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1980–81 Football League

82nd season of the Football League

Field	Value
competition	The Football League
season	[1980–81](1980-81-in-english-football)
winners	Aston Villa
prevseason	[1979–80](1979-80-football-league)
nextseason	[1981–82](1981-82-football-league)

The 1980–81 season was the 82nd completed season of The Football League. This was the final league season with two points for win.

Ron Saunders completed the revival of Birmingham club Aston Villa, as they won the First Division for the first time in 71 years. Villa competed in a two-horse race with Ipswich Town during the final stages of the season, eventually finishing four points ahead of the Suffolk side. Defending champions Liverpool slipped to fifth place, but compensated for this by winning the European Cup and their first League Cup. Manchester United failed to finish in the top five, a shortcoming that cost Dave Sexton his job as manager; he was succeeded by Ron Atkinson, who had finished fourth in the league and reached the UEFA Cup quarter-finals with an impressive West Bromwich Albion side – who would suffer a rapid decline after Atkinson's departure.

Crystal Palace endured a dreadful season with just six wins, all at home. They were joined in relegation to the Second Division by Norwich City and Leicester City.

FA Cup holders West Ham United returned to the First Division by becoming Second Division champions. Also promoted were Notts County and Swansea City, the Welsh club completing a meteoric rise under John Toshack by going from the Fourth Division to the First in just four years. Both Bristol clubs were relegated, along with Preston North End.

In the Third Division, Rotherham United were champions, with Barnsley and Charlton Athletic also promoted. Hull City, Blackpool and Colchester United were relegated, as were Sheffield United, who just seven years earlier had finished sixth in the First Division.

The Fourth Division saw Southend United finish as champions, with Lincoln City, Doncaster Rovers and Wimbledon occupying the other promotion places. There were no movements between the Fourth Division and the Alliance Premier League as the re-election system went in favour of the league's bottom four clubs.

First Division

7th English title Leicester City Crystal Palace Liverpool (as defending champions) Arsenal West Bromwich Albion Southampton Steve Archibald (20 goals each) (30 August 1980) Manchester United 5–0 Leicester City (13 September 1980) Nottingham Forest 5–0 Leicester City (20 September 1980) Everton 5–0 Crystal Palace (20 September 1980) Middlesbrough 6–1 Norwich City (4 October 1980) (27 September 1980) Leeds United 0–5 Arsenal (8 November 1980) (17 December 1980) Tottenham Hotspur 4–4 Southampton (26 December 1980) Aston Villa came top of a hotly contested title race to clinch their first top division title since 1910, using only 14 players throughout the season, with only eight scorers. Runners-up Ipswich Town had compensation for their failed title challenge in the shape of a UEFA Cup triumph, and were also semi-finalists in the FA Cup, their relatively small squad struggling in the final weeks of the season as a challenge for three major trophies took its toll. Arsenal finished third, while West Bromwich Albion enjoyed another strong season and finished fourth. Liverpool finished fifth but won their third European Cup and their first League Cup.

Manchester United's failure to finish higher than eighth in the league cost manager Dave Sexton his job after four trophyless seasons in charge, and a lengthy search for a new manager saw West Bromwich Albion's Ron Atkinson named as his successor. Everton appointed their former player Howard Kendall as manager after a disappointing 15th-place finish. Tottenham, meanwhile, only finished 10th in the league but achieved a sixth triumph in the FA Cup at the expense of Manchester City, who climbed up to 12th place in the league after an upturn in fortunes brought about the October change of manager from Malcolm Allison to John Bond.

Bond's former club Norwich City went down to the Second Division along with Leicester City and Crystal Palace.

Final table

Results

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Leeds United	ENG Jimmy Adamson	Resigned	7 September 1980	21st	ENG Maurice Lindley (caretaker)	7 September 1980
Leeds United	ENG Maurice Lindley	End of caretaker spell	16 September 1980	21st	ENG Allan Clarke	16 September 1980
Crystal Palace	ENG Terry Venables	Signed by Queens Park Rangers	3 October 1980	22nd	WAL Ernie Walley (caretaker)	3 October 1980
Manchester City	ENG Malcolm Allison	Sacked	8 October 1980	21st	ENG John Bond	17 October 1980
Norwich City	ENG John Bond	Signed by Manchester City	17 October 1980	20th	ENG Ken Brown	17 October 1980
Crystal Palace	WAL Ernie Walley	End of caretaker spell	5 December 1980	21st	ENG Malcolm Allison	5 December 1980
Crystal Palace	ENG Malcolm Allison	Sacked	1 February 1981	22nd	ENG Dario Gradi	3 February 1981
Sunderland	ENG Ken Knighton	1 April 1981	15th	SCO Mick Docherty (caretaker)	1 April 1981
Manchester United	ENG Dave Sexton	30 April 1981	8th	ENG Jack Crompton (caretaker)	30 April 1981

Maps

Arsenal Aston Villa Birmingham Brighton & Hove Coventry Crystal Palace Everton Ipswich Town Leeds United Leicester City Liverpool Middlesbrough Manchester City Manchester United Norwich City Nottingham Forest Southampton Stoke Sunderland Tottenham West Bromwich Albion Wolverhampton Wanderers

Arsenal Crystal Palace Tottenham

Second Division

Notts County Swansea City Bristol City Bristol Rovers (22 goals) (25 October 1980) (15 November 1980) Grimsby Town 1–5 West Ham United (11 April 1981) (1 November 1980) A year after winning the FA Cup, West Ham ended their three-year exile from the First Division by clinching the Second Division title. Notts County, who finished second, went up after 55 years away from the First Division. Third placed Swansea City completed an unprecedented four-season climb from the Fourth Division to the First Division, where they had never previously played. Blackburn Rovers missed out on promotion on goal difference, and then lost their promising young player-manager Howard Kendall to Everton.

Both Bristol clubs went down along with Preston North End.

Results

Maps

Chelsea Orient Queens Park Rangers Watford West Ham

Blackburn Rovers Bolton Bristol City Bristol Rovers Cambridge Utd Cardiff City Chelsea Derby County Grimsby Town Orient Luton Town Newcastle Notts County Oldham Preston North End QPR Sheffield Wednesday Shrewsbury Swansea City Watford West Ham Wrexham

Third Division

Third Division Charlton Athletic Colchester United Hull City Sheffield United

Results

Maps

Brentford Charlton Athletic Fulham Millwall

Barnsley Blackpool Brentford Burnley Carlisle United Charlton Chester Chesterfield Colchester Exeter City Gillingham Fulham Huddersfield Hull Millwall Oxford Newport County Plymouth Argyle Portsmouth Reading Rotherham Sheffield United Swindon Walsall

Fourth Division

Fourth Division Lincoln City Wimbledon

Results

Maps

Aldershot Bournemouth Bradford City Bury Crewe Alexandra Darlington Doncaster Halifax T. Hartlepool Hereford United Lincoln City Mansfield Town Northampton Town Peterborough Port Vale Rochdale Scunthorpe & Lindsey Southend Stockport Torquay Tranmere Wigan Athletic Wimbledon York City

Wimbledon

Election/Re-election to the Football League

Altrincham won the Alliance Premier League for the second season running and earned the right to apply for election to the Football League to replace one of the four bottom sides in the 1980–81 Football League Fourth Division. The vote went as follows:

Club	Final Position	Votes
Tranmere Rovers	21st (Fourth Division)	48
Hereford United	22nd (Fourth Division)	46
York City	24th (Fourth Division)	46
Halifax Town	23rd (Fourth Division)	41
Altrincham	1st (Alliance Premier League)	15

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	45,071	57,049	37,954
2	Liverpool FC	37,547	48,114	24,462
3	Manchester City FC	33,587	50,114	26,141
4	Aston Villa FC	34,117	47,998	25,673
5	Arsenal FC	32,480	57,472	17,431
6	Tottenham Hotspur FC	30,724	43,398	22,741
7	Sunderland AFC	26,477	41,141	17,749
8	Everton FC	26,105	52,607	15,355
9	Ipswich Town FC	24,619	32,363	19,515
10	Nottingham Forest FC	24,483	33,930	19,690
11	Wolverhampton Wanderers FC	21,551	34,693	15,160
12	Southampton FC	21,482	24,083	18,824
13	Leeds United FC	21,377	39,206	14,333
14	West Bromwich Albion FC	20,331	34,195	14,861
15	Leicester City FC	19,476	28,455	13,666
16	Birmingham City FC	19,248	33,879	12,472
17	Brighton & Hove Albion FC	18,984	27,560	12,117
18	Crystal Palace FC	19,280	31,652	11,122
19	Norwich City FC	17,140	25,636	11,528
20	Coventry City FC	16,904	27,094	11,521
21	Middlesbrough FC	16,432	35,065	11,076
22	Stoke City FC	15,580	24,534	10,722

Division Two

No.	Club	Average	Highest	Lowest
1	West Ham United FC	27,140	36,032	20,402
2	Sheffield Wednesday FC	18,624	28,518	14,230
3	Chelsea FC	17,897	32,669	11,569
4	Derby County FC	16,682	20,353	13,846
5	Newcastle United FC	16,001	24,866	11,013
6	Swansea City AFC	13,143	22,160	8,788
7	Watford FC	13,108	23,547	10,044
8	Blackburn Rovers FC	11,684	19,222	7,855
9	Grimsby Town FC	10,961	17,924	7,377
10	Queens Park Rangers FC	10,936	23,811	6,668
11	Luton Town FC	10,291	17,031	7,874
12	Bolton Wanderers FC	9,847	18,184	6,315
13	Bristol City FC	9,765	16,612	6,042
14	Notts County FC	9,551	16,560	6,565
15	Preston North End FC	7,631	19,023	4,748
16	Cardiff City FC	6,767	21,198	4,140
17	Oldham Athletic FC	6,510	12,005	4,730
18	Wrexham AFC	6,495	10,913	3,220
19	Leyton Orient FC	6,076	14,592	3,824
20	Bristol Rovers FC	5,929	10,087	3,552
21	Cambridge United FC	5,796	9,558	3,719
22	Shrewsbury Town FC	5,616	9,303	4,196

Division Three

No.	Club	Average	Highest	Lowest
1	Portsmouth FC	13,514	17,412	9,172
2	Barnsley FC	12,800	25,935	8,693
3	Sheffield United FC	12,772	20,369	8,601
4	Huddersfield Town AFC	11,548	28,901	6,965
5	Rotherham United FC	7,985	13,515	4,436
6	Chesterfield FC	7,331	17,169	3,059
7	Charlton Athletic FC	7,206	12,700	3,359
8	Swindon Town FC	6,933	9,966	4,761
9	Plymouth Argyle FC	6,766	14,792	4,315
10	Brentford FC	6,752	11,610	4,883
11	Burnley FC	6,469	11,075	3,947
12	Blackpool FC	5,863	10,427	3,188
13	Newport County AFC	5,683	8,062	3,748
14	Reading FC	5,439	7,561	3,399
15	Fulham FC	5,060	9,921	3,387
16	Gillingham FC	4,676	8,775	3,228
17	Exeter City FC	4,559	8,491	3,056
18	Millwall FC	4,494	8,311	2,780
19	Hull City AFC	4,319	8,618	2,059
20	Walsall FC	4,265	6,026	3,185
21	Oxford United FC	4,132	6,477	2,741
22	Carlisle United FC	4,064	7,136	2,828
23	Chester City FC	2,892	4,863	1,778
24	Colchester United FC	2,645	4,952	1,430

Division Four

No.	Club	Average	Highest	Lowest
1	Southend United FC	6,095	12,391	4,190
2	Doncaster Rovers FC	5,412	11,373	2,186
3	Lincoln City FC	4,715	8,832	3,458
4	Wigan Athletic FC	4,434	6,029	3,370
5	Peterborough United FC	4,137	6,265	2,772
6	Mansfield Town FC	3,400	4,883	1,925
7	AFC Bournemouth	3,380	5,200	2,203
8	Hartlepool United FC	3,115	5,578	1,579
9	Aldershot Town FC	2,989	4,970	1,813
10	Crewe Alexandra FC	2,909	4,634	1,881
11	Bradford City AFC	2,858	4,356	1,249
12	Bury FC	2,748	4,700	1,779
13	Port Vale FC	2,738	4,239	2,091
14	Rochdale AFC	2,565	5,230	1,474
15	Darlington FC	2,537	7,155	1,304
16	Wimbledon FC	2,484	3,898	1,775
17	Hereford United FC	2,444	3,412	1,476
18	Scunthorpe United FC	2,357	5,032	1,498
19	Stockport County FC	2,335	3,536	1,431
20	Northampton Town FC	2,196	3,800	1,380
21	York City FC	2,163	4,641	1,167
22	Torquay United FC	2,050	3,683	1,227
23	Halifax Town AFC	1,924	4,444	922
24	Tranmere Rovers	1,901	3,439	1,073

References

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

References

"English League Leading Goalscorers".
https://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn/archive/eng/aveeng1981.htm

Info: Wikipedia Source

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