The 1970–71 Northern Premier League was the third 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 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 Fo ...

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

relegated to

Wearside Football League The Wearside Football League is a non-league football competition based in northern England. It consists of three divisions which sits at steps 7 to 9 of the National League System (levels 11 to 13 of the Football pyramid) and is a feeder to the ...

The following four clubs joined the League at the start of the season: * Bradford Park Avenue 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. Following the creation of the Premier ...

. *

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 ca ...

promoted from

Lancashire Combination The Lancashire Combination was a football league founded in the North West of England in 1891–92. It absorbed the Lancashire League in 1903. In 1968 the Combination lost five of its clubs to the newly formed Northern Premier League. In 1982 i ...

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

* Lancaster City promoted from

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 association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

. 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 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