The 1971–72 season was the 92nd season of competitive football in England.

Honours

Notes = Number in parentheses is the times that club has won that honour. * indicates new record for competition

FA Cup

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

won the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

for the first time in their history by beating the previous year's winners,

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, 1–0 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

. Allan Clarke scored the winning goal. 1971–72 marked the centenary of the FA Cup.

Non-League Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

club Hereford United of the Southern League provided one of the shocks of the season by knocking out

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

2–1 after extra time in the 3rd Round Replay.

League Cup

Stoke City won the 1972 Football League Cup Final to claim the only major trophy in their history. in the semi-final against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

, John Ritchie's goal and a penalty save from Gordon Banks had earned Stoke a replay at Hillsborough, which ended in a draw. In the second semi-final replay, at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

, Stoke overcome a West Ham side forced to make

Bobby Moore Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore (12 April 1941 – 24 February 1993) was an English professional footballer. He captained West Ham United for more than ten years, and was the captain of the England national team that won the 1966 FIFA ...

their stand-in goalkeeper, putting them through to the League Cup Final for the first time.

Football League

First Division

Brian Clough, 37, won the first major trophy of his managerial career by guiding Derby County to their first league championship. They overcame

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

to win a four-horse race, with only a single point separating them. It was so close that when Manchester City won their last game of the season – against Derby on 22 April 1972 – they were top of the league by a point but had no chance of being champions, as Derby and Liverpool both had games in hand, were still to play each other, and both boasted a superior goal average to City's. Although Derby beat Liverpool to pass Manchester City at the top of the table, Liverpool (two points back) and Leeds (one point back) each still had a game left. Leeds, who had won the

for the first time of their history, could have completed the

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

by avoiding defeat against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

, but instead lost 2–1. Liverpool could also have overtaken Derby by defeating

, but could muster only a 0–0 draw. This assured Derby the title by a single point. There were bribery allegations from ''

The Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot Plasma (physics), plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as ...

'' newspaper regarding Leeds's manager

Don Revie Donald George Revie (10 July 1927 – 26 May 1989) was an English footballer and manager. He is best known for managing Leeds United from 1961 until 1974, winning the Football League First Division twice and the FA Cup once, before being the Eng ...

, who stood accused of attempting to bribe Wolves on the final day of the season. Their captain

Billy Bremner William John Bremner (9 December 1942 – 7 December 1997) was a Scottish professional Association football, footballer who played for Leeds United F.C., Leeds United, Hull City A.F.C., Hull City, and the Scotland national football team, Scot ...

won a high court battle to clear his name of the allegations, with evidence provided by the Wolves striker Derek Dougan. Stoke City won the League Cup, their first major trophy.

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

and

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

lost their First Division status. 1971–72 was Huddersfield's last season in the top flight until 2017, and within a few seasons they fell into the Fourth Division.

Second Division

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

won the Second Division and were promoted along with

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

. This marked the first time that Norwich City reached the top flight in their history, less than 70 years after the club was founded. Charlton Athletic and

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

were relegated.

Third Division

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

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.

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third level of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1897 as Mans ...

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. They have played their ho ...

and Bradford City were relegated.

Fourth Division

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

, Southend United,

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

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

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

Top goalscorers

First Division * Francis Lee (

) – 33 goals Second Division * Bob Latchford (

) – 23 goals Third Division *

Ted MacDougall Edward John MacDougall (born 8 January 1947) is a Scottish former footballer who played as a forward. He was a prolific goalscorer who played for eight teams, scoring 256 goals in 535 League appearances and winning seven full international cap ...

(

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth ( ) is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. ...

) – 35 goals Fourth Division * Peter Price ( Peterborough United) – 28 goals

European competitions

The

1972 UEFA Cup Final The 1972 UEFA Cup Final was the final of the first UEFA Cup football tournament. It was a two-legged contest played on 3 May and 17 May 1972 between two English clubs, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur. This was the first UEFA club com ...

was the final of the first ever

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

and was contested by two English teams,

and

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

. Spurs won 2–1 in the first leg at the Molineux on 3 May. The second leg, played on 17 May at

White Hart Lane White Hart Lane was a Association football, football stadium in Tottenham, North London and the home of Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from 1899 to 2017. Its capacity varied over the years; when changed to all-seater i ...

, ended 1–1. The 3–2 aggregate win by Tottenham Hotspur gave them the second European trophy in their history

Diary of the season

8 July 1971:

Bill Shankly William Shankly (2 September 1913 – 29 September 1981) was a Scottish association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager who is best known for his time as manager of Liverpool F.C., Liverpool. Shankly brought su ...

signs a three-year contract as

manager which will keep him in charge until the end of the 1973–74 season. 7 August 1971: The 1971 FA Charity Shield is held, but without reigning League and Cup winners

, who are on a pre-season tour abroad. The Shield was won by Second Division champions Leicester City, who beat 1971 FA Cup Final runners-up

with a Steve Whitworth goal; Arsenal were beaten 1–0 by

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

. 20 August 1971:

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

beat Arsenal 3–1 in a "home" tie, played at

Anfield Anfield is a Association football, football stadium in the area of Anfield (suburb), Anfield, Liverpool, England, which has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since its formation in 1892. The stadium has a seating capacity of 61,276, making it the ...

as a result of a ban from hosting their first two home games in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, the second would be held at the

Victoria Ground The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League. Histor ...

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire ...

. 13 October 1971:

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

earn a vital European Championship qualifying win in Switzerland. Anton Weibel scores a late own goal as England win 3-2 in Basel to go top of Group 3. 6 November 1971: The

Manchester derby The Manchester derby refers to association football, football matches between Manchester City F.C., Manchester City and Manchester United F.C., Manchester United, first contested in 1881. City play at the City of Manchester Stadium in Bradford, ...

Maine Road Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest attenda ...

ends in a 3–3 thriller, with debutant 17-year-old winger Sammy McIlroy on the scoresheet for United. 10 November 1971:

draw 1-1 with Switzerland at Wembley to leave them in pole position to qualify for the European Championship quarter finals.

Mike Summerbee Michael George Summerbee (born 15 December 1942) is an English former association football, footballer, who played as a Forward (association football), forward in the successful Manchester City F.C., Manchester City side of the late 1960s and ...

scores early, with Karl Odermatt equalizing for the Swiss. 27 November 1971: Alan Woodward scores four of the seven Sheffield United put past Ipswich Town without reply, while elsewhere,

George Best George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional association football, footballer who played as a winger (association football), winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United F.C., Manchester Un ...

is the hat-trick hero as Manchester United beat

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

5–2, and

beat

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

3–2 in the Black Country derby. 1 December 1971:

win their European Championship qualifying group with a 2-0 win in Greece.

Geoff Hurst Sir Geoffrey Charles Hurst (born 8 December 1941) is an English former professional Association football, footballer. A Striker (association football), striker, he became the first player to score a Hat-trick#Association football, hat-trick in a ...

and

Martin Peters Martin Stanford Peters (8 November 1943 – 21 December 2019) was an English Association football, footballer and manager. As a member of the England national football team, England team which won the 1966 FIFA World Cup, he scored the second o ...

score the goals. 31 December 1971: At the end of the year, Manchester United are top of the First Division, three points ahead of

and four ahead of

. West Bromwich Albion and

occupy the relegation places. 19 February 1972: Leeds United thrash Manchester United 5–1 at

Elland Road Elland Road, or Elland Road Stadium, is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the Home (sports), home of Leeds United F.C., Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the List of foot ...

and are two points behind Manchester City at the top of the table. Manchester United have now lost five League matches in a row. 23 February 1972: Second division

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

host touring Brazilians Santos at

Hillsborough stadium Hillsborough Stadium is a association football, football stadium in the area of Owlerton, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. With a total capacity of 39,732, it has been the home of Sheffield Wednesday F.C., Sheffield Wednesday Football Club ...

in a match played on a weekday afternoon due to the miners' strike. 37,000 spectators witness a 2-0 win for the Brazilian side who have

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; 23 October 1940 – 29 December 2022), better known by his nickname Pelé (), was a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Widely reg ...

in their line-up. 4 March 1972: Leeds United beat

7–0 and will overtake Manchester City at the top of the table if they win their two games in hand. Manchester United are beaten for the sixth consecutive match in the League when they lose 2–0 to

. 6, 7 Match 1972: Derby County manager Brian Clough announces the signing of

striker Ian Storey-Moore; this is disputed by the selling club and the player is in fact sold to

for £200,000. 8 March 1972: Rodney Marsh moves from

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

to Manchester City for £200,000. 31 March 1972: Brian Clough dismisses reports that he is to be

Noel Cantwell Noel Euchuria Cornelius Cantwell (28 February 1932 – 8 September 2005) was an Irish football player and sometime cricketer. Club career Cantwell was born in Cork, Ireland, and was educated at the Roman Catholic Presentation Brothers College ...

's successor as Coventry City manager. Meanwhile, on the pitch, in the First Division, Leeds' failure to beat West Ham sees them miss the opportunity to top the table, victory for Millwall allows them to ascend to the summit of the Second Division ahead of

and

, Third Division table-toppers

pull away from

, and

move into second in the bottom tier (behind rivals Scunthorpe United) with a win over

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

, becoming the first League side to score 50 this season. 1 April 1972: Derby County beat Leeds United 2–0 and take over at the top of the First Division. 26 April 1972: Derby County win the Texaco Cup by beating Airdrieonians 2–1 on aggregate. Crystal Palace's 2–0 win over Stoke City relegates both

and

from the First Division. 1 May 1972: Derby County, in their last League game of the season, beat Liverpool 1–0. Leeds United beat Chelsea 2–0 and will win the title if they can beat Wolverhampton Wanderers in their final fixture. 8 May 1972: Derby County win the League Championship as neither Leeds United nor Liverpool manage to win their final league games. Leeds would have overtaken Derby on goal average had they drawn with Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux, but lose 2-1, while Liverpool draw 0-0 with Arsenal at

Highbury Highbury is an area of North London, England, in the London Borough of Islington. Highbury Manor Highbury was once owned by Ranulf, brother of Ilger, and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor hou ...

. 11 May 1972: The First Division season ends when Tottenham Hotspur beat Arsenal 2–0 in the

North London derby The North London derby is the meeting of the association football clubs Arsenal F.C., Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur, both of which are based in North London, England. Fans of both clubs consider the other to be their main ...

at Highbury.

Star players

* Gordon Banks was voted FWA Footballer of the Year to add to his League Cup winners medal. * Norman Hunter and

helped Leeds win the FA Cup. *

Roy McFarland Roy Leslie McFarland (born 5 April 1948) is an English former football manager and player. With Derby County, he played 442 league games, helping him to earn 28 caps for England. Born in Liverpool, McFarland developed his skills at Tranmere Ro ...

and

Colin Todd Colin Todd (born 12 December 1948) is an English football manager and former player. He was most recently the manager of Esbjerg fB. As a player, he made more than 600 appearances in the Football League, playing as a defender for Sunderland, ...

helped

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

win the League Championship.

Star managers

* Brian Clough guided Derby to their first-ever league championship triumph. *

helped Leeds lift the FA Cup for the first time. * Tony Waddington ended Stoke City's trophyless history by winning the League Cup.

National team

were eliminated from the 1972 European Championships in the quarter-finals after losing 3–1 on aggregate over two legs (1–3 at Wembley and 0–0 in West Berlin) to

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, who went on to win the tournament.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1971-72 in English Football Seasons in English football English

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 ...