The 1978–79 season was the 80th completed season of the Football League.
Bob Paisley won his third league title at Liverpool as his side fought off competition from Nottingham Forest and West Bromwich Albion. Albion were in their first season under the management of Ron Atkinson, and pulled off a famous 5–3 away win over Manchester United with a team that included Bryan Robson, Brendan Batson, Cyrille Regis and Laurie Cunningham.
The three relegation places went to Queens Park Rangers, Birmingham City and Chelsea. QPR had declined since the departure of Dave Sexton in 1977 and were relegated just three years after finishing runners-up in the league. Meanwhile, Chelsea's manager Danny Blanchflower paid for his team's shortcomings by losing his job.
Money dominated the headlines during the season: Trevor Francis became England's first million-pound footballer after joining Nottingham Forest from Birmingham City. Liverpool became one of the first English clubs to have a shirt sponsor when they agreed a sponsorship deal with Japanese hi-fi manufacturer Hitachi.
Crystal Palace won the Second Division title, followed by Brighton & Hove Albion, who were promoted to the top division for the first time, and third-placed Stoke City. Going down were Sheffield United, Millwall and Blackburn Rovers.
Shrewsbury Town were champions of the Third Division. The other two promotion spots were occupied by Watford and Swansea City. Peterborough United, Walsall, Tranmere Rovers and Lincoln City were relegated to the Fourth Division.
Reading, Grimsby Town, Wimbledon and Barnsley occupied the Fourth Division promotion places. The success came for Wimbledon in only their second season as a league club.
Final league tables and results
The tables and results below are reproduced here in the exact form that they can be found at The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation website and in Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79,Ian Laschke: Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79. Macdonald and Jane’s, London & Sydney, 1980. with home and away statistics separated.
During the first five seasons of the league, that is, until the season 1893–94, re-election process concerned the clubs which finished in the bottom four of the league. From the 1894–95 season and until the 1920–21 season the re-election process was required of the clubs which finished in the bottom three of the league. From the 1922–23 season on it was required of the bottom two teams of both Third Division North and Third Division South. Since the Fourth Division was established in the 1958–59 season, the re-election process has concerned the bottom four clubs in that division.
First Division
Bob Paisley guided Liverpool to their third league title in four seasons with the highest points total (68), best home record (40 points from 21 games) and highest goals scored to conceded ratio (85 scored, 16 conceded, ratio 5.3:1) ever attained in First Division history. Nottingham Forest built on their first league title triumph by winning the European Cup and retaining the League Cup under the management of Brian Clough, who in February signed striker Trevor Francis from Birmingham City in Britain's first million-pound transfer, although Forest finished eight points behind Liverpool in second place. West Bromwich Albion's first full season under Ron Atkinson brought an impressive third-place finish and a run to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup, as well as a famous 5-3 victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford just after Christmas.
Everton and Leeds United completed the top five. Seventh placed Arsenal compensated for a lack of a title challenge by beating Manchester United 3-2 in a memorable final of the FA Cup.
Chelsea, Birmingham City and QPR were relegated, while Derby County (champions just four years ago) only narrowly stayed up.
Results
Managerial changes
Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment Leeds United Jimmy Armfield Sacked 30 June 1978 Pre-season Jock Stein 21 August 1978 Queens Park Rangers Frank Sibley Mutual consent 11 July 1978 Steve Burtenshaw 10 August 1978 Leeds United Jock Stein Signed by Scotland 4 October 1978 11th Jimmy Adamson 25 October 1978 Wolverhampton Wanderers Sammy Chung Sacked 8 November 1978 21st John Barnwell 20 November 1978 Chelsea Ken Shellito 13 December 1978 22nd Danny Blanchflower 14 December 1978
Maps
Second Division
Crystal Palace continued to excel under the management of Terry Venables as their team finished top of a hotly contested Second Division promotion race, a point ahead of Brighton (in the First Division for the first time) and Stoke City. Sunderland missed out on promotion by a single point.
Newcastle United and Leicester City surprisingly failed to feature in the Second Division promotion race.
Blackburn Rovers, Millwall and Sheffield United went down to the Third Division.
Results
Maps
Third Division
Results
Maps
Fourth Division
Results
Maps
Attendances Source:
Division One No. Club Average Highest Lowest 1 Manchester United 46,430 56,139 33,678 2 Liverpool FC 46,407 52,352 33,754 3 Arsenal FC 36,371 53,896 24,288 4 Manchester City FC 36,203 46,710 27,366 5 Everton FC 35,456 53,141 23,048 6 Tottenham Hotspur FC 34,902 50,541 21,560 7 Aston Villa FC 32,838 44,029 21,884 8 Nottingham Forest FC 29,587 41,898 20,388 9 Leeds United FC 27,633 41,324 20,121 10 West Bromwich Albion FC 26,517 35,166 17,499 11 Chelsea FC 24,782 42,328 12,479 12 Bolton Wanderers FC 23,200 35,200 17,394 13 Coventry City FC 22,638 28,585 15,083 14 Bristol City FC 22,306 30,191 13,559 15 Ipswich Town FC 21,673 28,179 16,070 16 Derby County FC 21,555 30,156 15,227 17 Southampton FC 21,330 24,252 18,957 18 Wolverhampton Wanderers FC 20,796 30,857 14,250 19 Birmingham City FC 20,164 36,145 12,168 20 Middlesbrough FC 18,459 32,214 12,822 21 Norwich City FC 17,874 27,031 12,401 22 Queens Park Rangers FC 16,287 26,626 9,600
Division Two
No. Club Average Highest Lowest 1 West Ham United FC 25,778 35,802 21,269 2 Sunderland AFC 25,454 36,526 16,829 3 Crystal Palace FC 23,294 51,482 15,183 4 Brighton & Hove Albion FC 22,145 33,028 16,216 5 Newcastle United FC 20,494 34,733 7,134 6 Stoke City FC 19,125 24,912 15,176 7 Sheffield United FC 16,339 23,118 11,913 8 Leicester City FC 14,187 20,740 10,363 9 Preston North End FC 12,117 17,829 8,906 10 Wrexham AFC 11,519 20,111 6,136 11 Burnley FC 10,748 23,133 5,837 12 Fulham FC 10,135 26,556 6,067 13 Charlton Athletic FC 9,563 22,816 5,480 14 Notts County FC 9,281 21,571 4,374 15 Cardiff City FC 9,246 14,851 5,542 16 Luton Town FC 8,792 14,205 6,002 17 Blackburn Rovers FC 8,640 17,790 4,684 18 Bristol Rovers FC 7,593 12,418 5,410 19 Leyton Orient FC 7,323 19,945 4,340 20 Oldham Athletic FC 7,045 11,284 4,637 21 Millwall FC 7,002 11,968 2,830 22 Cambridge United FC 6,849 11,406 4,663
Division Three
No. Club Average Highest Lowest 1 Watford FC 14,434 26,347 10,568 2 Swansea City AFC 13,746 22,838 8,086 3 Sheffield Wednesday FC 10,860 13,930 7,444 4 Swindon Town FC 7,975 17,216 4,558 5 Plymouth Argyle FC 7,526 13,406 4,686 6 Brentford FC 7,455 13,873 5,140 7 Gillingham FC 7,143 14,902 4,157 8 Southend United FC 6,610 13,703 3,255 9 Shrewsbury Town FC 6,099 14,441 2,346 10 Blackpool FC 5,647 9,403 3,136 11 Hull City AFC 5,238 10,336 3,418 12 Carlisle United FC 5,204 8,479 3,806 13 Mansfield Town FC 5,151 11,365 3,671 14 Chesterfield FC 4,884 13,322 2,802 15 Oxford United FC 4,647 10,649 3,164 16 Peterborough United FC 4,640 8,048 1,875 17 Rotherham United FC 4,466 13,746 1,996 18 Exeter City FC 4,408 8,022 3,195 19 Chester City FC 4,052 8,855 1,956 20 Walsall FC 4,047 6,423 2,573 21 Bury FC 3,782 5,852 2,298 22 Colchester United FC 3,419 6,317 2,311 23 Lincoln City FC 3,168 7,007 1,571 24 Tranmere Rovers 2,179 5,587 984
Division Four
No. Club Average Highest Lowest 1 Barnsley FC 11,048 21,261 5,828 2 Portsmouth FC 10,123 13,958 5,863 3 Reading FC 7,616 15,302 4,481 4 Wigan Athletic FC 6,701 9,427 4,459 5 Grimsby Town FC 6,528 16,138 3,903 6 Aldershot Town FC 4,163 8,967 2,560 7 Stockport County FC 4,146 9,054 2,190 8 Bradford City AFC 3,924 8,341 1,950 9 AFC Bournemouth 3,759 10,058 2,285 10 Newport County AFC 3,731 6,930 2,235 11 Wimbledon FC 3,712 8,084 2,374 12 Huddersfield Town AFC 3,649 9,382 1,680 13 Hereford United FC 3,369 5,674 2,351 14 Port Vale FC 3,287 5,226 2,160 15 Doncaster Rovers FC 3,000 9,380 1,539 16 Hartlepool United FC 2,997 5,956 1,769 17 York City FC 2,936 6,900 1,970 18 Northampton Town FC 2,895 4,694 1,572 19 Scunthorpe United FC 2,721 8,165 1,339 20 Torquay United FC 2,669 4,964 1,585 21 Crewe Alexandra FC 1,995 4,604 1,121 22 Halifax Town AFC 1,821 5,654 980 23 Darlington FC 1,807 3,513 1,086 24 Rochdale AFC 1,767 3,627 976
See also 1978-79 in English football
References
Ian Laschke: Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79. Macdonald and Jane’s, London & Sydney, 1980.