The 2004–05 Football League (known as the Coca-Cola Football League for sponsorship reasons) was the 106th completed season of The Football League.
2004–05 was the first season of the rebranded Football League, with the First, Second and Third Divisions becoming the Football League Championship, Football League One and Football League Two respectively. Coca-Cola replaced the Nationwide Building Society as title sponsor.
Wigan Athletic were promoted to the Premier League as Championship runners-up. They had only been elected to the Football League in 1978, had been the league's fourth-lowest placed club in the 1993–94 season, and before 2003 had never reached the second tier of English football.
Nottingham Forest were relegated from the Championship to League One, becoming the first former European Cup winners to be relegated to the third tier of their domestic league – having won two straight European Cups a quarter of a century earlier. Only ten seasons previously, in 1994–95, they had finished third in the Premier League, and had reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup the following season.
Events 3 December 2004 – League One side Wrexham enters financial administration. Under new Football League rules, the club is penalised 10 league points, placing the club in relegation danger. 21 January 2005 – Former Chelsea chairman Ken Bates finalises a deal to buy a controlling interest in the debt-riddled Championship club Leeds United. 2 April 2005 – Stockport County become the first League team this season to be relegated. 29 April 2005 – League Two side Cambridge United enters financial administration, six days after being formally relegated from the Football League. 7 June 2005 – George Burley resigns as manager of Derby County, citing differences with the club’s board. 24 June 2005 – Former Bolton Wanderers assistant manager Phil Brown becomes Derby County’s fifth manager in four years.
Final league tables and results
The tables 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. Play-off results are from the same website.
Championship
Play-offs
Topscorers Rank Player Club League1 Nathan Ellington Wigan Athletic 242 Jason Roberts Wigan Athletic 21= Teddy Sheringham West Ham 214 Shefki Kuqi Ipswich Town 20= Darren Bent Ipswich Town 206 Kenny Miller Wolverhampton Wanderers 19= Dave Kitson Reading 198 Marlon Harewood West Ham 18= Paul Furlong Queens Park Rangers 1810 Richard Cresswell Preston North End 17= Dean Ashton Crewe Alexandra 1712 Marcus Stewart Sunderland 16
League One
Play-offs
Topscorers Rank Player Club League1 Dean Windass Bradford City 27= Stuart Elliott Hull City 273 Paweł Abbott Huddersfield Town 264 Adam Boyd Hartlepool United 24= Leroy Lita Bristol City 246 Sam Parkin Swindon Town 237 Steve Brooker Bristol City 218 Steven MacLean Sheffield Wednesday 19= James Hayter AFC Bournemouth 19= Luke Beckett Oldham Athletic 19
League Two
Play-offs
Topscorers Rank Player Club League1 Phil Jevons Yeovil Town 272 Andy Kirk Northampton Town 263 Jon Parkin Macclesfield Town 22= Lee Trundle Swansea City 22= Nathan Tyson Wycombe Wanderers 226 Freddy Eastwood Southend United 21= Simon Yeo Lincoln City 218 Junior Agogo Bristol Rovers 199 Paul Hayes Scunthorpe United 17= Grant Holt Rochdale 17
See also 2004–05 in English football 2004 in association football 2005 in association football
References
External links Football League Tables