The 1971–72 Northern Premier League was the fourth 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 14 August 1971 and concluded on 5 May 1972.

Overview

The League was expanded, for the second consecutive season, from twenty-two teams to twenty-four teams.

Team changes

The following two clubs joined the League at the start of the season: * Skelmersdale United promoted from

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 ...

* Ellesmere Port Town promoted from

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

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

FA Trophy

Out of the twenty-two clubs from the Northern Premier League, only Stafford Rangers and Macclesfield Town reached for the fourth round: Fourth Round Semi-finals Final

End of the season

At the end of the fourth 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, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

. Chorley resigned the league and Kirkby Town was relegated.

Football League elections

Alongside the four

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 ...

teams facing re-election, a total of twelve non-League teams applied for election, four of which were from the Northern Premier League. Three out of the four Football League teams were re-elected. Hereford United from the Southern League replaced Barrow from the Football League as they didn't receive enough votes. Barrow was subsequently relegated to the Northern Premier League.A history of admission to the Football League
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Promotion and relegation

The following two clubs left the League at the end of the season: *

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 ...

resigned, demoted to

* Kirkby Town relegated to

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 ...

The following two clubs joined the League the following season: *

Mossley Mossley (/ˈmɒzli/) is a town and civil parish in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, in the upper River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame Valley and the foothills of the Pennines, south-east of Oldham and east of Manchester. The town grew ...

promoted from

* Barrow 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 ...

References

External links

Northern Premier League official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:1971-72 Northern Premier League Northern Premier League seasons 5