On 15th of August 1992 the FA Premiership famously and controversially replaced the old first division as the top flight football league in England and Wales.
Back then there were 22 breakaway teams who were Arsenal, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea, Coventry City, Crystal Palace, Everton, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest, Oldham Athletic, Queens Park Rangers, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur and Wimbledon.
The reason behind the breakaway was of course money as the big five of the time – Liverpool, Arsenal, Everton, Tottenham and Manchester United – wanted a bigger slice of the pie and with Rupert Murdoch’s Sky Sports offering vast sums for exclusive broadcasting rights, this was the best chance of getting it.
A Lot Has Changed
Back then, the record transfer fee was £3.6 million when Alan Shearer who had made the surprise move to Kenny Dalglish’s newly promoted Blackburn Rovers from Southampton, standing in the crowd was still an option for many and the majority of teams had mainly British players.
In fact, there were only 13 foreign players – Eric Cantona (Leeds United), Peter Schmeichel (Manchester United), Michel Vonk (Manchester City), Andrei Kanchelskis (Manchester United), Gunnar Halle (Oldham Athletic), Craig Forrest (Ipswich Town), Roland Nilsson (Sheffield Wednesday), Hans Segers (Wimbledon), Jan Stejskal (QPR), John Jensen (Arsenal), Anders Limpar (Arsenal), Robert Warzycha (Everton) and Ronnie Rosenthal (Liverpool), hailing from France, Denmark, the Netherlands, Russia, Norway, Canada, Sweden, Poland and Israel, taking part in the first weekend of the Premiership which was later rebranded as the Premier League.
All 22 of the original Premier League managers were British too which shows you just how transformative for English football the Premier League has been.
Premier League Firsts FAQs
What was the Premier League’s first ever televised match?
The first ever Premier League match to be televised was Nottingham Forest versus Liverpool which the hosts won 1-0 at the City Ground and was broadcast live on Sky Sports.
Who scored the Premier League’s first ever goal?
Brian Deane scored the first ever Premier League goal when he netted a header five minutes into Sheffield United’s 2-1 opening day win over Manchester United at Bramall Lane.
Who scored the first goal live on TV?
Teddy Sheringham scored the opening goal of the first live super Sunday game on Sky Sports, for Nottingham Forest against Liverpool.
Who scored the Premier League’s first ever penalty?
Brian Deane again! He slotted home a penalty just five minutes into the second half of the same game.
Who got the Premier League’s first ever red card?
Manchester City striker Niall Quinn was the first Premier League player to be sent off.
Who was the Premier League’s first ever manager to be sacked?
Chelsea’s Ian Porterfield was the first ever Premier League manager to be sacked.
Who scored the Premier League’s first ever own goal?
Nottingham Forest goalkeeper scored the Premier League’s first ever own goal, but the first outfield player to put the ball in his own net was Garry Flitcroft of Manchester City.
Who scored the first Hat-Trick in the PL?
That was the famous or infamous Eric Cantona, but it wasn’t for Man United it was for Leeds in a 5-0 win against Spurs on 25th August 1992.
First PL team to field an all foreign starting XI
It may be no surprise that this was Chelsea, but it took until boxing day 1999 for it to happen. Chelsea beat Southampton 2-1 in the game. The manager was foreign too, Gianluca Vialli.
