1984–85 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

8th English title Sunderland Stoke City Kerry Dixon (24 goals each) (3 November 1984) (5 September 1984) (22 September 1984) Everton Everton Stoke City Howard Kendall's Everton side beat neighbours Liverpool to the league championship by thirteen points with five games to spare, while Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United followed closely behind. Kendall's team also collected the Cup Winners' Cup. Southampton completed the top five, but long-serving manager Lawrie McMenemy then delivered a major surprise by resigning as manager to take over at relegated Sunderland.

The season marked the return of Sheffield Wednesday to the First Division after 14 years away, Newcastle United after six years away, and Chelsea after five years. All three sides secured First Division survival comfortably.

Stoke City finished bottom of the First Division with just three league wins all season and just 17 points – a record low under the 3 points for a win system in any division, which would stand for twenty-one years. Norwich City and Sunderland – the two League Cup finalists – occupied the two other relegation places.

Liverpool manager Joe Fagan retired after the season and striker Kenny Dalglish was appointed player-manager.

The First Division's leading scorers this season were Gary Lineker at Leicester City and Kerry Dixon at Chelsea, with both players scoring 24 league goals.

Final table

First Division results

Managerial changes

First Division maps

Arsenal Chelsea Tottenham Queens Park Rangers Watford West Ham

Arsenal Aston Villa Chelsea Coventry Everton Ipswich Town Leicester City Liverpool Luton Town Manchester United Newcastle Norwich City Nottingham Forest QPR Sheffield Wednesday Southampton Stoke Sunderland Tottenham Watford West Bromwich Albion West Ham

Second Division

Birmingham City Manchester City Cardiff City Wolverhampton Wanderers (30 goals) Jim Smith's Oxford United side won a successive promotion as Second Division champions and reached the First Division after just 23 years as Football League members. Following them into the big time were Birmingham City and Manchester City.

Slipping out of the league's second tier were Cardiff City, joined by Notts County and Wolverhampton Wanderers – both relegated for the second season in succession. Veteran manager Tommy Docherty had tried his hand at reversing financially troubled Wolves' rapid decline at Molineux, but without success.

Second Division results

|match_BAR_B&HA=0–0

|match_BIR_B&HA=1–1

|match_BLB_B&HA=2–0

|name_B&HA=Brighton & Hove Albion |match_B&HA_BAR=0–0 |match_B&HA_BIR=2–0 |match_B&HA_BLB=3–1 |match_B&HA_CAR=1–0 |match_B&HA_CRL=4–1 |match_B&HA_CHA=2–1 |match_B&HA_CRY=1–0 |match_B&HA_FUL=2–0 |match_B&HA_GRI=0–0 |match_B&HA_HUD=0–1 |match_B&HA_LEE=1–1 |match_B&HA_MCI=0–0 |match_B&HA_MID=1–2 |match_B&HA_NTC=2–1 |match_B&HA_OLD=2–0 |match_B&HA_OXF=0–0 |match_B&HA_POR=1–1 |match_B&HA_SHU=1–0 |match_B&HA_SHR=1–0 |match_B&HA_WDN=2–1 |match_B&HA_WOL=5–1

|match_CAR_B&HA=2–4

|match_CRL_B&HA=0–3

|match_CHA_B&HA=0–1

|match_CRY_B&HA=1–1

|match_FUL_B&HA=2–0

|match_GRI_B&HA=2–4

|match_HUD_B&HA=1–2

|match_LEE_B&HA=1–0

|match_MCI_B&HA=2–0

|match_MID_B&HA=2–1

|match_NTC_B&HA=1–2

|match_OLD_B&HA=1–0

|match_OXF_B&HA=2–1

|match_POR_B&HA=1–1

|match_SHU_B&HA=1–1

|match_SHR_B&HA=0–0

|match_WDN_B&HA=1–0

|match_WOL_B&HA=0–1

Second Division maps

Charlton Athletic Crystal Palace Fulham Wimbledon

Barnsley Birmingham Brighton & Hove Blackburn Rovers Cardiff City Carlisle United Charlton Crystal Palace Fulham Grimsby Town Huddersfield Leeds United Manchester City Middlesbrough Notts County Oldham Oxford Portsmouth Sheffield United Shrewsbury Wimbledon Wolverhampton Wanderers

[[Football League Third Division|Third Division]]

Millwall Cambridge United Orient Preston North End Bradford City's Third Division championship glory was overshadowed on the final day of the season when a fire at their Valley Parade ground killed 56 spectators – including two followers of their opponents Lincoln City.

The other two promotion places in the Third Division were occupied by Millwall and Hull City.

Going down from the Third Division were Cambridge United (who won just four games all season), Orient, Burnley and Preston North End. Burnley and Preston were founder members of the Football League who had reached great heights in the past – just 25 years ago Burnley had been league champions. Those successes were now very much a distant memory as all three clubs slid into the league's fourth tier for the first time.

Swansea City, who had finished sixth in the First Division just three years earlier, continued to suffer as a result of their financial problems as they narrowly avoided a third successive relegation.

Results

Third Division maps

Brentford Orient Millwall

Bolton Bournemouth Bradford C. Brentford Bristol City Bristol Rovers Burnley Cambridge Utd Derby County Doncaster Gillingham Hull Orient Lincoln City Millwall Newport County Plymouth Argyle Preston North End Reading Rotherham Swansea City Walsall Wigan Athletic York City

[[Football League Fourth Division|Fourth Division]]

Bury Darlington Chesterfield, Blackpool, Darlington and Bury were promoted to the Third Division after occupying the Fourth Division's top four places.

The bottom four clubs, Halifax Town, Stockport County, Northampton Town (who had spent a season in the First Division some 20 years earlier) and Torquay United, all retained their league status after a successful re-election campaign at the expense of Bath City, who were placed 4th in the Alliance Premier League and were the highest placed team there that would have met the Football League's requirements. Re-election results are given at the end of this article.

Results

Soccerbase}}

Fourth Division maps

Aldershot Blackpool Bury Chester City Chesterfield Colchester Crewe Alexandra Darlington Exeter City Halifax Town Hartlepool Hereford United Mansfield Town Northampton Town Peterborough Port Vale Rochdale Scunthorpe United Southend Stockport Swindon Torquay Tranmere Wrexham

Election/re-election to the Football League

This year the top three teams in the 1984–85 Alliance Premier League, Wealdstone, Nuneaton Borough and Dartford, could not apply for election because they did not meet Football League requirements, so fourth-placed Bath City won the right to apply for election to the Football League to replace one of the four bottom sides in the 1984–85 Football League Fourth Division. The vote went as follows:

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

Attendances

Source:

First Division

!#!!Football club!!Home games!!Average attendance |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Manchester United || 21 || 42,881 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Liverpool FC || 21 || 34,444 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Everton FC || 21 || 31,984 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Arsenal FC || 21 || 31,205 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Tottenham Hotspur || 21 || 28,930 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Sheffield Wednesday || 21 || 27,781 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Newcastle United || 21 || 26,228 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Chelsea FC || 21 || 23,065 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || West Ham United || 21 || 18,433 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Sunderland AFC || 21 || 18,347 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Aston Villa || 21 || 18,318 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Watford FC || 21 || 18,246 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Southampton FC || 21 || 18,046 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Ipswich Town || 21 || 17,220 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Nottingham Forest || 21 || 16,781 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Norwich City || 21 || 15,100 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Leicester City || 21 || 14,546 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Queens Park Rangers || 21 || 14,000 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || West Bromwich Albion || 21 || 13,849 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Coventry City || 21 || 12,848 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Luton Town || 21 || 10,816 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Stoke City || 21 || 10,700 |- |} }}

Second Division

!#!!Football club!!Home games!!Average attendance |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Manchester City || 21 || 24,220 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Portsmouth FC || 21 || 15,185 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Leeds United || 21 || 15,161 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Birmingham City || 21 || 12,733 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Sheffield United || 21 || 12,055 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Brighton & Hove Albion || 21 || 11,798 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Oxford United || 21 || 10,577 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Blackburn Rovers || 21 || 9,648 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Wolverhampton Wanderers || 21 || 8,375 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Huddersfield Town || 21 || 7,238 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Barnsley FC || 21 || 7,225 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Grimsby Town || 21 || 6,458 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Crystal Palace FC || 21 || 6,446 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Notts County || 21 || 6,211 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Fulham FC || 21 || 6,179 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Middlesbrough FC || 21 || 5,135 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Charlton Athletic || 21 || 5,104 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Shrewsbury Town || 21 || 4,715 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Oldham Athletic || 21 || 4,713 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Wimbledon FC || 21 || 4,391 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Cardiff City || 21 || 4,363 |- | style"text-align:center;"| _row_count || Carlisle United || 21 || 4,016 |- |} }}

References

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

References

1. "England 1984–85". 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. English teams were [[Heysel Disaster#Teams affected by the ban. banned by UEFA from its competitions]] from the season 1985–86 on until the season 1990–91 because of the [[Heysel Disaster]] in 1985, involving [[Liverpool F.C.. Liverpool]] fans. All five teams that would have qualified for European competition qualified for the [[Football League Super Cup]] instead.
5. English teams were [[Heysel Disaster#Teams affected by the ban. banned by UEFA from its competitions]] from the season 1985–86 on until the season 1990–91 because of the [[Heysel Disaster]] in 1985, involving [[Liverpool F.C.. Liverpool]] fans. All five teams that would have qualified for European competition qualified for the [[Football League Super Cup]] instead.
6. English teams were [[Heysel Disaster#Teams affected by the ban. banned by UEFA from its competitions]] from the season 1985–86 on until the season 1990–91 because of the [[Heysel Disaster]] in 1985, involving [[Liverpool F.C.. Liverpool]] fans. All five teams that would have qualified for European competition qualified for the [[Football League Super Cup]] instead.
7. English teams were [[Heysel Disaster#Teams affected by the ban. banned by UEFA from its competitions]] from the season 1985–86 on until the season 1990–91 because of the [[Heysel Disaster]] in 1985, involving [[Liverpool F.C.. Liverpool]] fans. All five teams that would have qualified for European competition qualified for the [[Football League Super Cup]] instead.
8. "Historical attendances".