Double for Manchester Utd on Roy Keane's arrival

In the first year of the FA Premier League, it was Eric Cantona who led Manchester United to the top of the standings. Indeed, the mercurial Frenchman made all the difference.

In the season that followed, 1993-94, Roy Keane's arrival helped the Red Devils to retain their crown.

United went on to claim their first ever Double, beating Chelsea 4-0 in the FA Cup final, to become only the fourth team to collect both league and FA Cup honours in one season in the 20th century. They equalled the feats of Tottenham in 1961, Arsenal in 1971 and Liverpool in 1986.

The FA Premier League signed its first sponsorship deal with Carling Breweries and the format remained with 22 teams.

It was the first time since the early 1980s that a club won back-to-back titles. Liverpool won the championship crown for three years running from 1982 to 1984.

Transfers occurred thick and fast and United paid a club record fee of £3.75m to sign the 22-year-old Keane from Nottingham Forest.

Keane, a midfielder, became the most expensive player signed by an English club at the time.

Midlands club Forest, who won the European Cup twice, were relegated in the first campaign of the newly-structured league.

United led the championship almost from start to finish. They took over at the summit on August 24 and stayed there for the rest of the campaign.

Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United finished second and third.

In the New Year of 1994 it looked as if all the interest had died when United were in front by 16 points, as some of the punters went to claim their money after they backed Alex Ferguson's team to retain the crown.

Then, in March, Blackburn made a remarkable comeback to wipe out the gap on United, second on inferior goal difference.

But the return of Cantona from two periods of suspension put the dynamism back into the team and the title was secured on May 1 with a 2-1 win at Ipswich.

The blips in United's season were the Champions League exit to Galatasaray in the second round and the League Cup upset to Aston Villa in the final.

At the end of the campaign, captain Bryan Robson left Old Trafford after 13 years to join Middlesbrough as player-manager.

Sir Matt Busby, who was associated with Man. United since the end of World War II, died at the age of 84.

In 1934, Busby won the FA Cup as a player of United rivals Manchester City.

Top scorers

34 - A. Cole (Newcastle)
31 - Shearer (Blackburn)
25 - Le Tissier (Southampton), Sutton (Norwich)
23 - Wright (Arsenal)

Transfers

Arsenal: Andy McGoldrick from Crystal Palace; Anders Limpar to Everton.
Aston Villa: Andy Townsend from Chelsea; Gordon Cowans to Derby.
Blackburn: David Batty from Leeds; Patrik Andersson to Bor. Moenchengladbach.
Chelsea: Mark Stein from Stoke; Graham Stuart to Everton.
Coventry: Mick Harford from Sunderland; Andy Pearce to Sheffield Wednesday.
Everton: Joe Parkinson from Bournemouth; Peter Beardsley to Newcastle.
Ipswich: Ian Marshall from Oldham; Jason Dozzell to Tottenham.
Leeds: Brian Deane from Sheffield United; David Rocastle to Manchester City.
Liverpool: Nigel Clough from Nottingham Forest; Ronny Rosenthal to Tottenham.
Manchester City: Peter Beagrie from Everton; David White to Leeds.
Manchester United: Lee Martin to Celtic; Darren Ferguson to Wolves.
Newcastle: Darren Peacock from QPR; Gavin Peacock to Chelsea.
Norwich: Spencer Prior from Southend; Ruel Fox to Newcastle.
Oldham: Tore Pederson from SK Brann; Neil Adams to Norwich.
QPR: Trevor Sinclair from Blackpool; Andy Sinton to Sheffield Wednesday.
Sheffield United: Nathan Blake from Cardiff; Willie Falconer to Celtic.
Sheffield Wednesday: Des Walker from Sampdoria; John Harkes to Derby.
Southampton: Jim Magilton from Oxford; Tim Flowers to Blackburn.
Swindon Town: Jan A. Fjortoft from Rapid Vienna; Colin Calderwood to Tottenham.
Tottenham: Micky Hazard from Swindon; Neil Ruddock to Liverpool.
West Ham: Mike Marsh from Liverpool; Kevin Keen to Wolves.
Wimbledon: Gary Blissett from Brentford; Greg Berry to Millwall.

Other statistics

• Swindon became the first club in the Premier League to concede 100 goals in a season.

• 19 hat-tricks were netted throughout the campaign with Robbie Fowler scoring five goals in Liverpool's 5-0 win over Fulham at Anfield.

• Joe Kinnear, of Wimbledon, and Alex Ferguson, of Manchester United, won the monthly managerial accolade twice each. The United boss went on to pick the Manager of the Year prize.

• Manchester United topped the 'doubles column' with nine, followed by Blackburn on eight.

• Seven clubs had no red cards throughout the league campaign - Blackburn, Coventry, Everton, Ip-swich, Leeds, Man. City and Wimbledon.

Individual awards

Eric Cantona of Man, United (PFA Player of the Year); Andy Cole of Newcastle (PFA Young Player of the Year); Alan Shearer of Blackburn (Writers' Footballer of the Year). Aston Villa, Newcastle (Fair Play League winners).