The upcoming season will mark the 25th anniversary of the English Premier League. Over the years – from the early domination of Manchester United to the emergence of big-money clubs like Chelsea and Manchester City – the EPL has become one of the most watched sporting leagues around the world and it has a stronghold over the footballing fraternity. So why not take a trip down memory lane and re-live some of them through some iconic images season by season.
1992-1993
A season that saw Manchester United take their first title in 26 years, also saw the change in the tides of a lot of clubs. Especially for clubs like Leeds United who were the champions in the previous season and finished 17th during the course of this season and Nottingham Forest were relegated following which legendary manager Brian Clough retired. The ecstatic celebrations of Sir Alex Ferguson and his staff was to become something of a regular sight, who knew?
1993-1994
Roy Keane became the most expensive footballer signed by an English team who then helped Manchester United win the title again and this time more comfortably than last season. Newcastle were promoted to the Premier League and made their promotion worthwhile with Andrew Cole scoring 35 goals for them leading them to 3rd position and into the next season’s UEFA Cup.
Blackburn Rovers had something to shout about as they finished 2nd and Alan Shearer hitting top form. Who knows maybe next year they could go all the way?
1994-1995
Blackburn Rovers did go all the way this time. Any image from this season would fall under Cantona’s Kung Fu kick. The kick. This season despite Blackburn’s incredible title win and Shearer’s and 34 goals was marred by some controversial incidents with players and managers admitting to alcoholism and drug abuse, criminal damage and assault and taking illegal payments from transfers.
This certainly showed the other side of the glamorous world of football. The title became Blackburn’s first major trophy in 67 years which was secured on the last day as Manchester United failed to beat West Ham handing over the title to Blackburn who won the title despite losing their final game. This season also saw Nottingham Forest finishing third after being promoted.
1995-1996
Newcastle United took centre-stage with Manchester United as they contested for the title this season. Despite Newcastle having a lead of 12 points in January, Newcastle lost the title to their rivals as United won their game on the last day of the season and they drew their game. Sir Alex Ferguson made a remark suggesting teams like Nottingham Forest would not try as hard against Newcastle as they would against Manchester United.
Keegan reacted in an interview stating “And I'll tell you, honestly, I will love it if we beat them. Love it.” Keegan’s public meltdown didn’t go down well for his team, as they lost the title and haven’t come close to winning it since. Manchester City got relegated along with Queen Park Rangers and Bolton. Alan Shearer was again the top goal scorer!
Keegan’s comment was voted Premier League’s most memorable quote in 2012.
1996-1997
3 teams finished the season on 68 points and ended up in 2nd, 3rd and 4th positions namely Newcastle United, Arsenal and Liverpool. The usual suspects Manchester United took the title again with 75 points. This season saw Arsene Wenger enter the fray of the Premier League and Liverpool finally come close to contesting in a title race.
Wenger introduced Patrick Vieira to the league as well and brought about changes to the way Arsenal played football. He mixed the brute with beauty and Arsenal seem to flourish. Liverpool had led the table throughout the season but eventually lost out due to lack of discipline and defensive errors at the fag end of the season.
The season while remembered for Cantona’s effortless chip and celebration of utmost swagger, had a relegation controversy where Middlesborough finished 19th after being awarded a 3 point penalty due to cancelling a game against Blackburn Rovers due to the squad being ill. The 3 points were costly and they got relegated along with Nottingham Forest and Sunderland.
1997-1998
Arsene Wenger’s style had brought fruit in his first full season in charge at Arsenal! Arsenal became champions beating Manchester United to it. With additions like Overmars; Arsenal were stronger while on the other side United had lost their talisman as Eric Cantona retired at the age of 30.
Arsenal built their team on the leadership and defensive skills of Tony Adams, midfield marshalled by Patrick Vieira and attack led by Dennis Bergkamp. Unlike previous seasons, the growing gap between the promoted teams and the Premier League teams started to become evident as all 3 sides that were promoted got relegated back to Division One.
1998-1999
Manchester United won the treble this year winning the Premier League, FA Cup and the Champions League and in some dramatic fashion that too. On the final day of the season, United went down on the final day 1-0 but recovered to win 2-1.
Arsenal would have won the title if not for the win of United. This season saw a lot of changes with United buying Blomqvist, Staam and Yorke along with Chelsea adding Marcel Desailly to the team after his impressive performance at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Chelsea eventually finished 3rd giving hopes to fans that their hopes of a title might end soon.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink finished as the top scorer for Leeds that season as Leeds once again tried to come to the top of the English footballing ladder but finished 4th in their quest for it. Charlton Athletic, Nottingham Forest and Blackburn Rovers were relegated this season. How quickly the fortunes change in English football?
1999-2000
You could dub this as the best goal scored in the Premier League or right up there in the list among the others.
Manchester United took the title again winning by a margin of 18 points followed by Arsenal, Leeds United, Liverpool and Chelsea. It was one of the most boring title races till date because of the sheer strength with which United went about their business and how their rivals floundered. It was also Gérard Houllier's first full season with Liverpool who had a decent season building a team with local lads like Gerrard and Owen and mixing them up with foreign talent like Sami Hyypia.
Bobby Robson also took over at Newcastle after Ruud Gullit was sacked. The season also saw Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard gain the attention of the other teams with West Ham doing their best to hold onto them.
2000-2001
Starting the Millenium as champions, Manchester United carried their remarkable run and ended up as champions again – A hat-trick! While Manchester United won the title, Liverpool did a cup treble winning the FA Cup, League Cup and the UEFA Cup after last season’s good display. They finished 3rd behind Arsenal but qualified for the Champions League and would feature in the competition for the first time after 1985.
Hasselbaink won the Golden Boot with his 23 goals and Chelsea welcomed Claudio Ranieri mid-season after the departure of Gianluca Vialli. Oh and by October, Leicester City were top of the league. The season saw Manchester City return back to the Premier League after a 4-year absence but were relegated back to Football League First Division.
Despite Liverpool’s and United’s success it was Ipswich Town’s George Burley who was named Manager of the Year as he guided them to a 5th place finish.
2001-2002
For the first time, four Champions League positions were up for grabs giving rise to the term ‘Big 4’ in the Premier League. Arsenal ended Manchester United’s dominance and went on to clinch the title at Old Trafford with a 1-0 win. They won the FA cup too that season winning their third double.
The season was interesting as 4-5 teams were fighting for the title – Manchester United, Arsenal, Newcastle United, Leeds United and Liverpool. Arsenal ended the season with a 13 game winning streak ending with a 1-0 win over Everton with David Moyes coming in. George Burley who was named Manager of the Year previous year was sacked indicating how quickly fortunes change in football.
2002-2003
This season saw United wrestle back from being 8 points adrift of Arsenal as of 2nd March winning the title yet again; 8 times in the last 11 years. Rio Ferdinand was bought by United by breaking the British record fee, so we can conclude that United were never afraid to spend the big buck.
We were also introduced with Wayne Rooney with him scoring against an Arsenal side and making his debut memorable. Would he make it a habit of doing that with debuts? We shall see.
Liverpool started the season with a 12 match unbeaten run and then followed it with 11 matches without a win which saw them finish 5th behind Manchester United, Arsenal, Newcastle United, Chelsea. The big no. 7 of United was also vacated as David Beckham departed for Real Madrid and Chelsea legend Gianfranco Zola also departed the Premier League. The following summer was interested was Chelsea as Mr. Roman Abramovic took over as owner of the club.
2003-2004
Arsenal were Invincibles! They had gone onto win the title without a league defeat. The summer was busy with Chelsea spending heavily on transfers and thus were forming a formidable team but ended up being bested by the Invincibles who ended up with 26 wins, 12 draws, 0 defeats and 90 points and a Golden Premier League Trophy. The season also saw Manchester United finish outside the top 2 positions for the very first time since the Premier League had begun.
Arsenal’s invincible run would have never started if Ruud van Nistelrooy would have converted his penalty. The match was tense and as United were awarded a penalty in the 92nd minute, the situation boiled over even more. As Nistelrooy missed his penalty, the Arsenal players surrounded him and especially Martin Keown who abused and seemed to hit him on his head at the end of the match.
This was certainly one of the tensest matches of the Premier League era and you knew the rivalry between Arsenal and Manchester United was only going to go up from here, or was it?
We saw the consolidation of the Big 4 and City moving to City of Manchester Stadium from Maine Road.
2004-2005
Despite doing well at Chelsea for the past 4 years and guiding them to Champions League semi-finals and a 2nd place finish the previous season, Claudio Ranieri was sacked and Jose Mourinho was appointed at Chelsea. He was arrogant, outspoken but a winner and that is exactly what he did. Chelsea won the title with a record 95 points, he did spend a lot on transfers but got the job done. Arsenal followed in 2nd with Manchester United and Everton finishing 3rd and 4th respectively.
Thierry Henry was the top goal scorer with Chelsea’s top goal scorer being Frank Lampard at 13 goals. This showed that Mourinho liked his teams to win on their defense which was evident with their 1-0 victories. United had recruited the young Wayne Rooney and their biggest achievement that season was beating Arsenal and ending their unbeaten run with a controversial 2-0 win with Ruud van Nistelrooy scoring a penalty! Liverpool appointed Rafael Benitez and City got Stuart Pearce.
Something to note is that both the Merseyside clubs made Champions League football the next season as Liverpool came back from being 3-0 down to A.C. Milan and won on penalties inspired by Steven Gerrard. Due to being winners, Liverpool made the next year’s competition despite finishing in 5th place. The relegation fight saw Crystal Palace, Southampton and Norwich City go down.
2005-2006
After ending Chelsea’s 50-year wait for a title, Jose Mourinho guided them to the title once again in 2005-06. Chelsea started like a machine and were clearly the favourites to win again, while Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool floundered and were waiting for Chelsea to slip up. Slip up they did in between but no one else could pounce and Chelsea took charge once again and won the title.
The season saw Arsenal leave Highbury and Thierry Henry confirmed winning the golden boot with a hat-trick in the final game there against Wigan. Alan Shearer too retired and is Newcastle United’s and the Premier League’s leading goal-scorer – A striker feared by almost every team in the league.
Manchester United recruited Edwin van Der Sar, Ji-Sung Park, Patrice Evra and Nemanja Vidic over the course of the summer and winter transfer windows while Chelsea had acquired the services of Michael Essien and Shaun-Wright Phillips. The final day was dominated by Arsenal and Spurs as they looked to seal the 4th position which was ultimately claimed by Arsenal winning their game and Spurs losing theirs.
2006-2007
This season all eyes were on Manchester United as they looked to ‘unite’ Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney after Ronaldo had allegedly gotten Rooney sent off at the summer’s FIFA World Cup. The English Media were all up about it, but as Sir Alex did most of the time, he handled the situation and led United to a title after 3 years.
Manchester United had recruited Michael Carrick, Chelsea got Ashley Cole, Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko and Arsenal got William Gallas. Notable additions were also Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano at West Ham. Chelsea were closest to challenging United while Liverpool and Arsenal fought for the 3rd and 4th positions.
Both Ronaldo and Rooney were instrumental in United’s title charge with Rooney inspiring a 4-2 win against Everton when they went down 2-0 and Cristiano scoring a solo goal against Fulham to give United the 3 points. These two matches secured United’s position at the top. Xabi Alonso scored against Newcastle from inside his own half.
This was the season that saw a lot of branding and money being pumped into the Premier League as TV rights deals were done, many notable sponsors were brought in and FA Premier League became Premier League.
2007-2008
This was the season for a lot of changes as United welcomed Nani, Anderson, Hargreaves and Tevez. Arsenal got Eduardo as Henry departed for Barcelona and Chelsea signed Florent Malouda. The biggest addition happened at Merseyside who saw Fernando Torres join and boy was he going to shake things up!
Manchester United had built a formidable team that was capable of standing on equal footing with any team in Europe. It just so happened that United won the Premier League and went onto win the Champions League in an all-English final against Chelsea who were led by Avram Grant after they had sacked Mourinho.
Arsenal too challenged for the title finishing two points behind Chelsea in 3rd place but this was becoming a scene of every season where they would challenge and would eventually fizzle out. Cristiano Ronaldo outshone everyone to score 31 league goals and won the Ballon d'Or following this season.
The final day drama was not just for the top positions but also for relegation as Fulham won 1-0 on the final day and avoided relegation due to their -22 goal difference over -25 of Reading. The great escape people called it.
United contested City on the 50th Anniversary of the Munich Air Crash during which both fans showed great solidarity and respected the occasion and City ran out 2-1 winners on the day.
2008-2009
This was probably the season with so many moments that picking out a picture was very tough. These included moments like – Macheda’s winner against Villa, Arshavin scoring 4 against Liverpool, United’s 5-2 win against Spurs, Arsenal 4-4 Spurs and so on. Torres destroyed Vidic in a 1-4 rout by Liverpool at Old Trafford.
Liverpool were clear favourites to win the title with United still hungover from their last season’s exploits and Chelsea had set the early pace with Scolari at the helm. Liverpool didn't lose a home game throughout the season but as had become the usual, they eventually let United take over the lead and Chelsea had again changed their manager mid-season with Guus Hiddink coming in and City getting their much-awaited big money owner takeover.
United won the title equalling Liverpool's mighty 18 league titles followed by Liverpool and Chelsea. Manchester City finished 10th with Robinho being signed on the deadline day. The season is fondly remembered for Hull City’s bright start to the season when they topped the league in the early weeks but then were resigned to a relegation battle which they eventually won on the final day. The season also saw Edwin van der Sar go 1,311 minutes without conceding a league goal - a new PL record.
2009-2010
After 3 seasons of Manchester United’s dominance, Chelsea won the title thanks to Carlo Ancelotti’s arrival and attacking play which had them score a PL record of 103 goals averaging 2.71 goals a season. Cristiano Ronaldo departed for less rainy pastures in Madrid at a world record fee of £80m. Wigan Athletic were one of the teams that were on the receiving ends of the league’s two biggest routs – a 9-1 loss to Tottenham Hotspur and an 8-0 defeat to Chelsea on the final day.
Didier Drogba scored 29 goals and led the Chelsea line and the season had some wonderful games like the 4-3 win of United against City with Michael Owen scoring in the 97th minute. The iconic image is of the game between Liverpool and Sunderland where a beach ball was dropped by a fan onto the pitch. Darren Bent shot at the goal which would’ve been saved but somehow the referee allowed the game to go on as the ball hit the beach ball, deflected into the goal.
This is something Liverpool fans won’t ever forget. This season saw Manchester City and Spurs face each other in the penultimate game of the season for a Champions League position which Tottenham secured thanks to a Peter Crouch shot from outside the box! You think that’d happen? It was a header from inside the six-yard area. The Big 4 broken?
2010-2011
And then there were 19! Manchester United won the title and moved past Liverpool as the kings of the league title. The season saw Chelsea adding Ramires and City signing Silva and Yaya Toure. United had secured the services of Little Pea aka Chicharito Hernandez. City and Chelsea were fast off the blocks consolidating the top 2 positions early on with United following closely.
Liverpool had some changes as well as Torres moved to Chelsea in the January transfer window and Carroll moving to Liverpool signing for a club record fee along with Suarez. United were unbeaten for 26 games and went into the New Years top of the table.
Something which became clearer and clearer over the course of the season was that City were here to stay at the top end of the table and United's noisy neighbours were in it with the big boys now as they won the FA Cup that season.
The top 4 comprised of United, Chelsea, City and Arsenal. During the course of the season, we saw Liverpool sack Roy Hodgson and appoint club legend Kenny Dalglish. The season was one to remember for Wayne Rooney who gave United a crucial win against their bitter rivals with an extraordinary overhead kick.
2011-2012
After 20 seasons of the Premier League, one would think that they have seen it all. Oh, how wrong was it to think that; In the most dramatic of fashions Manchester City scored 2 in the stoppage time to win 3-2 against Queens Park Rangers with Aguero scoring at the 93:20 mark to help City win their first title since 1968. They beat Manchester United on goal difference, a feat that took place first time since the Premier League’s inception.
The season was filled with some great games – United’s 8-2 humiliation of Arsenal and City’s 6-1 humiliation of United. Certainly one of the darkest days for the United’s fans in recent derby memories. City announced themselves to the world. The famous 'Why Always Me' Balotelli moment too occurred in the 6-1 win for City and wold have been the iconic image if not for City’s dramatic title triumph.
Throughout the season United and City both conceded 8 points leads to each other. Chelsea finished 6th but won the Champions League despite the odds and retained their position in the competition for the next season. This sure was a weird season!
2012-2013
The 2012-2013 season was Sir Alex Ferguson’s final season in charge at Manchester United and he won the title in some style by an 11 point margin after last season’s last day drama. The title was sealed by an emphatic Robin van Persie hat-trick who won the golden boot after transferring from Arsenal in the summer. He also scored the winning free-kick in the Manchester Derby at the Etihad. Any Premier League season is not without controversy and this was the same with tensions rising between Anton Ferdinand and John Terry due to racial abuse.
Paul Scholes too called him on this glittering career (this time a 100% sure) after winning the league. There were a lot of managerial changes as well as Brendan Rodgers took over at Liverpool with Michael Laudrup taking his position at Swansea and Steve Clarke occupying the hot seat at West Bromwich Albion. The big finds of the season were Michy who was signed by Swansea £2m who scored 18 times and Christian Benteke the new recruit for Aston Villa netting 19 times. We were also treated to the rise of Gareth Bale who scored 21 times that included some belters.
The season saw a relegated Wigan side beat City to win the FA Cup which eventually saw Roberto Mancini sacked. The season end was a joint chorus to applaud Sir Alex Ferguson for his service to Manchester United and more importantly to the game of football.
2013-2014
After many years, Liverpool seemed destined to win the league. They were playing some of the best football the Premier League had seen with Suarez, Sturridge and Sterling setting the league alight. But certain fairy tales don’t end with a happy ending. Steven Gerrard slipped and allowed Demba Ba to go in on goal and score giving Chelsea a 2-0 win.
This was followed by a 3-3 draw with Crystal Palace after going 3-0 up. This allowed Manchester City to finally get their act together and sneak in ahead of Liverpool. With Jose Mourinho back at the managerial hot seat of Stamford Bridge, Chelsea finished 3rd and Arsenal who had led the table for large periods of the season once again finished 4th.
It was heart wrenching for Liverpool fans and equally so for Manchester United fans who saw their side (defending champions) finish 7th. David Moyes with the combo of Ed Woodward were inadequate in their preparations for the season and were mocked throughout the campaign. David Moyes was sacked with 4 matches to go and Ryan Giggs took up the reigns as player-manager for those games. We also witnessed the rise of Everton, Southampton and Tottenham challenging for the 4th place.
2014-2015
Jose Mourinho did it again. He came back, weaved his wand and made Chelsea champions again and this time leading the table for 274 days, a PL record. Manchester United being managed now by Louis van Gaal finished 4th while City and Arsenal took the 2nd and 3rd positions respectively.
Liverpool sold Suarez and never quite replaced him ended up finishing 6th. Tottenham were starting to show what they can do under the young tactician – Mauricio Pochettino. Sergio Aguero ended up with the Golden Boot and Joe Hart with a record 4th Golden Glove. This was the season when Eden Hazard was unplayable and seemed like he could reach the levels that could make him one of the best players in the world.
The story of this season also features Leicester City who had a dismal campaign and were destined to be relegated being bottom at Christmas, they won 7 of their last 9 league games to stage one of the greatest relegation escapes in the Premier League era. Jonas Gutierrez was back in the team after fighting testicular cancer and scored in the 2-0 win over West Ham United, an emotional moment for the club, fans and the player. The season end saw Drogba, Gerrard and Lampard leave the Premier League.
2015-2016
The reason last season’s greatest escapes mattered so much was because Leicester City won the title during the 2015-2016 season. Starting the season with 5000/1 odds to win the title, they did it under Claudio Ranieri after sacking Nigel Pearson. This will surely go down as one of the most unpredictable wins in the Premier League. In a league where giants literally bleed money, Leicester won through shrewd tactics, signings and a lot of heart.
Their win proved that Premier League is now more competitive than ever and the big boys cannot just bully you anymore. The trio of Mahrez, Kante and Vardy proved that you don't need to cost millions to take the game by the scruff of its neck and bang the ball in the back of the net.
This was down to others not performing as expected too with Manchester United finishing 5th , Chelsea 10th , Manchester City 4th and Liverpool 8th. As the season progressed, everyone expected Leicester to finally go down the table, with Arsenal and Tottenham to take over the title race. That didn’t happen. Arsenal with their best chance in years to win the league didn’t capitalise and ended up crawling above Spurs on the final day of the season. Spurs, on the other hand, were simply breathtaking under Pochettino.
They were solid at the back and could outrun any team in the league with Kane, Dele Alli and Eriksen doing well in attack. Surprisingly they drew with Chelsea and Leicester won the title. They lost the last match 5-1 to Newcastle United and ended up finishing below Arsenal yet again. West Ham United said farewell to the Boleyn Ground with a 3-2 victory over Manchester United.
This was probably the only season when almost everyone was happy that Leicester won and it reminded us that heart and hard work is as important as money and glamour in the world of football.
2016-2017
With loads of changes at clubs happening, who do you think will win the Premier League next season? Mourinho At United, Conte at Chelsea, Guardiola at City and them reinforcing with big signings. United have signed Zlatan and Pogba, City have signed Stones, Sane and Gundogan, Chelsea have signed Gundogan among others. Liverpool under Klopp and Tottenham under Pochettino are expected to do well while Arsenal as always will be there competing. So who will take the crown?
Will Leicester continue with good form this season, would others take inspiration and mount a title challenge or will the big guns finally take the plunge and perform as they are supposed to. One thing is for sure that the next season is surely going to be amazing with so many teams competing for the title and world’s best coaches going up against each other. It is a treat for a neutral and a nerve-wracking season ahead for a fan!
Welcome Back Premier League and Happy 25 years to you!
