1982–83 Football League

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.

First Division

14th English title Swansea City Brighton & Hove Albion Swansea City Nottingham Forest Tottenham Hotspur Watford (27 goals) (25 September 1982) (25 September 1982) (4 September 1982) Stoke City 4–4 Luton Town (25 September 1982) Watford 8–0 Sunderland (25 September 1982) Watford 5–3 Notts County (12 March 1983) Liverpool Liverpool West Bromwich Albion Liverpool were dominant throughout Bob Paisley's final season as manager, retaining the league title and winning a third successive League Cup. Paisley, who had won 21 major trophies in nine seasons as manager, handed over the reins to his assistant Joe Fagan.

Second place in the league went to Watford, who took the First Division by storm in their first season at this level. Manchester United won the FA Cup in Ron Atkinson's second season as manager, and also finished third in the league for the second consecutive season. Tottenham Hotspur continued to thrive, finishing fourth and qualifying for the UEFA Cup, although they failed to add any silverware to the FA Cup victories of 1981 and 1982. Nottingham Forest finished fifth and secured a place in the UEFA Cup.

Brighton & Hove Albion, who took Manchester United to a replay in the FA Cup final, went down in bottom place after four seasons in the First Division. Swansea City, who had finished sixth on their First Division debut a year earlier, were unable to maintain their fine form for a second season, and went down in second place from bottom. The final relegation place went to Manchester City, whose 17-year stay in the First Division was ended in the final minutes of the final game of the season, when a Raddy Antic goal gave visitors Luton Town a 1-0 victory and saved them from an immediate return to the Second Division.

For the first time in eight years, there were no English clubs winning European trophies this season.

Final table

Results

Managerial changes

Maps

Arsenal Tottenham Watford West Ham

Arsenal Aston Villa Birmingham Brighton & Hove Coventry Everton Ipswich Town Liverpool Luton Town Manchester City Manchester United Norwich City Nottingham Forest Notts County Southampton Stoke Sunderland Swansea City Tottenham Watford West Bromwich Albion West Ham

Second Division

Wolverhampton Wanderers Leicester City Burnley Bolton Wanderers (26 goals)

Results

Maps

Charlton Athletic Chelsea Crystal Palace Fulham Queens Park Rangers

Barnsley Blackburn Rovers Bolton Burnley Cambridge Utd Carlisle United Charlton Chelsea Crystal Palace Derby County Fulham Grimsby Town Leeds United Leicester City Middlesbrough Newcastle Oldham QPR Rotherham Sheffield Wednesday Shrewsbury Wolverhampton Wanderers

Third Division

Third Division Huddersfield Town Wrexham Doncaster Rovers Chesterfield

Results

Maps

Brentford Orient Millwall

Bournemouth Bradford City Brentford Bristol Rovers Cardiff City Chesterfield Doncaster Exeter City Gillingham Huddersfield Orient Lincoln City Millwall Oxford Newport County Plymouth Argyle Portsmouth Preston North End Reading Sheffield United Southend Walsall Wigan Athletic Wrexham

Fourth Division

Fourth Division Port Vale Scunthorpe United

Results

|match_TOR_MAN 3-1

Maps

Aldershot Blackpool Bristol City Bury Chester Colchester Crewe Alexandra Darlington Halifax Town Hartlepool Hereford United Hull Mansfield Town Northampton Town Peterborough Port Vale Rochdale Scunthorpe & Lindsey Stockport Swindon Torquay Tranmere Wimbledon York City

Wimbledon

Election/re-election to the Football League

This year Enfield, the winners of the Alliance Premier League, could not apply for election because they did not meet Football League requirements, so second-placed Maidstone United won the right to apply for election to the Football League to replace one of the four bottom sides in the 1982–83 Football League Fourth Division. The vote went as follows:

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

Attendances

Source:

First Division

!#!!Football club!!Home games!!Average attendance |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Manchester United || 21 || 41,555 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Liverpool FC || 21 || 34,758 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Tottenham Hotspur || 21 || 30,581 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Manchester City || 21 || 26,789 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Arsenal FC || 21 || 24,153 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Aston Villa || 21 || 23,748 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || West Ham United || 21 || 22,822 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Everton FC || 21 || 20,277 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Ipswich Town || 21 || 19,646 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Watford FC || 21 || 19,488 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Southampton FC || 21 || 18,779 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Nottingham Forest || 21 || 17,851 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Sunderland AFC || 21 || 17,370 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Norwich City || 21 || 16,862 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Stoke City || 21 || 16,622 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Birmingham City || 21 || 15,638 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || West Bromwich Albion || 21 || 15,200 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Brighton & Hove Albion || 21 || 14,662 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Luton Town || 21 || 13,452 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Swansea City || 21 || 11,704 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Coventry City || 21 || 10,552 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Notts County || 21 || 10,266 |- |} }}

Second Division

References

References

1. "England 1982–83". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation.
2. Ian Laschke: ''Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79''. Macdonald and Jane’s, London & Sydney, 1980.
3. "English League Leading Goalscorers".
4. "Historical attendances".