After a good start to the season, Ipswich were in fourth place in the league in January 1993, but a dip in form during the final weeks of the season saw the club finish 16th. The next season was almost a mirror of the previous; Ipswich again made a good start, followed by a late slump in results. The club only avoided relegation when Sheffield United suffered a last-gasp 3–2 defeat at Chelsea on the final day of the season. Lyall was sacked as Ipswich manager in December 1994 with the club at the bottom of the Premiership. His successor George Burley was unable to turn things around and Ipswich suffered a "humiliating" 9–0 defeat at Manchester United in early March, the biggest margin in a Premiership match. Relegation was confirmed soon afterwards and Ipswich ended the season having conceded 93 goals in 42 league games. Patrick Cobbold had left his role as club chairman in 1991, handing his position to John Kerr. His brother had died in 1983 and Patrick died suddenly in 1994, but the Cobbold connection continued when Patrick and John's nephew Major Philip William Hope-Cobbold joined the board in 1995.