Premierleague.com casts its eye through the history of the Barclays Premier League and looks at significant events.
31 January 2011: On a frantic final day of the January transfer window Chelsea swooped to sign Liverpool and Spain forward Fernando Torres from Liverpool after the 26-year-old had scored 65 goals from 102 Barclays Premier League matches. To replace his leading striker Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish went to his former club Newcastle United to sign Andy Carroll, the promising 22-year-old England forward, who had scored three goals in 13 Barclays Premier League matches during the season.
30 January 2002: A 10th-minute goal from Marcus Bent earned Ipswich Town a 1-0 victory over Fulham at Portman Road. It was George Burley’s team's third Barclays Premier League win in a row and Ipswich’s sixth in seven matches and was enough to lift the Suffolk side out of the relegation zone for the first time since the beginning of November. However, the winning run was not to last and Ipswich won only two more matches in the rest of the season, finishing the campaign in 18th. They went down with Derby County and Leicester City and have not returned to the top flight since.
29 January 2005: West Bromwich Albion manager Bryan Robson secured the loan signing of Manchester United midfielder Kieran Richardson. The 20-year-old joined a West Brom side who were five points adrift of safety. The player proved to be a big factor, scoring twice in 12 league starts as West Brom became the first team to avoid relegation from the Barclays Premier League after being bottom at Christmas. Richardson scored the winning goal in their 2-1 victory over Portsmouth on the final day of the 2004/05 campaign to trigger jubilant scenes at The Hawthorns.
28 January 1994: Graeme Souness resigned as manager of Liverpool after a shock FA Cup exit in a replay at Anfield at the hands of Bristol City. The former Liverpool captain had overhauled an ageing squad since arriving at Anfield in the spring of 1991 and brought in the FA Cup in his first full season in charge, but successive sixth-place finishes in the Barclays Premier League were followed by a disappointing start to the 1993/94 season, including four successive defeats. Liverpool were fifth in the Barclays Premier League, but were 21 points behind leaders Manchester United at the time of his exit. "I took this job believing that I could return the club to its former glory but this proved to be more difficult than I anticipated," Souness said.
27 January 2009: Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar set a new club and Barclays Premier League record for consecutive clean sheets after the club's 5–0 win over West Bromwich Albion. The victory at The Hawthorns meant that the Dutchman had gone 11 matches and 1,032 minutes without conceding a goal, beating the record of 10 matches and 1,025 minutes set by Chelsea’s Petr Cech in the 2004–05 season.
26 January 1993: Henning Berg moved to Blackburn Rovers from Norwegian side Lillestrom. The 23-year-old defender was instrumental in Blackburn’s maiden Barclays Premier League title the following season, starting 40 times as Kenny Dalglish’s side won the league. The Norwegian secured another two Premier League title medals after moving to Manchester United in August 1997, before returning to Ewood Park in 2001. He made a total of 266 appearances in the Premier League, scoring 16 goals, during his ten years in English football before becoming a manager, in which role he briefly was at Blackburn a third time this season.
25 January 1995: Nottingham Forest moved to within two places and one point of Liverpool in third after a Stan Collymore double helped them beat struggling Chelsea 2-0 at Stamford Bridge. Collymore scored 22 Barclays Premier League goals in the campaign to help Forest finish third in the Barclays Premier League. His form prompted Liverpool to sign him in the summer. The defeat left Chelsea only four points above the relegation zone but they recovered to finish 12th.
24 January 2002: John Gregory resigned as Aston Villa manager, just shy of four years after beginning his tenure at Villa Park. The 47-year-old former Villa player left the side in seventh, eight points off the top four and quit despite two consecutive wins in the Barclays Premier League. Gregory was replaced by Graham Taylor while the former Wycombe Wanderers manager took over at Derby County six days later.
23 January 2010: Wayne Rooney scored four goals in a match for the first time in his career as Manchester United beat Hull City 4-0 at Old Trafford. The England striker opened the scoring after eight minutes, but didn’t add to his tally until a late flurry in the last fifteen minutes made the victory safe. The quadruple took Rooney’s tally to 20 goals for the season, and lifted United to the top of the Barclays Premier League. Sir Alex Ferguson’s men were not able to hold on as Chelsea had the final say with an emphatic 8-0 victory over Wigan Athletic to secure the league title by a point.
22 January 2002: Diego Forlan signed for Manchester United from Argentinian side Independiente, but the Uruguay forward truggled to find his feet in English football and did not score a Barclays Premier League goal for another 10 months, when he netted United’s equaliser against Aston Villa on 26 October. Forlan scored six goals that season as United clinched the 2002-03 Barclays Premier League title, but struggled thereafter. He enjoyed better fortune after moving to Villarreal, sharing the European Golden Boot with Thierry Henry in his first season in La Liga. He won a second Golden Boot at Atletico Madrid, whom he helped lift the 2010 UEFA Europa League with a winning goal in the final against Fulham. After a spell at Inter Milan, Forlan, who is Uruguay's record international goalscorer, is now at Brazilian club Internacional.
21 January 2006: In an important clash between two sides embroiled in a relegation battle, Birmingham City thrashed Portsmouth 5-0 at St Andrew's. Goals from Jiri Jarosik, Jermaine Pennant, Matthew Upson, David Dunn and Mikael Forssell gave Steve Bruce’s side a boost in their quest for Barclays Premier League survival, but, of the two sides, it was Portsmouth who celebrated safety at the end of the season after a remarkable upturn in fortunes under manager Harry Redknapp. Portsmouth won six and drew two of their final 10 league matches to finish 17th, while Birmingham finished a place lower in the drop zone.
20 January 1994: Former Southampton player Alan Ball left Exeter City to return to The Dell to take over from Ian Branfoot with the side in the relegation zone of the Barclays Premier League. The World Cup winner rejuvenated Southampton with forward Matthew Le Tissier scoring 15 goals in the final 16 games of the season the team secured safety by one point. In the next season Ball led the Saints to 10th but at the end of the campaign took the opportunity to manage Manchester City. He died in April 2007 at the age of 61.
19 January 1997: Bryan Roy scored twice as Nottingham Forest beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 at the City Ground. Forest, who were struggling at the foot of the Barclays Premier League, went behind after just two minutes thanks to an Andy Sinton goal. The Holland winger was the catalyst for the Midlands club’s fourth win of the season, with a fine second-half double. This lifted the side to within two points of safety, but they could not avoid the drop as they finished 20th in the 1996/97 campaign and have yet to return. Roy scored 25 goals from 84 league starts.
18 January 2008: Fulham completed the signing of Brede Hangeland from FC Copenhagen. The 1.94m Norway central defender arrived at Craven Cottage with the club in the midst of a relegation battle in the Barclays Premier League. Roy Hodgson’s side successfully escaped after winning four of their last five matches. With Hangeland at the heart of the defence, Fulham finished seventh the next season to set up a memorable UEFA Europa League run in the 2009/10 campaign, which finished with an extra-time defeat in the final against Atletico Madrid. Hangeland has made 178 Barclays Premier League appearances, scoring 10 goals and receiving just one red card. In the 2011/12 season, Hangeland was one of only two outfield players (Wolves' Stephen Ward being the other) to play every minute.
17 January 1998: Newcastle United forward Temuri Ketsbaia, who had not been a regular of late, scored a last-minute winner for Newcastle against Bolton Wanderers and proceeded to take off his shirt and kick the advertising perimeter boards repeatedly during his "celebration". "Every time I speak with someone they ask about this celebration!” he later recalled. "I scored a goal, I was happy to score a goal but I was not happy to not be playing and I was frustrated. It’s not a normal celebration, but I play with passion and all I wanted to do was play. It was not malicious. Now, looking back, as a coach I understand this is not the way that a player should behave. I wouldn’t be happy, but then I would admire the passion of the player."
16 January 2010: A brace of goals from Nicolas Anelka and Frank Lampard each helped to earn Chelsea an emphatic 7-2 victory over Sunderland at Stamford Bridge. The win kept Chelsea a point above Manchester United at the top of the Barclays Premier League, having played a game fewer. Florent Malouda, Ashley Cole and Michael Ballack were Chelsea’s others scorers, while Boudewijn Zenden, now a coach at Stamford Bridge, and Darren Bent were on the scoresheet for Sunderland, who were to gain some vengeance later in the year when they shocked the West London side 3-0 in November.
15 January 2005: Charlton Athletic moved up to seventh in the Barclays Premier League with a convincing 3-1 win over Birmingham City at The Valley. Alan Curbishley’s side had taken the lead through a 35-yard free-kick from Talal El Karkouri before Mario Melchiot levelled for the visitors. But the match was decided shortly after the introduction of former Arsenal and Everton forward Francis Jeffers. He set up an easy tap-in for Shaun Bartlett on 67 minutes before he was again the provider for Danny Murphy, whose first goal for the club he joined in the summer sealed victory. Charlton were just two points off fifth-placed Liverpool after an impressive start to the campaign. They were unable to maintain the pressure but finished 11th.
14 January 1999: John Hartson became Wimbledon's most expensive signing when he joined from West Ham United for a reported £7.5m. Part of his signing-on fee had to be re-invested in a new wardrobe after the Wales striker received a baptism of fire, quite literally, when his Armani suit was incinerated by team-mates on his first day at the club. Hartson's two-year Dons career was hit by injuries, and he could not prevent their relegation the next season, despite nine goals in 16 appearances in the 1999-2000 Barclays Premier League. The former Luton Town and Arsenal centre-forward scored a further eight goals in 19 First Division matches before joining Coventry City in February 2001. Hartson went on to play for Celtic and West Bromwich Albion before his retirement in 2008. When not raising awareness of testicular cancer, from which he recovered after neurosurgery in 2009, the Welshman now works as a football pundit.
13 January 2009: Stoke City manager Tony Pulis completed the signing of James Beattie from Championship side Sheffield United, and it proved an influential move as the striker’s goals helped the Midlands side to maintain their Barclays Premier League status. Beattie, who had enjoyed successful Barclays Premier League spells with Southampton and Everton, scored seven goals in 16 appearances during the 2008/09 campaign, as Stoke climbed from 17th when he signed to finish 12th in their first Premier League campaign. The former England forward scored 91 goals in the top flight throughout his career and is now plying his trade at the age of 34 at Accrington Stanley of League Two.
12 January 1995: Manchester United bought Newcastle United forward Andrew Cole. The move, which included the Northern Ireland winger Keith Gillespie going the other way, was a shock to many Newcastle fans and manager Kevin Keegan had to plead for their support in a speech from the steps outside St James’ Park. Cole scored his first goal for his new club on his third appearance, in the 1-0 victory over Aston Villa and went on to win five Premier League titles under Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford. He scored 121 goals in all competitions for the Red Devils, including a five-goal haul in United’s 9-0 defeat of Ipswich Town in March 1995. Watch Andrew Cole talk about his transfer in Andrew Cole: Cult Hero.
11 January 2008: Chelsea completed the signing of Bolton Wanderers’ Nicolas Anelka on a three-and-a-half-year deal. The France forward moved to his fifth Premier League club, after spells at Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City. A day later he made his debut as a substitute in the 2-0 Barclays Premier League victory over Tottenham Hotspur and while he was unable to help Chelsea to be league champions that season the next campaign he scored 19 goals as he added to the title he claimed in his first full season with Arsenal. In all, Anelka scored 38 league goals in 125 appearances for Chelsea before leaving for China a year ago. (Click here for more on Nicolas Anelka)
10 January 2007: Clint Dempsey became the most expensive MLS import to the Barclays Premier League when he joined fellow Americans Carlos Bocanegra and Brian McBride at Chris Coleman's Fulham from New England Revolution. "It's been an ambition of mine to come to England and play in the Premier League, so I'm excited that I've been given the opportunity to do that, and look forward to helping Fulham with their future campaigns," said Dempsey, who was 23 at the time. He made his debut as a substitute in the 1-1 draw against Tottenham Hotspur 10 days later and went on to play more than 200 Barclays Premier League matches for Fulham, scoring 50 times, before joining Spurs this summer. (Click here for more on Clint Dempsey.)
9 January 1999: Darren Huckerby’s hat-trick inspired Coventry City to a 4-0 victory over Nottingham Forest in a clash towards the bottom end of the Barclays Premier League table. It was the second successive hat-trick for Huckerby, after taking home the match ball in Coventry’s 7-0 FA Cup win over Macclesfield Town a week earlier. He opened the scoring just before half-time before doubling Coventry’s advantage two minutes after the break. Paul Telfer added a third before Huckerby sealed his hat-trick with a fine finish after a mazy 50-yard run. The win kept Coventry out of the relegation zone and left Forest seven points adrift of safety. Gordon Strachan guided Coventry to safety with a 16th place finish, while Forest were unable to avoid the drop, finishing 20th.
8 January 1997: Kevin Keegan stunned the Newcastle United faithful when he resigned as manager after a five successful years at St. James’ Park. The former Newcastle forward had saved the club from relegation to the third tier in 1992, and led them to the Premier League the next season. A year before he quit, in the 1995/96 campaign, Newcastle had led the table by 12 points, only to lose the title to Manchester United. Newcastle were three positions and five points adrift of league leaders Liverpool when Keegan resigned, saying he was unable to commit his long-term future to the club.
7 January 1994: A day after quitting Norwich City, whom he had taken to third in the inaugural Premier League campaign the season before, Mike Walker was appointed manager of Everton, succeeding Howard Kendall who had walked out the previous month. Walker was unable to replicate the success he had at Norwich at Goodison Park and needed victory over Wimbledon on the final day of the season to avoid relegation. A poor start to the next season led to Walker's departure, to be succeeded by Joe Royle.
6 January 2012: Less than a month after unveiling a statue at the Emirates Stadium celebrating his status as record goalscorer at Arsenal Thierry Henry made a return to the North London club on a six-week loan from New York Red Bulls in the MLS. Within three days he was forcing an amendment to the inscription on his statue as he came off the bench to score the winner in the FA Cup third-round tie at home to Leeds United. In all he made seven appearances for Arsenal, all from the bench, and signed off his Premier League efforts with a last-minute goal to secure a 2-1 win away to Sunderland.
5 January 1995 Leeds United completed the signing of Anthony Yeboah from Eintracht Frankfurt. The Ghana forward would have a blistering impact, scoring 12 goals in his first 18 Premier League matches and went on to have 24 goals in two league campaigns. He was renowned for a selection of great goals that are hailed as some of the best in Premier League history. This included a stunning double against Wimbledon and a thunderous volley against Liverpool () at Elland Road, which was a contender for the Goal of 20 Seasons Awards and sent Leeds briefly went top of the division. Yeboah moved back to Germany during the 1996/97 campaign after being unable to sustain his early form.
4 January 1994: Liverpool came from three goals down to draw with Manchester United at Anfield. Goals from Steve Bruce, Ryan Giggs and Denis Irwin gave United a three-goal lead after 24 minutes, but Nigel Clough pulled one back a minute later and made things interesting with a second before half-time. Neil Ruddock salvaged a point against the leaders for Liverpool, who moved up to eighth in the Barclays Premier League table. Match details
3 January 2009: Wayne Bridge became Manchester City manager Mark Hughes’ first signing of the transfer window when the left-back moved from Premier League rivals Chelsea for an undisclosed fee. With over 30 England caps to his name, Bridge had been at Stamford Bridge for six years before moving to the North West. He made 44 appearances for City for the next 18 months, before being loaned out to West Ham United (15 starts) and Sunderland (eight starts). He is now at Championship club Brighton & Hove Albion on loan.
2 January 2011: An added-time strike from Ciaran Clark earns Aston Villa a point in a 3-3 draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. After taking the lead through a Frank Lampard penalty, the Blues went behind to goals from Ashley Young and Emile Heskey. Carlo Ancelotti’s side thought they had turned the match around with late goals from Didier Drogba and John Terry but the 21-year-old Irishman’s late header salvaged a point for Gerard Houllier’s team.
1 January 1996: Manchester United's hopes of closing the gap on leaders Newcastle United are hit by a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane. Teddy Sheringham opened the scoring but Andrew Cole equalised a minute later. Goals from Sol Campbell and Chris Armstrong (two) secure victory. Newcastle opened up a seven-point lead the next day with a 2-0 victory over Arsenal.
