1983-84 in English football

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The 1983-84 season was the 104th season of competitive football in England.

1 Overview
2 Star Players
3 Star Managers
4 National team
5 Honours
6 League table

[edit] Overview

[edit] First Division

Liverpool had a great first season under the management of Joe Fagan as they wrapped up their third successive league title and the 15th in their history. They overcame strong competition from Southampton, Nottingham Forest and Manchester United to lift the championship trophy.

Southampton finished second in the league to record their highest-ever final position and achieve a UEFA Cup place. At several stages of the season they actually led the league but were eventually taken over by Liverpool.

The First Division relegation places were occupied by Birmingham City, Notts County and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

[edit] Second Division

The £1 rescue deal of Chelsea by chairman Ken Bates paid off as they won the Second Division title and were promoted to the First Division along with Sheffield Wednesday and Newcastle United.

A terrible season saw Cambridge United finish bottom of the Second Division and go down to the Third Division. They were joined by two clubs who had been enjoying better fortunes only a short time ago - Swansea City, who had finished sixth in the First Division just two years earlier, and Derby County, who had been league champions just nine years earlier. Peter Taylor retired as manager and his surprise successor was Arthur Cox, who had just taken Newcastle into the First Division.

Dave Bassett agreed to take charge of Crystal Palace at the end of the season, but changed his mind three days later - without signing the contract - and returned to Wimbledon. Palace installed former Manchester United winger Steve Coppell, 29, as their new manager.

[edit] Third Division

Oxford United, Wimbledon and Sheffield United continued their rise through the league by gaining promotion to the Second Division.

Scunthorpe United, Southend United, Port Vale and Exeter City slipped out of the Third Division.

Narrowly avoiding the Third Division drop zone were Plymouth Argyle, who compensated for their dismal league form by reaching the FA Cup semi finals for the first time in their history.

[edit] Fourth Division

York City, Doncaster Rovers, Reading and Bristol City occupied the Fourth Division promotion places. York City became the first team in English league football to gain more than 100 points in a season, with 101. It was Bristol City's first successful season for a long time and a welcome piece of good news after their recent fall from the First to Fourth Division in successive seasons.

The re-election system voted in favour of the bottom four clubs in the Fourth Division once again.

[edit] FA Cup

Everton overcame Watford at Wembley to win the FA Cup.

[edit] League Cup

Liverpool won their fourth successive League Cup

[edit] European football

Liverpool also won the European Cup, to complete a unique treble of trophies. Keith Burkinshaw resigned after seven years as Tottenham Hotspur manager, and went out on a high after his side won the UEFA Cup.

[edit] Star Players

Luton Town's promising young striker Paul Walsh was voted PFA Young Player of the Year, and would soon join Liverpool to team up with Ian Rush - who had been voted Player of the Year by both the PFA and FWA.
Also hitting the headlines were Watford striker Luther Blissett, Manchester United midfielder Bryan Robson and Everton midfielder Peter Reid.
Retiring striker Kevin Keegan ended his playing career on a high as he helped Newcastle United gain promotion to the First Division.

[edit] Star Managers

Joe Fagan became the first manager to lead an English club to three major trophies in the same season as he ended his first season as Liverpool manager as league champions, League Cup winners and European Cup winners.
Howard Kendall won his first major trophy as Everton manager in shape of the FA Cup.
Lawrie McMenemy guided Southampton to their highest-ever league finish - runners-up in the First Division.
Arthur Cox helped Newcastle United return to the First Division before suddenly quitting and moving to fallen giants Derby County in hope of reversing their sharp decline.
Howard Wilkinson brought First Division football back to Sheffield Wednesday just a few seasons after they had narrowly avoided relegation to the Fourth Division.
Arthur Cox took Newcastle United back into the First Division, and then quit to take charge of relegated Derby County.
John Neal guided Chelsea to the Second Division championship with a new-look side, having helped the club narrowly avoid relegation to the Third Division a year earlier.
Jim Smith took Oxford United to title glory in the Third Division.
Dennis Smith took York City to the Fourth Division championship.
Dave Bassett took Wimbledon into the Second Division in only their seventh season as a Football League club.

[edit] National team

England failed to qualify for Euro 84 but the FA kept faith in manager Bobby Robson. France went on to win the trophy.

[edit] Honours

Competition	Winner	Runner-up
First Division	Liverpool	Southampton
Second Division	Chelsea	Sheffield Wednesday
Third Division	Oxford United	Wimbledon
Fourth Division	York City	Doncaster Rovers
FA Cup	Everton	Watford
League Cup	Liverpool	Everton
Charity Shield	Manchester United	Liverpool

[edit] League table

[edit] First Division

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Liverpool	42	22	14	6	73	32	+41	80
2	Southampton	42	22	11	9	66	38	+28	77
3	Nottingham Forest	42	22	8	12	76	45	+31	74
4	Manchester United	42	20	14	8	71	41	+30	74
5	Queen's Park Rangers	42	22	7	13	67	37	+30	73
6	Arsenal	42	18	9	15	74	60	+14	63
7	Everton	42	16	14	12	44	42	+2	62
8	Tottenham Hotspur	42	17	10	15	64	65	-1	61
9	West Ham United	42	17	9	16	60	55	+5	60
10	Aston Villa	42	17	9	16	59	61	-2	60
11	Watford	42	16	9	17	68	77	-9	57
12	Ipswich Town	42	15	8	19	55	57	-2	53
13	Sunderland	42	13	13	16	42	53	-11	52
14	Norwich City	42	12	15	15	48	49	-1	51
15	Leicester City	42	13	12	17	65	68	-3	51
16	Luton Town	42	14	9	19	53	66	-13	51
17	West Bromwich Albion	42	14	9	19	48	62	-14	51
18	Stoke City	42	13	11	18	44	63	-19	50
19	Coventry City	42	13	11	18	57	77	-20	50
20	Birmingham City	42	12	12	18	39	50	-11	48
21	Notts County	42	10	11	21	50	72	-22	41
22	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	6	11	25	27	80	-53	29

[edit] Second Division

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Chelsea	42	25	13	4	90	40	+50	88
2	Sheffield Wednesday	42	26	10	6	72	34	+38	88
3	Newcastle United	42	24	8	10	85	53	+32	80
4	Manchester City	42	20	10	12	66	48	+18	70
5	Grimsby Town	42	19	13	10	60	47	+13	70
6	Blackburn Rovers	42	17	16	9	57	46	+11	67
7	Carlisle United	42	16	16	10	48	41	+7	64
8	Shrewsbury Town	42	17	10	15	49	53	-4	61
9	Brighton & Hove Albion	42	17	9	16	69	60	+9	60
10	Leeds United	42	16	12	14	55	56	-1	60
11	Fulham	42	15	12	15	60	53	+7	57
12	Huddersfield Town	42	14	15	13	56	49	+7	57
13	Charlton Athletic	42	16	9	17	53	64	-11	57
14	Barnsley	42	15	7	20	57	53	+4	52
15	Cardiff City	42	15	6	21	53	66	-13	51
16	Portsmouth	42	14	7	21	73	64	+9	49
17	Middlesbrough	42	12	13	17	41	47	-6	49
18	Crystal Palace	42	12	11	19	42	52	-10	47
19	Oldham Athletic	42	13	8	21	47	73	-26	47
20	Derby County	42	11	9	22	36	72	-36	42
21	Swansea City	42	7	8	27	36	85	-49	29
22	Cambridge United	42	4	12	26	28	77	-49	24

[edit] Third Division

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Oxford United	46	28	11	7	91	50	+41	95
2	Wimbledon	46	26	9	11	97	76	+21	87
3	Sheffield United	46	24	11	11	86	53	+33	83
4	Hull City	46	23	14	9	71	38	+33	83
5	Bristol Rovers	46	22	13	11	68	54	+14	79
6	Walsall	46	22	9	15	68	61	+7	75
7	Bradford City	46	20	11	15	73	65	+8	71
8	Gillingham	46	20	10	16	74	69	+5	70
9	Millwall	46	18	13	15	71	65	+6	67
10	Bolton Wanderers	46	18	10	18	56	60	-4	64
11	Leyton Orient	46	18	9	19	71	81	-10	63
12	Burnley	46	16	14	16	76	61	+15	62
13	Newport County	46	16	14	16	58	75	-17	62
14	Lincoln City	46	17	10	19	59	62	-3	61
15	Wigan Athletic	46	16	13	17	46	56	-10	61
16	Preston North End	46	15	11	20	66	66	+0	56
17	Bournemouth	46	16	7	23	63	73	-10	55
18	Rotherham United	46	15	9	22	57	64	-7	54
19	Plymouth Argyle	46	13	12	21	56	62	-6	51
20	Brentford	46	11	16	19	69	79	-10	49
21	Scunthorpe United	46	9	19	18	54	73	-19	46
22	Southend United	46	10	14	22	55	76	-21	44
23	Port Vale	46	11	10	25	51	83	-32	43
24	Exeter City	46	6	15	25	50	84	-34	33

[edit] Fourth Division

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	York City	46	31	8	7	96	39	+57	101
2	Doncaster Rovers	46	24	13	9	82	54	+28	85
3	Reading	46	22	16	8	84	56	+28	82
4	Bristol City	46	24	10	12	70	44	+26	82
5	Aldershot	46	22	9	15	76	69	+7	75
6	Blackpool	46	21	9	16	70	52	+18	72
7	Peterborough United	46	18	14	14	72	48	+24	68
8	Colchester United	46	17	16	13	69	53	+16	67
9	Torquay United	46	18	13	15	59	64	-5	67
10	Tranmere Rovers	46	17	15	14	53	53	+0	66
11	Hereford United	46	16	15	15	54	53	+1	63
12	Stockport County	46	17	11	18	60	64	-4	62
13	Chesterfield	46	15	15	16	59	61	-2	60
14	Darlington	46	17	8	21	49	50	-1	59
15	Bury	46	15	14	17	61	64	-3	59
16	Crewe Alexandra	46	16	11	19	56	67	-11	59
17	Swindon Town	46	15	13	18	58	56	+2	58
18	Northampton Town	46	13	14	19	53	78	-25	53
19	Mansfield Town	46	13	13	20	66	70	-4	52
20	Wrexham	46	11	15	20	59	74	-15	48
21	Halifax Town	46	12	12	22	55	89	-34	48
22	Rochdale	46	11	13	22	52	80	-28	46
23	Hartlepool United	46	10	10	26	47	85	-38	40
24	Chester City	46	7	13	26	45	82	-37	34

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

Seasons in English football
1979-80 \| 1980-81 \| 1981-82 \| 1982-83 \| 1983-84 \| 1984-85 \| 1985-86 \| 1986-87 \| 1987-88

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
Isthmian League (Prem, 1N, 1S)	List of leagues	FA Vase
English football league system	Records	FA NLS Cup