1976–77 Football League

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The Football League
Season	1976–77
Champions	Liverpool
← 1975–76 1977–78 →

The 1976–1977 season was the 77th completed season of The Football League.

As of this season, goal difference (GD in league tables) was used to separate the clubs finishing level on points. The earlier system, used from the season 1894–95 until the 1975–76 had been the so-called 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 earlier system favoured those teams who had scored fewer goals. Now the system would favour the teams that had scored more goals, and it was hoped that more goals would be seen as a result of this new system.

First Division

Liverpool retained their league championship trophy and won their first European Cup to confirm Bob Paisley as a successful replacement for Bill Shankly in his third season at the helm. Tottenham Hotspur and Stoke City's long spells in the First Division came to an end with relegation. Stoke sacked their manager Tony Waddington. On the last day of the season, Coventry City and Bristol City played out a controversial 2–2 draw, with play virtually stopping when it was heard that Sunderland had lost to Everton. Both clubs survived while Sunderland was relegated.

After Manchester United manager Tommy Docherty had admitted his affair with the wife of the club's physiotherapist, the club's directors decided that he had broken their moral code and he was sacked.

Second Division

Wolverhampton Wanderers, Chelsea and Nottingham Forest gained promotion to the First Division. Brian Clough's Forest would achieve success beyond the dreams of most supporters over the next few seasons. Carlisle United, Plymouth Argyle and Hereford United occupied the three relegation places. Hereford became the first club to finish bottom of the Second Division after winning the Third Division the previous season.

Third Division

Mansfield Town, Brighton & Hove Albion and Crystal Palace were the three teams promoted to the Second Division. Palace's manager was a certain Terry Venables who would enjoy more success at Palace and elsewhere over the next 20 years. Going down were Reading, Northampton Town, Grimsby Town and York City.

Fourth Division

Cambridge United, Exeter City, Colchester United and Bradford City occupied the four promotion places in the league's lowest division. A terrible season for Workington was compounded by their failure to gain re-election to the Football League, a humiliation which saw them slip into the Northern Premier League. In their place were Southern League champions Wimbledon, who would make amazing progress over the next decade.

The British pop star Elton John took over Fourth Division side Watford and installed Graham Taylor as manager. Former Arsenal manager Bertie Mee came out of retirement to work at Watford as assistant to Graham Taylor. John immediately asserted his ambition by promising to bring First Division football to Watford.

Final league tables and results

The tables and results below are reproduced here in the exact form that they can be found at The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation website^[1] and in Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79,^[2] 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 this season.

Re-election: During the first five seasons of the league, that is, until the season 1893–94, re-election process concerned the clubs which finished in the bottom four of the league. From the 1894–95 season and until the 1920–21 season the re-election process was required of the clubs which finished in the bottom three of the league. From the 1922–23 season on it was required of the bottom two teams of both Third Division North and Third Division South. Since the Fourth Division was established in the 1958–59 season, the re-election process has concerned the bottom four clubs in that division.^[2]

First Division

Football League, First Division
Season	1976–77
Champions	Liverpool (10th English title)
Relegated	Stoke City Sunderland, Tottenham Hotspur
European Cup 1977–78	Liverpool
FA Cup winners European Cup Winners' Cup 1977–78	Manchester United (4th FA Cup title)
UEFA Cup 1977–78	Aston Villa, Ipswich Town Manchester City, Newcastle United
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1183 (2.56 per match)
Top goalscorer	Andy Gray (Aston Villa), 25 Malcolm Macdonald (Arsenal), 25 ^[3]
Biggest home win	Ipswich – West Brom 7–0 (6 Nov 1976)
Biggest away win	Leicester – West Brom 0–5 (7 Mar 1977)
Highest scoring	Derby – Tottenham 8–2 (16 Oct 1976)
← 1975–76 1977–78 →

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GD	Pts	Notes
1	Liverpool	42	18	3	0	47	11	5	8	8	15	22	62	33	+29	57	European Cup 1977–78 Second round ^{[notes 1]}
2	Manchester City	42	15	5	1	38	13	6	9	6	22	21	60	34	+26	56	UEFA Cup 1977–78 First round
3	Ipswich Town	42	15	4	2	41	11	7	4	10	25	28	66	39	+27	52	UEFA Cup 1977–78 First round
4	Aston Villa	42	17	3	1	55	17	5	4	12	21	33	76	50	+26	51	UEFA Cup 1977–78 First round
5	Newcastle United	42	14	6	1	40	15	4	7	10	24	34	64	49	+15	49	UEFA Cup 1977–78 First round
6	Manchester United	42	12	6	3	41	22	6	5	10	30	40	71	62	+9	47	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1977–78 First round
7	West Bromwich Albion	42	10	6	5	38	22	6	7	8	24	34	62	56	+6	45
8	Arsenal	42	11	6	4	37	20	5	5	11	27	39	64	59	+5	43
9	Everton	42	9	7	5	35	24	5	7	9	27	40	62	64	–2	42
10	Leeds United	42	8	8	5	28	26	7	4	10	20	25	48	51	–3	42
11	Leicester City	42	8	9	4	30	28	4	9	8	17	32	47	60	–13	42
12	Middlesbrough	42	11	6	4	25	14	3	7	11	15	31	40	45	–5	41
13	Birmingham City	42	10	6	5	38	25	3	6	12	25	36	63	61	+2	38
14	Queens Park Rangers	42	10	7	4	31	21	3	5	13	16	31	47	52	–5	38
15	Derby County	42	9	9	3	36	18	0	10	11	14	37	50	55	–5	37
16	Norwich City	42	12	4	5	30	23	2	5	14	17	41	47	64	–17	37
17	West Ham United	42	9	6	6	28	23	2	8	11	18	42	46	65	–19	36
18	Bristol City	42	8	7	6	25	19	3	6	12	13	29	38	48	–10	35
19	Coventry City	42	7	9	5	34	26	3	6	12	14	33	48	59	–11	35
20	Sunderland	42	9	5	7	29	16	2	7	12	17	38	46	54	–8	34
21	Stoke City	42	9	8	4	21	16	1	6	14	7	35	28	51	–23	34
22	Tottenham Hotspur	42	9	7	5	26	20	3	2	16	22	52	48	72	–24	33

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

↑ Liverpool were also winners of European Cup this year.

Key
	League Champions, qualified for European Cup
	FA Cup winners, qualified for Cup Winners' Cup
	Qualified for UEFA Cup
	League Cup winners, qualified for UEFA Cup
	Relegated

First Division results

Home \ Away^[1]	ARS	AST	BIR	BRI	COV	DER	EVE	IPS	LEE	LEI	LIV	MNC	MNU	MID	NEW	NOR	QPR	STO	SUN	TOT	WBA	WHU
Arsenal		3–0	4–0	0–1	2–0	0–0	3–1	1–4	1–1	3–0	1–1	0–0	3–1	1–1	5–3	1–0	3–2	2–0	0–0	1–0	1–2	2–3
Aston Villa	5–1		1–2	3–1	2–2	4–0	2–0	5–2	2–1	2–0	5–1	1–1	3–2	1–0	2–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	4–1	2–1	4–0	4–0
Birmingham City	3–3	2–1		3–0	3–0	5–1	1–1	2–4	0–0	1–1	2–1	0–0	2–3	3–1	1–2	3–2	2–1	2–0	2–0	1–2	0–1	0–0
Bristol City	2–0	0–0	0–1		0–0	2–2	1–2	1–2	1–0	0–1	2–1	1–0	1–1	1–2	1–1	3–1	1–0	1–1	4–1	1–0	1–2	1–1
Coventry City	1–2	2–3	2–1	2–2		2–0	4–2	1–1	4–2	1–1	0–0	0–1	0–2	1–1	1–1	2–0	2–0	5–2	1–2	1–1	1–1	1–1
Derby County	0–0	2–1	0–0	2–0	1–1		2–3	0–0	0–1	1–0	2–3	4–0	0–0	0–0	4–2	2–2	2–0	2–0	1–0	8–2	2–2	1–1
Everton	2–1	0–2	2–2	2–0	1–1	2–0		1–1	0–2	1–2	0–0	2–2	1–2	2–2	2–0	3–1	1–3	3–0	2–0	4–0	1–1	3–2
Ipswich Town	3–1	1–0	1–0	1–0	2–1	0–0	2–0		1–1	0–0	1–0	1–0	2–1	0–1	2–0	5–0	2–2	0–1	3–1	3–1	7–0	4–1
Leeds United	2–1	1–3	1–0	2–0	1–2	2–0	0–0	2–1		2–2	1–1	0–2	0–2	2–1	2–2	3–2	0–1	1–1	1–1	2–1	2–2	1–1
Leicester City	4–1	1–1	2–6	0–0	3–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–1		0–1	2–2	1–1	3–3	1–0	1–1	2–2	1–0	2–0	2–1	0–5	2–0
Liverpool	2–0	3–0	4–1	2–1	3–1	3–1	3–1	2–1	3–1	5–1		2–1	1–0	0–0	1–0	1–0	3–1	4–0	2–0	2–0	1–1	0–0
Manchester City	1–0	2–0	2–1	2–1	2–0	3–2	1–1	2–1	2–1	5–0	1–1		1–3	1–0	0–0	2–0	0–0	0–0	1–0	5–0	1–0	4–2
Manchester United	3–2	2–0	2–2	2–1	2–0	3–1	4–0	0–1	1–0	1–1	0–0	3–1		2–0	3–1	2–2	1–0	3–0	3–3	2–3	2–2	0–2
Middlesbrough	3–0	3–2	2–2	0–0	1–0	2–0	2–2	0–2	1–0	0–1	0–1	0–0	3–0		1–0	1–0	0–2	0–0	2–1	2–0	1–0	1–1
Newcastle United	0–2	3–2	3–2	0–0	1–0	2–2	4–1	1–1	3–0	0–0	1–0	2–2	2–2	1–0		5–1	2–0	1–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	3–0
Norwich City	1–3	1–1	1–0	2–1	3–0	0–0	2–1	0–1	1–2	3–2	2–1	0–2	2–1	1–0	3–2		2–0	1–1	2–2	1–3	1–0	1–0
Queens Park Rangers	2–1	2–1	2–2	0–1	1–1	1–1	0–4	1–0	0–0	3–2	1–1	0–0	4–0	3–0	1–2	2–3		2–0	2–0	2–1	1–0	1–1
Stoke City	1–1	1–0	1–0	2–2	2–0	1–0	0–1	2–1	2–1	0–1	0–0	0–2	3–3	3–1	0–0	0–0	1–0		0–0	0–0	0–2	2–1
Sunderland	2–2	0–1	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–1	0–1	1–0	0–1	0–0	0–1	0–2	2–1	4–0	2–2	0–1	1–0	0–0		2–1	6–1	6–0
Tottenham Hotspur	2–2	3–1	1–0	0–1	0–1	0–0	3–3	1–0	1–0	2–0	1–0	2–2	1–3	0–0	0–2	1–1	3–0	2–0	1–1		0–2	2–1
West Bromwich Albion	0–2	1–1	2–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	3–0	4–0	1–2	2–2	0–1	0–2	4–0	2–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	3–1	2–3	4–2		3–0
West Ham United	0–2	0–1	2–2	2–0	2–0	2–2	2–2	0–2	1–3	0–0	2–0	1–0	4–2	0–1	1–2	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	5–3	0–0

Source: Ian Laschke: Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79. Macdonald and Jane’s, London & Sydney, 1980.
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GD	Pts	Notes
1	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	15	3	3	48	21	7	10	4	36	24	84	45	+39	57
2	Chelsea	42	15	6	0	51	22	6	7	8	22	31	73	53	+20	55
3	Nottingham Forest	42	14	3	4	53	22	7	7	7	24	21	77	43	+34	52
4	Bolton Wanderers	42	15	2	4	46	21	5	9	7	29	33	75	54	+21	51
5	Blackpool	42	11	7	3	29	17	6	10	5	29	25	58	42	+16	51
6	Luton Town	42	13	5	3	39	17	8	1	12	28	31	67	48	+19	48
7	Charlton Athletic	42	14	5	2	52	27	2	11	8	19	31	71	58	+13	48
8	Notts County	42	11	5	5	29	20	8	5	8	36	40	65	60	+5	48
9	Southampton	42	12	6	3	40	24	5	4	12	32	43	72	67	+5	44
10	Millwall	42	9	6	6	31	22	6	7	8	26	31	57	53	+4	43
11	Sheffield United	42	9	8	4	32	25	5	4	12	22	38	54	63	–9	40
12	Blackburn Rovers	42	12	4	5	31	18	3	5	13	11	36	42	54	–12	39
13	Oldham Athletic	42	11	6	4	37	23	3	4	14	15	41	52	64	–12	38
14	Hull City	42	9	8	4	31	17	1	9	11	14	36	45	53	–8	37
15	Bristol Rovers	42	8	9	4	32	27	4	4	13	21	41	53	68	–15	37
16	Burnley	42	8	9	4	27	20	3	5	13	19	44	46	64	–18	36
17	Fulham	42	9	7	5	39	25	2	6	13	15	36	54	61	–7	35
18	Cardiff City	42	7	6	8	30	30	5	4	12	26	37	56	67	–11	34	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1977–78 First round ^{[notes2 1]}
19	Orient	42	4	8	9	18	23	5	8	8	19	32	37	55	–18	34
20	Carlisle United	42	7	7	7	31	33	4	5	12	18	42	49	75	–26	34
21	Plymouth Argyle	42	5	9	7	27	25	3	7	11	19	40	46	65	–19	32
22	Hereford United	42	6	9	6	28	30	2	6	13	29	48	57	78	–21	31

Key
	Division Champions, promoted
	Promoted
	Qualified for Cup Winners' Cup
	Relegated

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GD	Pts	Notes
1	Mansfield Town	46	17	6	0	52	13	11	2	10	26	29	78	42	+36	64
2	Brighton & Hove Albion	46	19	3	1	63	14	6	8	9	20	26	83	40	+43	61
3	Crystal Palace	46	17	5	1	46	15	6	8	9	22	25	68	40	+28	59
4	Rotherham United	46	11	9	3	30	15	11	6	6	39	29	69	44	+25	59
5	Wrexham	46	15	6	2	47	22	9	4	10	33	32	80	54	+26	58
6	Preston North End	46	15	4	4	48	21	6	8	9	16	22	64	43	+21	54
7	Bury	46	15	2	6	41	21	8	6	9	23	38	64	59	+5	54
8	Sheffield Wednesday	46	15	4	4	39	18	7	5	11	26	37	65	55	+10	53
9	Lincoln City	46	12	9	2	50	30	7	5	11	27	40	77	70	+7	52
10	Shrewsbury Town	46	13	7	3	40	21	5	4	14	25	38	65	59	+6	47	^{[notes3 1]}
11	Swindon Town	46	12	6	5	48	33	3	9	11	20	42	68	75	–7	45
12	Gillingham	46	11	8	4	31	21	5	4	14	24	43	55	64	–9	44
13	Chester	46	14	3	6	28	20	4	5	14	20	38	48	58	–10	44
14	Tranmere Rovers	46	10	7	6	31	23	3	10	10	20	30	51	53	–2	43
15	Walsall	46	8	7	8	39	32	5	8	10	18	33	57	65	–8	41
16	Peterborough United	46	11	4	8	33	28	2	11	10	22	37	55	65	–10	41
17	Oxford United	46	9	8	6	34	29	3	7	13	21	36	55	65	–10	39
18	Chesterfield	46	10	6	7	30	20	4	4	15	26	44	56	64	–8	38
19	Port Vale	46	9	7	7	29	28	2	9	12	18	43	47	71	–24	38
20	Portsmouth	46	8	9	6	28	26	3	5	15	25	44	53	70	–17	36
21	Reading	46	10	5	8	29	24	3	4	16	20	49	49	73	–24	35
22	Northampton Town	46	9	4	10	33	29	4	4	15	27	46	60	75	–15	34
23	Grimsby Town	46	10	6	7	29	22	2	3	18	16	47	45	69	–24	33
24	York City	46	7	8	8	25	34	3	4	16	25	55	50	89	–39	32

Key
	Division Champions, promoted
	Promoted
	Welsh Cup winners, not qualified for Cup Winners' Cup
	Relegated

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Cambridge United	46	16	5	2	57	18	10	8	5	30	22	87	40	+47	65
2	Exeter City	46	17	5	1	40	13	8	7	8	30	33	70	46	+24	62
3	Colchester United	46	19	2	2	51	14	6	7	10	26	29	77	43	+34	59
4	Bradford City	46	16	7	0	51	18	7	6	10	27	33	78	51	+27	59
5	Swansea City	46	18	3	2	60	30	7	5	11	32	38	92	68	+24	58
6	Barnsley	46	16	5	2	45	18	7	4	12	17	21	62	39	+23	55
7	Watford	46	15	7	1	46	13	3	8	12	21	37	67	50	+17	51
8	Doncaster Rovers	46	16	2	5	47	25	5	7	11	24	40	71	65	+6	51
9	Huddersfield Town	46	15	5	3	36	15	4	7	12	24	34	60	49	+11	50
10	Southend United	46	11	9	3	35	19	4	10	9	17	26	52	45	+7	49
11	Darlington	46	13	5	5	37	25	5	8	10	22	39	59	64	–5	49
12	Crewe Alexandra	46	16	6	1	36	15	3	5	15	11	45	47	60	–13	49
13	Bournemouth	46	13	8	2	39	13	2	10	11	15	31	54	44	+10	48
14	Stockport County	46	10	10	3	29	19	3	9	11	24	38	53	57	–4	45
15	Brentford	46	14	3	6	48	27	4	4	15	29	49	77	76	+1	43
16	Torquay United	46	12	5	6	33	22	5	4	14	26	45	59	67	–8	43
17	Aldershot	46	10	8	5	29	19	6	3	14	20	40	49	59	–10	43
18	Rochdale	46	8	7	8	32	25	5	5	13	18	34	50	59	–9	38
19	Newport County	46	11	6	6	33	21	3	4	16	9	37	42	58	–16	38
20	Scunthorpe United	46	11	6	6	32	24	2	5	16	17	49	49	73	–24	37
21	Halifax Town	46	11	6	6	36	18	0	8	15	11	40	47	58	–11	36
22	Hartlepool	46	8	9	6	30	20	2	3	18	17	53	47	73	–26	32
23	Southport	46	3	12	8	17	28	0	7	16	16	49	33	77	–44	25
24	Workington	46	3	7	13	23	42	1	4	18	18	60	41	102	–61	19

Key
	Division Champions, promoted
	Promoted
	New club in the league (none)
	Re-elected
	Failed re-election

1976–77 Football League

First Division

Second Division

Third Division

Fourth Division

Final league tables and results

First Division

First Division results

First Division maps

Second Division

Second Division results

Second Division maps

Third Division

Third Division results

Third Division maps

Fourth Division

Fourth Division results

Fourth Division maps

See also

References