Today I'm going back 28 years to 1994 and the League Division Three Play-Off Final between Preston North End and Wycombe Wanderers, played at the old Wembley Stadium and attended by 40,109.
The rather dramatic looking owl on the front cover of the programme was nothing to do with either team but was, in fact, part of the corporate branding of the sponsors of the Football League: Endsleigh Insurance. Endsleigh sponsored the Football League between 1993-1996 as well as sponsoring Burnley FC from 1988-1999 and Cheltenham Town from 1997-1999. In the case of Cheltenham, probably the main reason for choosing the club was that it was based in the town where Endsleigh has its head office. Endsleigh was formed as recently as 1965 as a specialist insurer for University students and was wholly owned by the National Union of Students (NUS) until 1976.
Season 1993/94 saw League Division 3 (the fourth tier of English football) won by Champions Shrewsbury Town with Chester City and Crewe Alexandra also promoted automatically. Wycombe Wanderers. managed by Martin O'Neill, in their first ever season in the football League, finished fourth thereby taking one of the Play-Off spots along with Preston North End, Torquay United and Carlisle United who finished 5th, 6th and 7th respectively. No team was relegated from the Football League that season because the ground of Conference (National League) Champions Kidderminster Harriers did not reach Football League standards and wooden spoonists Northampton Town were saved from demotion into Non-League as a result.
Since automatic promotion and relegation between the Football League and the National League began in 1987 we have witnessed the loss of some famous old names from the Football League whilst their replacements haven't necessarily offered much in the way of benefit to the Football League. I'm thinking of Scarborough, Maidstone United, Morecambe, Macclesfield Town, Rushden & Diamonds, Boston United, Yeovil Town, Dagenham & Redbridge, Crawley Town, Sutton United, Forest Green Rovers and Harrogate Town. In some cases, the clubs concerned have sunk back into Non-League following a season or two in the Football League, In others, financial shenanigans proved to be an all round embarrassment (Boston United and Maidstone United). However, I would class Wycombe Wanderers as being one of the best and most successful promotees to the Football League since their elevation in 1993. At no time have they ever looked like they might be relegated back into Non-League and they have built slowly and invested wisely to the point where, today, they are challengers for promotion to the Championship itself.
Former League Champion and European Cup winner Martin O'Neill arrived as manager of Wycombe Wanderers in 1990 following earlier management stints at Grantham Town and Shepshed Charterhouse. He went on to spend five years at the club, in effect learning his managerial trade before, eventually, moving on to bigger clubs having served his apprenticeship. Those bigger clubs included Norwich City, Leicester City, Celtic, Aston Villa and Sunderland plus a spell as boss of the Republic of Ireland between 2013-2018. O'Neill tended to find success in most of these appointments although, as he got older, his effectiveness seemed to wane.
In the Play-Offs, Wycombe Wanderers overcame Carlisle United 4-1 on aggregate whilst Preston North End came from behind to beat Torquay United 4-3 on aggregate to book their place at Wembley. In the Final, Wycombe dominated the first half but it was Preston, playing in strange yellow and blue striped shirts, who took the lead after 32 minutes spectacularly via an overhead kick from Ian Bryson. Their lead was to last just a minute however as Wycombe, playing in their famous blue and white quartered shirts, equalised almost straight from the kick off when Steve Thompson's shot was put into his own net by Jamie Squires. In a hot scoring spell, Preston retook the lead in the 37th minute with a diving header from Paul Raynor making it 2-1 to Preston at halftime. Two minutes into the second period and it was all square again following an equaliser by Simon Garner. Ten minutes later Wycombe (nicknamed "The Chairboys" due to the town's connection with furniture making) had the lead for the first time with a goal from Dave Carroll following a fine sweeping move. Carroll scored his second, Wycombe's fourth and the game's final goal in the 68th minute beating Preston's David Moyes before firing home. Preston had another future manager in their side in addition to the future Everton, Manchester United and West Ham boss David Moyes however and this future gaffer would go on to make his mark not at Preston but at Wycombe. Gareth Ainsworth played on the losing side against Wycombe that day but would go on to take the reins at Wycombe in 2012, a post that he continues to hold to this day. In addition to building a highly competitive side on a limited budget, Ainsworth is famous for relaxing away from football by playing in a number of rock bands. Simply the best? Quite possibly!
CRB Match No. 898
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