The 1979–80 Alliance Premier League was the inaugural season of the Alliance Premier League – the first league outside

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 ...

to cover the whole of England.

Overview

Between 1979 and 2004 the single-division Alliance Premier League formed Level 5 of the English football league system. Since 2004 two regional divisions were added at Level 6. The founder members of the Alliance Premier League were drawn from the Southern League and

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 ...

, covering the country from Yeovil Town in the South West to Barrow in the far North. One club from

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

– Bangor City – also participated.

Teams

;From the

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 ...

* Bangor City * Barrow * Boston United * Northwich Victoria *

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 ...

* Stafford Rangers ;From the Southern League * AP Leamington * Barnet * Bath City * Gravesend & Northfleet * Kettering Town * Maidstone United * Nuneaton Borough * Redditch United * Telford United * Wealdstone * Weymouth * Worcester City * Yeovil Town

League table

Results

Promotion and relegation

Promoted

* Frickley Athletic (from the

)

Relegated

* Redditch United (to the Southern League Midland Division)

Top scorers

Election to the Football League

As winners of the Alliance Premier League,

won the right to apply for election to

to replace one of the four bottom teams in the 1979–80

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 ...

. The vote went as follows: As a result of this,

failed to be elected to membership of the Football League, falling just one point behind Fourth Division's bottom club Rochdale.

References

External links

1979–80 Football Conference Results

{{DEFAULTSORT:1979-80 Alliance Premier League National League (English football) seasons 5