1974–75 Football League
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The 1974–75 season was the 76th completed season of
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 ...
. Dave Mackay guided Derby County to their second league title in four years having overcome strong competition from
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 ...
, Ipswich Town, Everton, Stoke City, Sheffield United and
Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...
in a title race which went right to the wire. There was disappointment at
Bramall Lane Bramall Lane is a association football, football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United F.C., Sheffield United. The stadium was originally a cricket ground, built on a road named after the Bramall ...
after Sheffield United's title challenge ended in failure without even a
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 ...
place, but this would be as good as it got for the Blades as a sharp decline soon set in and within a few seasons had pushed them into the Fourth Division. Carlisle United, in the First Division for the first time, topped the league three games into the season but were unable to maintain their good start and were eventually relegated in bottom place. Joining the Cumbrians in the drop zone were
Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...
and Chelsea.
Brian Clough Brian Howard Clough ( ; 21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004) was an English football player and manager, primarily known for his successes as a manager with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He is one of four managers to have won the Englis ...
was named as
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 ...
's successor at
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 ...
but was dismissed after just 44 days in charge. He was replaced by
Jimmy Armfield James Christopher Armfield (21 September 1935 – 22 January 2018) was an English professional association football, football player and manager. He played the whole of his Football League career at Blackpool F.C., Blackpool, usually at right b ...
.
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 ...
's directors kept faith in
Tommy Docherty Thomas Henderson Docherty (24 April 1928 – 31 December 2020), commonly known as The Doc, was a Scottish football player and manager. Docherty played for several clubs, most notably Preston North End, and represented Scotland 25 times bet ...
after their relegation to the Second Division, and he rewarded them with the Second Division championship to return immediately to the top flight. They were joined by
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 ...
(who also won the League Cup) and
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 ...
. Docherty had built a new-look team containing players such as Jim Holton,
Stuart Pearson Stuart James Pearson (born 21 June 1949) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward. He appeared in three FA Cup finals, two for Manchester United and one with West Ham United. Club career Hull City Pearson started ...
and Brian Greenhoff. Meanwhile,
FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...
finally lifted
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 ...
's worldwide ban from football; however, Docherty was not prepared to give him another chance 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 ...
and he joined Stockport County on a free transfer. Millwall, Cardiff City and
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 ...
were the three unlucky clubs who were unable to escape the Second Division drop zone. In the space of a few years, Sheffield Wednesday had slumped to the Third Division having previously been a strong First Division side.
Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...
, Plymouth Argyle and Charlton Athletic occupied the three promotion places in the Third Division. Going down were
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. ...
, Tranmere Rovers,
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 ...
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 ...
. This meant that Huddersfield would be playing Fourth Division football for the first time in their history, the first former English champions so to do. Watford, meanwhile, were enduring their last unsuccessful season for many years to come.
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 ...
, Shrewsbury Town, Rotherham United and
Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...
occupied the four promotion places in the Fourth Division. Chester had finally managed promotion after 44 years of league membership, narrowly edging out Lincoln City on goal average. Scunthorpe United, who had narrowly missed out on top-division football during the 1960s, found themselves bottom of the league but retained their league status after being re-elected along with the three clubs placed above them.


Final league tables and results

The tables and results below are reproduced here in the exact form that they can be found a
The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
website and in ''Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79'',Ian Laschke: ''Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79''. Macdonald and Jane’s, London & Sydney, 1980. with home and away statistics separated. Beginning with the season 1894–95, clubs finishing level on points were separated according to goal average (goals scored divided by goals conceded), or more properly put, goal ratio. In case one or more teams had the same goal difference, this system favoured those teams who had scored fewer goals. The goal average system was eventually scrapped beginning with the 1976–77 season. Since the Fourth Division was established in the 1958–59 season, the bottom four teams of that division have been required to apply for
re-election The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position. In an election, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the position that is up for election, regardless of whether they are seeking re-election. There may or may not be a ...
.


First Division

A tight title race saw just five points separating the top seven sides, with Derby County finally winning the title in their first full season under the management of Dave Mackay. Liverpool finished runners-up under
Bob Paisley Robert Paisley (23 January 1919 – 14 February 1996) was an English professional football manager and player who played as a wing-half. He spent almost 50 years with Liverpool and is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time. ...
, who had succeeded the legendary
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 ...
at the start of the season. Ipswich Town, Everton, Stoke City, Sheffield United and newly promoted Middlesbrough completed the top seven. Despite the close nature of the final table; most pundits had dubbed Everton Champions elect going into the closing stages. The Merseysiders had lost just four games all season, topped the table and appeared to have a relatively trouble-free run-in mostly against teams in the bottom half of the table. The pressure of the title being theirs to lose appeared to get to the Toffeemen who inexplicably lost four of their last nine games, three of which, against Luton, Carlisle, who would ultimately be relegated, and Sheffield United in a game they had led 2-0 in at half time, ultimately costing them the title. Liverpool also came within a hair's breadth of the title, with a 1-0 loss at
Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...
in the penultimate game of the season proving their undoing. Leeds United began life without
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 ...
in disastrous fashion, with
Brian Clough Brian Howard Clough ( ; 21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004) was an English football player and manager, primarily known for his successes as a manager with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He is one of four managers to have won the Englis ...
being sacked after 44 days in charge, having won just one league game. His successor
Jimmy Armfield James Christopher Armfield (21 September 1935 – 22 January 2018) was an English professional association football, football player and manager. He played the whole of his Football League career at Blackpool F.C., Blackpool, usually at right b ...
dragged them up to ninth place in the final table and also took them to their first
European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...
final, but they were on the losing side and a riot by their fans saw them banned from European competitions for three years. Arsenal finished a disappointing 16th in the league, one of their lowest finishes in more than half a century of unbroken First Division membership. Their North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur finished just one place and one point above the relegation zone. Luton Town's First Division comeback ended in relegation after just one season, while financial problems contributed to Chelsea's relegation and the end of their 12-year run in the First Division. Carlisle United had an incredible start to their first season in the First Division, topping the league after winning their first three games, but were eventually relegated in bottom place.


Results


Maps


Second Division

Tommy Docherty Thomas Henderson Docherty (24 April 1928 – 31 December 2020), commonly known as The Doc, was a Scottish football player and manager. Docherty played for several clubs, most notably Preston North End, and represented Scotland 25 times bet ...
rewarded the loyalty of the Manchester United directors who kept faith in him after their first relegation in nearly 40 years by delivering an instant return to the First Division as his exciting young side were crowned champions of the Second Division. Aston Villa – with arguably an even more exciting side – ended their eight-year absence from the top flight by finishing runners-up, being divisional top scorers and also lifting the League Cup, in the final of which they beat Norwich City, who finished third in the league and so clinched the final promotion place. Sunderland and Bristol City just missed out on promotion, while ninth placed Fulham partly compensated for a lack of a serious promotion challenge by reaching their first ever FA Cup final, although they lost to West Ham United. Nottingham Forest looked to build for a better future and end their spell of Second Division struggle by appointing
Brian Clough Brian Howard Clough ( ; 21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004) was an English football player and manager, primarily known for his successes as a manager with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He is one of four managers to have won the Englis ...
as manager in January. Sheffield Wednesday were relegated to the Third Division for the first time in their history after a terrible season in which they managed only five league wins. They finished 14 points adrift of safety and went down along with Millwall and Cardiff City.


Results


Maps


Third Division


Results


Maps


Fourth Division


Results


Maps


See also

* 1974–75 in English football


References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:1974-75 Football League English Football League seasons