The 1979–80 Northern Premier League was the twelfth season of the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

, a regional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

league in

Northern England Northern England, or the North of England, refers to the northern part of England and mainly corresponds to the Historic counties of England, historic counties of Cheshire, Cumberland, County Durham, Durham, Lancashire, Northumberland, Westmo ...

, the northern areas of the

Midlands The Midlands is the central region of England, to the south of Northern England, to the north of southern England, to the east of Wales, and to the west of the North Sea. The Midlands comprises the ceremonial counties of Derbyshire, Herefor ...

and

North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...

. The season began on 18 August 1979 and concluded on 7 May 1980.

Overview

The League featured twenty-two clubs.

Team changes

The Alliance Premier League was established as a new, national top division of non-League football. Seven Northern Premier League clubs and thirteen clubs from the Premier Division of the Southern League joined the newly created Alliance Premier League. The remaining clubs in the Northern Premier League had effectively been relegated down one tier in the

English football league system The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the ...

. The following seven clubs left the League at the end of the previous season: *

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester, southwest of Sale, Greater Manchester, Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2021 United Kingdom ce ...

promoted to

Alliance Premier League The National League of English Football Clubs is a professional football league in England that consists of 72 teams, divided equally between the National League (division), National League North and National League South. The National League ...

Bangor City Bangor City Football Club () was a Welsh football club from the City of Bangor, Gwynedd. Founded in 1876, Bangor City have been founder members of the North Wales Coast League, the Welsh National League, the North Wales Combination, the W ...

promoted to

* Barrow promoted to

Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. The club is known as 'the ...

promoted to

Northwich Victoria Northwich is a market town and civil parish in the Cheshire West and Chester borough of Cheshire, England. It lies on the Cheshire Plain, at the confluence of the rivers River Weaver, Weaver and River Dane, Dane, east of Chester, south of Warr ...

promoted to

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

promoted to

* Stafford Rangers promoted to

The following six clubs joined the League at the start of the season: * Burton Albion promoted from Southern League Division One North *

Grantham Grantham () is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road. It lies south of Lincoln, England ...

promoted from Southern League Division One North * Marine promoted from Cheshire County League Division One * Oswestry Town promoted from Southern League Division One North * Tamworth promoted from Southern League Division One North * Witton Albion promoted from Cheshire County League Division One

League table

Results

Stadia and locations

Cup results

Challenge Cup

Northern Premier League Shield

Between Champions of NPL Premier Division and Winners of the NPL Cup.

FA Cup

None of the twenty-two Northern Premier League clubs reached the second round: First Round

FA Trophy

Two of the twenty-two Northern Premier League clubs reached the fourth round: Fourth Round Semi-finals Final

End of the season

At the end of the twelfth season of the Northern Premier League, Frickley Athletic applied to join the

and were successful

Promotion and relegation

The following club left the League at the end of the season: *

Frickley Athletic Frickley Athletic Football Club is a football club based in South Elmsall, West Yorkshire, England. They are members of the and play at Westfield Lane. History The club was formed on 30 July 1908, and became a member of the South Yorkshire Lea ...

promoted to

The following club joined the League the following season: *

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

transferred from Southern League Midland Division

References

External links

Northern Premier League official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:1979-80 Northern Premier League Northern Premier League seasons 6