1979–80 Alliance Premier League

The Alliance Premier League season of 1979–80 was the inaugural season of the Alliance Premier League — the first league outside the Football League to cover the whole of England.

1 Overview
2 Teams
3 Final table^[1]
4 Results^[1]
5 Promotion and relegation
- 5.1 Promoted
- 5.2 Relegated
6 Top scorers^[1] ^{[notes2 1]}
7 Election to the Football League
8 References
9 External links

Overview

Between 1979–2004 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, covering the country from Yeovil Town in the South West to Barrow in the far North. One club from Wales — Bangor City — also participated.

Teams

Final table^[1]

Alliance Premier League
Season	1979–80 ^[1]
Champions	Altrincham
Promoted to the Football League	None
Runners-up	Weymouth
Relegated to Level 6	Redditch United
Promoted for next season	Frickley Athletic
Matches played	380
Goals scored	972 (2.56 per match)
Top goalscorer	G. J. Smith (Northwich Victoria), 29 ^{[notes 1]}
Biggest home win	Maidstone United – Bath City 6–0
Biggest away win	Redditch United – Bangor City 1–5 Stafford Rangers – Weymouth 1–5
Highest scoring	Northwich Victoria – Barrow 6–3 Kettering Town – Stafford Rangers 3–6
Longest winning run	?
Longest unbeaten run	?
Longest losing run	?
Highest attendance	?
Lowest attendance	?
Average attendance	?
1980–81 →

Gravesend & Northfleet

Locations of the Alliance Premier League 1979–1980 teams

Barnet

Wealdstone

Gravesend & Northfleet

Locations of the Alliance Premier League 1979–1980 London teams

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GD	Pts	Notes
1	Altrincham	38	16	3	0	45	9	8	5	6	34	26	79	35	+ 44	56
2	Weymouth	38	13	3	3	40	14	9	7	3	33	23	73	37	+ 36	54
3	Worcester City	38	12	6	1	29	15	6	5	8	24	21	53	36	+ 17	49
4	Boston United	38	11	7	1	40	20	5	6	8	12	23	52	43	+ 9	45
5	Gravesend & Northfleet	38	12	4	3	36	18	5	6	8	13	26	49	44	+ 5	44
6	Maidstone United	38	11	4	4	38	15	5	7	7	16	22	54	37	+ 17	43
7	Kettering Town	38	9	5	5	29	26	6	8	5	26	24	55	50	+ 5	43
8	Northwich Victoria	38	11	5	3	31	14	5	5	9	19	24	50	38	+ 12	42
9	Bangor City	38	9	6	4	21	18	5	8	6	20	28	41	46	– 5	42
10	Nuneaton	38	12	4	2	41	16	1	8	10	17	28	58	44	+ 14	39
11	Scarborough	38	8	8	3	32	14	4	7	8	15	24	47	38	+ 9	39
12	Yeovil Town	38	8	6	5	26	17	5	4	10	20	32	46	49	– 3	36
13	Telford United	38	9	3	7	31	27	4	5	10	21	33	52	60	– 8	34
14	Barrow	38	10	3	6	27	18	4	3	12	20	37	47	55	– 8	34
15	Wealdstone	38	5	9	5	26	25	4	6	9	16	29	42	54	– 12	33
16	Bath City	38	7	9	3	26	21	3	3	13	17	48	43	69	– 26	32
17	Barnet	38	7	6	6	18	18	3	4	12	14	30	32	48	– 16	30
18	AP Leamington	38	5	5	9	16	27	2	6	11	16	36	32	63	– 31	25
19	Stafford Rangers	38	4	7	8	20	21	2	3	14	21	36	41	57	– 16	22
20	Redditch United	38	4	5	10	18	29	1	3	15	8	40	26	69	– 43	18	Relegated to the Southern League Midland Division

Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

Points were scored until the 1981–82 season as follows: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw.

^ G. J. Smith’s goals include also goals scored in the League Cup.

Key
	Alliance Premier League Champions, no promotion
	FA Trophy winners (Dagenham, Isthmian League Premier Division)
	Alliance Premier League Cup winners
	Relegated to Level 6

Results^[1]

Home \ Away¹	ALT	APL	BAN	BRN	BRW	BAT	BOS	GRN	KET	MAI	NOR	NUN	RED	SCA	STF	TEL	WEA	WEY	WRC	YEO
Altrincham		3–0	5–0	1–0	3–1	4–0	3–0	4–1	0–0	1–0	0–0	3–1	2–0	2–0	3–1	2–0	2–1	3–2	3–1	1–1
AP Leamington	1–4		1–1	2–1	0–1	1–2	2–0	0–1	1–3	0–2	2–2	0–0	0–2	1–1	2–0	2–1	0–0	0–2	1–0	0–4
Bangor City	1–1	3–2		1–1	1–1	2–1	2–0	1–2	1–1	1–0	0–3	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–2	0–2	1–0
Barnet	2–0	1–0	1–1		1–1	1–0	0–0	3–0	0–2	0–1	0–2	2–1	0–0	0–0	2–1	4–1	1–3	0–2	0–0	0–3
Barrow	1–3	6–2	1–1	3–1		2–1	0–1	1–1	1–2	0–2	1–0	1–0	2–0	0–0	2–1	2–0	1–0	0–1	1–2	2–0
Bath City	1–1	0–0	2–1	1–2	1–0		0–1	2–0	3–0	1–1	0–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	4–4	4–2	0–4	1–1
Boston United	2–5	2–0	3–1	1–1	3–0	3–2		4–0	1–0	1–1	2–0	2–2	2–0	2–2	3–2	3–1	0–0	2–2	1–1	3–0
Gravesend & Northfleet	0–2	3–2	1–1	1–0	5–1	2–0	0–0		2–2	1–0	2–1	2–2	1–0	3–0	2–0	1–2	3–0	2–3	3–2	2–0
Kettering Town	1–2	1–1	0–1	1–0	0–4	1–2	3–1	0–0		1–1	1–0	1–1	2–1	1–0	3–6	3–2	2–0	3–1	0–0	5–3
Maidstone United	2–2	0–0	0–1	2–0	2–0	6–0	1–0	3–0	1–3		3–4	1–1	4–1	2–0	2–0	3–0	3–0	1–1	2–1	0–1
Northwich Victoria	1–0	2–1	4–0	2–0	6–3	6–1	0–1	0–0	2–2	0–2		2–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	2–1	0–0	0–0	1–0	0–1
Nuneaton Borough	2–0	1–1	2–2	2–1	3–0	1–1	2–0	3–1	2–2	4–0	2–1		5–1	3–1	3–1	1–1	0–1	1–2	1–0	3–0
Redditch United	0–1	3–1	1–5	1–0	1–3	1–1	0–2	0–2	0–1	0–0	0–1	1–0		1–2	0–2	2–2	4–1	0–2	1–1	2–2
Scarborough	1–1	5–0	0–0	0–0	2–0	6–1	2–4	1–1	2–0	1–2	2–1	2–1	3–0		0–0	1–2	0–0	0–0	4–1	0–0
Stafford Rangers	1–2	1–1	0–1	1–2	1–1	4–0	0–0	0–1	0–0	1–1	4–1	0–1	1–1	3–1		0–1	0–1	1–5	0–0	2–1
Telford United	3–2	0–1	2–0	1–2	3–2	3–1	4–1	1–2	1–0	3–1	0–0	2–1	2–1	0–1	2–2		1–3	3–3	0–1	0–3
Wealdstone	1–4	1–2	0–0	2–1	2–1	1–1	1–1	0–0	2–2	0–0	0–1	2–2	2–0	2–4	2–1	0–0		1–1	2–4	5–0
Weymouth	0–0	2–1	4–2	1–1	1–0	1–2	3–0	1–0	3–1	1–1	2–0	2–0	6–0	0–1	2–1	3–2	4–0		1–2	3–0
Worcester City	3–2	1–1	0–0	2–1	2–0	2–1	0–0	1–0	1–4	3–1	2–1	1–1	3–0	0–0	1–0	2–1	2–1	1–1		2–0
Yeovil Town	3–2	1–0	1–2	5–0	0–1	1–0	0–0	1–1	1–1	3–0	1–1	2–1	2–0	1–1	3–1	0–2	1–1	0–1	0–2

Source: Rothmans Football Yearbook 1980–81. Queen Anne Press, Macdonald Futura Publishers, London & Sydney, 1981.
¹The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Promotion and relegation

Promoted

Frickley Athletic (from the Northern Premier League)

Relegated

Redditch United (to the Southern League Midland Division)

Top scorers^[1] ^{[notes2 1]}

Rank	Player	Club	Total
1	G. J. Smith	Northwich Victoria	29
2	T. Paterson	Weymouth	28
3	John Rogers	Altrincham	24
4	A. Iannone	Weymouth	22
5	J. P. Daubney	Maidstone United	21
6	Barry Whitbread	Altrincham	20
7	Bobby Brown	Boston United	19
8	R. O. Gauden	Scarborough	16
=	D. A. Mather	Telford United	16
10	R. Clayton	Kettering Town	14
11	M. J. Neale	Nuneaton Borough	13
=	M. C. Wheeler	Bath City	13
13	Colin Cowperthwaite	Barrow	12
=	J. N. Evans	Kettering Town	12
=	D. Gardner	AP Leamington	12
=	G. J. O'Hara	Worcester City	12
17	N. A. Cordice	Wealdstone	11
=	B. P. Howard	Altrincham	11
=	N. B. Johnson	Wealdstone	11
=	M. D. Phelps	Worcester City	11
=	P. Phipps	Kettering Town	11
=	P. T. Wilkey	Telford United	11

^ The number of goals is the sum of league and league cup goals.

Election to the Football League

As winners of the Alliance Premier League, Altrincham won the right to apply for election to the Football League to replace one of the four bottom teams in the 1979–80 Football League Division Four. The vote went as follows:

Club	Final Position	Votes
Darlington	22nd (Division Four)	49
Crewe Alexandra	23rd (Division Four)	48
Hereford United	21st (Division Four)	48
Rochdale	24th (Division Four)	26
Altrincham	1st (Alliance Premier League)	25

As a result of this, Altrincham failed to be elected to membership of the Football League, falling just one point behind Fourth Division’s bottom club Rochdale.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Rollin, Jack (ed.): Rothmans Football Yearbook 1980–81, p. 939–947. Queen Anne Press, Queen Anne Press, London & Sydney, 1980.

External links

Football Conference

National

Clubs	Alfreton Town AFC Telford United Barrow Bath City Braintree Town Cambridge United Darlington Ebbsfleet United Fleetwood Town Forest Green Rovers Gateshead Grimsby Town Hayes & Yeading United Kettering Town Kidderminster Harriers Lincoln City Luton Town Mansfield Town Newport County Southport Stockport County Tamworth Wrexham York City

Grounds	Abbey Stadium Aggborough Blundell Park Bootham Crescent Cressing Road Darlington Arena Edgeley Park Field Mill Gateshead International Stadium Haig Avenue Highbury Stadium Holker Street Kenilworth Road Kingfield Lamb Ground Nene Park New Bucks Head New Lawn Newport Stadium North Street Racecourse Ground Sincil Bank Stonebridge Road Twerton Park

North

South

Seasons

1979–80
1980–81
1981–82
1982–83
1983–84
1984–85
1985–86
1986–87
1987–88
1988–89
1989–90
1990–91
1991–92
1992–93
1993–94
1994–95
1995–96
1996–97
1997–98
1998–99
1999–2000
2000–01
2001–02
2002–03
2003–04
2004–05
2005–06
2006–07
2007–08
2008–09
2009–10
2010–11
2011–12

See also: Conference League Cup

1979–80 in English football

« 1978–79 1980–81 »

FA competitions	FA Cup (Qualifying Rounds, Final) • Charity Shield • FA Trophy

Football League	Football League (First Division • Second Division • Third Division • Fourth Division) • League Cup (Final)

Lower leagues	Alliance Premier League · Northern Premier League · Southern Football League · Isthmian League

European competitions	European Cup (Final) · UEFA Cup · European Cup Winners' Cup (Final)

Related to national team	Ron Greenwood • Home Championship • UEFA Euro 1980 (qualification)

Club seasons

First Division	Arsenal · Aston Villa · Bolton Wanderers · Brighton & Hove Albion · Bristol City · Coventry City · Crystal Palace · Derby County · Everton · Ipswich Town · Leeds United · Liverpool · Manchester City · Manchester United · Middlesbrough · Norwich City · Nottingham Forest · Southampton · Stoke City · Tottenham Hotspur · West Bromwich Albion · Wolverhampton Wanderers

Second Division	Birmingham City · Bristol Rovers · Burnley · Cambridge United · Cardiff City · Charlton Athletic · Chelsea · Fulham · Leicester City · Leyton Orient · Luton Town · Newcastle United · Notts County · Oldham Athletic · Preston North End · Queens Park Rangers · Shrewsbury Town · Sunderland · Swansea City · Watford · West Ham United · Wrexham

Third Division	Barnsley · Blackburn Rovers · Blackpool · Brentford · Bury · Carlisle United · Chester · Chesterfield · Colchester United · Exeter City · Gillingham · Grimsby Town · Hull City · Mansfield Town · Millwall · Oxford United · Plymouth Argyle · Reading · Rotherham United · Sheffield United · Sheffield Wednesday · Southend United · Swindon Town · Wimbledon

Fourth Division	Aldershot · Bournemouth · Bradford City · Crewe Alexandra · Darlington · Doncaster Rovers · Halifax Town · Hartlepool United · Hereford United · Huddersfield Town · Lincoln City · Newport County · Northampton Town · Peterborough United · Port Vale · Portsmouth · Rochdale · Scunthorpe United · Southport · Stockport County · Torquay United · Tranmere Rovers · Walsall · York City