Blackburn Rovers F.C. season as play-off winners, ending 26 years outside the top flight. Rovers made headlines in the summer of 1992 by paying an English record fee of £3.5million for the 22-year-old Southampton and England centre forward Alan Shearer. After finishing fourth in 1992–93 and runners-up in 1993–94, they went on to win the Premier League title in 1994–95. The title chase went down to the last game of the season, but despite Rovers losing to Liverpool they edged out rivals Manchester United to win the championship. Kenny Dalglish moved upstairs to the position of Director of Football at the end of
1994 FA Charity Shield the Blackburn side were the previous season's top scorer Alan Shearer (who had a virus from eating seafood) and his new strike partner Chris Sutton, who had just joined them for a national record fee of £5 million. Also absent due to injury were Mike Newell, Kevin Gallacher, Paul Warhurst and David Batty. Stuart Ripley and Ian Pearce made a make-shift front two, with young striker Peter Thorne making his solitary appearance for Blackburn as a substitute. Other debutants for Rovers were experienced defender Tony Gale and Australian winger Robbie Slater. Meanwhile, Manchester United defender David May made his club