promotion. Leading goalscorer: Alan Shearer (Blackburn Rovers) – 34 First Division A dream start in management saw Bryan Robson guide Middlesbrough to the Division One title and regain the Premiership place that was lost two years ago. Reading finished second – the highest in their history, at that point- but the streamlining of the Premiership prevented them from winning promotion and they lost 4–3 to Bolton Wanderers after extra time in the playoff final, having led 2–0 at half time. Losing semi-finalists were Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tranmere Rovers, with the latter making this their 3rd Division One semi-final loss. Barnsley and Watford were the unlucky sides to narrowly miss out on the playoffs, while an expensively-assembled Derby County side finished a disappointing ninth at the end of what many fans had hoped would be a promotion winning season. Portsmouth, West Bromwich Albion and Sunderland – three famous clubs which had seen better days – narrowly avoided relegation to Division Two, but managerial changes at each of these clubs gave fans hope that a return to the elite might not be far away. Swindon Town suffered a second consecutive relegation in a row, despite reaching the League Cup semi-finals on their best cup run for 15 years, joining Bristol City, Burnley and Notts County in Division Two. Leading goalscorer: John Aldridge (Tranmere Rovers) – 24 Second Division Birmingham City sealed an immediate return to Division One by lifting the Division Two championship trophy, joined by playoff winners Huddersfield Town. The unlucky sides in the playoffs were Brentford, Crewe Alexandra and Bristol Rovers. Wycombe Wanderers finished sixth and would have had a playoff place – and the chance of a unique third successive promotion – had it not been for the restructuring of the league. Their distant neighbours Oxford United fell away to finish seventh after topping the table at Christmas. Leyton Orient, Chester City and Cardiff City were perhaps unsurprisingly relegated to Division Three; Orient had spent much of the season teetering on the verge of bankruptcy, Chester suffered from the loss of manager Graham Barrow and virtually their entire promotion-winning squad from the previous season, and Cardiff had only narrowly avoided an immediate return to Division Three the previous year. But the other two relegated teams were surprise candidates for the drop. Plymouth Argyle had almost won promotion to Division One a year earlier. Cambridge United had narrowly missed out