fjørtoft
10	MF	ENG	Martin Ling
11	FW	ENG	Craig Maskell
12	FW	ENG	Steve White
14	DF	ENG	Adrian Whitbread
15	DF	ENG	Adrian Viveash
16	MF	NIR	Kevin Horlock
17	FW	ENG	Chris Hamon
18	MF	ENG	Eddie Murray


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
19	DF	ENG	Andy Thomson
20	DF	IRL	Wayne O'Sullivan
21	MF	ENG	Marcus Phillips
22	MF	ENG	Austin Berkley
23	GK	ENG	Nick Hammond
24	DF	ENG	Lee Middleton
25	FW	ENG	Andy Mutch
26	DF	ENG	Terry Fenwick
27	FW	ENG	Keith Scott
28	MF	ENG	Ty Gooden
29	GK	ENG	Shane Cook
30	GK	SCO	Stewart Kerr (on loan from Celtic)
31	DF	ENG	Brian Kilcline
32	FW	SCO	Frank McAvennie (on loan from Celtic)
33	MF	NIR	Lawrie Sanchez
34	GK	ENG	Paul Heald (on loan from Leyton Orient)
40	GK	ENG	Jon Sheffield (on loan from Cambridge United)

Starting 11[]

Only considering Premier League starts

GK: #1, Fraser Digby, 28
RB: #2, Nicky Summerbee, 36
CB: #6, Shaun Taylor, 42
CB: #14, Adrian Whitbread, 34
LB: #3, Paul Bodin, 28
RM: #7, John Moncur, 41
CM: #5, Luc Nijholt, 31
CM: #16, Kevin Horlock, 32
LM: #10, Martin Ling, 29
CF: #9, Jan Åge Fjørtoft, 36
CF: #25, Andy Mutch, 27

References[]

^ "Archived copy". www.statbunker.com. Archived from the original on 20 June 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ [1]^{[permanent dead link]}
^ [2]^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "Archived copy". www.statbunker.com. Archived from the original on 20 June 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 17 May 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[1] "Archived copy". www.statbunker.com. Archived from the original on 20 June 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[2] [1]^{[permanent dead link]}

[3] [2]^{[permanent dead link]}

[4] "Archived copy". www.statbunker.com. Archived from the original on 20 June 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[5] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 17 May 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

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