1974-75 in English football

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The 1974-75 season was the 95th season of competitive football in England.

1 Overview
2 Star players
3 Star managers
4 Honours
5 League table

[edit] Overview

[edit] First Division

David Mackay guided Derby County to their second league title in four years having overcome strong competition from Liverpool, Ipswich Town, Everton, Stoke City, Sheffield United and Middlesbrough in a title race which went right to the wire. There was disappointment at Bramall Lane after Sheffield United's title challenge ended in a failure without even a UEFA Cup place, but this would be as good as it got for the Blades as a sharp decline soon set in and within a few seasons had pushed them into the Fourth Division.

Carlisle United, in the First Division for the first time, topped the league three games into the season but were unable to keep up their winning ways and were relegated in bottom place. Joining the Cumbrians in the drop zone were Luton Town and Chelsea.

Brian Clough was named as Don Revie's successor at Leeds United but left after just 44 days in charge. He was replaced by Jimmy Armfield.

[edit] Second Division

Manchester United's directors kept faith in Tommy Docherty after their relegation to the Second Division, and he rewarded them with the Second Division championship to return them to the top flight. They were joined by Aston Villa (who also won the League Cup) and Norwich City. Docherty had built a new-look team containing players like Jim Holton, Stuart Pearson and Jimmy Greenhoff. Meanwhile, FIFA finally lifted George Best's worldwide ban from football. But Manchester United manager Tommy Docherty was not prepared to give him another chance at Old Trafford, and he joined Stockport County F.C. on a free transfer.

Millwall, Cardiff City and Sheffield Wednesday were the three unlucky clubs who were unable to escape the Second Division drop zone. In the space of a few years, Sheffield Wednesday had slumped to the Third Division having previously been a strong First Division side.

[edit] Third Division

Blackburn Rovers, Plymouth Argyle and Charlton Athletic occupied the three promotion places in the Third Division.

Going down were Bournemouth, Tranmere Rovers, Watford and Huddersfield Town. This meant that Huddersfield would be playing Fourth Division football for the first time in their history during the 1975-76 season, just a few seasons earlier they had been in the First Division and 50 years earlier they had been one of the strongest sides in England. Watford, meanwhile, were enduring their last unsuccessful season for many years to come.

[edit] Fourth Division

Mansfield Town, Shrewsbury Town, Rotherham United and Chester occupied the four promotion places in the Fourth Division. Chester had finally managed promotion after 44 years of league membership.

Scunthorpe United, who had narrowly missed out on top division football during the 1960s, found themselves bottom of the league but retained their league status after being re-elected along with the three clubs placed above them.

[edit] FA Cup

John Lyall kicked off his management career in style by guiding West Ham United to FA Cup glory over Fulham at Wembley. A key player in West Ham's triumph was 19-year-old goalkeeper Mervyn Day, who was credited with the PFA Young Player of the Year award for his achievements. On the losing side was Bobby Moore, who at 34 would be quitting English football to finish his illustrious career in the USA.

[edit] League Cup

Ron Saunders guided Aston Villa to League Cup success in the same season they won promotion to the First Division, their first success after seasons of trauma which had seen the club slide in to the Third Division.

[edit] European football

When Allan Clarke's goal against Bayern Munich in the European Cup final was disallowed, Leeds United fans ran riot in the Parc des Princes in Paris and left a trail of destruction behind them. The incident, which was another example of the hooliganism problem that gave English fans a bad name during the 1970s, saw Leeds United banned from European competition for three years.

[edit] Star players

Colin Todd added the PFA Player of the Year award to the league championship medal he collected with Derby County.
19-year-old West Ham goalkeeper Mervyn Day collected the PFA Young Player of the Year award along with an FA Cup winners medal.
Liverpool's experienced midfielder Ian Callaghan was voted Player of the Year by the FWA, despite failing to win any major honours with his club.

[edit] Star managers

David Mackay helped Derby County win the league championship in his first full season as manager.
John Lyall had a fine first season as West Ham manager by guiding them to FA Cup glory.
Ron Saunders guided Aston Villa to promotion and League Cup glory.
Tommy Docherty helped Manchester United regain their First Division status at the first time of asking.
Bobby Robson continued to raise standards at Ipswich - and almost guided them to league championship glory.

[edit] Honours

Competition	Winner	Runner-up
First Division	Derby County	Liverpool
Second Division	Manchester United	Aston Villa
Third Division	Blackburn Rovers	Plymouth Argyle
Fourth Division	Mansfield Town	Shrewsbury Town
FA Cup	West Ham United	Fulham
League Cup	Aston Villa	Norwich City
Charity Shield	Liverpool	Leeds United

[edit] League table

[edit] First Division

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Derby County	42	21	11	10	67	49	1.367	53
2	Liverpool	42	20	11	11	60	39	1.538	51
3	Ipswich Town	42	23	5	14	66	44	1.500	51
4	Everton	42	16	18	8	56	42	1.333	50
5	Stoke City	42	17	15	10	64	48	1.333	49
6	Sheffield United	42	18	13	11	58	51	1.137	49
7	Middlesbrough	42	18	12	12	54	40	1.350	48
8	Manchester City	42	18	10	14	54	54	1.000	46
9	Leeds United	42	16	13	13	57	49	1.163	45
10	Burnley	42	17	11	14	68	67	1.015	45
11	Queen's Park Rangers	42	16	10	16	54	54	1.000	42
12	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	14	11	17	57	54	1.056	39
13	West Ham United	42	13	13	16	58	59	0.983	39
14	Coventry City	42	12	15	15	51	62	0.823	39
15	Newcastle United	42	15	9	18	59	72	0.819	39
16	Arsenal	42	13	11	18	47	49	0.959	37
17	Birmingham City	42	14	9	19	53	61	0.869	37
18	Leicester City	42	12	12	18	46	60	0.767	36
19	Tottenham Hotspur	42	13	8	21	52	63	0.825	34
20	Luton Town	42	11	11	20	47	65	0.723	33
21	Chelsea	42	9	15	18	42	72	0.583	33
22	Carlisle United	42	12	5	25	43	59	0.729	29

[edit] Second Division

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Manchester United	42	26	9	7	66	30	2.200	61
2	Aston Villa	42	25	8	9	79	32	2.469	58
3	Norwich City	42	20	13	9	58	37	1.568	53
4	Sunderland	42	19	13	10	65	35	1.857	51
5	Bristol City	42	21	8	13	47	33	1.424	50
6	West Bromwich Albion	42	18	9	15	54	42	1.286	45
7	Blackpool	42	14	17	11	38	33	1.152	45
8	Hull City	42	15	14	13	40	53	0.755	44
9	Fulham	42	13	16	13	44	39	1.128	42
10	Bolton Wanderers	42	15	12	15	45	41	1.098	42
11	Oxford United	42	15	12	15	41	51	0.804	42
12	Leyton Orient	42	11	20	11	28	39	0.718	42
13	Southampton	42	15	11	16	53	54	0.981	41
14	Notts County	42	12	16	14	49	59	0.831	40
15	York City	42	14	10	18	51	55	0.927	38
16	Nottingham Forest	42	12	14	16	43	55	0.782	38
17	Portsmouth	42	12	13	17	44	54	0.815	37
18	Oldham Athletic	42	10	15	17	40	48	0.833	35
19	Bristol Rovers	42	12	11	19	42	64	0.656	35
20	Millwall	42	10	12	20	44	56	0.786	32
21	Cardiff City	42	9	14	19	36	62	0.581	32
22	Sheffield Wednesday	42	5	11	26	29	64	0.453	21

[edit] Third Division

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Blackburn Rovers	46	22	16	8	68	45	1.511	60
2	Plymouth Argyle	46	24	11	11	79	58	1.362	59
3	Charlton Athletic	46	22	11	13	76	61	1.246	55
4	Swindon Town	46	21	11	14	64	58	1.103	53
5	Crystal Palace	46	18	15	13	66	57	1.158	51
6	Port Vale	46	18	15	13	61	54	1.130	51
7	Peterborough United	46	19	12	15	47	53	0.887	50
8	Walsall	46	18	13	15	67	52	1.288	49
9	Preston North End	46	19	11	16	63	56	1.125	49
10	Gillingham	46	17	14	15	65	60	1.083	48
11	Colchester United	46	17	13	16	70	63	1.111	47
12	Hereford United	46	16	14	16	64	66	0.970	46
13	Wrexham	46	15	15	16	65	55	1.182	45
14	Bury	46	16	12	18	53	50	1.060	44
15	Chesterfield	46	16	12	18	62	66	0.939	44
16	Grimsby Town	46	15	13	18	55	64	0.859	43
17	Halifax Town	46	13	17	16	49	65	0.754	43
18	Southend United	46	13	16	17	46	51	0.902	42
19	Brighton & Hove Albion	46	16	10	20	56	64	0.875	42
20	Aldershot	46	14	11	21	53	63	0.841	38
21	Bournemouth	46	13	12	21	44	58	0.759	38
22	Tranmere Rovers	46	14	9	23	55	57	0.965	37
23	Watford	46	10	17	19	52	75	0.693	37
24	Huddersfield Town	46	11	10	25	47	76	0.618	32

[edit] Fourth Division

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Mansfield Town	46	28	12	6	90	40	2.250	68
2	Shrewsbury Town	46	26	10	10	80	43	1.860	62
3	Rotherham United	46	22	15	9	71	41	1.732	59
4	Chester City	46	23	11	12	64	38	1.684	57
5	Lincoln City	46	21	15	10	79	48	1.646	57
6	Cambridge United	46	20	14	12	62	44	1.409	54
7	Reading	46	21	10	15	63	47	1.340	52
8	Brentford	46	18	13	15	53	45	1.178	49
9	Exeter City	46	19	11	16	60	63	0.952	49
10	Bradford City	46	17	13	16	56	51	1.098	47
11	Southport	46	15	17	14	56	56	1.000	47
12	Newport County	46	19	9	18	68	75	0.907	47
13	Hartlepool United	46	16	11	19	52	62	0.839	43
14	Torquay United	46	14	14	18	46	61	0.754	42
15	Barnsley	46	15	11	20	62	65	0.954	41
16	Northampton Town	46	15	11	20	67	73	0.918	41
17	Doncaster Rovers	46	14	12	20	65	79	0.823	40
18	Crewe Alexandra	46	11	18	17	34	47	0.723	40
19	Rochdale	46	13	13	20	59	75	0.787	39
20	Stockport County	46	12	14	20	43	70	0.614	38
21	Darlington	46	13	10	23	54	67	0.806	36
22	Swansea City	46	15	6	25	46	73	0.630	36
23	Workington	46	10	11	25	36	66	0.545	31
24	Scunthorpe United	46	7	15	24	41	78	0.526	29

P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points

Seasons in English football
1970-71 \| 1971-72 \| 1972-73 \| 1973-74 \| 1974-75 \| 1975-76 \| 1976-77 \| 1977-78 \| 1978-79

Football in England

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League competitions	The FA	Cup competitions
FA Premier League	England	FA Cup
The Football League (Champ, 1, 2)	(U-21) (B)	Carling Cup
Football Conference (Nat, N, S)	List of clubs	Community Shield
Northern Premier League (Prem, 1)	List of venues	Johnstone's Paint Trophy
Southern League (Prem, Mid, S&W)	(by capacity)	FA Trophy
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English football league system	Records	FA NLS Cup