86th season of the Football League
Football league season
The
1984
?
85
season
was the 86th completed season of
The Football League
.
Final league tables and results
[
edit
]
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.
[2]
First Division
[
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]
Football league season
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.
Howard 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
[
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]
Source:
World Football
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(C)
Champions;
(R)
Relegated
Notes:
- ^
Manchester United would have qualified as
FA Cup
winners.
- ^
Since the
FA Cup
winners, Manchester United, would have qualified for the UEFA Cup based on league position, this would have been passed down to the next best-placed team, Southampton.
- ^
Norwich City would have qualified for the
UEFA Cup
as
League Cup
winners.
First Division results
[
edit
]
Source:
[
citation needed
]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Managerial changes
[
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]
First Division maps
[
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]
Locations of the
Football League First Division London teams 1984?1985
Locations of the
Football League First Division 1984?1985 teams
Second Division
[
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]
Football league season
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.
Source:
[
citation needed
]
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(C)
Champions;
(P)
Promoted;
(R)
Relegated
Second Division results
[
edit
]
Source:
[
citation needed
]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Second Division maps
[
edit
]
Locations of the
Football League Second Division London teams 1984?1985
Locations of the
Football League Second Division 1984?1985 teams
Football league season
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 both 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
[
edit
]
Source:
[1]
Soccerbase
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Third Division maps
[
edit
]
Locations of the
Football League Third Division London teams 1984?1985
Locations of the
Football League Third Division teams 1984?1985
Football league season
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
Alliance Premier League
side
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
[
edit
]
Updated to match(es) played on compreat. Source:
[2]
Soccerbase
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Fourth Division maps
[
edit
]
Locations of the
Football League Fourth Division teams 1984?1985
This year
Wealdstone
, the winners of the
Alliance Premier League
, could not apply for election because they did not meet
Football League
requirements. 2nd placed
Nuneaton
could not apply either for the same reasons, and neither could 3rd placed
Dartford
, so 4th 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.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- Ian Laschke:
Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888?89 to 1978?79
. Macdonald and Jane's, London & Sydney, 1980.
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National teams
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League competitions
| Levels 1?4
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Level 5
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Levels 6?7
| |
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Levels 8?9
|
- Isthmian League
(
Two North
,
Two South
)
- Combined Counties League
(
level 8 only
)
- Eastern Counties League
(
level 8 only
)
- Essex Senior League
(
level 8 only
)
- Hellenic League
(
Premier
,
One
)
- Kent League
(
level 8 only
)
- London Spartan League
(
Premier
,
Senior
)
- Midland Football Combination
(
level 8 only
)
- North West Counties League
(
One
,
Two
)
- Northern Counties East League
(
Premier
,
One North
,
One Central
,
One South
)
- Northern League
(
One
,
Two
)
- South Midlands League
(
Premier
,
One
)
- Sussex County League
(
One
,
Two
)
- United Counties League
(
Premier
,
One
)
- West Midlands (Regional) League
(
level 8 only
)
- Western League
(
Premier
,
One
)
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Cup competitions
| FA cups
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Football League cups
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European competitions
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Other
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Domestic leagues
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Domestic cups
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League cups
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UEFA competitions
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Non-UEFA competitions
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