86th season of competitive football in England
The
1965?66 season
was the 86th season of competitive
football
in
England
.
Diary of the season
[
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]
7 October 1965: An experiment to broadcast a live game to another ground takes place.
Cardiff City
play
Coventry City
and the match is broadcast to a crowd of 10,000 at Coventry's ground
Highfield Road
.
11 December 1965: Victory for
Liverpool
over
Arsenal
sees the Kopites open up a three-point gap over
Burnley
in second at the top of
the Football League
, while
West Bromwich Albion
? formerly in third ? slide down the table after
Leeds United
hit them for four. Leeds are not the only beneficiaries of WBA's defeat:
Tottenham Hotspur
's
London derby
win over
Chelsea
and
Sheffield United
's point against
Nottingham Forest
are enough for both to go above the Albion. Leeds, Tottenham, and Sheffield United have all gained 25 points, though the South Yorkshire side have played one more match than the other two. In the third tier,
Walsall
forward
George Kirby
is attacked by pitch-invading
Millwall
supporters.
[1]
12 February 1966: Division Three table-toppers
Hull City
beat top-flight Nottingham Forest at
Boothferry Park
in the
FA Cup
fourth round.
[2]
16 April 1966: Liverpool seal the First Division title for the seventh time in their history with a 2?0 home win over
Stoke City
.
[3]
5 May 1966: Liverpool are beaten 2?1 (a.e.t.) by
West German
side
Borussia Dortmund
in the
1966
final of the
European Cup Winners' Cup
at
Hampden Park
,
Glasgow
, Scotland.
14 May 1966:
Everton
win the FA Cup with a 3?2 win over
Sheffield Wednesday
in the
final
at
Wembley Stadium
, despite going 2?0 down in the 57th minute.
England national team
[
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]
The
1966 FIFA World Cup
was held in England in July 1966. Four months prior to the start of the tournament, the
Jules Rimet Trophy
, the prize for winning the
FIFA World Cup
, was stolen from an exhibition at
Central Hall
,
Westminster
, where it was on show in the run-up to the tournament. It was recovered a week later by
Pickles
, a
mongrel
dog, in
South London
.
[4]
As the host nation,
England
began their World Cup campaign with a goalless draw against
Uruguay
at
Wembley Stadium
. This was followed by a 2?0 win over
Mexico
, with
Bobby Charlton
and
Roger Hunt
scoring the goals. England qualified for the knockout stage of the competition with a 2?0 win against
France
in their final group game. Roger Hunt scored both of England's goals.
England beat
Argentina
1?0 in the quarter-final, thanks to a goal by
Geoff Hurst
. In the semi-final,
Bobby Charlton
scored both of England's goals as they overcame
Portugal
by a 2?1 scoreline. Facing
West Germany
in the
final
, England won 4?2 in extra time to win the World Cup for the first time.
Geoff Hurst
scored a hat-trick, with
Martin Peters
scoring the other goal.
Honours
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Notes = Number in parentheses is the times that club has won that honour. * indicates new record for competition
First Division
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Liverpool, FA Cup winners the previous season and league champions in 1964, won the First Division title with a six-point gap over last season's runners-up Leeds United, who finished level on points with Burnley. Manchester United, who also reached the semi-finals of the
European Cup
, ended their defence of the league title with a fourth-place finish. Chelsea finished fifth to maintain their standing as one of the First Division's top club sides. West Bromwich Albion finished sixth and won the League Cup.
11th placed Everton compensated for a disappointing league campaign by winning the FA Cup for the first time in the postwar era.
12th placed West Ham United perhaps had the biggest influence on the English game in 1966, with England's World Cup winning team featuring captain
Bobby Moore
and goalscorers
Geoff Hurst
and
Martin Peters
.
Blackburn Rovers went down in bottom place, a woeful 15 points adrift of safety. Northampton Town's brave first (and to date, only) season among the elite ended in relegation.
Source:
rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
Notes:
- ^
a
b
West Bromwich Albion qualified for Inter-Cities Fairs Cup as Football League Cup winners.
Second Division
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Manchester City's three-year exile from the top flight ended in promotion as Second Division champions, and they were joined in promotion by runners-up Southampton, who had never played in the First Division before. Coventry City missed out on a First Division debut by a single point, while Bristol City came just three points short of reclaiming the First Division place which had last been theirs in 1911.
Leyton Orient and Middlesbrough were relegated to the Third Division.
Source:
rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
Third Division
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]
Champions Hull City and runners-up Millwall made the step upwards from the Third Division to the Second.
York City, Brentford, Exeter City and Southend United were relegated to the Fourth Division.
Source:
rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
Fourth Division
[
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]
Doncaster Rovers enjoyed some much-overdue success by clinching the Fourth Division title and a place in the Third Division. Also promoted were Darlington, Torquay United and Colchester United. Bradford City had to apply for re-election to the league for the second time in four seasons - loss of their league place would have made them the first former winners of a major trophy to be voted out of the Football League.
Source:
rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
Top goalscorers
[
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]
First Division
Second Division
Third Division
Fourth Division
References
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