During the 1992β93 English football season, Nottingham Forest competed in the inaugural season of the
FA Premier League.
Season summary
The previous season, Forest had finished 8th and started the new season fairly well with an opening-day 1β0 win over
Liverpool in
Sky Sports' first-ever 'Super Sunday' match on 16 August 1992 which saw their first-ever live goal scored by
Teddy Sheringham. However, after the sale of key players Sheringham and
Des Walker, Forest struggled thereafter and after the promising display against Liverpool on the opening day, they went on the receiving end of six successive defeats - during which they leaked 18 goals - which would set the tone for a long season ahead of them. They were virtually never out of the relegation zone after their 2β0 home defeat to eventual champions
Manchester United on 29 August 1992 and since the opening day, they won just two of their next 21 games before the new year, leaving them in bottom place, six points from safety.
However, their form after the new year exceptionally improved with a run of five wins in the next seven league games, cumulating in a 1β0 win over
Queens Park Rangers on 24 February 1993, briefly lifting them out of the relegation zone on goal difference, during a very tight relegation dogfight at the time with only seven points separating second-bottom
Middlesbrough and 12th-placed
Chelsea. However, a 2β0 defeat to
Manchester City and a 1β1 draw with relegation rivals
Crystal Palace in their next two home games saw them sucked back into the bottom-three and after that, they could not keep up the momentum needed for survival, winning just two of the next ten games, leaving them needing to win their final two games in order to stand any chance of avoiding relegation. They were ultimately relegated in bottom place with their fate being confirmed on 1 May 1993 in a 2β0 home defeat to
Sheffield United - among other results going against them - which also saw the Blades effectively secure their survival at the expense of Middlesbrough.
Brian Clough retired at the end of the season, leaving
Frank Clark to try and take Forest back to the Premier League.[citation needed]
During the off-season, young Irish midfielder
Roy Keane - who was named in the
PFA Team of the Year - was sold to
Manchester United. He would play a major role in Manchester United's dominance of English football over the next decade.