1979–80 Football League

The 1979–80 season was the 81st completed season of The Football League.

Bob Paisley's Liverpool retained their league championship trophy after fighting off a determined challenge by Dave Sexton's Manchester United. Nottingham Forest failed to make a sustained title challenge but compensated for this by retaining the European Cup.

Bristol City and Bolton Wanderers were relegated after brief, uneventful spells in the First Division notable only because Bristol City’s relegation ends the last time South West England had a team in the top tier until Swindon Town's promotion to the Premier League in 1993. On the other hand, Derby County's relegation came just five years after they had been league champions.

Kevin Keegan ended his three-year spell with Hamburger SV in Germany and returned to England in a shock £400,000 move to Southampton. Lawrie McMenemy's new signing was the transfer surprise of the season. Keegan was the current European Footballer of the Year and rated as one of the best strikers in the world, while Southampton were still struggling to establish themselves as a First Division side. But this move showed that Southampton had ambition and were determined to compete with the best.

Leicester City, Sunderland and Birmingham City ended their relatively short spells in the Second Division and occupied the division's three promotion places. Going down were Fulham, Burnley and Charlton Athletic.

Grimsby Town, Blackburn Rovers and Sheffield Wednesday all achieved some long-awaited success by gaining promotion from the Third Division. Bury, Southend United, Mansfield Town and Wimbledon occupied the Third Division's relegation places.

Fallen giants Huddersfield Town and Portsmouth finally achieved some success by gaining promotion from the Fourth Division. Newport County achieved their first promotion since 1939 and Walsall were also promoted. Re-election results are given at the end of this article.

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 with home and away statistics separated.

First Division

Liverpool won the First Division title for the fourth time in five seasons, finishing two points above Manchester United, who had their best league campaign for more than a decade. Ipswich Town, Arsenal and Nottingham Forest completed the top five, with Forest also retaining the European Cup, while Arsenal were on the losing side in the finals of both the FA Cup and the European Cup Winners' Cup. Wolves, who finished sixth, won the League Cup.

Bolton Wanderers, Derby County and Bristol City were relegated to the Second Division.

Results

Managerial changes

Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment Derby County Tommy Docherty Resigned 20 May 1979 Pre-season Colin Addison 6 July 1979 Manchester City Tony Book Became general manager 31 May 1979 Malcolm Allison 31 May 1979 Bolton Wanderers Ian Greaves Sacked 28 January 1980 22nd Stan Anderson 28 January 1980

Maps

Second Division

Leicester City won the Second Division title for a record sixth time to reclaim their First Division status after a two-year exile. Birmingham City achieved an instant return to the elite in third place, while the final promotion place went to Sunderland.

Chelsea missed out on promotion on goal difference, while QPR weren't far behind. West Ham United's failure to win promotion at the second attempt was compensated for by victory in the FA Cup.

Charlton Athletic, Burnley and Fulham went down to the Third Division.

Results

Maps

Third Division

Results

Maps

Fourth Division

Results

Maps

Election/Re-election to the Football League Winners of the Alliance Premier League, Altrincham, won the right to apply for election to the Football League to replace one of the four bottom teams in the 1979–80 Football League Division Four. The vote went as follows:

Club Final Position Votes Darlington 22nd (Division Four) 49 Crewe Alexandra 23rd (Division Four) 48 Hereford United 21st (Division Four) 48 Rochdale 24th (Division Four) 26 Altrincham 1st (Alliance Premier League) 25

As a result of this, all four Football League teams were re-elected, and Altrincham were denied membership of the League.

Attendances Source:

Division One No. Club Average Highest Lowest 1 Manchester United 51,608 58,348 43,329 2 Liverpool FC 44,586 52,201 36,415 3 Manchester City FC 35,272 50,067 27,664 4 Arsenal FC 33,596 55,561 18,869 5 Tottenham Hotspur FC 32,018 51,389 19,843 6 Crystal Palace FC 29,794 45,746 19,453 7 Everton FC 28,711 53,018 20,356 8 Aston Villa FC 27,976 41,160 15,319 9 Nottingham Forest FC 26,350 32,266 21,242 10 Wolverhampton Wanderers FC 25,731 36,693 15,807 11 Brighton & Hove Albion FC 24,745 29,690 18,361 12 Leeds United FC 22,788 39,779 14,967 13 West Bromwich Albion FC 22,418 34,993 11,655 14 Ipswich Town FC 21,620 30,229 16,878 15 Southampton FC 21,335 23,259 16,309 16 Stoke City FC 20,176 32,699 14,422 17 Derby County FC 19,904 27,783 15,381 18 Coventry City FC 19,315 31,644 14,310 19 Bristol City FC 18,932 28,305 12,013 20 Middlesbrough FC 18,739 30,587 11,789 21 Norwich City FC 17,225 25,418 11,657 22 Bolton Wanderers FC 16,353 31,902 8,995

Division Two

No. Club Average Highest Lowest 1 Sunderland AFC 27,119 47,129 19,456 2 Newcastle United FC 23,345 38,784 13,765 3 Chelsea FC 23,266 32,467 16,519 4 West Ham United FC 22,872 37,167 11,721 5 Birmingham City FC 20,427 33,863 13,997 6 Leicester City FC 18,636 26,075 12,877 7 Watford FC 15,462 25,502 11,589 8 Swansea City AFC 14,391 21,306 10,442 9 Queens Park Rangers FC 14,087 26,598 8,372 10 Luton Town FC 11,676 20,040 6,705 11 Wrexham AFC 10,090 15,601 4,357 12 Cardiff City FC 9,926 19,834 6,342 13 Preston North End FC 9,751 13,150 7,407 14 Notts County FC 8,818 14,849 5,505 15 Shrewsbury Town FC 8,782 14,801 5,670 16 Fulham FC 8,419 22,258 3,566 17 Burnley FC 8,118 16,634 5,353 18 Oldham Athletic FC 7,918 11,485 5,198 19 Bristol Rovers FC 7,399 14,176 4,596 20 Leyton Orient FC 7,245 23,883 3,781 21 Charlton Athletic FC 7,175 19,021 3,672 22 Cambridge United FC 6,127 8,863 4,423

Division Three

No. Club Average Highest Lowest 1 Sheffield Wednesday FC 18,289 49,309 10,753 2 Sheffield United FC 16,584 42,526 8,621 3 Barnsley FC 11,890 22,360 8,567 4 Grimsby Town FC 10,618 19,566 6,166 5 Blackburn Rovers FC 10,311 26,130 5,759 6 Swindon Town FC 8,902 16,658 6,318 7 Brentford FC 7,818 13,764 4,992 8 Chesterfield FC 7,760 14,950 4,126 9 Reading FC 6,713 10,194 5,166 10 Gillingham FC 6,131 8,769 3,479 11 Rotherham United FC 5,993 20,355 3,061 12 Hull City AFC 5,986 14,176 3,297 13 Millwall FC 5,918 7,940 3,997 14 Blackpool FC 5,818 10,392 3,302 15 Plymouth Argyle FC 5,776 10,214 4,095 16 Mansfield Town FC 5,467 16,019 2,973 17 Oxford United FC 4,832 9,645 2,848 18 Southend United FC 4,758 7,756 2,966 19 Exeter City FC 4,574 10,589 2,648 20 Carlisle United FC 4,406 6,297 3,267 21 Bury FC 4,239 13,360 2,443 22 Colchester United FC 3,816 6,135 2,346 23 Chester City FC 3,726 6,638 2,187 24 Wimbledon FC 3,426 6,009 1,759

Division Four

No. Club Average Highest Lowest 1 Portsmouth FC 15,850 23,691 11,430 2 Huddersfield Town AFC 8,714 17,233 3,134 3 Wigan Athletic FC 5,905 8,198 4,316 4 Bradford City AFC 5,744 10,509 3,668 5 Walsall FC 5,549 9,251 3,786 6 Newport County AFC 5,139 8,383 3,185 7 Doncaster Rovers FC 4,321 9,801 2,327 8 Peterborough United FC 4,135 5,371 2,641 9 AFC Bournemouth 3,924 14,114 2,335 10 Aldershot Town FC 3,859 11,989 2,057 11 Lincoln City FC 3,713 5,011 2,440 12 Port Vale FC 3,462 6,756 2,338 13 Hereford United FC 3,355 7,945 1,995 14 Torquay United FC 3,184 5,729 1,581 15 Northampton Town FC 3,024 10,713 1,852 16 Hartlepool United FC 2,915 5,959 1,706 17 Stockport County FC 2,911 5,369 1,789 18 Crewe Alexandra FC 2,745 5,632 1,909 19 York City FC 2,716 5,742 1,791 20 Halifax Town AFC 2,582 10,061 1,022 21 Scunthorpe United FC 2,266 4,640 1,586 22 Tranmere Rovers 2,246 3,550 1,214 23 Darlington FC 1,972 4,628 1,238 24 Rochdale AFC 1,926 4,979 958

See also 1979-80 in English football

References

Ian Laschke: Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79. Macdonald and Jane’s, London & Sydney, 1980.