1993–94 Tottenham Hotspur F.C. season


During the 1993–94 English football season, Tottenham Hotspur F.C. competed in the FA Premier League.

Season summary

Tottenham Hotspur were full of excitement in the close season when, after the controversial dismissal of chief executive and former manager Terry Venables, former player Ossie Ardiles returned to the club as manager. He quickly set about bringing the glory days back to White Hart Lane by creating a new style of attacking football which regularly featured up to five players in the forward positions. Striker Teddy Sheringham was prolific once again, scoring 13 goals despite being restricted to just 19 league games due to injuries.
But the new regime failed to deliver, and Tottenham finished 15th in the final table. This dismal showing was hardly helped by Sheringham's injury problems, but the rest of the side failed to come close to Sheringham when it came to scoring goals. Defeats were all too frequent, with a seven-match losing run in mid-season being the longest succession of defeats endured by any Premier League team during the season.
This was soon to be the least of Tottenham's worries, as the Football Association announced that they were investigating financial irregularities which had occurred at the club during the 1980s under the chairmanship of Irving Scholar. The hammer blow was delivered when Tottenham were found guilty on all the charges and received the heaviest punishment ever imposed on an English club; they were fined £600,000 as well as having 12 league points deducted for the 1994–95 season and being banned from that season's FA Cup. Chairman Alan Sugar quickly appealed against the ruling, backing up his argument with the fact that the people responsible were no longer at the club.
A defiant Ardiles, fearful that the 12-point deduction might end up costing them their Premiership status, made a momentous transfer swoop for German striker Jürgen Klinsmann and Romanian midfielders Ilie Dumitrescu and Gheorghe Popescu.

Final league table

Results

Tottenham Hotspur's score comes first

Legend

FA Premier League

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorers
R38 January 1994Peterborough UnitedA1–119,169Dozzell
R3R19 January 1994Peterborough UnitedH1–1 24,893Barmby
R429 January 1994Ipswich TownA0–322,539

League Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorers
R2 1st leg21 September 1993BurnleyA0–016,844
R2 2nd leg6 October 1993BurnleyH3–1 20,614Sheringham, Howells
R327 October 1993Derby CountyA1–019,855Barmby
R41 December 1993Blackburn RoversH1–022,295Campbell
R512 January 1994Aston VillaH1–231,408Caskey

Squad

Left club during season