1971–72 Football League

The 1971–72 season was the 73rd completed season of The Football League.

Brian Clough, 37, won the first major trophy of his managerial career by guiding Derby County to their first ever league championship. They overcame Leeds United, Liverpool and Manchester City to win a four-horse race, with only a single point separating all four teams. There were later bribery allegations from The Sunday People newspaper regarding Leeds manager Don Revie and Leeds' final opponents Wolverhampton Wanderers. The footballing authorities never investigated these allegations to decide whether they were true or not.

Nottingham Forest and Huddersfield Town lost their First Division status. By the end of the decade, Forest had made an explosive comeback to the top flight. 1971-1972 was Huddersfield's last season in the top flight until their promotion in 2016-17, and within a few seasons they would be in the Fourth Division — most of their existence since 1972 has been spent in the league's lower two divisions.

In the Second Division Norwich City and Birmingham City were promoted. This was the first time that Norwich City had reached the top flight. Charlton Athletic and Watford were relegated.

Aston Villa ended their two-year spell in the Third Division by gaining promotion as champions, and by the end of the decade would be firmly re-established as a First Division club. Brighton & Hove Albion followed Villa into the Second Division, but would not reach the heady heights that the midlanders would experience. Mansfield Town, Barnsley, Torquay United and Bradford City were relegated.

Grimsby Town, Southend United, Brentford and Scunthorpe United were promoted from the Fourth Division. Barrow were voted out of the Football League and replaced by Hereford United, who a short time earlier had achieved a shock FA Cup victory over Newcastle United.

Ernie Tagg sacked himself as manager of Crewe Alexandra because he felt that a younger manager should take charge of the club.

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 and in Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888-89 to 1978-79,Ian Laschke: Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79. Macdonald and Jane's, London & Sydney, 1980. with home and away statistics separated.

Beginning with the season 1894–95, clubs finishing level on points were separated according to goal average (goals scored divided by goals conceded), or more properly put, goal ratio. In case one or more teams had the same goal difference, this system favoured those teams who had scored fewer goals. The goal average system was eventually scrapped beginning with the 1976-77 season.

Since the Fourth Division was established in the 1958–59 season, the bottom four teams of that division have been required to apply for re-election.

First Division

Results

Maps

Second Division

Results

Maps

Third Division

Results

The match between Tranmere Rovers and Walsall on the 27th of March 1972 looked to be heading towards a dull and boring 0-0 draw, when 6 goals were scored in the final 16 minutes of the match, resulting in a 3-3 draw.

Maps

Fourth Division

Results

Maps

Attendances Source:

Division One No. Club Average ± Highest Lowest 1 Liverpool FC 47,687 4,6% 55,634 39,538 2 Manchester United 45,999 4,7% 56,362 23,146 3 Arsenal FC 40,500 -7,5% 52,102 27,172 4 Tottenham Hotspur FC 38,834 8,9% 54,814 19,631 5 Chelsea FC 38,783 -1,9% 54,663 23,443 6 Manchester City FC 38,573 24,3% 63,326 25,677 7 Everton FC 37,242 -9,4% 56,293 21,513 8 Leeds United FC 35,637 -9,1% 46,565 18,417 9 Sheffield United FC 33,189 31,4% 45,045 23,250 10 Derby County FC 33,087 5,5% 39,159 26,738 11 Newcastle United FC 32,664 9,8% 55,603 18,927 12 West Ham United FC 30,005 0,1% 41,892 18,479 13 Leicester City FC 28,536 10,0% 37,564 19,769 14 Wolverhampton Wanderers FC 27,983 1,4% 53,379 17,041 15 Crystal Palace FC 26,973 -6,6% 43,720 17,699 16 West Bromwich Albion FC 25,786 0,4% 46,992 16,702 17 Stoke City FC 24,204 21,6% 43,007 13,907 18 Coventry City FC 23,724 -8,9% 37,798 16,309 19 Nottingham Forest FC 21,433 -8,1% 42,750 9,872 20 Southampton FC 21,191 -4,8% 30,323 16,958 21 Ipswich Town FC 20,924 2,4% 29,213 15,524 22 Huddersfield Town AFC 15,940 -31,4% 33,458 9,459

Division Two

No. Club Average ± Highest Lowest 1 Birmingham City 32,337 33,6% 45,181 22,410 2 Norwich City 23,037 82,0% 34,914 10,967 3 Middlesbrough FC 17,943 -3,2% 34,446 9,539 4 Sheffield Wednesday 17,087 8,3% 31,890 12,350 5 Millwall 16,262 64,9% 24,376 11,569 6 Sunderland AFC 15,906 0,8% 28,129 8,273 7 Cardiff City 15,510 -27,9% 23,667 10,143 8 Bristol City 15,225 7,5% 23,525 10,207 9 Preston North End 15,136 9,8% 27,284 9,538 10 Queens Park Rangers 14,367 9,9% 25,257 7,616 11 Hull City 13,972 -29,2% 26,091 9,933 12 Swindon Town 13,579 -15,9% 21,595 8,802 13 Blackpool FC 13,483 -34,1% 22,610 8,432 14 Burnley FC 12,893 -20,2% 22,015 8,695 15 Portsmouth FC 11,918 -13,4% 16,058 5,885 16 Luton Town 11,384 -34,4% 17,280 7,270 17 Fulham 11,147 -7,1% 21,187 7,406 18 Watford FC 10,908 -24,0% 22,421 5,384 19 Leyton Orient 10,817 18,6% 33,383 5,202 20 Charlton Athletic 10,430 -5,0% 26,643 7,371 21 Oxford United 9,530 -12,4% 18,990 6,604 22 Carlisle United 9,479 -11,1% 12,279 6,067

Division Three

No. Club Average ± Highest Lowest 1 Aston Villa 31,953 21,9% 48,110 23,004 2 Brighton & Hove Albion 17,661 79,8% 34,644 4,509 3 Notts County 13,941 29,6% 34,208 8,921 4 AFC Bournemouth 12,991 49,7% 22,550 8,856 5 Plymouth Argyle 10,799 24,1% 20,129 6,943 6 Bristol Rovers 9,340 -17,4% 20,442 5,427 7 Blackburn Rovers 8,256 2,8% 15,562 5,643 8 Bolton Wanderers 8,173 -6,1% 13,602 5,465 9 Oldham Athletic 8,016 -16,0% 14,530 4,640 10 Chesterfield FC 7,992 -17,1% 12,510 4,542 11 Rotherham United 7,313 -7,3% 15,743 4,161 12 Swansea City 6,412 -20,2% 24,404 2,541 13 Wrexham AFC 6,083 -25,2% 17,162 2,547 14 Mansfield Town 5,988 -12,8% 16,784 3,549 15 Torquay United 5,677 -0,8% 11,165 2,139 16 York City 5,597 6,5% 9,419 3,858 17 Walsall FC 5,445 4,5% 13,092 3,121 18 Barnsley FC 5,341 -21,8% 8,632 2,185 19 Shrewsbury Town 5,265 3,8% 16,336 2,329 20 Bradford City 5,042 -15,9% 9,289 2,468 21 Rochdale AFC 4,387 -9,9% 10,926 2,643 22 Port Vale 4,366 -19,7% 11,106 2,475 23 Tranmere Rovers 4,355 10,3% 12,054 2,320 24 Halifax Town 3,839 -25,2% 7,462 2,021

Division Four

No. Club Average ± Highest Lowest 1 Brentford FC 11,738 73,2% 18,521 8,712 2 Grimsby Town 11,315 161,4% 22,660 6,939 3 Southend United 10,461 63,2% 17,303 5,389 4 Lincoln City 7,603 38,3% 16,498 3,033 5 Scunthorpe United 6,099 52,2% 11,754 4,012 6 Reading FC 5,531 -19,7% 11,689 3,136 7 Colchester United 5,429 -3,1% 9,807 3,772 8 Gillingham FC 5,412 27,6% 11,795 3,538 9 Peterborough United 5,115 4,7% 7,118 4,025 10 Cambridge United 4,891 -0,6% 8,591 3,207 11 Northampton Town 4,486 -32,0% 6,220 2,625 12 Doncaster Rovers 4,125 -7,9% 12,320 2,126 13 Aldershot Town 4,056 -24,6% 8,634 2,152 14 Exeter City 3,857 -18,0% 5,144 2,970 15 Hartlepool United 3,793 54,2% 7,156 2,128 16 Bury FC 3,502 -12,3% 5,719 2,557 17 Newport County 3,462 35,8% 7,698 2,367 18 Southport FC 3,254 13,8% 5,371 1,343 19 Chester City 3,002 -41,0% 4,539 1,868 20 Darlington FC 2,552 -15,2% 8,809 1,611 21 Workington AFC 2,487 12,6% 4,329 1,342 22 Stockport County 2,477 -24,3% 3,926 1,596 23 Barrow AFC 2,307 -1,1% 3,656 1,031 24 Crewe Alexandra 2,104 -30,5% 3,710 1,028

See also 1971–72 in English football

References

Ian Laschke: Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79. Macdonald and Jane's, London & Sydney, 1980.

External links Season 1971-72 complete lineups, tables and squads at Historical Football Lineups