The 1983–84 season was the 85th completed season of The Football League.
Liverpool had a successful first season under the management of Joe Fagan as they wrapped up their third successive league title and the 15th in their history. They overcame strong competition from Southampton, Nottingham Forest and Manchester United to lift the championship trophy. Liverpool had an extremely strong season, as they also won the European Cup and the League Cup.
Southampton finished second in the league to record their highest-ever final position and achieve a UEFA Cup place, claiming six points from the last two games (both away) to climb up from fifth place.
The First Division relegation places were occupied by Birmingham City, Notts County and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The £1 rescue deal of Chelsea by chairman Ken Bates paid off as they won the Second Division title and were promoted to the First Division along with Sheffield Wednesday and Newcastle United.
Cambridge United finished bottom of the Second Division and were relegated to the Third Division. They were joined by two clubs who had been enjoying better fortunes only a short time ago — Swansea City, who had finished sixth in the First Division just two years earlier, and Derby County, who had been league champions just nine years earlier. Derby's Peter Taylor retired as manager and his surprise successor was Arthur Cox, who had just taken Newcastle into the First Division.
Dave Bassett agreed to take charge of Crystal Palace at the end of the season, but changed his mind three days later — without signing the contract — and returned to Wimbledon. Palace installed former Manchester United winger Steve Coppell, 29, as their new manager.
Oxford United, Wimbledon and Sheffield United continued their rise through the league by gaining promotion to the Second Division.
Scunthorpe United, Southend United, Port Vale and Exeter City slipped out of the Third Division.
Narrowly avoiding the Third Division drop zone were Plymouth Argyle, who compensated for their league form by reaching the FA Cup semi finals for the first time in their history.
York City, Doncaster Rovers, Reading and Bristol City occupied the Fourth Division promotion places. York City became the first team in English league football to gain more than 100 points in a season, with 101. It was Bristol City's first successful season for a long time and a reversal of fortune after their recent fall from the First to Fourth Division in successive seasons.
The re-election system voted in favour of the bottom four clubs in the Fourth Division once again.
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.
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.Ian Laschke: Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79. Macdonald and Jane's, London & Sydney, 1980.
First Division
Liverpool won the league title for a third successive season, although it was a much closer contest than the previous season. They also lifted a fourth consecutive League Cup and also their fourth European Cup in eight seasons to become the first English team to win three major trophies in the same season.
Their biggest rivals in the title race were Manchester United, who led the table at several stages of the season before dropping points in several crucial games later in the season to finish fourth. Southampton enjoyed their best league season to date with a second place finish, while Nottingham Forest finished third and also reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup. Queens Park Rangers, newly promoted, finished top of all the London clubs with a fifth place final position - which saw manager Terry Venables offered the job as manager of FC Barcelona, which he duly accepted. Tottenham Hotspur were unable to sustain a title challenge but lifted the UEFA Cup in Keith Burkinshaw's final season as manager.
Luton Town were surprise title contenders during the first half of the season before a dismal second half of the season saw them finish 16th.
Watford, the previous season's runners-up, began the season struggling near the foot of the table, before manager Graham Taylor brought Scottish striker Mo Johnston to the club as successor to Luther Blissett, and his new signing scored 20 goals as Watford climbed to a secure 11th place finish.
Everton were in the bottom half of the table and fans were calling for manager Howard Kendall to be sacked in November 1983, but the board kept the faith in their manager and gave him the green light to sign Wolverhampton Wanderers' striker Andy Gray, who revived Everton's season as they climbed up to seventh place in the final table and ended their 14-year wait for a major trophy by beating Watford 2–0 in the final of the FA Cup. Gray was cup-tied for Everton's League Cup fixtures, but they still reached the final and took Liverpool to a replay before losing 1–0.
Just one season after winning promotion back to the First Division, Wolves went straight back down to the Second Division in bottom place. Notts County were next to go down, having survived for three seasons in the First Division. The final relegation place went to Birmingham City.
Final table
First Division results
Managerial changes
Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment Coventry City Dave Sexton Sacked 27 May 1983 Pre-season Bobby Gould 12 June 1983 Liverpool Bob Paisley Retired 1 June 1983 Joe Fagan 1 June 1983 Notts County Howard Wilkinson Signed by Sheffield Wednesday 2 June 1983 Larry Lloyd 7 July 1983 Stoke City Richie Barker Sacked 9 December 1983 21st Bill Asprey 9 December 1983 Arsenal Terry Neill 16 December 1983 15th Don Howe 16 December 1983 West Bromwich Albion Ron Wylie 13 February 1984 17th Johnny Giles 14 February 1984 Sunderland Alan Durban 2 March 1984 16th Len Ashurst 5 March 1984 Wolverhampton Wanderers Graham Hawkins 2 April 1984 22nd Jim Barron (caretaker) 2 April 1984
First Division maps
Second Division
Results
Second Division maps
Third Division
Results
On the 27th of December 1983, Wimbledon were leading Millwall 4-2 when Wimbledon full-back Wally Downes took a direct free-kick and chipped the ball over goalkeeper Dave Beasant and into the net. As Beasant had not touched the ball, Law 13 states that the goal should have been disallowed and Millwall awarded a corner kick. Instead referee John E Martin incorrectly awarded the goal. Wimbledon hung on to win 4-3.
Third Division maps
Fourth Division
Results
Fourth Division maps
Election/Re-election to the Football League As champions of the Alliance Premier League, Maidstone United won for the second time the right to apply for election to the Football League, to replace one of the four bottom teams in the 1983–84 Football League Fourth Division. The vote went as follows:
Club Final Position Votes Chester City 24th (Fourth Division) 52 Halifax Town 21st (Fourth Division) 52 Rochdale 22nd (Fourth Division) 50 Hartlepool United 23rd (Fourth Division) 32 Maidstone United (1897) 1st (Alliance Premier League) 22
Hence, all four Football League teams were re-elected, and Maidstone United were again denied membership of the League.
Attendances Source:
Division One No. Club Average Highest Lowest 1 Manchester United 42,534 56,121 33,616 2 Liverpool FC 31,974 44,622 20,746 3 Tottenham Hotspur FC 28,701 44,348 18,271 4 Arsenal FC 28,116 48,831 18,612 5 West Ham United FC 21,386 32,535 15,430 6 Aston Villa FC 21,371 39,318 13,052 7 Everton FC 19,343 51,245 13,191 8 Southampton FC 18,089 21,141 15,009 9 Nottingham Forest FC 17,698 29,692 13,625 10 Ipswich Town FC 17,464 26,562 12,884 11 Watford FC 16,510 22,486 12,843 12 Sunderland AFC 16,181 26,826 11,612 13 Norwich City FC 15,659 24,812 12,111 14 Queens Park Rangers FC 15,370 27,140 9,320 15 Leicester City FC 14,923 27,280 10,776 16 West Bromwich Albion FC 14,569 28,104 10,261 17 Birmingham City FC 14,107 23,993 9,040 18 Stoke City FC 13,900 24,372 8,435 19 Coventry City FC 12,572 21,553 8,433 20 Wolverhampton Wanderers FC 12,478 26,249 6,611 21 Luton Town FC 11,938 17,275 8,181 22 Notts County FC 9,463 18,745 5,378
Division Two
No. Club Average Highest Lowest 1 Newcastle United FC 29,811 36,288 22,573 2 Manchester City FC 25,604 41,862 19,147 3 Sheffield Wednesday FC 22,769 41,378 14,019 4 Chelsea FC 21,120 35,147 12,389 5 Leeds United FC 15,493 30,884 8,271 6 Portsmouth FC 13,196 19,852 7,359 7 Derby County FC 12,859 18,691 9,711 8 Brighton & Hove Albion FC 12,275 20,872 8,161 9 Huddersfield Town AFC 11,044 25,101 5,599 10 Barnsley FC 9,738 20,322 4,672 11 Middlesbrough FC 8,474 19,807 4,720 12 Crystal Palace FC 8,199 20,450 5,008 13 Fulham FC 8,143 24,687 4,194 14 Grimsby Town FC 7,643 16,197 4,825 15 Blackburn Rovers FC 7,623 19,199 3,107 16 Cardiff City FC 7,067 14,580 3,870 17 Swansea City AFC 6,980 10,990 3,632 18 Charlton Athletic FC 6,732 15,298 3,786 19 Oldham Athletic FC 6,036 20,320 3,428 20 Carlisle United FC 5,611 15,871 3,048 21 Shrewsbury Town FC 4,740 9,471 2,457 22 Cambridge United FC 4,071 10,602 2,203
Division Three
No. Club Average Highest Lowest 1 Sheffield United FC 12,881 22,850 8,984 2 Hull City AFC 8,135 15,461 5,572 3 Oxford United FC 7,871 13,041 4,393 4 Burnley FC 6,625 12,327 3,301 5 Bolton Wanderers FC 5,892 11,059 3,045 6 Bristol Rovers FC 5,550 7,568 3,254 7 Plymouth Argyle FC 5,336 10,387 2,990 8 Walsall FC 5,017 10,163 2,546 9 Brentford FC 4,735 8,042 3,391 10 Rotherham United FC 4,645 14,177 3,141 11 Preston North End FC 4,571 8,813 3,146 12 Millwall FC 4,351 6,707 2,363 13 Bradford City AFC 4,203 9,310 2,555 14 AFC Bournemouth 4,039 7,220 3,045 15 Port Vale FC 4,023 7,034 2,299 16 Gillingham FC 3,916 6,226 2,273 17 Wigan Athletic FC 3,899 10,045 2,569 18 Wimbledon FC 3,459 6,043 2,007 19 Exeter City FC 3,380 6,870 1,782 20 Scunthorpe United FC 3,349 8,286 2,127 21 Leyton Orient FC 3,222 5,695 2,004 22 Lincoln City FC 3,148 6,686 1,372 23 Southend United FC 3,142 5,428 1,900 24 Newport County AFC 3,135 5,154 1,849
Division Four
No. Club Average Highest Lowest 1 Bristol City FC 7,287 12,810 5,266 2 York City FC 5,008 11,297 2,722 3 Reading FC 4,471 8,780 2,622 4 Blackpool FC 3,936 6,062 2,324 5 Doncaster Rovers FC 3,778 4,996 2,189 6 Peterborough United FC 3,424 6,527 1,679 7 Chesterfield FC 3,414 6,488 1,991 8 Swindon Town FC 3,345 6,692 1,873 9 Hereford United FC 2,984 5,943 1,878 10 Aldershot Town FC 2,483 6,270 1,349 11 Crewe Alexandra FC 2,454 4,042 1,810 12 Mansfield Town FC 2,440 6,734 1,673 13 Northampton Town FC 2,343 6,464 1,109 14 Colchester United FC 2,220 3,402 1,226 15 Tranmere Rovers 2,138 3,566 1,467 16 Bury FC 2,104 4,097 1,096 17 Stockport County FC 2,098 2,993 1,360 18 Wrexham AFC 2,083 5,756 1,016 19 Torquay United FC 1,922 4,309 1,073 20 Chester City FC 1,764 4,013 1,022 21 Darlington FC 1,507 2,574 1,091 22 Hartlepool United FC 1,505 2,968 790 23 Rochdale AFC 1,491 3,147 809 24 Halifax Town AFC 1,412 2,457 911
See also 1983–84 in English football
References
Ian Laschke: Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79. Macdonald and Jane's, London & Sydney, 1980.