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, John Gorman was sacked as Swindon Town manager early in the 1994/95 season to be succeeded by Steve McMahon, Swindon Town would be relegated to Division 2 at the end of the 1994/95 season

.

Final league table

Results

Swindon Town's score comes first^[5]

Squad

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 Adi 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