1985–86 Football League

The Football League
Season	1985–86
Champions	Liverpool
← 1984–85 1986–87 →

The 1985–1986 season was the 87th completed season of The Football League.

Season Overview

First Division

In a close three horse race, Liverpool F.C. pipped Everton F.C. and West Ham United to the First Division title, while also defeating Everton F.C. in the F.A. Cup Final, thereby completing an historic double.

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] with home and away statistics separated.

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	1985–86
Champions	Liverpool (16th English title)
Relegated	Birmingham City Ipswich Town West Bromwich Albion
FA Cup winners	Liverpool (3rd FA Cup title)
European Cup 1986–87	No qualifications ^{[notes 1]}^[3]
European Cup Winners' Cup 1986–87	No qualifications^{[notes 1]}
UEFA Cup 1986–87	No qualifications^{[notes 1]}
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1288 (2.79 per match)
Top goalscorer	Gary Lineker (Everton), 30 ^[4]
Biggest home win	West Ham United – Newcastle United 8–1 (21 Apr 1986); Luton Town – Southampton 7–0 (19 Oct 1985)
Biggest away win	Sheffield Wednesday – Everton 1–5 (3 Sep 1985); West Brom – Manchester United 1–5 (21 Sep 1985); Chelsea – Watford 1–5 (5 May 1986); Chelsea – West Ham 0–4 (29 Mar 1986)
Highest scoring	West Ham United –Newcastle United 8–1 (21 Apr 1986)
Longest winning run	Manchester United (10 games)
Longest unbeaten run	West Ham United (18 games)
Longest losing run	West Bromwich Albion (9 games)
← 1984–85 1986–87 →

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GD	Pts	Notes
1	Liverpool	42	16	4	1	58	14	10	6	5	31	23	89	37	+52	88	Excluded from the European Cup 1986–87^[3] ^{[notes 1]} ^{[notes 2]}
2	Everton	42	16	3	2	54	18	10	5	6	33	23	87	41	+46	86	Excluded from the 1986–87 European Cup Winners' Cup^{[notes 1]} ^{[notes 3]}
3	West Ham United	42	17	2	2	48	16	9	4	8	26	24	74	40	+34	84	Excluded from the UEFA Cup 1986–87^{[notes 1]}
4	Manchester United	42	12	5	4	35	12	10	5	6	35	24	70	36	+34	76	Excluded from the UEFA Cup 1986–87^{[notes 1]}
5	Sheffield Wednesday	42	13	6	2	36	23	8	4	9	27	31	63	54	+9	73	Excluded from the UEFA Cup 1986–87^{[notes 1]}
6	Chelsea	42	12	4	5	32	27	8	7	6	25	29	57	56	+1	71
7	Arsenal	42	13	5	3	29	15	7	4	10	20	32	49	47	+2	69
8	Nottingham Forest	42	11	5	5	38	25	8	6	7	31	28	69	53	+16	68
9	Luton Town	42	12	6	3	37	15	6	6	9	24	29	61	44	+17	66
10	Tottenham Hotspur	42	12	2	7	47	25	7	6	8	27	27	74	52	+22	65
11	Newcastle United	42	12	5	4	46	31	5	7	9	21	41	67	72	–5	63
12	Watford	42	11	6	4	40	22	5	5	11	29	40	69	62	+7	59
13	Queens Park Rangers	42	12	3	6	33	20	3	4	14	20	44	53	64	–11	52
14	Southampton	42	10	6	5	32	18	2	4	15	19	44	51	62	–11	46
15	Manchester City	42	7	7	7	25	26	4	5	12	18	31	43	57	–14	45
16	Aston Villa	42	7	6	8	27	28	3	8	10	24	39	51	67	–16	44
17	Coventry City	42	6	5	10	31	35	5	5	11	17	36	48	71	–23	43
18	Oxford United	42	7	7	7	34	27	3	5	13	28	53	62	80	–18	42	Excluded from the UEFA Cup 1986–87^{[notes 1]} ^{[notes 4]}
19	Leicester City	42	7	8	6	35	35	3	4	14	19	41	54	76	–22	42
20	Ipswich Town	42	8	5	8	20	24	3	3	15	12	31	32	55	–23	41
21	Birmingham City	42	5	2	14	13	25	3	3	15	17	48	30	73	–43	29
22	West Bromwich Albion	42	3	8	10	21	36	1	4	16	14	53	35	89	–54	24

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

↑ English teams were banned by UEFA from its competitions from the season 1985–86 on until the season 1990–91 because of the Heysel Disaster in 1985, involving Liverpool fans.
↑ Liverpool won the 1986 FA Cup as well.
↑ Everton were the runners-up in the FA Cup, and Liverpool having won the Double, they should have claimed a place in the European Cup Winners' Cup.
↑ Oxford United were the 1986 League Cup winners and claimed what should have been a UEFA Cup 1984–85 spot.

Key
	League Champions, excluded from the European Cup
	FA Cup runners-up, but excluded from the Cup Winners' Cup
	UEFA Cup spot, but excluded
	League Cup winners, excluded from UEFA Cup
	Relegated

First Division results

Home ╲ Away^[1]	ARS	AST	BIR	CHE	COV	EVE	IPS	LEI	LIV	LUT	MCI	MUN	NEW	NOT	OXF	QPR	SHW	SOU	TOT	WAT	WBA	WHU
Arsenal		3–2	0–0	2–0	3–0	0–1	1–0	1–0	2–0	2–1	1–0	1–2	0–0	1–1	2–1	3–1	1–0	3–2	0–0	0–2	2–2	1–0
Aston Villa	1–4		0–3	3–1	1–1	0–0	1–0	1–0	2–2	3–1	0–1	1–3	1–2	1–2	2–0	1–2	1–1	0–0	1–2	4–1	1–1	2–1
Birmingham City	0–1	0–0		1–2	0–1	0–2	0–1	2–1	0–2	0–2	1–0	1–1	0–1	0–1	3–1	2–0	0–2	0–2	1–2	1–2	0–1	1–0
Chelsea	2–1	2–1	2–0		1–0	2–1	1–1	2–2	0–1	1–0	1–0	1–2	1–1	4–2	1–4	1–1	2–1	2–0	2–0	1–5	3–0	0–4
Coventry City	0–2	3–3	4–4	1–1		1–3	0–1	3–0	0–3	1–0	1–1	1–3	1–2	0–0	5–2	2–1	0–1	3–2	2–3	0–2	3–0	0–1
Everton	6–1	2–0	4–1	1–1	1–1		1–0	1–2	2–3	2–0	4–0	3–1	1–0	1–1	2–0	4–3	3–1	6–1	1–0	4–1	2–0	3–1
Ipswich Town	1–2	0–3	0–1	0–2	1–0	3–4		0–2	2–1	1–1	0–0	0–1	2–2	1–0	3–2	1–0	2–1	1–1	1–0	0–0	1–0	0–1
Leicester City	2–2	3–1	4–2	0–0	2–1	3–1	1–0		0–2	0–0	1–1	3–0	2–0	0–3	4–4	1–4	2–3	2–2	1–4	2–2	2–2	0–1
Liverpool	2–0	3–0	5–0	1–1	5–0	0–2	5–0	1–0		3–2	2–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	6–0	4–1	2–2	1–0	4–1	3–1	4–1	3–1
Luton Town	2–2	2–0	2–0	1–1	0–1	2–1	1–0	3–1	0–1		2–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–2	2–0	1–0	7–0	1–1	3–2	3–0	0–0
Manchester City	0–1	2–2	1–1	0–1	5–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–1		0–3	1–0	1–2	0–3	2–0	1–3	1–0	2–1	0–1	2–1	2–2
Manchester United	0–1	4–0	1–0	1–2	2–0	0–0	1–0	4–0	1–1	2–0	2–2		3–0	2–3	3–0	2–0	0–2	1–0	0–0	1–1	3–0	2–0
Newcastle United	1–0	2–2	4–1	1–3	3–2	2–2	3–1	2–1	1–0	2–2	3–1	2–4		0–3	3–0	3–1	4–1	2–1	2–2	1–1	4–1	1–2
Nottingham Forest	3–2	1–1	3–0	0–0	5–2	0–0	3–1	4–3	1–1	2–0	0–2	1–3	1–2		1–1	4–0	0–1	2–1	0–1	3–2	2–1	2–1
Oxford United	3–0	1–1	0–1	2–1	0–1	1–0	4–3	5–0	2–2	1–1	1–0	1–3	1–2	1–2		3–3	0–1	3–0	1–1	1–1	2–2	1–2
Queens Park Rangers	0–1	0–1	3–1	6–0	0–2	3–0	1–0	2–0	2–1	1–1	0–0	1–0	3–1	2–1	3–1		1–1	0–2	2–5	2–1	1–0	0–1
Sheffield Wednesday	2–0	2–0	5–1	1–1	2–2	1–5	1–0	1–0	0–0	3–2	3–2	1–0	2–2	2–1	2–1	0–0		2–1	1–2	2–1	1–0	2–2
Southampton	3–0	0–0	1–0	0–1	1–1	2–3	1–0	0–0	1–2	1–2	3–0	1–0	1–1	3–1	1–1	3–0	2–3		1–0	3–1	3–1	1–1
Tottenham Hotspur	1–0	4–2	2–0	4–1	0–1	0–1	2–0	1–3	1–2	1–3	0–2	0–0	5–1	0–3	5–1	1–1	5–1	5–3		4–0	5–0	1–0
Watford	3–0	1–1	3–0	3–1	3–0	0–2	0–0	2–1	2–3	1–2	3–2	1–1	4–1	1–1	2–2	2–0	2–1	1–1	1–0		5–1	0–2
West Bromwich Albion	0–0	0–3	2–1	0–3	0–0	0–3	1–2	2–2	1–2	1–2	2–3	1–5	1–1	1–1	1–1	0–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	3–1		2–3
West Ham United	0–0	4–1	2–0	1–2	1–0	2–1	2–1	3–0	2–2	0–1	1–0	2–1	8–1	4–2	3–1	3–1	1–0	1–0	2–1	2–1	4–0

Source:
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

First Division maps

Locations of the Football League First Division 1985–1986 teams

Locations of the Football League First Division London teams 1985–1986

Second Division

Football League, Second Division
Season	1985–86
Champions	Norwich City (2nd title)
Promoted	Charlton Athletic, Wimbledon
Relegated	Carlisle United, Fulham, Middlesbrough
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1264 (2.74 per match)
Top goalscorer	Kevin Drinkell (Norwich City), 22 ^[4]
← 1984–85 1986–87 →

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Norwich City	42	16	4	1	51	15	9	5	7	33	22	84	37	+47	84
2	Charlton Athletic	42	14	5	2	44	15	8	6	7	34	30	78	45	+33	77
3	Wimbledon	42	13	6	2	38	16	8	7	6	20	21	58	37	+21	76
4	Portsmouth	42	13	4	4	43	17	9	3	9	26	24	69	41	+28	73
5	Crystal Palace	42	12	3	6	29	22	7	6	8	28	30	57	52	+5	66
6	Hull City	42	11	7	3	39	19	6	6	9	26	36	65	55	+10	64
7	Sheffield United	42	10	7	4	36	24	7	4	10	28	39	64	63	+1	62
8	Oldham Athletic	42	13	4	4	40	28	4	5	12	22	33	62	61	+1	60
9	Millwall	42	12	3	6	39	24	5	5	11	25	41	64	65	–1	59
10	Stoke City	42	8	11	2	29	16	6	4	11	19	34	48	50	–2	57
11	Brighton & Hove Albion	42	10	5	6	42	30	6	3	12	22	34	64	64	+0	56
12	Barnsley	42	9	6	6	29	26	5	8	8	18	24	47	50	–3	56
13	Bradford City	42	14	1	6	36	24	2	5	14	15	39	51	63	–12	54
14	Leeds United	42	9	7	5	30	22	6	1	14	26	50	56	72	–16	53
15	Grimsby Town	42	11	4	6	35	24	3	6	12	23	38	58	62	–4	52
16	Huddersfield Town	42	10	6	5	30	23	4	4	13	21	44	51	67	–16	52
17	Shrewsbury Town	42	11	5	5	29	20	3	4	14	23	44	52	64	–12	51
18	Sunderland	42	10	5	6	33	29	3	6	12	14	32	47	61	–14	50
19	Blackburn Rovers	42	10	4	7	30	20	2	9	10	23	42	53	62	–9	49
20	Carlisle United	42	10	2	9	30	28	3	5	13	17	43	47	71	–24	46
21	Middlesbrough	42	8	6	7	26	23	4	3	14	18	30	44	53	–9	45
22	Fulham	42	8	3	10	29	32	2	3	16	16	37	45	69	–24	36

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

Key
	Division Champions, promoted
	Promoted
	Relegated

Second Division results

Home ╲ Away^[1]	BAR	BLB	BRA	BHA	CRL	CHA	CRY	FUL	GRI	HUD	HUL	LEE	MID	MIL	NOR	OLD	POR	SHU	SHR	STK	SUN	WDN
Barnsley		1–1	2–2	3–2	1–2	2–1	2–4	2–0	1–0	1–3	1–4	3–0	0–0	2–1	2–2	1–0	0–1	2–1	2–0	0–0	1–1	0–1
Blackburn Rovers	0–3		3–0	1–4	2–0	0–0	1–2	1–0	3–1	0–1	2–2	2–0	0–1	1–2	2–1	0–0	1–0	6–1	1–1	0–1	2–0	2–0
Bradford City	2–0	3–2		3–2	1–0	1–2	1–0	3–1	0–1	3–0	4–2	0–1	2–1	0–2	0–2	1–0	2–1	1–4	3–1	3–1	2–0	1–1
Brighton & Hove Albion	0–1	3–1	2–1		6–1	3–5	2–0	2–3	2–2	4–3	3–1	0–1	3–3	1–0	1–1	1–1	2–3	0–0	0–2	2–0	3–1	2–0
Carlisle United	1–1	2–1	1–2	2–0		2–3	2–2	2–1	1–2	2–0	2–1	1–2	1–0	1–0	0–4	3–1	0–1	1–0	0–2	3–0	1–2	2–3
Charlton Athletic	2–1	3–0	1–1	2–2	3–0		3–1	2–0	2–0	3–0	1–2	4–0	2–0	3–3	1–0	1–1	1–2	2–0	4–1	2–0	2–1	0–0
Crystal Palace	1–0	2–0	2–1	1–0	1–1	2–1		0–0	2–1	2–3	0–2	3–0	2–1	2–1	1–2	3–2	2–1	1–1	0–1	0–1	1–0	1–3
Fulham	2–0	3–3	4–1	1–0	0–1	0–3	2–3		2–1	2–1	1–1	3–1	0–3	1–2	0–1	2–2	0–1	2–3	2–1	1–0	1–2	0–2
Grimsby Town	1–2	5–2	2–0	0–2	1–0	2–2	3–0	1–0		1–1	0–1	1–0	3–2	5–1	1–0	1–4	1–0	0–1	3–1	3–3	1–1	0–1
Huddersfield Town	1–1	0–0	2–0	1–0	3–3	0–2	0–0	1–3	2–2		2–1	3–1	0–3	4–3	0–0	2–0	1–2	3–1	1–0	2–0	2–0	0–1
Hull City	0–1	2–2	1–0	2–0	4–0	1–1	1–2	5–0	2–0	3–1		2–1	0–0	3–0	1–0	4–2	2–2	0–0	4–3	0–2	1–1	1–1
Leeds United	0–2	1–1	2–1	2–3	2–0	1–2	1–3	1–0	1–1	2–0	1–1		1–0	3–1	0–2	3–1	2–1	1–1	1–1	4–0	1–1	0–0
Middlesbrough	0–0	0–0	1–1	0–1	1–3	1–3	0–2	1–0	3–1	0–1	1–2	2–2		3–0	1–1	3–2	1–0	1–2	3–1	1–1	2–0	1–0
Millwall	2–2	0–1	2–1	0–1	3–1	2–2	3–2	1–1	1–0	2–1	5–0	3–1	3–0		4–2	0–1	0–4	3–0	2–0	2–3	1–0	0–1
Norwich City	1–1	3–0	0–0	3–0	2–1	3–1	4–3	2–1	3–2	4–1	2–0	4–0	2–0	6–1		1–0	2–0	4–0	3–1	1–1	0–0	1–2
Oldham Athletic	1–1	3–1	0–1	4–0	2–1	2–1	2–0	2–1	2–1	1–1	3–1	3–1	1–0	0–0	1–3		2–0	1–5	4–3	2–4	2–2	2–1
Portsmouth	1–1	3–0	4–0	1–2	4–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	3–1	4–1	1–1	2–3	1–0	2–1	2–0	1–2		0–3	4–0	3–0	3–0	1–1
Sheffield United	3–1	3–3	3–1	3–0	1–0	1–1	0–0	2–1	1–1	1–1	3–1	3–2	0–1	1–3	2–5	2–0	0–0		1–1	1–2	1–0	4–0
Shrewsbury Town	3–0	2–0	2–0	2–1	0–0	2–1	0–2	2–1	0–2	3–0	0–0	1–3	2–1	1–1	0–3	2–0	1–1	3–1		1–0	1–2	1–1
Stoke City	0–0	2–2	3–1	1–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	1–0	1–1	3–0	0–1	6–2	3–2	0–0	1–1	2–0	2–0	1–3	2–2		1–0	0–0
Sunderland	2–0	0–2	1–1	2–1	2–2	1–2	1–1	4–2	3–3	1–0	1–1	4–2	1–0	1–2	0–2	0–3	1–3	2–1	2–0	2–0		2–1
Wimbledon	1–0	1–1	1–0	0–0	4–1	3–1	1–1	1–0	3–0	2–2	3–1	0–3	3–0	1–1	2–1	0–0	1–3	5–0	2–1	1–0	3–0

Source:
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second Division maps

Bradford City

Huddersfield

Locations of the Football League Second Division 1985–1986 teams

Locations of the Football League Second Division London teams 1985–1986

Third Division

Football League, Third Division
Season	1985–86
Champions	Reading (1st title)
Promoted	Derby County, Plymouth Argyle
Relegated	Cardiff City, Lincoln City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Swansea City
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1550 (2.81 per match)
Top goalscorer	Trevor Senior (Reading), 27 ^[4]
← 1984–85 1986–87 →

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Reading	46	16	3	4	39	22	13	4	6	28	29	67	51	+16	94
2	Plymouth Argyle	46	17	3	3	56	20	9	6	8	32	33	88	53	+35	87
3	Derby County	46	13	7	3	45	20	10	8	5	35	21	80	41	+39	84
4	Wigan Athletic	46	17	4	2	54	17	6	10	7	28	31	82	48	+34	83
5	Gillingham	46	14	5	4	48	17	8	8	7	33	37	81	54	+27	79
6	Walsall	46	15	7	1	59	23	7	2	14	31	41	90	64	+26	75
7	York City	46	16	4	3	49	17	4	7	12	28	41	77	58	+19	71
8	Notts County	46	12	6	5	42	26	7	8	8	29	34	71	60	+11	71
9	Bristol City	46	14	5	4	43	19	4	9	10	26	41	69	60	+9	68
10	Brentford	46	8	8	7	29	29	10	4	9	29	32	58	61	–3	66
11	Doncaster Rovers	46	7	10	6	20	21	9	6	8	25	31	45	52	–7	64
12	Blackpool	46	11	6	6	38	19	6	6	11	28	36	66	55	+11	63
13	Darlington	46	10	7	6	39	33	5	6	12	22	45	61	78	–17	58
14	Rotherham United	46	13	5	5	44	18	2	7	14	17	41	61	59	+2	57
15	Bournemouth	46	9	6	8	41	31	6	3	14	24	41	65	72	–7	54
16	Bristol Rovers	46	9	8	6	27	21	5	4	14	24	54	51	75	–24	54
17	Chesterfield	46	10	6	7	41	30	3	8	12	20	34	61	64	–3	53
18	Bolton Wanderers	46	10	4	9	35	30	5	4	14	19	38	54	68	–14	53
19	Newport County	46	7	8	8	35	33	4	10	9	17	32	52	65	–13	51
20	Bury	46	11	7	5	46	26	1	6	16	17	41	63	67	–4	49
21	Lincoln City	46	7	9	7	33	34	3	7	13	22	43	55	77	–22	46
22	Cardiff City	46	7	5	11	22	29	5	4	14	31	54	53	83	–30	45
23	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46	6	6	11	29	47	5	4	14	28	51	57	98	–41	43
24	Swansea City	46	9	6	8	27	27	2	4	17	16	60	43	87	–44	43

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

Key
	Division Champions, promoted
	Promoted
	Relegated

Third Division maps

Newport Co.

Swansea City

Wolverhampton Wanderers

York City

Locations of the Football League Third Division teams 1985–1986

Brentford

Locations of the Football League Third Division London teams 1985–1986

Fourth Division

Football League, Fourth Division
Season	1985–86
Champions	Swindon Town (1st title)
Promoted	Chester City, Mansfield Town, Port Vale
Failed re-election	None
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1576 (2.86 per match)
Top goalscorer	Steve Taylor (Rochdale), 25 Richard Cadette (Southend United), 25 ^[4]
← 1984–85 1986–87 →

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GD	Pts	Notes
1	Swindon Town	46	20	2	1	52	19	12	4	7	30	24	82	43	+39	102
2	Chester City	46	15	5	3	44	16	8	10	5	39	34	83	50	+33	84
3	Mansfield Town	46	13	8	2	43	17	10	4	9	31	30	74	47	+27	81
4	Port Vale	46	13	9	1	42	11	8	7	8	25	26	67	37	+30	79
5	Orient	46	11	6	6	39	21	9	6	8	40	43	79	64	+15	72
6	Colchester United	46	12	6	5	51	22	7	7	9	37	41	88	63	+25	70
7	Hartlepool United	46	15	6	2	41	20	5	4	14	27	47	68	67	+1	70
8	Northampton Town	46	9	7	7	44	29	9	3	11	35	29	79	58	+21	64
9	Southend United	46	13	4	6	43	27	5	6	12	26	40	69	67	+2	64
10	Hereford United	46	15	6	2	55	30	3	4	16	19	43	74	73	+1	64
11	Stockport County	46	9	9	5	35	28	8	4	11	28	43	63	71	–8	64
12	Crewe Alexandra	46	10	6	7	35	26	8	3	12	19	35	54	61	–7	63
13	Wrexham	46	11	5	7	34	24	6	4	13	34	56	68	80	–12	60	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1986–87 First round ^{[notes2 1]}
14	Burnley	46	11	3	9	35	30	5	8	10	25	35	60	65	–5	59
15	Scunthorpe United	46	11	7	5	33	23	4	7	12	17	32	50	55	–5	59
16	Aldershot	46	12	5	6	45	25	5	2	16	21	49	66	74	–8	58
17	Peterborough United	46	9	11	3	31	19	4	6	13	21	45	52	64	–12	56
18	Rochdale	46	12	7	4	41	29	2	6	15	16	48	57	77	–20	55
19	Tranmere Rovers	46	9	1	13	46	41	6	8	9	28	32	74	73	+1	54
20	Halifax Town	46	10	8	5	35	27	4	4	15	25	44	60	71	–11	54
21	Exeter City	46	10	4	9	26	25	3	11	9	21	34	47	59	–12	54
22	Cambridge United	46	12	2	9	45	38	3	7	13	20	42	65	80	–15	54
23	Preston North End	46	7	4	12	32	41	4	6	13	22	48	54	89	–35	43
24	Torquay United	46	8	5	10	29	32	1	5	17	14	56	43	88	–45	37

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

↑ Wrexham were Welsh Cup winners and thus qualified for the European Cup Winners' Cup and also participated in the competition, unlike the English sides.

Key
	Division Champions, promoted
	Promoted
	Welsh Cup winners, qualified for Cup Winners' Cup
	New club in the league (none)
	Re-elected
	Failed re-election (none)

Election/Re-election to the Football League

As winners of the Alliance Premier League, Enfield won the right to apply for election to the Football League to replace one of the four bottom sides in the 1985–86 Football League Fourth Division. The vote went as follows:

Club	Final Position	Votes
Exeter City	21st (Fourth Division)	64
Preston North End	23rd (Fourth Division)	62.5
Cambridge United	22nd (Fourth Division)	61
Torquay United	24th (Fourth Division)	61
Enfield	1st (Alliance Premier League)	7.5

As a result of this, all four Football League teams were re-elected, and Enfield were denied membership of the Football League. This was the last season where teams who won the Conference National had to apply for election to the Football League; from the 1986–87 season the winning team was automatically promoted, provided that they met the criteria set by the Football League.

References

↑ "England 1985–86". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Archived from the original on 27 January 2010. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
↑ Ian Laschke: Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79. Macdonald and Jane’s, London & Sydney, 1980.
↑ 3.0 3.1 English teams were banned by UEFA from its competitions from the season 1985–86 on until the season 1990–91 because of the Heysel Disaster in 1985, involving
Liverpool fans.
↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "English League Leading Goalscorers". RSSSF. Retrieved 2010-10-31.

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

External links

1985-86 League Tables

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1985–86 in English football

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First Division	Arsenal Aston Villa Birmingham City Chelsea Coventry City Everton Ipswich Town Leicester City Liverpool Luton Town Manchester City Manchester United Newcastle United Nottingham Forest Oxford United Queens Park Rangers Sheffield Wednesday Southampton Tottenham Hotspur Watford West Bromwich Albion West Ham United

Second Division	Barnsley Blackburn Rovers Bradford City Brighton & Hove Albion Carlisle United Charlton Athletic Crystal Palace Fulham Grimsby Town Huddersfield Town Hull City Leeds United Middlesbrough Millwall Norwich City Oldham Athletic Portsmouth Sheffield United Shrewsbury Town Stoke City Sunderland Wimbledon

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1985–86 in European football (UEFA)

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Domestic leagues	Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark '85 '86 England Finland '85 '86 France East Germany West Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '85 '86 Italy Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '85 '86 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Scotland Soviet Union '85 '86 Spain Sweden '85 '86 Switzerland Turkey Yugoslavia

Domestic cups	Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark England Finland '85 '86 France East Germany West Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '85 '86 Italy Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '85 '86 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Scotland Soviet Union Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Wales Yugoslavia

League cups	England Republic of Ireland Scotland Soviet Union Spain

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

1985–86 Football League

Season Overview

First Division

Final league tables and results

First Division

First Division results

First Division maps

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Second Division results

Second Division maps

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Third Division maps

Fourth Division

Election/Re-election to the Football League

See also

References

External links