1978-79 in English football
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The 1978-1979 season was the 99th season of competitive football (soccer) in England.

Contents

Overview

First Division

Bob Paisley won his third league title at Liverpool as his conquering side fought off competition from the likes of Nottingham Forest and West Bromwich Albion to achieve their triumph. The final points tally of 68 was a record under the two points for a win system and Ray Clemence kept 28 clean sheets in a season that saw Liverpool concede only four goals at home. Albion were in their first season under the management of Ron Atkinson, and during the season pulled off a famous 5-3 away win over Manchester United. Albion's playing staff included some of the most competent young players in the league, including Bryan Robson, Brendan Batson, Cyrille Regis and Laurie Cunningham.

Down at the other end of the table, the three relegation places went to Queens Park Rangers, Birmingham City and Chelsea. QPR had declined since the departure of Dave Sexton in 1977 and were relegated just three years after coming within a whisker of the league title. Meanwhile, Chelsea manager Danny Blanchflower paid for Chelsea's shortcomings by losing his job.

Money dominated the headlines during the season: Trevor Francis became England's first million-pound footballer after joining Nottingham Forest from Birmingham City. Liverpool became one of the first English clubs to have a shirt sponsor when they agreed a sponsorship deal with the Japanese hi-fi manufacturers Hitachi. By the end of the season, more and more English clubs were signing money-spinning sponsorship deals with commercial firms as the sporting world became even more obsessed with advertising.

Second Division

Crystal Palace won the Second Division title, followed by rivals Brighton & Hove Albion (in the top division for the first time) and third-paced Stoke City, to achieve promotion to the top flight. Going down were Sheffield United, Millwall and Blackburn Rovers.

Third Division

Shrewsbury Town were crowned champions of the Third Division. The other two promotion spots were occupied by Watford and Swansea City, who within a few seasons would make their mark on the First Division. Peterborough United, Walsall, Tranmere Rovers and Lincoln City were relegated to the Fourth Division.

Fourth Division

Reading, Grimsby Town, Wimbledon and Barnsley occupied the Fourth Division promotion places. The success came for Wimbledon in only their second season as a league club and within a decade they would be an established First Division club, but things would get worse before they got better. For the second season running, the re-election system voted in favour of the league's bottom four clubs and there were no departures or arrivals in the league.

FA Cup

Manchester United had seemingly pulled off a remarkable comeback against Arsenal in the FA Cup final to make the score 2-2 after being two goals down, but a last-minute goal from Alan Sunderland saw Arsenal lift the trophy with a 3-2 scoreline. It was Arsenal's first trophy success since Terry Neill replaced Bertie Mee as manager.

League Cup

European Cup winners Nottingham Forest added the League Cup to their honours list to complete another brilliant season for Brian Clough's revolutionaries, with a 3-2 victory over Southampton.

Star players

Star managers

Honours

Competition Winner Runner-up
First Division Liverpool Nottingham Forest
Second Division Crystal Palace Brighton & Hove Albion
Third Division Shrewsbury Town Watford
Fourth Division Reading Grimsby Town
FA Cup Arsenal Manchester United
League Cup Nottingham Forest Southampton
Charity Shield Nottingham Forest Ipswich Town
Home Championship  England  Wales

Famous Debutants

League table

First Division

P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Liverpool 42 30 8 4 85 16 +69 68
2 Nottingham Forest 42 21 18 3 61 26 +35 60
3 West Bromwich Albion 42 24 11 7 72 35 +37 59
4 Everton 42 17 17 8 52 40 +12 51
5 Leeds United 42 18 14 10 70 52 +18 50
6 Ipswich Town 42 20 9 13 63 49 +14 49
7 Arsenal 42 17 14 11 61 48 +13 48
8 Aston Villa 42 15 16 11 59 49 +10 46
9 Manchester United 42 15 15 12 60 63 -3 45
10 Coventry City 42 14 16 12 58 68 -10 44
11 Tottenham Hotspur 42 13 15 14 48 61 -13 41
12 Middlesbrough 42 15 10 17 57 50 +7 40
13 Bristol City 42 15 10 17 47 51 -4 40
14 Southampton 42 12 16 14 47 53 -6 40
15 Manchester City 42 13 13 16 58 56 +2 39
16 Norwich City 42 7 23 12 51 57 -6 37
17 Bolton Wanderers 42 12 11 19 54 75 -21 35
18 Wolverhampton Wanderers 42 13 8 21 44 68 -24 34
19 Derby County 42 10 11 21 44 71 -27 31
20 Queens Park Rangers 42 6 13 23 45 73 -28 25
21 Birmingham City 42 6 10 26 37 64 -27 22
22 Chelsea 42 5 10 27 44 92 -48 20

Second Division

P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Crystal Palace 42 19 19 4 51 24 +27 57
2 Brighton & Hove Albion 42 23 10 9 72 39 +33 56
3 Stoke City 42 20 16 6 58 31 +27 56
4 Sunderland 42 22 11 9 70 44 +26 55
5 West Ham United 42 18 14 10 70 39 +31 50
6 Notts County 42 14 16 12 48 60 -12 44
7 Preston North End 42 12 18 12 59 57 +2 42
8 Newcastle United 42 17 8 17 51 55 -4 42
9 Cardiff City 42 16 10 16 56 70 -14 42
10 Fulham 42 13 15 14 50 47 +3 41
11 Orient 42 15 10 17 51 51 +0 40
12 Cambridge United 42 12 16 14 44 52 -8 40
13 Burnley 42 14 12 16 51 62 -11 40
14 Oldham Athletic 42 13 13 16 52 61 -9 39
15 Wrexham 42 12 14 16 45 42 +3 38
16 Bristol Rovers 42 14 10 18 48 60 -12 38
17 Leicester City 42 10 17 15 43 52 -9 37
18 Luton Town 42 13 10 19 60 57 +3 36
19 Charlton Athletic 42 11 13 18 60 69 -9 35
20 Sheffield United 42 11 12 19 52 69 -17 34
21 Millwall 42 11 10 21 42 61 -19 32
22 Blackburn Rovers 42 10 10 22 41 72 -31 30

Third Division

P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Shrewsbury Town 46 21 19 6 61 41 +20 61
2 Watford 46 24 12 10 83 52 +31 60
3 Swansea City 46 24 12 10 83 61 +22 60
4 Gillingham 46 21 17 8 65 42 +23 59
5 Swindon Town 46 25 7 14 74 52 +22 57
6 Carlisle United 46 15 22 9 53 42 +11 52
7 Colchester United 46 17 17 12 60 55 +5 51
8 Hull City 46 19 11 16 66 61 +5 49
9 Exeter City 46 17 15 14 61 56 +5 49
10 Brentford 46 19 9 18 53 49 +4 47
11 Oxford United 46 14 18 14 44 50 -6 46
12 Blackpool 46 18 9 19 61 59 +2 45
13 Southend United 46 15 15 16 51 49 +2 45
14 Sheffield Wednesday 46 13 19 14 53 53 +0 45
15 Plymouth Argyle 46 15 14 17 67 68 -1 44
16 Chester City 46 14 16 16 57 61 -4 44
17 Rotherham United 46 17 10 19 49 55 -6 44
18 Mansfield Town 46 12 19 15 51 52 -1 43
19 Bury 46 11 20 15 59 65 -6 42
20 Chesterfield 46 13 14 19 51 65 -14 40
21 Peterborough United 46 11 14 21 44 63 -19 36
22 Walsall 46 10 12 24 56 71 -15 32
23 Tranmere Rovers 46 6 16 24 45 78 -33 28
24 Lincoln City 46 7 11 28 41 88 -47 25

Fourth Division

P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Reading 46 26 13 7 76 35 +41 65
2 Grimsby Town 46 26 9 11 82 49 +33 61
3 Wimbledon 46 25 11 10 78 46 +32 61
4 Barnsley 46 24 13 9 73 42 +31 61
5 Aldershot 46 20 17 9 63 47 +16 57
6 Wigan Athletic 46 21 13 12 63 48 +15 55
7 Portsmouth 46 20 12 14 62 48 +14 52
8 Newport County 46 21 10 15 66 55 +11 52
9 Huddersfield Town 46 18 11 17 57 53 +4 47
10 York City 46 18 11 17 51 55 -4 47
11 Torquay United 46 19 8 19 58 65 -7 46
12 Scunthorpe United 46 17 11 18 54 60 -6 45
13 Hartlepool United 46 13 18 15 57 66 -9 44
14 Hereford United 46 15 13 18 53 53 +0 43
15 Bradford City 46 17 9 20 62 68 -6 43
16 Port Vale 46 14 14 18 57 70 -13 42
17 Stockport County 46 14 12 20 58 60 -2 40
18 Bournemouth 46 14 11 21 47 48 -1 39
19 Northampton Town 46 15 9 22 64 76 -12 39
20 Rochdale 46 15 9 22 47 64 -17 39
21 Darlington 46 11 15 20 49 66 -17 37
22 Doncaster Rovers 46 13 11 22 50 73 -23 37
23 Halifax Town 46 9 8 29 39 72 -33 26
24 Crewe Alexandra 46 6 14 26 43 90 -47 26

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

Deaths


1974–75 | 1975–76 | 1976–77 | 1977–78 | 1978–79 | 1979–80 | 1980–81 | 1981–82 | 1982–83
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