He helped coach an unfancied Canaries side to a surprise third-place finish in the inaugural FA Premier League (season 1992-93), and was promoted to the manager's seat the following January when Walker moved to Everton. Norwich finished 12th in the Premiership in 1993-94 and started the following season reasonably well despite the (then) record English sale of Chris Sutton to Blackburn Rovers for £5 million. Despite the loss of Sutton, and the sale of Efan Ekoku shortly afterwards, the Canaries were seventh in the Premiership by Christmas and were in contention for a UEFA Cup place. An injury to goalkeeper Bryan Gunn then sparked a dramatic loss of form, and by the time the Canaries lost 3–0 to Newcastle United on 8 April 1995, they were heading for the relegation zone. Deehan then stepped down as manager and handed the reins to his assistant Gary Megson, but Megson was unable to stave off relegation.