1981–82 Football League

The 1981–82 season was the 83rd completed season (84th overall) of The Football League. This was the first league season with three points for win.

The Football League

Season	1981–82
Champions	Liverpool
← 1980–81 1982–83 →

Overview

Three points for a win was introduced for the first time in England. Champions Aston Villa finished a disappointing 11th but made up for this by triumphing in the European Cup at the first attempt.

Liverpool made up for the previous season's slip in league form by winning the league championship for the 13th time in their history, fighting off competition from Ipswich Town, Manchester United and Spurs. Liverpool also won the Football League Cup for the second season in succession. The league triumph was made all the more significant by the fact that they had occupied 10th place on Christmas Day.

Their season of triumph was overshadowed, however, by the death of legendary former manager Bill Shankly, 68, following a heart attack in late September.

Middlesbrough and Wolves were relegated as financial problems at both clubs began to mount. They were joined by Leeds United, only seven years after playing in the European cup final.

West Bromwich Albion felt the loss of manager Ron Atkinson and key players Bryan Robson and Remi Moses as they slumped to 19th in the league and narrowly avoided relegation. This was just the beginning of a sharp decline for a club who three seasons earlier had reached the UEFA Cup quarter-finals and almost won the league title.

Swansea City were tipped for relegation by most observers as they reached the First Division for the first time in their history, having just completed their third promotion in four seasons. But John Toshack's men had a brilliant first game in the top flight, crushing Leeds United 5-1 and setting the tone for a season which would end with Leeds going down. Swansea, meanwhile, were the most unlikely title contenders, topping the league at several stages of the season before finishing sixth in the final table.

Manchester United paid a British record fee of £1.75million for West Bromwich Albion's 24-year-old England midfielder Bryan Robson. Robson's record-breaking move reflected on how the size of transfer fees had risen dramatically in a relatively short period of time. Less than four years earlier, the British record fee had been the £516,000 that West Bromwich Albion had paid for David Mills. In such a short amount of time, the British record had more than tripled.

Everton, who had struggled in the league for the past few seasons, turned to their former player Howard Kendall and appointed him as manager in hope of restoring the club to its former glory.

First Division

First Division

Season	1981–82
Champions	Liverpool 13th English title
Relegated	Leeds United Middlesbrough Wolverhampton Wanderers
European Cup	Liverpool Aston Villa
Cup Winners' Cup	Tottenham Hotspur Swansea City
UEFA Cup	Ipswich Town Manchester United Arsenal Southampton
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,173 (2.54 per match)
Top goalscorer	Kevin Keegan (26 goals)
Biggest home win	Manchester United 5–0 Wolverhampton Wanderers (3 October 1981) Tottenham Hotspur 6–1 Wolverhampton Wanderers (6 February 1982) Coventry City 6–1 Sunderland (27 April 1982)
Biggest away win	Manchester City 0–5 Liverpool (10 April 1982)
Highest scoring	Southampton 5–5 Coventry City (4 May 1982)
Longest winning run	11 matches Liverpool
Longest unbeaten run	16 matches Liverpool
Longest losing run	8 matches Wolverhampton Wanderers
← 1980–81 1982–83 →

The First Division title race saw many teams take the lead throughout the season, including traditional favourites like Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal, as well as thriving Ipswich Town and Southampton, and most incredibly a Swansea City side who had never been in the First Division before, and who had been in the Fourth Division just a few seasons previously. In the end, however, it was Liverpool who clinched the title after a surge in the second half of the campaign which took them from mid table at Christmas to clinching the title on the final day of the season. They also retained the League Cup. Defending champions Aston Villa only finished mid-table but finished the season as European Cup winners, three months after Ron Saunders stood down as manager and was succeeded by his assistant Tony Barton.

Wolves went down to the Second Division for the second time in seven seasons, while Middlesbrough went down after eight years in the First Division. Leeds United, who had gradually lost touch with the First Division's elite since Don Revie left in 1974, lost their top flight status after 18 years.

Other memorable events of the season included the early season transfer of Bryan Robson from West Bromwich Albion to Manchester United for a national record £1.5million, and the death of legendary former Liverpool manager Bill Shankly.

Final table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Liverpool (C)	42	26	9	7	80	32	+48	87	Qualification for the European Cup first round
2	Ipswich Town	42	26	5	11	75	53	+22	83	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
3	Manchester United	42	22	12	8	59	29	+30	78
4	Tottenham Hotspur	42	20	11	11	67	48	+19	71	Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round
5	Arsenal	42	20	11	11	48	37	+11	71	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
6	Swansea City	42	21	6	15	58	51	+7	69	Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup preliminary round
7	Southampton	42	19	9	14	72	67	+5	66	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
8	Everton	42	17	13	12	56	50	+6	64
9	West Ham United	42	14	16	12	66	57	+9	58
10	Manchester City	42	15	13	14	49	50	−1	58
11	Aston Villa	42	15	12	15	55	53	+2	57	Qualification for the European Cup first round
12	Nottingham Forest	42	15	12	15	42	48	−6	57
13	Brighton & Hove Albion	42	13	13	16	43	52	−9	52
14	Coventry City	42	13	11	18	56	62	−6	50
15	Notts County	42	13	8	21	61	69	−8	47
16	Birmingham City	42	10	14	18	53	61	−8	44
17	West Bromwich Albion	42	11	11	20	46	57	−11	44
18	Stoke City	42	12	8	22	44	63	−19	44
19	Sunderland	42	11	11	20	38	58	−20	44
20	Leeds United (R)	42	10	12	20	39	61	−22	42	Relegation to the Second Division
21	Wolverhampton Wanderers (R)	42	10	10	22	32	63	−31	40
22	Middlesbrough (R)	42	8	15	19	34	52	−18	39

Source: World Football
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

Results

Home \ Away	ARS	AST	BIR	BHA	COV	EVE	IPS	LEE	LIV	MCI	MUN	MID	NOT	NTC	SOU	STK	SUN	SWA	TOT	WBA	WHU	WOL
Arsenal		4–3	1–0	0–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–0	0–0	1–0	2–0	1–0	4–1	0–1	1–1	0–2	1–3	2–2	2–0	2–1
Aston Villa	0–2		0–0	3–0	2–1	1–2	0–1	1–4	0–3	0–0	1–1	1–0	3–1	0–1	1–1	2–2	1–0	3–0	1–1	2–1	3–2	3–1
Birmingham City	0–1	0–1		1–0	3–3	0–2	1–1	0–1	0–1	3–0	0–1	0–0	4–3	2–1	4–0	2–1	2–0	2–1	0–0	3–3	2–2	0–3
Brighton & Hove Albion	2–1	0–1	1–1		2–2	3–1	0–1	1–0	3–3	4–1	0–1	2–0	0–1	2–2	1–1	0–0	2–1	1–2	1–3	2–2	1–0	2–0
Coventry City	1–0	1–1	0–1	0–1		1–0	2–4	4–0	1–2	0–1	2–1	1–1	0–1	1–5	4–2	3–0	6–1	3–1	0–0	0–2	1–0	0–0
Everton	2–1	2–0	3–1	1–1	3–2		2–1	1–0	1–3	0–1	3–3	2–0	2–1	3–1	1–1	0–0	1–2	3–1	1–1	1–0	0–0	1–1
Ipswich Town	2–1	3–1	3–2	3–1	1–0	3–0		2–1	2–0	2–0	2–1	3–1	1–3	1–3	5–2	2–0	3–3	2–3	2–1	1–0	3–2	1–0
Leeds United	0–0	1–1	3–3	2–1	0–0	1–1	0–2		0–2	0–1	0–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–3	0–0	1–0	2–0	0–0	3–1	3–3	3–0
Liverpool	2–0	0–0	3–1	0–1	4–0	3–1	4–0	3–0		1–3	1–2	1–1	2–0	1–0	0–1	2–0	1–0	2–2	3–1	1–0	3–0	2–1
Manchester City	0–0	1–0	4–2	4–0	1–3	1–1	1–1	4–0	0–5		0–0	3–2	0–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	2–3	4–0	0–1	2–1	0–1	2–1
Manchester United	0–0	4–1	1–1	2–0	0–1	1–1	1–2	1–0	0–1	1–1		1–0	0–0	2–1	1–0	2–0	0–0	1–0	2–0	1–0	1–0	5–0
Middlesbrough	1–3	3–3	2–1	2–1	0–0	0–2	0–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–2		1–1	3–0	0–1	3–2	0–0	1–1	1–3	1–0	2–3	0–0
Nottingham Forest	1–2	1–1	2–1	2–1	2–1	0–1	1–1	2–1	0–2	1–1	0–1	1–1		0–2	2–1	0–0	2–0	0–2	2–0	0–0	0–0	0–1
Notts County	2–1	1–0	1–4	4–1	2–1	2–2	1–4	2–1	0–4	1–1	1–3	0–1	1–2		1–1	3–1	2–0	0–1	2–2	1–2	1–1	4–0
Southampton	3–1	0–3	3–1	0–2	5–5	1–0	4–3	4–0	2–3	2–1	3–2	2–0	2–0	3–1		4–3	1–0	3–1	1–2	0–0	2–1	4–1
Stoke City	0–1	1–0	1–0	0–0	4–0	3–1	2–0	1–2	1–5	1–3	0–3	2–0	1–2	2–2	0–2		0–1	1–2	0–2	3–0	2–1	2–1
Sunderland	0–0	2–1	2–0	3–0	0–0	3–1	1–1	0–1	0–2	1–0	1–5	0–2	2–3	1–1	2–0	0–2		0–1	0–2	1–2	0–2	0–0
Swansea City	2–0	2–1	1–0	0–0	0–0	1–3	1–2	5–1	2–0	2–0	2–0	1–2	1–2	3–2	1–0	3–0	2–0		2–1	3–1	0–1	0–0
Tottenham Hotspur	2–2	1–3	1–1	0–1	1–2	3–0	1–0	2–1	2–2	2–0	3–1	1–0	3–0	3–1	3–2	2–0	2–2	2–1		1–2	0–4	6–1
West Bromwich Albion	0–2	0–1	1–1	0–0	1–2	0–0	1–2	2–0	1–1	0–1	0–3	2–0	2–1	2–4	1–1	1–2	2–3	4–1	1–0		0–0	3–0
West Ham United	1–2	2–2	2–2	1–1	5–2	1–1	2–0	4–3	1–1	1–1	1–1	3–2	0–1	1–0	4–2	3–2	1–1	1–1	2–2	3–1		3–1
Wolverhampton Wanderers	1–1	0–3	1–1	0–1	1–0	0–3	2–1	1–0	1–0	4–1	0–1	0–0	0–0	3–2	0–0	2–0	0–1	0–1	0–1	1–2	2–1

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: [1] Soccerbase
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Everton	Gordon Lee	Sacked	16 May 1981	Pre-season	Howard Kendall	1 June 1981
Coventry City	Gordon Milne	Mutual consent	30 May 1981		Dave Sexton	5 June 1981
Sunderland	Mick Docherty	End of caretaker spell	1 June 1981		Alan Durban	1 June 1981
Stoke City	Alan Durban	Signed by Sunderland	1 June 1981		Richie Barker	11 June 1981
Middlesbrough	John Neal	Signed by Chelsea	1 June 1981		Bobby Murdoch	19 June 1981
Brighton & Hove Albion	Alan Mullery	Resigned	5 June 1981		Mike Bailey	9 June 1981
Manchester United	Jack Crompton	End of caretaker spell	9 June 1981		Ron Atkinson	9 June 1981
West Bromwich Albion	Ron Atkinson	Signed by Manchester United	9 June 1981		Ronnie Allen	30 June 1981
Wolverhampton Wanderers	John Barnwell	Sacked	5 January 1982	18th	Ian Greaves	8 February 1982
Aston Villa	Ron Saunders	Resigned	9 February 1982	15th	Tony Barton	9 February 1982
Birmingham City	Jim Smith		15 February 1982	19th	Ron Saunders	22 February 1982

Maps

Arsenal

Tottenham

West Ham

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Locations of the Football League First Division London teams 1981–1982

Arsenal

Aston Villa

Birmingham

Brighton & Hove

Coventry

Everton

Ipswich Town

Leeds United

Liverpool

Middlesbrough

Manchester City

Manchester United

Nottingham Forest

Notts County

Southampton

Stoke

Sunderland

Swansea City

Tottenham

West Bromwich Albion

West Ham

Wolverhampton Wanderers

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Locations of the Football League First Division 1981–1982 teams

Second Division

Second Division

Season	1981–82
Champions	Luton Town
Promoted	Luton Town Watford Norwich City
Relegated	Cardiff City Wrexham Orient
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,171 (2.53 per match)
Top goalscorer	Ronnie Moore (22 goals)
Biggest home win	Luton Town 6–0 Grimsby Town (17 October 1981) Rotherham United 6–0 Chelsea (31 October 1981) Queens Park Rangers 7–1 Bolton Wanderers (1 May 1982)
Biggest away win	Cardiff City 0–4 Newcastle United (3 October 1981) Newcastle United 0–4 Queens Park Rangers (5 May 1982)
Highest scoring	Cardiff City 5–4 Cambridge United (20 March 1982)
← 1980–81 1982–83 →

Luton Town clinched the Second Division as their cosmopolitan side ended the club's seven-year exile from the First Division, joined by runners-up Watford (in the First Division for the first time under inspirational manager Graham Taylor) and a Norwich City side who had surged from 10th place to the final promotion place during the final quarter of the campaign. Sheffield Wednesday, QPR and Leicester City just missed out on promotion, as did two surprise contenders still yet to play in the First Division - Barnsley and Rotherham United.

Cardiff City, Wrexham and Orient were relegated; the latter two have not returned to this level since.

Joe Royle, the 33-year-old former Everton striker, began his managerial career at Oldham Athletic.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Luton Town (C, P)	42	25	13	4	86	46	+40	88	Promotion to the First Division
2	Watford (P)	42	23	11	8	76	42	+34	80
3	Norwich City (P)	42	22	5	15	64	50	+14	71
4	Sheffield Wednesday	42	20	10	12	55	51	+4	70
5	Queens Park Rangers	42	21	6	15	65	43	+22	69
6	Barnsley	42	19	10	13	59	41	+18	67
7	Rotherham United	42	20	7	15	66	54	+12	67
8	Leicester City	42	18	12	12	56	48	+8	66
9	Newcastle United	42	18	8	16	52	50	+2	62
10	Blackburn Rovers	42	16	11	15	47	43	+4	59
11	Oldham Athletic	42	15	14	13	50	51	−1	59
12	Chelsea	42	15	12	15	60	60	0	57
13	Charlton Athletic	42	13	12	17	50	65	−15	51
14	Cambridge United	42	13	9	20	48	53	−5	48
15	Crystal Palace	42	13	9	20	34	45	−11	48
16	Derby County	42	12	12	18	53	68	−15	48
17	Grimsby Town	42	11	13	18	53	65	−12	46
18	Shrewsbury Town	42	11	13	18	37	57	−20	46
19	Bolton Wanderers	42	13	7	22	39	61	−22	46
20	Cardiff City (R)	42	12	8	22	45	61	−16	44	Relegation to the Third Division
21	Wrexham (R)	42	11	11	20	40	56	−16	44
22	Orient (R)	42	10	9	23	36	61	−25	39

Source:
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away	BAR	BLB	BOL	CAM	CAR	CHA	CHE	CRY	DER	GRI	LEI	LUT	NEW	NWC	OLD	ORI	QPR	ROT	SHW	SHR	WAT	WRE
Barnsley		0–1	3–0	0–0	0–1	1–0	2–1	2–0	0–0	3–2	0–2	4–3	1–0	0–1	3–1	1–0	3–0	3–0	1–0	4–0	0–0	2–2
Blackburn Rovers	2–1		0–2	1–0	1–0	0–2	1–1	1–0	4–1	2–0	0–2	0–1	4–1	3–0	0–0	2–0	2–1	2–0	0–1	0–0	1–2	0–0
Bolton Wanderers	2–1	2–2		3–4	1–0	2–0	2–2	0–0	3–2	1–2	0–3	1–2	1–0	0–1	0–2	1–0	1–0	0–1	3–1	1–1	2–0	2–0
Cambridge United	2–1	1–0	2–1		2–1	4–0	1–0	0–0	1–2	2–2	1–2	1–1	1–0	1–2	0–0	2–0	1–0	3–0	1–2	2–0	1–2	2–3
Cardiff City	0–0	1–3	2–1	5–4		0–1	1–2	0–1	1–0	2–1	3–1	2–3	0–4	1–0	0–1	2–1	1–2	1–2	0–2	1–1	2–0	3–2
Charlton Athletic	2–1	2–0	1–0	0–0	2–2		3–4	2–1	2–1	2–0	1–4	0–0	0–1	0–0	3–1	5–2	1–2	1–2	3–0	1–0	1–1	1–0
Chelsea	1–2	1–1	2–0	4–1	1–0	2–2		1–2	0–2	1–1	4–1	1–2	2–1	2–1	2–2	2–2	2–1	1–4	2–1	3–1	1–3	2–0
Crystal Palace	1–2	1–2	1–0	2–1	1–0	2–0	0–1		0–1	0–3	0–2	3–3	1–2	2–1	4–0	1–0	0–0	3–1	1–2	0–1	0–3	2–1
Derby County	0–1	1–1	0–2	2–1	0–0	1–1	1–1	4–1		1–1	3–1	0–0	2–2	0–2	1–0	1–2	3–1	3–1	3–1	1–1	3–2	2–1
Grimsby Town	3–2	1–1	1–1	1–2	0–1	3–3	3–3	0–1	1–0		2–2	0–0	1–1	1–2	2–1	1–2	2–1	1–2	0–1	5–1	0–2	1–1
Leicester City	1–0	1–0	1–0	4–1	3–1	3–1	1–1	1–1	2–1	1–2		1–2	3–0	1–4	2–1	0–1	3–2	1–0	0–0	0–0	1–1	1–0
Luton Town	1–1	2–0	2–0	1–0	2–3	3–0	2–2	1–0	3–2	6–0	2–1		3–2	2–0	2–0	2–0	3–2	3–1	0–3	4–1	4–1	0–0
Newcastle United	1–0	0–0	2–0	1–0	2–1	4–1	1–0	0–0	3–0	0–1	0–0	3–2		2–1	2–0	1–0	0–4	1–1	1–0	2–0	0–1	4–2
Norwich City	1–1	2–0	0–0	2–1	2–1	5–0	2–1	1–0	4–1	2–1	0–0	1–3	2–1		1–2	2–0	0–1	2–0	2–3	2–1	4–2	4–0
Oldham Athletic	1–1	0–3	1–1	2–0	2–2	1–0	1–0	0–0	1–1	3–1	1–1	1–1	3–1	2–0		3–2	2–0	0–3	0–3	1–1	1–1	2–1
Orient	1–3	0–0	3–0	0–0	1–1	1–1	0–2	0–0	3–2	1–2	3–0	0–3	1–0	1–1	0–3		1–1	1–2	3–0	2–0	1–3	0–0
Queens Park Rangers	1–0	2–0	7–1	2–1	2–0	4–0	0–2	1–0	3–0	1–0	2–0	1–2	3–0	2–0	0–0	3–0		1–1	2–0	2–1	0–0	1–1
Rotherham United	2–4	4–1	2–0	1–0	1–0	2–1	6–0	2–0	2–1	2–2	1–1	2–2	0–0	4–1	1–2	1–0	1–0		2–2	3–0	1–2	2–0
Sheffield Wednesday	2–2	2–2	0–1	2–1	2–1	1–1	0–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	3–3	2–1	2–1	2–1	2–0	1–3	2–0		0–0	3–1	0–3
Shrewsbury Town	0–2	1–2	2–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–0	4–1	2–0	1–1	2–2	0–0	0–2	2–1	2–0	2–1	2–1	0–1		0–2	1–1
Watford	3–1	3–2	3–0	0–0	0–0	2–2	1–0	1–1	6–1	0–2	3–1	1–1	2–3	3–0	1–1	3–0	4–0	1–0	4–0	3–1		2–0
Wrexham	0–0	1–0	2–1	0–0	3–1	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–1	2–0	0–0	0–2	4–2	2–3	0–3	0–1	1–3	3–2	0–1	1–0	0–1

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: [2] Soccerbase
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Maps

Charlton Athletic

Chelsea

Crystal Palace

Orient

Queens Park Rangers

Watford

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Locations of the Football League Second Division London teams 1981–1982

Barnsley

Blackburn Rovers

Bolton

Cambridge Utd

Cardiff City

Charlton

Chelsea

Crystal Palace

Derby County

Grimsby Town

Leicester City

Orient

Luton Town

Newcastle

Norwich City

Oldham

QPR

Rotherham

Sheffield Wednesday

Shrewsbury

Watford

Wrexham

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Locations of the Football League Second Division 1981–1982 teams

Third Division

Burnley, Carlisle United and Fulham enjoyed some success after a string of disappointments by winning promotion to the Second Division.

Going down were Wimbledon, Swindon Town, Bristol City and Chester. Bristol had completed a unique succession of three relegations, while Swindon had been League Cup winners little over a decade earlier. Wimbledon, meanwhile, would not be enduring any more disappointing season for many years after 1982.

Football League
Third Division

Season	1981–82
Champions	Burnley (1st title)
Promoted	Carlisle United, Fulham
Relegated	Bristol City, Chester, Swindon Town, Wimbledon
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1,422 (2.58 per match)
Top goalscorer	Gordon Davies (Fulham), 24
← 1980–81 1982–83 →

Pos	Team	Pld	HW	HD	HL	HGF	HGA	AW	AD	AL	AGF	AGA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Burnley	46	13	7	3	37	20	8	10	5	29	25	+21	80	Division Champions, promoted
2	Carlisle United	46	17	4	2	44	21	6	7	10	21	29	+15	80	Promoted
3	Fulham	46	12	9	2	44	22	9	6	8	33	29	+26	78
4	Lincoln City	46	13	7	3	40	16	8	7	8	26	24	+26	77
5	Oxford United	46	10	8	5	28	18	9	6	8	35	31	+14	71
6	Gillingham	46	14	5	4	44	26	6	6	11	20	30	+8	71
7	Southend United	46	11	7	5	35	23	7	8	8	28	28	+12	69
8	Brentford	46	8	6	9	28	22	11	5	7	28	25	+9	68
9	Millwall	46	12	4	7	36	28	6	9	8	26	34	0	67
10	Plymouth Argyle	46	12	5	6	37	24	6	6	11	27	32	+8	65
11	Chesterfield	46	12	4	7	33	27	6	6	11	24	31	−1	64
12	Reading	46	11	6	6	43	35	6	5	12	24	40	−8	62
13	Portsmouth	46	11	10	2	33	14	3	9	11	23	37	+5	61
14	Preston North End	46	10	7	6	25	22	6	6	11	25	34	−6	61
15	Bristol Rovers	46	12	4	7	35	28	6	5	12	23	37	−7	61
16	Newport County	46	9	10	4	28	21	5	6	12	26	33	0	58
17	Huddersfield Town	46	10	5	8	38	25	5	7	11	26	34	+5	57
18	Exeter City	46	14	4	5	46	33	2	5	16	25	51	−13	57
19	Doncaster Rovers	46	9	9	5	31	24	4	8	11	24	44	−13	56
20	Walsall	46	10	7	6	32	23	3	7	13	19	32	−4	53
21	Wimbledon	46	10	6	7	33	27	4	5	14	28	48	−14	53	Relegated
22	Swindon Town	46	9	5	9	37	36	4	8	11	18	35	−16	52
23	Bristol City	46	7	6	10	24	29	4	7	12	16	36	−25	46
24	Chester	46	2	10	11	16	30	5	1	17	20	48	−42	32

Source: rsssf.com (incorrect), source=11v11.com
Notes:

Results

Home \ Away	BRE	BRI	BRR	BUR	CRL	CHE	CHF	DON	EXE	FUL	GIL	HUD	LIN	MIL	NPC	OXF	PLY	POR	PNE	REA	STD	SWI	WAL	WDN
Brentford		0–1	1–0	0–0	1–2	1–0	2–0	2–2	2–0	0–1	0–1	0–1	3–1	4–1	2–0	1–2	0–0	2–2	0–0	1–2	0–1	4–2	0–0	2–3
Bristol City	0–1		1–2	2–3	1–1	1–0	0–0	2–2	3–2	0–0	2–1	0–0	0–1	4–1	2–1	0–2	3–2	0–1	0–0	2–0	0–2	0–3	0–1	1–3
Bristol Rovers	1–2	1–0		2–1	0–1	2–2	1–0	3–0	3–2	1–2	2–0	3–2	0–2	0–1	2–0	1–0	2–3	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–1	1–4	2–1	2–2
Burnley	0–0	2–0	4–0		1–0	1–0	1–1	0–1	3–3	2–2	1–0	0–0	1–0	1–1	2–1	2–1	1–0	3–0	2–0	3–0	3–5	0–2	2–1	2–2
Carlisle United	1–0	2–2	1–2	1–0		3–0	3–0	2–0	3–2	1–2	2–0	2–2	1–0	2–1	2–2	2–1	3–1	2–0	1–0	2–1	3–2	1–1	2–1	2–1
Chester	1–2	0–0	1–1	0–1	0–1		0–2	1–1	0–2	0–2	0–0	3–1	1–2	0–0	0–2	2–2	0–3	3–2	0–1	2–3	1–1	0–0	0–0	1–1
Chesterfield	0–2	1–0	2–0	1–2	1–0	3–5		3–1	2–1	3–0	1–3	1–0	0–2	0–1	1–0	2–2	2–2	2–2	0–0	2–1	1–2	2–1	1–0	2–0
Doncaster Rovers	1–0	2–2	4–2	0–1	1–1	4–3	0–0		3–0	2–1	1–1	1–2	4–1	1–0	0–2	1–1	2–2	0–0	1–0	0–1	1–1	0–0	1–0	1–3
Exeter City	3–1	4–0	1–3	2–1	2–1	3–0	0–3	2–1		1–0	1–1	1–0	1–2	5–4	1–0	1–2	1–1	3–3	4–3	4–3	1–1	1–2	2–0	2–1
Fulham	1–2	2–1	4–2	1–1	4–1	2–0	1–0	3–1	4–1		0–0	2–2	1–1	0–0	3–1	0–0	1–3	1–1	3–0	2–2	2–1	2–0	1–1	4–1
Gillingham	1–1	1–1	2–0	3–1	0–0	0–1	3–2	3–0	2–3	2–0		3–2	1–0	1–1	1–1	2–1	3–2	4–2	0–2	2–1	2–0	1–0	1–4	6–1
Huddersfield Town	1–1	5–0	0–2	1–2	2–1	1–2	1–1	1–2	1–1	1–0	2–0		0–2	1–2	2–0	2–0	0–0	0–1	2–3	6–1	3–2	3–0	2–1	1–1
Lincoln City	1–0	1–2	1–0	1–1	0–0	3–0	2–1	5–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	2–0		0–1	2–2	2–1	2–0	1–1	1–2	2–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	5–1
Millwall	0–1	2–0	0–0	4–3	1–2	2–1	3–2	0–2	5–1	4–3	1–2	1–3	1–1		1–0	1–2	2–1	1–0	2–1	0–1	1–1	0–0	2–0	2–1
Newport County	2–0	1–1	1–1	0–0	2–0	0–1	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–3	4–2	1–0	0–0	1–1		3–2	0–1	1–1	1–1	3–1	3–2	1–0	2–2	0–0
Oxford United	1–2	1–0	1–1	0–0	2–1	3–1	1–1	3–1	0–0	2–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	0–0	1–1		1–0	0–2	3–0	1–0	0–2	5–0	0–1	0–3
Plymouth Argyle	1–0	2–1	4–0	1–1	1–0	5–1	0–2	4–2	2–1	3–1	1–2	1–1	0–2	2–1	1–2	0–1		0–0	0–3	1–1	0–0	2–1	4–1	2–0
Portsmouth	2–2	2–0	0–0	1–2	1–2	2–0	5–1	0–0	2–0	1–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	2–2	0–0	1–1	1–0		1–1	3–0	0–0	3–0	1–0	1–0
Preston North End	1–3	1–3	0–1	1–1	0–1	0–1	2–0	3–1	1–0	1–3	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	2–1	2–2	1–0	1–0		0–0	1–0	0–0	1–0	3–2
Reading	4–1	3–1	0–3	1–1	2–2	4–1	0–2	3–3	4–0	0–3	3–2	1–2	3–2	4–0	2–1	0–3	2–2	2–1	2–1		0–2	1–1	0–0	2–1
Southend	1–1	3–0	1–0	1–4	1–1	2–0	0–2	1–1	2–1	0–0	3–0	4–0	0–2	2–2	0–4	0–1	3–0	2–0	2–2	2–0		0–0	3–2	2–0
Swindon Town	0–3	0–0	5–2	1–2	2–1	3–0	1–2	2–2	3–2	1–4	0–1	1–5	1–0	1–2	1–1	3–2	0–2	2–0	4–0	0–2	0–0		2–2	4–1
Walsall	3–0	0–1	2–1	1–1	1–1	2–1	1–1	0–0	2–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	2–1	1–1	3–1	1–3	0–1	3–1	0–3	1–2	0–1	5–0		1–0
Wimbledon	1–2	0–0	1–0	0–0	3–1	1–0	3–1	0–1	1–1	1–3	0–2	2–0	1–1	1–3	2–3	2–3	2–1	3–2	3–2	0–0	3–0	1–1	2–0

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: [3] Soccerbase
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Maps

Brentford

Fulham

Millwall

Wimbledon

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Locations of the Football League Third Division London teams 1981–1982

Brentford

Bristol City

Bristol Rovers

Burnley

Carlisle United

Chester

Chesterfield

Doncaster

Exeter City

Gillingham

Fulham

Huddersfield

Lincoln City

Millwall

Oxford

Newport County

Plymouth Argyle

Portsmouth

Preston North End

Reading

Southend

Swindon

Walsall

Wimbledon

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Locations of the Football League Third Division teams 1981–1982

Fourth Division

Football League
Fourth Division

Season	1981–82
Champions	Sheffield United (1st title)
Promoted	Bournemouth, Bradford City, Wigan Athletic
Failed re-election	None
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1,512 (2.74 per match)
Top goalscorer	Keith Edwards (Hull City / Sheffield United) 36
← 1980–81 1982–83 →

Sheffield United began the first phase of their revival by winning the Fourth Division championship, which marked a superb start to the management career of Ian Porterfield. Also promoted were Bradford City, Wigan Athletic and Bournemouth.

Crewe Alexandra endured a terrible season and propped up the league with just 27 league points, but the other league members voted in their favour and they maintained their league status.

Pos	Team	Pld	HW	HD	HL	HGF	HGA	AW	AD	AL	AGF	AGA	GD	Pts	Promotion
1	Sheffield United	46	15	8	0	53	15	12	7	4	41	26	+53	96	Division Champions, promoted
2	Bradford City	46	14	7	2	52	23	12	6	5	36	22	+43	91	Promoted
3	Wigan Athletic	46	17	5	1	47	18	9	8	6	33	28	+34	91
4	Bournemouth	46	12	10	1	37	15	11	9	3	25	15	+32	88
5	Peterborough United	46	16	3	4	46	22	8	7	8	25	35	+14	82
6	Colchester United	46	12	6	5	47	23	8	6	9	35	34	+25	72
7	Port Vale	46	9	12	2	26	17	9	4	10	30	32	+7	70
8	Hull City	46	14	3	6	36	23	5	9	9	34	38	+9	69
9	Bury	46	13	7	3	53	26	4	10	9	27	33	+21	68
10	Hereford United	46	10	9	4	36	25	6	10	7	28	33	+6	67
11	Tranmere Rovers	46	7	9	7	27	25	7	9	7	24	31	−5	60
12	Blackpool	46	11	5	7	40	26	4	8	11	26	34	+6	58
13	Darlington	46	10	5	8	36	28	5	8	10	25	34	−1	58
14	Hartlepool United	46	9	8	6	39	34	4	8	11	34	50	−11	55
15	Torquay United	46	9	8	6	30	25	5	5	13	17	34	−12	55
16	Aldershot	46	8	7	8	34	29	5	8	10	23	39	−11	54
17	York City	46	9	5	9	45	37	5	3	15	24	54	−22	50
18	Stockport County	46	10	5	8	34	28	2	8	13	14	39	−19	49
19	Halifax Town	46	6	11	6	28	30	3	11	9	23	42	−21	49
20	Mansfield Town	46	8	6	9	39	39	5	4	14	24	42	−18	49
21	Rochdale	46	7	9	7	26	22	3	7	13	24	40	−12	46	Re-elected
22	Northampton Town	46	9	5	9	32	27	2	4	17	25	57	−27	42
23	Scunthorpe United	46	7	9	7	26	35	2	6	15	17	44	−36	42
24	Crewe Alexandra	46	3	6	14	19	32	3	3	17	10	52	−55	27

Source:

Results

Home \ Away	ALD	BLP	BOU	BRA	BRY	COL	CRE	DAR	HAL	HAR	HER	HUL	MAN	NOR	PET	PTV	ROC	SCU	SHU	STP	TOR	TRA	WIG	YOR
Aldershot		3–2	2–0	0–2	1–2	1–1	3–0	0–0	3–1	1–2	2–2	0–3	2–3	2–1	0–1	1–2	2–2	4–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–1	2–0	0–1
Blackpool	0–2		0–3	1–0	1–1	0–0	5–0	1–0	7–1	2–2	1–0	3–1	2–3	1–0	2–2	2–3	1–1	2–0	0–1	2–0	2–1	1–2	1–2	3–1
Bournemouth	2–2	1–0		0–2	3–2	1–1	2–0	2–0	1–1	5–1	1–1	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	2–0	0–0	1–0	4–0	1–1	0–0	5–1
Bradford City	4–1	1–0	2–2		1–1	2–1	4–1	3–0	5–2	1–0	0–0	1–1	3–4	2–1	2–0	1–0	2–0	0–0	0–2	5–1	3–0	1–1	3–3	6–2
Bury	1–1	0–1	2–2	1–1		4–3	2–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	0–2	3–2	7–1	3–1	3–2	3–0	4–0	1–1	2–0	0–1	4–0	5–3	3–1
Colchester United	1–1	2–1	1–2	1–2	1–1		1–1	1–0	1–1	3–3	4–0	2–0	0–1	5–1	1–1	1–0	3–2	2–1	5–2	0–1	3–0	4–0	1–2	4–0
Crewe Alexandra	2–3	1–1	0–0	0–1	1–2	1–3		1–0	0–1	1–2	1–0	1–1	0–2	2–2	0–1	0–2	1–2	3–0	2–3	0–2	0–1	1–1	0–1	1–1
Darlington	0–1	2–2	0–1	1–5	2–3	1–2	1–0		1–1	5–2	0–1	2–1	1–0	3–0	0–0	1–1	2–0	4–1	0–2	2–0	1–1	1–2	3–1	3–1
Halifax Town	2–2	0–0	1–1	0–0	2–1	0–2	2–1	3–3		2–0	1–2	2–2	2–1	2–1	1–1	1–1	0–0	1–2	1–5	4–1	1–2	0–2	0–0	0–0
Hartlepool	2–2	2–2	1–1	0–2	1–0	1–3	1–2	1–2	3–2		2–1	3–2	3–0	3–1	0–1	3–1	1–1	3–3	2–3	2–2	0–0	0–0	2–1	3–2
Hereford United	0–1	2–1	1–2	1–2	3–0	2–2	4–1	1–1	2–2	1–1		2–2	3–1	2–1	2–1	1–0	0–0	2–1	1–1	0–0	0–3	1–1	3–0	2–1
Hull City	1–2	1–0	0–0	2–1	3–2	2–3	1–0	1–3	2–0	5–2	2–1		2–0	0–1	1–1	3–1	2–1	2–0	2–1	0–0	1–0	1–2	0–2	2–0
Mansfield Town	1–0	2–2	0–1	0–2	1–1	1–3	0–1	2–3	3–2	3–2	2–1	3–3		4–1	1–2	1–3	4–3	1–1	1–1	2–2	3–1	3–0	1–2	0–2
Northampton Town	0–0	0–1	1–0	0–2	1–0	1–2	3–0	0–1	0–1	2–1	2–3	1–1	1–1		1–0	3–5	2–1	1–1	1–2	0–0	2–0	3–2	2–3	5–0
Peterborough United	7–1	3–1	1–0	2–0	1–0	2–2	3–0	3–1	0–0	4–4	3–1	3–0	1–0	1–0		1–0	5–1	2–1	0–4	2–0	1–0	1–2	0–3	0–1
Port Vale	1–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	0–0	2–1	0–0	2–2	0–0	5–2	1–1	2–1	0–0	1–0	1–3		1–1	2–1	0–2	1–0	2–0	0–0	1–1	0–0
Rochdale	0–0	0–0	0–1	1–1	1–1	1–2	1–0	3–2	0–1	2–1	0–1	0–1	1–1	5–3	1–1	1–2		1–1	0–1	4–1	1–0	0–0	1–1	2–0
Scunthorpe United	1–1	1–1	0–2	1–3	2–2	2–1	0–1	1–1	0–0	2–1	2–2	4–4	1–0	2–1	0–1	0–0	1–0		2–1	0–0	0–2	2–1	2–7	0–3
Sheffield United	2–0	3–1	0–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	4–0	0–0	2–2	1–1	2–2	0–0	4–1	7–3	4–0	2–1	3–1	1–0		4–0	4–1	2–0	1–0	4–0
Stockport County	4–2	2–3	1–2	2–3	2–1	0–0	2–0	1–0	2–1	0–2	1–1	1–2	3–0	0–0	3–0	1–2	0–4	1–1	1–0		2–1	1–1	0–1	4–1
Torquay United	2–1	1–1	1–2	2–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	1–2	2–2	1–1	1–2	2–1	2–0	2–2	1–2	0–1	2–1	1–0	1–1	1–0		1–2	0–0	3–2
Tranmere	1–0	3–1	0–1	1–1	1–3	2–1	3–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–0	2–2	2–2	0–2	1–2	1–2	2–0	0–1	2–2	2–0	1–1		0–0	0–2
Wigan Athletic	1–0	2–1	0–0	4–1	3–2	3–2	3–0	2–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	2–1	3–1	3–1	5–0	2–0	1–1	2–1	0–1	2–1	1–0	0–0		4–2
York City	4–0	0–4	0–1	0–3	0–0	3–0	6–0	2–2	4–0	1–2	3–4	1–3	2–1	2–1	4–3	2–0	1–2	3–1	3–4	2–2	1–1	1–3	0–0

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: [4] Soccerbase
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Maps

Aldershot

Blackpool

Bournemouth

Bradford C.

Bury

Colchester

Crewe Alexandra

Darlington

Halifax Town

Hartlepool

Hereford United

Hull

Mansfield Town

Northampton Town

Peterborough

Port Vale

Rochdale

Scunthorpe & Lindsey

Sheffield United

Stockport

Torquay

Tranmere

Wigan Athletic

York City

class=notpageimage|

Locations of the Football League Fourth Division teams 1981–1982

Election/Re-election to the Football League

This year Runcorn, the winners of the Alliance Premier League, could not apply for election because they did not meet Football League requirements. 2nd placed Enfield could not apply either for the same reasons, so 3rd placed Telford United won the right to apply for election to the Football League to replace one of the four bottom sides in the 1981–82 Football League Fourth Division. The vote went as follows:

Club	Final Position	Votes
Northampton Town	22nd (Fourth Division)	53
Crewe Alexandra	24th (Fourth Division)	50
Rochdale	21st (Fourth Division)	48
Scunthorpe United	23rd (Fourth Division)	48
Telford United	3rd (Alliance Premier League)	13

As a result of this, all four Football League teams were re-elected, and Telford United were denied membership of the League.

See also

• 1981-82 in English football

References

• Ian Laschke: Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79. Macdonald and Jane’s, London & Sydney, 1980.