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1971–72 Football League

73rd season of the Football League

73rd season of the Football League

FieldValue
competitionThe Football League
season[1971–72](1971-72-in-english-football)
winnersDerby County
relegatedBarrow
prevseason[1970–71](1970-71-football-league)
nextseason[1972–73](1972-73-football-league)

The 1971–72 season was the 73rd completed season of The Football League.

Brian Clough, 37, won the first major trophy of his managerial career by guiding Derby County to their first ever league championship. They overcame Leeds United, Liverpool and Manchester City to win a four-horse race, with only a single point separating all four teams. There were later bribery allegations from The Sunday People newspaper regarding Leeds manager Don Revie and Leeds' final opponents Wolverhampton Wanderers. The footballing authorities never investigated these allegations to decide whether they were true or not.

Nottingham Forest and Huddersfield Town lost their First Division status. By the end of the decade, Forest had made an explosive comeback to the top flight. 1971-1972 was Huddersfield's last season in the top flight until their promotion in 2016-17, and within a few seasons they would be in the Fourth Division — most of their existence since 1972 has been spent in the league's lower two divisions.

In the Second Division Norwich City and Birmingham City were promoted. This was the first time that Norwich City had reached the top flight. Charlton Athletic and Watford were relegated.

Aston Villa ended their two-year spell in the Third Division by gaining promotion as champions, and by the end of the decade would be firmly re-established as a First Division club. Brighton & Hove Albion followed Villa into the Second Division, but would not reach the heady heights that the midlanders would experience. Mansfield Town, Barnsley, Torquay United and Bradford City were relegated.

Grimsby Town, Southend United, Brentford and Scunthorpe United were promoted from the Fourth Division. Barrow were voted out of the Football League and replaced by Hereford United, who a short time earlier had achieved a shock FA Cup victory over Newcastle United.

Ernie Tagg sacked himself as manager of Crewe Alexandra because he felt that a younger manager should take charge of the club.

Final league tables and results

The tables 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, with home and away statistics separated.

Beginning with the season 1894–95, clubs finishing level on points were separated according to goal average (goals scored divided by goals conceded), or more properly put, goal ratio. In case one or more teams had the same goal difference, this system favoured those teams who had scored fewer goals. The goal average system was eventually scrapped beginning with the 1976-77 season.

Since the Fourth Division was established in the 1958–59 season, the bottom four teams of that division have been required to apply for re-election.

First Division

1st title Huddersfield Town Manchester City Tottenham Hotspur Stoke City Sheffield United (33 goals) (20 November 1971) (29 January 1972) (20 November 1971)

Results

Maps

Arsenal Chelsea Crystal Palace Tottenham West Ham

Arsenal Chelsea Coventry Crystal Palace Derby County Everton Huddersfield Ipswich Town Leeds United Leicester City Liverpool Manchester City Manchester United Newcastle Nottingham Forest Sheffield United Southampton Stoke Tottenham West Bromwich Albion West Ham Wolverhampton Wanderers

Second Division

Birmingham City Watford Burnley (23 goals) (28 September 1971) Cardiff City 6–1 Charlton Athletic (23 October 1971) Blackpool 5–0 Watford (1 January 1972) Orient 5–0 Sunderland (8 January 1972) Sunderland 5–0 Watford (17 April 1972) Blackpool 5–0 Charlton Athletic (29 April 1972) (21 April 1972) (23 October 1971) Birmingham City 6–3 Portsmouth (8 January 1972)

Results

Maps

Charlton Athletic Fulham Orient Millwall Queens Park Rangers Watford

Birmingham Blackpool Bristol City Burnley Carlisle United Cardiff City Charlton Fulham Hull Luton Town Middlesbrough Millwall Norwich City Orient Oxford Portsmouth Preston North End QPR Sheffield Wednesday Sunderland Swindon Watford

Third Division

Brighton & Hove Albion Barnsley Torquay United Bradford City Bristol Rovers (35 goals)

Results

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|match_BRR_B&HA=2–2

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|match_SHR_B&HA=3–5

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|match_YOR_B&HA=1–2

  • The match between Tranmere Rovers and Walsall on the 27th of March 1972 looked to be heading towards a dull and boring 0-0 draw, when 6 goals were scored in the final 16 minutes of the match, resulting in a 3-3 draw.

Maps

Aston Villa Barnsley Blackburn Rovers Bolton AFC Bournemouth Brighton & Hove Bradford City Bristol Rovers Chesterfield Halifax Town Mansfield Town Notts County Oldham Plymouth Argyle Port Vale Rochdale Rotherham Shrewsbury Swansea City Tranmere Torquay Walsall Wrexham York City

Fourth Division

Fourth Division Scunthorpe United, Southend United

Results

Maps

Aldershot Barrow Brentford Bury Cambridge U. Chester Colchester Crewe Alexandra Darlington Doncaster Exeter City Gillingham Grimsby Town Hartlepool Lincoln City Newport County Northampton Town Peterborough Reading Scunthorpe United Southport Stockport Southend Workington

Attendances

Source:

Division One

No.ClubAverage±HighestLowest
1Liverpool FC47,6874,6%55,63439,538
2Manchester United45,9994,7%56,36223,146
3Arsenal FC40,500-7,5%52,10227,172
4Tottenham Hotspur FC38,8348,9%54,81419,631
5Chelsea FC38,783-1,9%54,66323,443
6Manchester City FC38,57324,3%63,32625,677
7Everton FC37,242-9,4%56,29321,513
8Leeds United FC35,637-9,1%46,56518,417
9Sheffield United FC33,18931,4%45,04523,250
10Derby County FC33,0875,5%39,15926,738
11Newcastle United FC32,6649,8%55,60318,927
12West Ham United FC30,0050,1%41,89218,479
13Leicester City FC28,53610,0%37,56419,769
14Wolverhampton Wanderers FC27,9831,4%53,37917,041
15Crystal Palace FC26,973-6,6%43,72017,699
16West Bromwich Albion FC25,7860,4%46,99216,702
17Stoke City FC24,20421,6%43,00713,907
18Coventry City FC23,724-8,9%37,79816,309
19Nottingham Forest FC21,433-8,1%42,7509,872
20Southampton FC21,191-4,8%30,32316,958
21Ipswich Town FC20,9242,4%29,21315,524
22Huddersfield Town AFC15,940-31,4%33,4589,459

Division Two

No.ClubAverage±HighestLowest
1Birmingham City32,33733,6%45,18122,410
2Norwich City23,03782,0%34,91410,967
3Middlesbrough FC17,943-3,2%34,4469,539
4Sheffield Wednesday17,0878,3%31,89012,350
5Millwall16,26264,9%24,37611,569
6Sunderland AFC15,9060,8%28,1298,273
7Cardiff City15,510-27,9%23,66710,143
8Bristol City15,2257,5%23,52510,207
9Preston North End15,1369,8%27,2849,538
10Queens Park Rangers14,3679,9%25,2577,616
11Hull City13,972-29,2%26,0919,933
12Swindon Town13,579-15,9%21,5958,802
13Blackpool FC13,483-34,1%22,6108,432
14Burnley FC12,893-20,2%22,0158,695
15Portsmouth FC11,918-13,4%16,0585,885
16Luton Town11,384-34,4%17,2807,270
17Fulham11,147-7,1%21,1877,406
18Watford FC10,908-24,0%22,4215,384
19Leyton Orient10,81718,6%33,3835,202
20Charlton Athletic10,430-5,0%26,6437,371
21Oxford United9,530-12,4%18,9906,604
22Carlisle United9,479-11,1%12,2796,067

Division Three

No.ClubAverage±HighestLowest
1Aston Villa31,95321,9%48,11023,004
2Brighton & Hove Albion17,66179,8%34,6444,509
3Notts County13,94129,6%34,2088,921
4AFC Bournemouth12,99149,7%22,5508,856
5Plymouth Argyle10,79924,1%20,1296,943
6Bristol Rovers9,340-17,4%20,4425,427
7Blackburn Rovers8,2562,8%15,5625,643
8Bolton Wanderers8,173-6,1%13,6025,465
9Oldham Athletic8,016-16,0%14,5304,640
10Chesterfield FC7,992-17,1%12,5104,542
11Rotherham United7,313-7,3%15,7434,161
12Swansea City6,412-20,2%24,4042,541
13Wrexham AFC6,083-25,2%17,1622,547
14Mansfield Town5,988-12,8%16,7843,549
15Torquay United5,677-0,8%11,1652,139
16York City5,5976,5%9,4193,858
17Walsall FC5,4454,5%13,0923,121
18Barnsley FC5,341-21,8%8,6322,185
19Shrewsbury Town5,2653,8%16,3362,329
20Bradford City5,042-15,9%9,2892,468
21Rochdale AFC4,387-9,9%10,9262,643
22Port Vale4,366-19,7%11,1062,475
23Tranmere Rovers4,35510,3%12,0542,320
24Halifax Town3,839-25,2%7,4622,021

Division Four

No.ClubAverage±HighestLowest
1Brentford FC11,73873,2%18,5218,712
2Grimsby Town11,315161,4%22,6606,939
3Southend United10,46163,2%17,3035,389
4Lincoln City7,60338,3%16,4983,033
5Scunthorpe United6,09952,2%11,7544,012
6Reading FC5,531-19,7%11,6893,136
7Colchester United5,429-3,1%9,8073,772
8Gillingham FC5,41227,6%11,7953,538
9Peterborough United5,1154,7%7,1184,025
10Cambridge United4,891-0,6%8,5913,207
11Northampton Town4,486-32,0%6,2202,625
12Doncaster Rovers4,125-7,9%12,3202,126
13Aldershot Town4,056-24,6%8,6342,152
14Exeter City3,857-18,0%5,1442,970
15Hartlepool United3,79354,2%7,1562,128
16Bury FC3,502-12,3%5,7192,557
17Newport County3,46235,8%7,6982,367
18Southport FC3,25413,8%5,3711,343
19Chester City3,002-41,0%4,5391,868
20Darlington FC2,552-15,2%8,8091,611
21Workington AFC2,48712,6%4,3291,342
22Stockport County2,477-24,3%3,9261,596
23Barrow AFC2,307-1,1%3,6561,031
24Crewe Alexandra2,104-30,5%3,7101,028

References

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

References

  1. Corbett, James. (2007-11-25). "James Corbett on Don Revie".
  2. "England 1971–72". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation.
  3. Ian Laschke: ''Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79''. Macdonald and Jane’s, London & Sydney, 1980.
  4. "English League Leading Goalscorers".
  5. "Watney Cup".
  6. (2010). "Football's Strangest Matches: Extraordinary but true stories from over a century of football". Portico.
  7. https://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn/archive/eng/aveeng1972.htm
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