1981–82 Football League

The 1981–82 season was the 83rd completed season (84th overall) of The Football League. This was the first league season with three points for win.

Overview Three points for a win was introduced for the first time in England. Champions Aston Villa finished a disappointing 11th but made up for this by triumphing in the European Cup at the first attempt.

Liverpool made up for the previous season's slip in league form by winning the league championship for the 13th time in their history, fighting off competition from Ipswich Town, Manchester United and Spurs. Liverpool also won the Football League Cup for the second season in succession. The league triumph was made all the more significant by the fact that they had occupied 10th place on Christmas Day.

Their season of triumph was overshadowed, however, by the death of legendary former manager Bill Shankly, 68, following a heart attack in late September.

Middlesbrough and Wolves were relegated as financial problems at both clubs began to mount. They were joined by Leeds United, only seven years after playing in the European cup final.

West Bromwich Albion felt the loss of manager Ron Atkinson and key players Bryan Robson and Remi Moses as they slumped to 19th in the league and narrowly avoided relegation. This was just the beginning of a sharp decline for a club who three seasons earlier had reached the UEFA Cup quarter-finals and almost won the league title.

Swansea City were tipped for relegation by most observers as they reached the First Division for the first time in their history, having just completed their third promotion in four seasons. But John Toshack's men had a brilliant first game in the top flight, crushing Leeds United 5-1 and setting the tone for a season which would end with Leeds going down. Swansea, meanwhile, were the most unlikely title contenders, topping the league at several stages of the season before finishing sixth in the final table.

Manchester United paid a British record fee of £1.75million for West Bromwich Albion's 24-year-old England midfielder Bryan Robson. Robson's record-breaking move reflected on how the size of transfer fees had risen dramatically in a relatively short period of time. Less than four years earlier, the British record fee had been the £516,000 that West Bromwich Albion had paid for David Mills. In such a short amount of time, the British record had more than tripled.

Everton, who had struggled in the league for the past few seasons, turned to their former player Howard Kendall and appointed him as manager in hope of restoring the club to its former glory.

First Division

The First Division title race saw many teams take the lead throughout the season, including traditional favourites like Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal, as well as thriving Ipswich Town and Southampton, and most incredibly a Swansea City side who had never been in the First Division before, and who had been in the Fourth Division just a few seasons previously. In the end, however, it was Liverpool who clinched the title after a surge in the second half of the campaign which took them from mid table at Christmas to clinching the title on the final day of the season. They also retained the League Cup. Defending champions Aston Villa only finished mid-table but finished the season as European Cup winners, three months after Ron Saunders stood down as manager and was succeeded by his assistant Tony Barton.

Wolves went down to the Second Division for the second time in seven seasons, while Middlesbrough went down after eight years in the First Division. Leeds United, who had gradually lost touch with the First Division's elite since Don Revie left in 1974, lost their top flight status after 18 years.

Other memorable events of the season included the early season transfer of Bryan Robson from West Bromwich Albion to Manchester United for a national record £1.5million, and the death of legendary former Liverpool manager Bill Shankly.

Final table

Results

Managerial changes

Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment Everton Gordon Lee Sacked 6 May 1981 Pre-season Howard Kendall 8 May 1981 Middlesbrough John Neal Sacked 6 May 1981 Bobby Murdoch 13 May 1981 Coventry City Gordon Milne Moved to a general manager role 13 May 1981 Dave Sexton 19 May 1981 West Bromwich Albion Ron Atkinson Signed by Manchester United 9 June 1981 Ronnie Allen 30 June 1981 Manchester United Jack Crompton End of caretaker spell 9 June 1981 Ron Atkinson 9 June 1981 Stoke City Alan Durban Resigned to take the Sunderland job 11 June 1981 Richie Barker 24 June 1981 Sunderland Mick Docherty End of caretaker spell 12 June 1981 Alan Durban 12 June 1981 Brighton & Hove Albion Alan Mullery Resigned 12 June 1981 Mike Bailey 19 June 1981 Wolverhampton Wanderers John Barnwell Sacked 5 January 1982 18th Ian Greaves 8 February 1982 Aston Villa Ron Saunders Resigned 9 February 1982 15th Tony Barton 9 February 1982 Birmingham City Jim Smith 15 February 1982 19th Ron Saunders 22 February 1982

Maps

Second Division

Luton Town clinched the Second Division as their cosmopolitan side ended the club's seven-year exile from the First Division, joined by runners-up Watford (in the First Division for the first time under inspirational manager Graham Taylor) and a Norwich City side who had surged from 10th place to the final promotion place during the final quarter of the campaign. Sheffield Wednesday, QPR and Leicester City just missed out on promotion, as did two surprise contenders still yet to play in the First Division - Barnsley and Rotherham United.

Cardiff City, Wrexham and Orient were relegated; Leyton Orient have not returned to this level since, whilst Wrexham would have to wait 43 years before returning to the Second Tier.

Joe Royle, the 33-year-old former Everton striker, began his managerial career at Oldham Athletic.

League table

Results

Maps

Third Division Burnley, Carlisle United and Fulham enjoyed some success after a string of disappointments by winning promotion to the Second Division.

Going down were Wimbledon, Swindon Town, Bristol City and Chester. Bristol City had completed a unique succession of three relegations, while Swindon had been League Cup winners little over a decade earlier. Wimbledon, meanwhile, would not be enduring any more disappointing season for many years after 1982.

Results

Maps

Fourth Division

Sheffield United began the first phase of their revival by winning the Fourth Division championship, which marked a superb start to the management career of Ian Porterfield. Also promoted were Bradford City, Wigan Athletic and Bournemouth.

Crewe Alexandra endured a terrible season and propped up the league with just 27 league points, but the other league members voted in their favour and they maintained their league status.

Results

Maps

Election/re-election to the Football League This year Runcorn, the winners of the Alliance Premier League, could not apply for election because they did not meet Football League requirements. Second placed Enfield could not apply either for the same reasons, so third placed Telford United won the right to apply for election to the Football League to replace one of the four bottom sides in the 1981–82 Football League Fourth Division. The vote went as follows:

Club Final Position Votes Northampton Town 22nd (Fourth Division) 53 Crewe Alexandra 24th (Fourth Division) 50 Rochdale 21st (Fourth Division) 48 Scunthorpe United 23rd (Fourth Division) 48 Telford United 3rd (Alliance Premier League) 13

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

Attendances Source:

Division One No. Club Average Highest Lowest 1 Manchester United 44,571 57,830 34,499 2 Tottenham Hotspur FC 35,100 46,827 22,819 3 Liverpool FC 35,061 48,461 24,224 4 Manchester City FC 34,063 52,037 24,443 5 Aston Villa FC 26,780 41,098 18,294 6 West Ham United FC 26,585 34,026 17,130 7 Arsenal FC 25,589 48,897 13,738 8 Everton FC 24,674 51,806 15,328 9 Leeds United FC 22,109 33,689 16,385 10 Ipswich Town FC 21,925 29,050 17,924 11 Southampton FC 21,835 24,704 18,622 12 Nottingham Forest FC 19,937 26,327 15,037 13 Sunderland AFC 19,608 29,372 11,845 14 Brighton & Hove Albion FC 18,244 27,082 10,427 15 Swansea City AFC 18,236 24,115 11,811 16 Birmingham City FC 17,117 32,817 10,715 17 West Bromwich Albion FC 16,786 23,329 11,632 18 Wolverhampton Wanderers FC 15,242 28,001 11,099 19 Stoke City FC 14,635 25,256 9,120 20 Middlesbrough FC 13,413 21,019 9,403 21 Coventry City FC 13,100 19,329 9,677 22 Notts County FC 11,613 19,304 6,707

Division Two

No. Club Average Highest Lowest 1 Sheffield Wednesday FC 19,170 30,861 13,047 2 Newcastle United FC 17,276 26,994 9,419 3 Barnsley FC 15,098 28,870 9,287 4 Watford FC 14,631 23,987 9,018 5 Leicester City FC 14,182 21,123 9,524 6 Norwich City FC 14,182 18,827 11,626 7 Chelsea FC 13,132 20,036 6,009 8 Queens Park Rangers FC 12,574 22,091 8,753 9 Luton Town FC 11,881 16,657 8,776 10 Derby County FC 11,828 16,046 7,518 11 Crystal Palace FC 10,381 17,633 7,198 12 Rotherham United FC 9,857 19,841 6,346 13 Grimsby Town FC 8,406 13,370 6,141 14 Blackburn Rovers FC 8,405 15,182 5,207 15 Bolton Wanderers FC 7,597 16,577 5,085 16 Oldham Athletic FC 7,023 15,845 2,919 17 Charlton Athletic FC 6,657 11,133 3,379 18 Cardiff City FC 5,574 10,277 3,239 19 Cambridge United FC 5,073 8,815 3,127 20 Shrewsbury Town FC 4,571 8,103 2,898 21 Leyton Orient FC 4,419 9,698 2,090 22 Wrexham AFC 4,304 6,506 3,076

Division Three

No. Club Average Highest Lowest 1 Portsmouth FC 8,544 11,299 4,889 2 Fulham FC 6,938 20,461 3,629 3 Burnley FC 6,936 18,771 3,377 4 Huddersfield Town AFC 6,746 10,269 3,468 5 Bristol City FC 6,511 11,451 3,404 6 Oxford United FC 5,851 10,407 3,843 7 Swindon Town FC 5,825 9,608 4,084 8 Brentford FC 5,693 10,834 4,124 9 Preston North End FC 5,497 7,815 4,171 10 Bristol Rovers FC 5,402 12,155 3,650 11 Gillingham FC 5,241 9,895 3,245 12 Doncaster Rovers FC 5,234 11,319 3,431 13 Southend United FC 5,083 8,108 3,416 14 Plymouth Argyle FC 4,792 9,458 2,646 15 Chesterfield FC 4,737 7,732 2,028 16 Millwall FC 4,626 7,474 2,562 17 Newport County AFC 4,459 5,915 2,978 18 Carlisle United FC 4,409 6,653 3,085 19 Lincoln City FC 4,222 8,243 2,218 20 Reading FC 4,026 7,171 2,596 21 Exeter City FC 3,858 9,144 2,498 22 Walsall FC 3,744 6,010 2,487 23 Wimbledon FC 2,596 5,554 1,503 24 Chester City FC 2,062 3,509 1,210

Division Four

No. Club Average Highest Lowest 1 Sheffield United FC 14,892 24,593 11,293 2 AFC Bournemouth 5,933 9,925 3,244 3 Wigan Athletic FC 5,796 9,021 3,996 4 Bradford City AFC 5,391 13,919 3,601 5 Peterborough United FC 4,698 13,459 1,897 6 Hull City AFC 4,270 7,397 3,040 7 Blackpool FC 4,224 9,439 1,824 8 Port Vale FC 3,639 8,773 1,924 9 Bury FC 3,533 6,650 1,720 10 Colchester United FC 2,859 5,194 1,570 11 Mansfield Town FC 2,685 8,944 1,394 12 Hereford United FC 2,592 4,191 2,060 13 Stockport County FC 2,547 5,450 1,357 14 Darlington FC 2,510 12,557 1,283 15 Halifax Town AFC 2,407 8,077 1,305 16 York City FC 2,360 5,560 1,571 17 Northampton Town FC 2,306 4,975 1,552 18 Torquay United FC 2,248 5,126 1,039 19 Scunthorpe United FC 2,232 8,105 1,106 20 Crewe Alexandra FC 2,192 6,716 1,116 21 Aldershot Town FC 2,168 4,100 1,171 22 Hartlepool United FC 2,055 4,548 1,202 23 Rochdale AFC 1,837 3,966 1,056 24 Tranmere Rovers 1,734 4,675 1,141

1981–82 Football League

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