The 1970–71 Northern Premier League was the third season of the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

, a regional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

league in

Northern England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...

, the northern areas of the

Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

and

North Wales , area_land_km2 = 6,172 , postal_code_type = Postcode , postal_code = LL, CH, SY , image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg , map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...

. The season began on 15 August 1970 and concluded on 8 May 1971.

Overview

The League was expanded this season, for the first time, from twenty teams to twenty-two teams.

Team changes

The following two clubs left the League at the end of the previous season: * Hyde United resigned, demoted to

Cheshire County League The Cheshire County League was a football league founded in the north west of England in 1919, drawing its teams largely from Cheshire, surrounding English counties and North Wales. Initially the league was dominated by the reserve teams of Footba ...

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

relegated to Wearside Football League The following four clubs joined the League at the start of the season: *

Bradford Park Avenue Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in , at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The name derived from their former hom ...

relegated from

Football League Fourth Division The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Whilst the division disappeared in name ...

. *

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth came pr ...

promoted from Lancashire Combination (returning after a year's absence) * Kirkby Town promoted from Lancashire Combination *

Lancaster City Lancaster City Football Club is an English semi-professional non-League football club based in the northern city of Lancaster, Lancashire. They currently compete in and play at Giant Axe. They are full members of the Lancashire County Footb ...

promoted from Lancashire Combination

League table

Results

Stadia and locations

Cup results

Challenge Cup

FA Cup

Out of the twenty-two clubs from the Northern Premier League, only Wigan Athletic reached for the second round: Second Round Third Round

FA Trophy

Out of the twenty-two clubs from the Northern Premier League, only Macclesfield Town reached for the fourth round: Fourth Round

End of the season

At the end of the third season of the Northern Premier League none of the teams put forward, for election, received enough votes to be promoted to the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

. Conversely, none of the sides were relegated.

Football League elections

Alongside the four

clubs facing re-election, a total of twelve non-League clubs applied for election, three of which were from the Northern Premier League. All four Football League teams were re-elected.A history of admission to the Football League
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Promotion and relegation

The League expanding from twenty-two clubs to twenty-four clubs for the following season. The following two clubs joined the League the following season: *

Skelmersdale United Skelmersdale United Football Club is a football club from Skelmersdale, Lancashire. They are currently members of the and play at The Community Ground, Burscough. The club is a member of both the Liverpool F.A. and the Lancashire County Footb ...

promoted from

* Ellesmere Port Town promoted from

References

External links

Northern Premier League official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:1970-71 Northern Premier League Northern Premier League seasons 5