1994–95 Football League

The 1994–95 Football League season was the 96th completed season of The Football League. It was the third season of The Football League since the formation of the Premier League. For sponsorship reasons, the league was known as the Endsleigh League.

The Football League

Season	1994–95
Champions	Middlesbrough
Promoted	Middlesbrough Bolton Wanderers
← 1993–94 1995–96 →

Overview

The reduction of the Premier League from 22 teams to 20, to take effect from the 1995–96 season, meant that just two teams would be promoted from the First Division in 1995: the champions and the play-off winners. Middlesbrough were the champions, in their first season under Bryan Robson. Reading finished second but had to settle for the play-offs, losing in the final to Bolton Wanderers – who achieved their second promotion in three years under Bruce Rioch, as well as finishing runners-up to Liverpool in the League Cup.

1995 also saw four teams relegated from the First Division, with Burnley, Bristol City and Notts County being joined by Swindon Town, who suffered a second straight relegation. Sunderland narrowly avoided the drop following the arrival of enthusiastic new manager Peter Reid, who over the next few years would bring dramatic improvements to the fortunes of the Wearsiders.

The Second Division would also see only the champions and the play-off winners promoted, while five teams would be relegated. Birmingham City were the champions, returning to the First Division at the first time of asking; they also won the Football League Trophy to complete a "lower-league Double". Huddersfield Town were the play-off winners, defeating second-placed Brentford on penalties before beating Bristol Rovers in the final. The five teams relegated were Cambridge United, Plymouth Argyle, Cardiff City, Chester City and Leyton Orient.

In the Third Division, three teams would be promoted instead of the usual four: the champions, the runners-up and the play-off winners. Carlisle United were the champions and Walsall the runners-up, while Chesterfield won the play-offs, defeating Bury in the final. Exeter City, in severe financial trouble, finished bottom, but held on to their league status as Conference champions Macclesfield Town were unable to meet the league's stadium capacity requirements.

Final league tables and results

The tables and results below are reproduced here in the exact form that they can be found at The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation website,^[1] with home and away statistics separated. Play-off results are from the same website.

First Division

With the reduction of the Premier League from 22 to 20 clubs for the 1995–96 season, there would be just two promotion places from Division One in the 1994–95 season, as well as a fourth relegation place instead of the usual three.

Middlesbrough clinched the division's only automatic promotion place by finishing champions in their first season under player-manager Bryan Robson, with promotion being clinched in the final game at Ayresome Park at the end of April. After 92 years at their historic home, the club would be relocated to the new 30,000-seater Riverside Stadium over the summer of 1995.

Runners-up Reading, another club planning to build a new stadium in the near future, would normally have won automatic promotion, but the latest restructuring of the league meant that they had to navigate a play-off semi-final with fifth-placed Tranmere Rovers. They easily overcame the Wirral side, whose veteran striker John Aldridge topped the Division One goal charts with 24 league strikes, but then had to take on Bolton Wanderers in a Wembley clash. The Royals were still 2–0 ahead and looking set to reach the top flight for the first time ever with more than hour left on the clock, but then Bolton pulled a goal back in the 75th minute and followed this with an equaliser to force extra time, and the Burnden Park side ended up winning a dramatic match 4–3 and ending their 15-year absence from the top flight. However, they were faced with having to fight for Premier League survival in 1995–96 without their manager Bruce Rioch, who left to manage Arsenal over the summer and was succeeded by joint managers Roy McFarland and Colin Todd.

A number of Division One sides enjoyed memorable runs in the FA Cup and League Cup. Weeks before their dramatic playoff triumph, Bolton Wanderers had travelled to Wembley for their first major cup final in 37 years, to take on Liverpool in the final of the League Cup, but lost 2–1 to the Merseysiders. Wolves, who went on to lose to Bolton in the playoff semi-finals, had held Crystal Palace to a 1–1 draw in their FA Cup quarter-final at Selhurst Park and had high hopes of a semi-final tie with Manchester United, only to lose the replay 4–1 at home to the South London side.

At the other end of the table, Swindon Town quickly found themselves battling against a second successive relegation, having been relegated from the Premier League in 1993–94. Their manager John Gorman was sacked in November and replaced by 33-year-old Manchester City midfielder Steve McMahon as player-manager. The Wiltshire club's new manager was able to guide Swindon to the semi-finals of the League Cup, but he was unable to guide them to Division One survival, as they went down in the fourth and final relegation place along with Burnley, Bristol City, and Notts County.

During this season, a number of Division One clubs had a new stadium in the pipeline. Middlesbrough were preparing for their move from Ayresome Park to the new Riverside Stadium, while their local rivals Sunderland had identified a former colliery site on the banks of the River Wear as their preferred site for a new all-seater stadium after nearly 100 years at Roker Park. Bolton Wanderers, who went up alongside Middlesbrough, were aiming for a new 25,000-seater stadium at Lostock to replace Burnden Park. Beaten playoff finalists Reading had lined up a site on the southern side of the town as the site of a replacement for antiquated Elm Park, while Luton Town's new owner Simon Kohler unveiled ambitious plans to build a new 20,000-seater indoor stadium, the latest in a string of proposals which had emerged over the last 40 years as possible replacements for the cramped stadium at Kenilworth Road.

Derby County, who missed out on the playoffs, were planning to rebuild the Baseball Ground as a 26,000-seater stadium, after considering relocating to a new site at Pride Park.

Football League, First Division

Season	1994–95
Champions	Middlesbrough (4th second tier title)
Direct promotion to Premier League	Middlesbrough
Promoted to Premier League through play-offs	Bolton Wanderers
Relegated	Bristol City, Burnley, Notts County, Swindon Town
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1,389 (2.52 per match)
Top goalscorer	John Aldridge (Tranmere Rovers), 24^[2]
← 1993–94 1995–96 →

Pos	Team	Pld	HW	HD	HL	HGF	HGA	AW	AD	AL	AGF	AGA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Middlesbrough	46	15	4	4	41	19	8	9	6	26	21	+27	82	Football League Champions, promoted to Premier League
2	Reading	46	12	7	4	34	21	11	3	9	24	23	+14	79	Participated in play-offs
3	Bolton Wanderers	46	16	6	1	43	13	5	8	10	24	32	+22	77	Promoted to Premier League through play-offs
4	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46	15	5	3	39	18	6	8	9	38	43	+16	76	Participated in play-offs
5	Tranmere Rovers	46	17	4	2	51	23	5	6	12	16	35	+9	76
6	Barnsley	46	15	6	2	42	19	5	6	12	21	33	+11	72
7	Watford	46	14	6	3	33	17	5	7	11	19	29	+6	70
8	Sheffield United	46	12	9	2	41	21	5	8	10	33	34	+19	68
9	Derby County	46	12	6	5	44	23	6	6	11	22	28	+15	66
10	Grimsby Town	46	12	7	4	36	19	5	7	11	26	37	+6	65
11	Stoke City	46	10	7	6	31	21	6	8	9	19	32	−3	63
12	Millwall	46	11	8	4	36	22	5	6	12	24	38	0	62
13	Southend United	46	13	2	8	33	25	5	6	12	21	48	−19	62
14	Oldham Athletic	46	12	7	4	34	21	4	6	13	26	39	0	61
15	Charlton Athletic	46	11	6	6	33	25	5	5	13	25	41	−8	59
16	Luton Town	46	8	6	9	35	30	7	7	9	26	34	−3	58
17	Port Vale	46	11	5	7	30	24	4	8	11	28	40	−6	58
18	Portsmouth	46	9	8	6	31	28	6	5	12	22	35	−10	58
19	West Bromwich Albion	46	13	3	7	33	24	3	7	13	18	33	−6	58
20	Sunderland	46	5	12	6	22	22	7	6	10	19	23	−4	54
21	Swindon Town	46	9	6	8	28	27	3	6	14	26	46	−19	48	Relegated
22	Burnley	46	8	7	8	36	33	3	6	14	13	41	−25	46
23	Bristol City	46	8	8	7	26	28	3	4	16	16	35	−21	45
24	Notts County	46	7	8	8	26	28	2	5	16	19	38	−21	40

Source:^{[citation needed]}

Play-offs

Main article: Football League Championship play-offs § 1995

	Semi-finals 1st leg – 14 May; 2nd leg – 17 May 1995							Final at Wembley 29 May 1995
	2nd	Reading	3	0	3
	5th	Tranmere Rovers	1	0	1
								2nd	Reading	3
								3rd	Bolton Wanderers (a.e.t.)	4
	3rd	Bolton Wanderers	1	2	3
	4th	Wolverhampton Wanderers	2	0	2

Results

Home \ Away	BAR	BOL	BRI	BUR	CHA	DER	GRI	LUT	MID	MIL	NTC	OLD	POR	PTV	REA	SHU	STD	STK	SUN	SWI	TRA	WAT	WBA	WOL
Barnsley		3–0	2–1	2–0	2–1	2–1	4–1	3–1	1–1	4–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	3–1	0–2	2–1	0–0	2–0	2–0	2–1	2–2	0–0	2–0	1–3
Bolton Wanderers	2–1		0–2	1–1	5–1	1–0	3–3	0–0	1–0	1–0	2–0	2–2	1–1	1–0	1–0	1–1	3–0	4–0	1–0	3–0	1–0	3–0	1–0	5–1
Bristol City	3–2	0–1		1–1	2–1	0–2	1–2	2–2	0–1	1–0	2–1	2–2	1–1	0–0	1–2	2–1	0–0	3–1	0–0	3–2	0–1	0–0	1–0	1–5
Burnley	0–1	2–2	1–1		2–0	3–1	0–2	2–1	0–3	1–2	2–1	2–1	1–2	4–3	1–2	4–2	5–1	1–1	1–1	1–2	1–1	1–1	1–1	0–1
Charlton Athletic	2–2	1–2	3–2	1–2		3–4	2–1	1–0	0–2	1–1	1–0	2–0	1–0	1–1	1–2	1–1	3–1	0–0	1–0	1–0	0–1	3–0	1–1	3–2
Derby County	1–0	2–1	3–1	4–0	2–2		2–1	0–0	0–1	3–2	0–0	2–1	3–0	2–0	1–2	2–3	1–2	3–0	0–1	3–1	5–0	1–1	1–1	3–3
Grimsby Town	1–0	3–3	1–0	2–2	0–1	0–1		5–0	2–1	1–0	2–1	1–3	2–0	4–1	1–0	0–0	4–1	0–0	3–1	1–1	3–1	0–0	0–2	0–0
Luton Town	0–1	0–3	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–0	1–2		5–1	1–1	2–0	2–1	2–0	2–1	0–1	3–6	2–2	2–3	3–0	3–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	3–3
Middlesbrough	1–1	1–0	3–0	2–0	1–0	2–4	1–1	2–1		3–0	2–1	2–1	4–0	3–0	0–1	1–1	1–2	2–1	2–2	3–1	0–1	2–0	2–1	1–0
Millwall	0–1	0–1	1–1	2–3	3–1	4–1	2–0	0–0	0–0		0–0	1–1	2–2	1–3	2–0	2–1	3–1	1–1	2–0	3–1	2–1	2–1	2–2	1–0
Notts County	1–3	1–1	1–1	3–0	3–3	0–0	0–2	0–1	1–1	0–1		1–3	0–1	2–2	1–0	2–1	2–2	0–2	3–2	0–1	1–0	1–0	2–0	1–1
Oldham Athletic	1–0	3–1	2–0	3–0	5–2	1–0	1–0	0–0	1–0	0–1	1–1		3–2	3–2	1–3	3–3	0–2	0–0	0–0	1–1	0–0	0–2	1–0	4–1
Portsmouth	3–0	1–1	0–0	2–0	1–1	0–1	2–1	3–2	0–0	3–2	2–1	1–1		0–2	1–1	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–4	4–3	1–1	2–1	1–2	1–2
Port Vale	2–1	1–1	2–1	1–0	0–2	1–0	1–2	0–1	2–1	2–1	1–1	3–1	1–0		0–2	0–2	5–0	1–1	0–0	2–2	2–0	0–1	1–0	2–4
Reading	0–3	2–1	1–0	0–0	2–1	1–0	1–1	0–0	1–1	0–0	2–0	2–1	0–0	3–3		1–0	2–0	4–0	0–2	3–0	1–3	4–1	0–2	4–2
Sheffield United	0–0	3–1	3–0	2–0	2–1	2–1	3–1	1–3	1–1	1–1	1–3	2–0	3–1	1–1	1–1		2–0	1–1	0–0	2–2	2–0	3–0	2–0	3–3
Southend United	3–1	2–1	2–1	3–1	2–1	1–0	0–0	3–0	0–2	0–1	1–0	1–0	1–2	1–2	4–1	1–3		4–2	0–1	2–0	0–0	0–4	2–1	0–1
Stoke City	0–0	1–1	2–1	2–0	3–2	0–0	3–0	1–2	1–1	4–3	2–1	0–1	0–2	0–1	0–1	1–1	4–1		0–1	0–0	1–0	1–0	4–1	1–1
Sunderland	2–0	1–1	2–0	0–0	1–1	1–1	2–2	1–1	0–1	1–1	1–2	0–0	2–2	1–1	0–1	1–0	0–1	1–0		1–0	0–1	1–3	2–2	1–1
Swindon Town	0–0	0–1	0–3	1–1	0–1	1–1	3–2	1–2	2–1	1–2	3–0	3–1	0–2	2–0	1–0	1–3	2–2	0–1	1–0		2–2	1–0	0–0	3–2
Tranmere Rovers	6–1	1–0	2–0	4–1	1–1	3–1	2–0	4–2	1–1	3–1	3–2	3–1	4–2	1–1	1–0	2–1	0–2	0–1	1–0	3–2		2–1	3–1	1–1
Watford	3–2	0–0	1–0	2–0	2–0	2–1	0–0	2–4	1–1	1–0	3–1	1–2	2–0	3–2	2–2	0–0	1–0	0–0	0–1	2–0	2–0		1–0	2–1
West Bromwich Albion	2–1	1–0	1–0	1–0	0–1	0–0	1–1	1–0	1–3	3–0	3–2	3–1	0–2	0–0	2–0	1–0	2–0	1–3	1–3	2–5	5–1	0–1		2–0
Wolverhampton Wanderers	0–0	3–1	2–0	2–0	2–0	0–2	2–1	2–3	0–2	3–3	1–0	2–1	1–0	2–1	1–0	2–2	5–0	2–0	1–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–0

Source:^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Jan Aage Fjortoft	Swindon Town	24
	John Aldridge	Tranmere Rovers	24
2	Gerry Creaney	Portsmouth	18
=	Sean McCarthy	Oldham Athletic	18
=	David Whyte	Charlton Athletic	18
3	Nathan Blake	Sheffield United	17
4	Martin Foyle	Port Vale	16
=	Chris Malkin	Tranmere Rovers	16
=	John McGinlay	Bolton Wanderers	16
5	Steve Bull	Wolverhampton Wanderers	15
=	John Hendrie	Middlesbrough	15
=	David Kelly	Wolverhampton Wanderers	15

Locations

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Barnsley

Bolton

Bristol City

Burnley

Charlton

Derby County

Grimsby Town

Luton Town

Middlesbrough

Millwall

Notts County

Oldham

Portsmouth

Port Vale

Reading

Sheffield United

Southend

Stoke

Sunderland

Swindon

Tranmere

Watford

West Bromwich Albion

Wolverhampton Wanderers

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Locations of the First Division teams

 

 

 

 

Charlton Athletic

Millwall

Watford

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Locations of the London-based First Division teams

Second Division

Following relegation from Division One at the end of the 1993–94 season, Birmingham City earned an instant return as Second Division champions, also lifting the Auto Windscreens Shield. The latest restructuring of the league meant that runners-up Brentford missed out on automatic promotion and had to contest the play-offs, where they were beaten on penalties by Huddersfield Town after drawing both legs of their semi-final 1-1. The other semi-final saw Bristol Rovers overcome Crewe Alexandra, ending the Cheshire club's chances of a second successive promotion. The Wembley showdown saw Huddersfield Town beat the West Country side 2–1 to clinch a return to the second tier after seven seasons of trying, rounding off a fine first season at Huddersfield's impressive new all-seater McAlpine Stadium.

Wycombe Wanderers finished sixth in Division Two and missed out on the play-offs – and the chance of a third successive promotion – but this didn't deter Norwich City (just relegated from the Premier League) from recruiting Martin O'Neill as their new manager.

At the bottom of the table, Leyton Orient were relegated after six seasons in the third tier, having not won an away game in the league since before Christmas 1993. Just before the end of the season, the Brisbane Road club was taken over by Barry Hearn, who was swift to sack joint managers John Sitton and Chris Turner, appointing Pat Holland in their place. Chester City suffered an instant return to Division Three as they finished second from bottom. Cardiff City went down to Division Three just two seasons after winning promotion. Plymouth Argyle, promotion contenders a season earlier, went down in 21st place. The fifth and final relegation place went to a Cambridge United side who had been on the brink of a place in the new Premier League just three years earlier.

As Huddersfield were settling into their new home after more than 80 years at Leeds Road, a number of other Division Two clubs were planning to follow the growing trend of moving to a completely new stadium. Just before Christmas, Bristol Rovers announced plans to build a new 20,000-seater stadium at Avonmouth as part of their ambitious plan to end their long search for a permanent new home which had started when they moved out of their home at Eastville in 1986. Blackpool were also looking at possible sites to build a new all-seater stadium to replace Bloomfield Road. Shortly after the end of the season, Oxford United announced plans to build a new 16,000-seater stadium near Blackbird Leys to replace the dilapidated Manor Ground.

Football League, Second Division

Season	1994–95
Champions	Birmingham City (1st third tier title)
Direct promotion	Birmingham City
Promoted through play-offs	Huddersfield Town
Relegated	Cambridge United, Cardiff City, Chester, Leyton Orient, Plymouth Argyle
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1,441 (2.61 per match)
Top goalscorer	Gary Bennett (Wrexham), 29^[2]
← 1993–94 1995–96 →

Pos	Team	Pld	HW	HD	HL	HGF	HGA	AW	AD	AL	AGF	AGA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Birmingham City	46	15	6	2	53	18	10	8	5	31	19	+47	89	Division Champions, promoted
2	Brentford	46	14	4	5	44	15	11	6	6	37	24	+42	85	Participated in play-offs
3	Crewe Alexandra	46	14	3	6	46	33	11	5	7	34	35	+12	83
4	Bristol Rovers	46	15	7	1	48	20	7	9	7	22	20	+30	82
5	Huddersfield Town	46	14	5	4	45	21	8	10	5	34	28	+30	81	Promoted through play-offs
6	Wycombe Wanderers	46	13	7	3	36	19	8	8	7	24	27	+14	78
7	Oxford United	46	13	6	4	30	18	8	6	9	36	34	+14	75
8	Hull City	46	13	6	4	40	18	8	5	10	30	39	+13	74
9	York City	46	13	4	6	37	21	8	5	10	30	30	+16	72
10	Swansea City	46	10	8	5	23	13	9	6	8	34	32	+12	71
11	Stockport County	46	12	3	8	40	29	7	5	11	23	31	+3	65
12	Blackpool	46	11	4	8	40	36	7	6	10	24	34	−6	64
13	Wrexham	46	10	7	6	38	27	6	8	9	27	37	+1	63	Welsh Cup winners, qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup
14	Bradford City	46	8	6	9	29	32	8	6	9	28	32	−7	60
15	Peterborough United	46	7	11	5	26	29	7	7	9	28	40	−15	60
16	Brighton & Hove Albion	46	9	10	4	25	15	5	7	11	29	38	+1	59
17	Rotherham United	46	12	6	5	36	26	2	8	13	21	35	−4	56
18	Shrewsbury Town	46	9	9	5	34	27	4	5	14	20	35	−8	53
19	AFC Bournemouth	46	9	4	10	30	34	4	7	12	19	35	−20	50
20	Cambridge United	46	8	9	6	33	28	3	6	14	19	41	−17	48	Relegated
21	Plymouth Argyle	46	7	6	10	22	36	5	4	14	23	47	−38	46
22	Cardiff City	46	5	6	12	25	31	4	5	14	21	43	−28	38
23	Chester City	46	5	6	12	23	42	1	5	17	14	42	−47	29
24	Leyton Orient	46	6	6	11	21	29	0	2	21	9	46	−45	26

Source: ^[3]

Play-offs

Main article: Football League One play-offs § 1995

	Semi-finals 1st leg – 14 May; 2nd leg – 17 May 1995							Final at Wembley 28 May 1995
	2nd	Brentford	1	1	2 (3)
	5th	Huddersfield Town (pen.)	1	1	2 (4)
								4th	Bristol Rovers	1
								5th	Huddersfield Town	2
	3rd	Crewe Alexandra	0	1	1
	4th	Bristol Rovers (away goals)	0	1	1

^[4]

Results

Home \ Away	BOU	BIR	BLP	BRA	BRE	B&HA	BRR	CAM	CAR	CHR	CRE	HUD	HUL	LEY	OXF	PET	PLY	ROT	SHR	STP	SWA	WRE	WYC	YOR
AFC Bournemouth		2–1	1–2	2–3	0–1	0–3	2–0	1–0	3–2	1–1	1–1	0–2	2–3	2–0	0–2	0–3	0–0	1–1	3–0	2–0	3–2	1–3	2–0	1–4
Birmingham City	0–0		7–1	0–0	2–0	3–3	2–0	1–1	2–1	1–0	5–0	1–1	2–2	2–0	3–0	4–0	4–2	2–1	2–0	1–0	0–1	5–2	0–1	4–2
Blackpool	3–1	1–1		2–0	1–2	2–2	0–2	2–3	2–1	3–1	0–0	1–4	1–2	2–1	2–1	4–0	5–2	2–2	2–1	1–2	2–1	2–1	0–1	0–5
Bradford City	1–2	1–1	0–1		1–0	2–1	2–1	1–1	2–3	1–1	0–2	3–4	1–0	2–0	0–2	4–2	2–0	0–3	1–1	1–2	1–3	1–1	2–1	0–0
Brentford	1–2	1–2	3–2	4–3		2–1	3–0	6–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	0–0	0–1	3–0	2–0	0–1	7–0	2–0	1–0	1–0	0–0	0–2	0–0	3–0
Brighton & Hove Albion	0–0	0–1	2–2	1–0	1–1		1–2	2–0	0–0	1–0	0–1	0–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–2	1–1	1–1	2–1	2–0	1–1	4–0	1–1	1–0
Bristol Rovers	2–1	1–1	0–0	4–0	2–2	3–0		2–1	2–2	3–0	2–2	1–1	0–2	1–0	3–2	3–1	2–0	2–0	4–0	2–2	1–0	4–2	1–0	3–1
Cambridge United	2–2	1–0	0–0	4–1	0–0	0–2	1–1		2–0	2–1	1–2	1–1	2–2	0–0	1–2	2–0	1–1	2–1	3–1	3–4	1–3	1–2	2–2	1–0
Cardiff City	1–1	0–1	0–1	2–4	2–3	3–0	0–1	3–1		2–1	1–2	0–0	0–2	2–1	1–3	1–2	0–1	1–1	1–2	1–1	1–1	0–0	2–0	1–2
Chester	1–1	0–4	2–0	1–4	1–4	1–2	0–0	1–3	0–2		0–1	1–2	1–2	1–0	2–0	1–1	1–0	4–4	1–3	1–0	2–2	1–1	0–2	0–4
Crewe Alexandra	2–0	2–1	4–3	0–1	0–2	4–0	2–1	4–2	0–0	2–1		3–3	3–2	3–0	3–2	1–3	2–2	3–1	1–0	2–1	1–2	1–3	1–2	2–1
Huddersfield Town	3–1	1–2	1–1	0–0	1–0	3–0	1–1	3–1	5–1	5–1	1–2		1–1	2–1	3–3	1–2	2–0	1–0	2–1	2–1	2–0	2–1	0–1	3–0
Hull City	3–1	0–0	1–0	2–0	1–2	2–2	0–2	1–0	4–0	2–0	7–1	1–0		2–0	3–1	1–1	2–0	0–2	2–2	0–0	0–2	3–2	0–0	3–0
Leyton Orient	3–2	2–1	0–1	0–0	0–2	0–3	1–2	1–1	2–0	2–0	1–4	0–2	1–1		1–1	4–1	0–2	0–0	2–1	0–1	0–1	1–1	0–1	0–1
Oxford United	0–3	1–1	3–2	1–0	1–1	0–0	0–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	2–1	3–1	4–0	3–2		1–0	1–0	2–1	0–0	4–0	1–2	0–0	0–2	0–2
Peterborough United	0–0	1–1	1–0	0–0	2–2	2–1	0–0	2–2	2–1	2–0	1–5	2–2	2–1	0–0	1–4		1–2	2–2	1–1	0–1	1–0	1–0	1–3	1–1
Plymouth Argyle	0–1	1–3	0–2	1–5	1–5	0–3	1–1	0–0	0–0	1–0	3–2	0–3	2–1	1–0	1–1	0–1		0–0	1–0	0–2	2–1	4–1	2–2	1–2
Rotherham United	4–0	1–1	0–2	3–1	0–2	4–3	0–3	1–0	2–0	2–0	2–2	1–1	2–0	2–0	1–1	0–0	3–1		0–4	1–0	3–3	0–1	2–0	2–1
Shrewsbury Town	3–0	0–2	0–0	1–2	2–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–0	1–2	2–1	2–3	3–0	1–1	2–2	3–2	1–0		1–1	3–3	2–2	2–2	1–0
Stockport County	1–0	0–1	3–2	1–2	0–1	2–0	2–1	2–1	4–1	2–2	3–1	1–2	4–0	2–1	0–2	1–1	2–4	1–0	2–1		0–1	1–1	4–1	2–3
Swansea City	1–0	0–2	1–0	0–0	0–2	1–1	0–0	1–0	4–1	0–1	0–1	1–1	2–0	2–0	1–3	2–0	3–0	1–0	0–0	2–0		0–0	1–1	0–0
Wrexham	2–0	1–1	0–1	0–1	0–0	2–1	1–1	0–1	0–3	2–2	1–0	1–2	2–2	4–1	3–2	3–3	3–1	3–1	0–1	1–0	4–1		4–1	1–1
Wycombe Wanderers	1–1	0–3	1–1	3–1	4–3	0–0	0–0	3–0	3–1	3–1	0–0	2–1	1–2	2–1	1–0	3–1	1–2	2–0	1–0	1–1	1–0	3–0		0–0
York City	1–0	2–0	4–0	0–0	2–1	1–0	0–3	2–0	1–1	2–0	1–2	3–0	3–1	4–1	0–2	1–1	1–0	2–0	3–0	2–4	2–4	0–1	0–0

Source: ^[5]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Gary Bennett	Wrexham	29
2	Andy Booth	Huddersfield Town	28
3	Nicky Forster	Brentford	25
4	Robert Taylor	Brentford	23
5	Steve Claridge	Birmingham City	20
=	Paul Moody	Oxford United	20

Locations

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AFC Bournemouth

Birmingham

Blackpool

Bradford City

Brentford

Brighton & Hove Albion

Bristol Rovers

Cambridge Utd

Cardiff City

Chester

Crewe Alexandra

Huddersfield

Hull

Leyton Orient

Oxford

Peterborough

Plymouth Argyle

Rotherham

Shrewsbury

Stockport

Swansea City

Wrexham

Wycombe

York City

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Locations of the Second Division teams

 

 

 

Brentford

Leyton Orient

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Locations of the London-based Second Division teams

Third Division

Under the ambitious ownership of Michael Knighton, the man who had unsuccessfully tried to take over Manchester United in 1989, Carlisle United clinched the Division Three title by a comfortable margin, ending their eight-year tenure in the league's basement division. Walsall, under new manager Chris Nicholl, achieved promotion as runners-up after five seasons at this level. Chesterfield ended their six-year spell in the fourth tier by triumphing over Bury in the playoff final, while the previous season's finalists Preston North End were beaten by the Greater Manchester club in the semi-final, and Mansfield lost to their East Midlands rivals Chesterfield in the other semi-final.

At the bottom end of the table, Exeter City not only found their league status under threat, but also their very existence. The Devon club, relegated from Division Two the previous season, went into liquidation in November and were only saved from going under when a takeover deal was approved. They still finished bottom of the league, level on points with Scarborough, but were saved from dropping into the Conference by the fact that Macclesfield Town's Moss Rose ground did not meet Football League requirements.

Northampton Town, whose league status had been saved in similar fashion the previous season, were on the move to a new stadium in October when they bade farewell to the County Ground and moved into the new Sixfields Stadium.

As the season ended, three Division Three clubs had their future secured by takeover deals. Preston North End were taken over by local heating firm Baxi, who were quick to replace John Beck with Gary Peters as manager. Debt-ridden Gillingham were saved from the threat of closure by new owner Paul Scally, who appointed Tony Pulis as manager of Kent's only current Football League club. Wigan Athletic were taken over by JJB tycoon Dave Whelan, a former Blackburn Rovers player, who appointed John Deehan as the club's new manager and had plans to build a new all-seater stadium to replace Wigan's current home at Springfield Park.

Football League, Third Division

Season	1994–95
Champions	Carlisle United (1st fourth tier title)
Direct promotion	Carlisle United, Walsall
Promoted through play-offs	Chesterfield
Relegated to Conference	None
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,229 (2.66 per match)
Top goalscorer	Dougie Freedman (Barnet), 24^[2]
← 1993–94 1995–96 →

Pos	Team	Pld	HW	HD	HL	HGF	HGA	AW	AD	AL	AGF	AGA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Carlisle United	42	14	5	2	34	14	13	5	3	33	17	+36	91	Division Champions, promoted
2	Walsall	42	15	3	3	42	18	9	8	4	33	22	+35	83	Promoted
3	Chesterfield	42	11	7	3	26	10	12	5	4	36	27	+25	81	Promoted through play-offs
4	Bury	42	13	7	1	39	13	10	4	7	34	23	+37	80	Participated in play-offs
5	Preston North End	42	13	3	5	37	17	6	7	8	21	24	+17	67
6	Mansfield Town	42	10	5	6	45	27	8	6	7	39	32	+25	65
7	Scunthorpe United	42	12	2	7	40	30	6	6	9	28	33	+5	62
8	Fulham	42	11	5	5	39	22	5	9	7	21	32	+6	62
9	Doncaster Rovers	42	9	5	7	28	20	8	5	8	30	23	+15	61
10	Colchester United	42	8	5	8	29	30	8	5	8	27	34	−8	58
11	Barnet	42	8	7	6	37	27	7	4	10	19	36	−7	56
12	Lincoln City	42	10	7	4	34	22	5	4	12	20	33	−1	56
13	Torquay United	42	10	8	3	35	25	4	5	12	19	32	−3	55
14	Wigan Athletic	42	7	6	8	28	30	7	4	10	25	30	−7	52
15	Rochdale	42	8	6	7	25	23	4	8	9	19	44	−23	50
16	Hereford United	42	9	6	6	22	19	3	7	11	23	43	−17	49
17	Northampton Town	42	8	5	8	25	29	2	9	10	20	38	−22	44
18	Hartlepool United	42	9	5	7	33	32	2	5	14	10	37	−26	43
19	Gillingham	42	8	7	6	31	25	2	4	15	15	39	−18	41
20	Darlington	42	7	5	9	25	24	4	3	14	18	33	−14	41
21	Scarborough	42	4	7	10	26	31	4	3	14	23	39	−21	34
22	Exeter City	42	5	5	11	25	36	3	5	13	11	34	−34	34	Retained^[a]

Source: ^[6]
Notes:

1. Financially troubled Exeter City retained their league status due to Conference champions Macclesfield Town lacking a stadium adequate for Football League capacity standards.

Play-offs

Main article: Football League Two play-offs § 1995

	Semi-finals 1st leg – 14 May; 2nd leg – 17 May 1995							Final at Wembley 27 May 1995
	3rd	Chesterfield (a.e.t.)	1	5	6
	6th	Mansfield Town	1	2	3
								3rd	Chesterfield	2
								4th	Bury	0
	4th	Bury	1	1	2
	5th	Preston North End	0	0	0

^[7]

Results

Home \ Away	BAR	BRY	CRL	CHF	COL	DAR	DON	EXE	FUL	GIL	HAR	HER	LIN	MAN	NOR	PNE	ROC	SCA	SCU	TOR	WAL	WIG
Barnet		1–1	0–2	4–1	0–1	2–3	0–0	1–1	0–0	1–0	4–0	2–2	2–1	2–2	2–3	2–1	6–2	3–1	1–2	2–0	1–3	1–1
Bury	3–0		2–0	2–1	4–1	2–1	2–0	0–0	0–0	3–2	2–0	1–1	2–0	2–2	5–0	0–0	0–1	1–0	2–0	3–1	0–0	3–3
Carlisle United	4–0	3–0		1–1	0–0	2–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	2–0	0–1	1–0	1–3	2–1	2–1	0–0	4–1	2–0	2–1	1–0	2–1	2–1
Chesterfield	2–0	0–0	1–2		2–2	0–0	2–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	2–0	1–0	1–0	0–1	3–0	1–0	2–2	0–1	3–1	1–0	0–0	0–0
Colchester United	1–1	1–0	0–1	0–3		1–0	0–3	3–1	5–2	2–2	1–0	2–2	1–2	1–1	0–1	3–1	0–0	0–2	4–2	1–3	3–2	0–1
Darlington	0–1	0–2	0–2	0–1	2–3		0–2	2–0	0–0	2–0	1–2	3–1	0–0	0–0	4–1	0–0	4–0	1–0	1–3	2–1	2–2	1–3
Doncaster Rovers	1–1	1–2	0–0	1–3	1–2	0–0		1–0	0–0	1–2	3–0	3–0	3–0	0–2	1–0	2–1	0–1	1–0	1–1	3–0	0–2	5–3
Exeter City	1–2	0–4	1–1	1–2	1–0	0–2	1–5		0–1	3–0	2–1	1–1	1–0	2–3	0–0	0–1	0–0	5–2	2–2	1–2	1–3	2–4
Fulham	4–0	1–0	1–3	1–1	1–2	3–1	0–2	4–0		1–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	4–2	4–4	0–1	5–0	1–2	1–0	2–1	1–1	2–0
Gillingham	2–1	1–1	0–1	1–1	1–3	2–1	4–2	3–0	4–1		0–0	0–0	0–0	0–2	3–1	2–3	1–1	3–1	2–2	1–0	1–3	0–1
Hartlepool United	0–1	3–1	1–5	0–2	3–1	1–0	2–1	2–2	1–2	2–0		4–0	0–3	3–2	1–1	3–1	1–0	3–3	1–4	1–1	1–1	0–1
Hereford United	3–2	1–0	0–1	0–2	3–0	0–0	0–1	3–0	1–1	2–1	1–0		0–3	0–0	2–1	0–2	0–0	2–1	2–1	1–1	0–0	1–2
Lincoln City	1–2	0–3	1–1	0–1	2–0	3–1	1–0	2–0	2–0	1–1	3–0	2–0		3–2	2–2	1–1	2–2	2–0	3–3	1–2	1–1	1–0
Mansfield Town	3–0	0–2	1–2	4–2	2–0	0–1	0–1	1–1	1–1	4–0	2–0	7–1	6–2		1–1	1–2	1–1	3–2	1–0	2–2	1–3	4–3
Northampton Town	1–1	0–5	2–1	2–3	1–1	2–1	0–0	2–1	0–1	2–0	1–1	1–3	3–1	0–1		2–1	1–2	0–3	0–1	2–0	2–2	1–0
Preston North End	1–0	5–0	1–0	0–0	2–1	1–3	2–2	0–1	3–2	1–1	2–0	4–2	4–0	2–1	2–0		3–0	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–2	1–0
Rochdale	2–2	0–3	1–1	4–1	0–0	2–0	2–0	0–1	1–2	2–1	1–0	1–3	1–0	3–3	0–0	0–1		1–1	1–2	2–0	0–2	1–0
Scarborough	0–1	1–2	1–2	0–1	0–1	3–1	2–2	0–2	3–1	0–0	2–2	3–1	1–1	2–5	0–0	1–1	2–4		3–0	1–1	1–2	0–1
Scunthorpe United	1–0	3–2	2–3	0–1	3–4	2–1	0–5	3–0	1–2	3–0	0–0	1–0	2–0	3–4	1–1	2–1	4–1	3–1		3–2	0–1	3–1
Torquay United	1–2	2–2	1–1	3–3	3–3	1–0	0–1	0–0	2–1	3–1	2–2	0–1	2–1	2–1	2–1	1–0	4–1	2–1	1–1		3–2	0–0
Walsall	4–0	0–1	1–2	1–3	2–0	2–0	1–0	1–0	5–1	2–1	4–1	4–3	2–1	1–0	1–1	2–2	0–0	4–1	2–1	1–0		2–0
Wigan Athletic	1–2	0–3	0–2	2–3	1–2	4–1	3–2	3–1	1–1	0–3	2–0	1–1	0–1	0–4	2–1	1–1	4–0	1–1	0–0	1–1	1–0

Source:^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Dougie Freedman	Barnet	24
2	Kyle Lightbourne	Walsall	23
=	Steve Wilkinson	Mansfield Town	23
3	Dave Reeves	Carlisle United	20
4	David Pugh	Bury	17
5	Kevin Wilson	Walsall	16

Locations

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Barnet

Bury

Carlisle United

Chesterfield

Colchester

Darlington

Doncaster

Exeter City

Fulham

Gillingham

Hartlepool

Hereford United

Lincoln City

Mansfield Town

Northampton Town

Preston North End

Rochdale

Scarborough

Scunthorpe United

Torquay

Walsall

Wigan Athletic

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Locations of the Third Division teams

 

 

 

Barnet

Fulham

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Locations of the London-based Third Division teams

See also

• 1994–95 in English football

References

1. "England 1994–95". RSSSF. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
2. "English League Leading Goalscorers". RSSSF. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
3. "England 1994–95". RSSSF. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
4. "England 1994–95". RSSSF. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
5. "England 1994–95". RSSSF. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
6. "England 1994–95". RSSSF. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
7. "England 1994–95". RSSSF. Retrieved 24 February 2010.