TEDDY’S THE KOP ROCKER
THE promise of the broadcasters was of “a whole new ball game” and it kicked off at the City Ground on Sunday, August 16, 1992.
That was where BSKYB took their cameras for Nottingham Forest v Liverpool on the opening weekend of the first-ever Premier League season.
ITV had been showing a live top-flight game every Sunday since October, 1988, but, after the Premier League was formed, they were outbid by BSKYB for live televised rights.
They came up with a massive £304million bid to show live matches over the following five seasons, starting at the City Ground on a sunny Sunday afternoon, 24 hours after the season had kicked off.
Forest had finished eighth the previous season and reached the League Cup Final, losing to Manchester United and, with Teddy Sheringham and Nigel Clough in their line-up and Brian Clough (below) in the dugout, they were always likely to be eye-catching.
FA Cup winners Liverpool were fancied to be challengers for the title, along with Arsenal and Manchester United.
Boss Graeme Souness gave league debuts to midfielder Paul Stewart and keeper David James, a £1.25m signing from Watford.
That move made James the second most expensive keeper in British history behind David Seaman and, within 20 minutes of the opening whistle, Reds fans knew why he had invested so much in the 22-year-old.
James pulled off a jaw-dropping treble save to keep the scoreline blank. He kept out Nigel Clough’s effort, picked himself up to block Roy Keane’s follow-up and got in the way of Clough’s second attempt.
But there was no way James could have saved Sheringham’s strike in the 28th minute.
Sheringham received Scot Gemmill’s lay-off on the left flank, cut into the penalty area and sent a rightfoot rocket into the top corner.
Brian Clough would later say: “You don’t work on scoring goals like that – they come out of the blue through sheer ability.”
Keane was fuming after ref Mike Reed ruled he had dived when he wanted a penalty, while Liverpool sub Ronny Rosenthal was denied an equaliser by keeper Mark Crossley.