Despite the addition of Craig Short for £2.5m from Notts County – a record for a team outside of the top flight and for a defender at any level – the club could only an 8th-placed finish in the 1992–93 Division One table, largely as a result of taking three points from their opening 7 fixtures, missing out on the playoffs altogether. Whilst the club did manage a trip to Wembley for the first time in nearly 20 years – reaching the final of the Anglo-Italian Cup, where they lost 1–3 to Cremonese – and recorded a club record 7 consecutive away league wins, starting with a 3–1 win at Cambridge United on 3 October 1992 and ending with a 2–1 defeat at Brentford on Boxing Day, 1992, the season was seen as something of a disappointment considering the amount of money spent and the players available to the club.
The Anglo Italian cup run, coupled with extended interest in the Coca-Cola Cup (where they took Arsenal to a third round replay) and reaching the FA Cup quarter-finals for the first time in 9 years, taking Sheffield Wednesday to a replay after a 3–3 draw at The Baseball Ground. meant the cup took part in 64 matches between 15 August 1992 and 8 May 1993, a new club record with Paul Kitson taking part in 61 of them and finishing the season as leading scorer, with 24 goals in all competitions.
^Carsley was born in Birmingham, England, but qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland internationally through his grandmother and represented them at U-21 and B level before making his international debut for Ireland in October 1997.