England was losing ground and the reasons were largely three: many clubs experienced financial difficulties and that was the biggest one. The second was frequent squad changes – traditionally, England had more transfer options than most European countries, but now shortage of cash increased the changes during the season. This created some confusion – when looking back it is often difficult to properly place a team photo in time. Which squad represented particular season is often tough guessing work. The third reason was international football – England lost its edge and lagged behind for quite some time, compensating with exciting domestic championship. But now the focus was moving towards Italy, which was rapidly buying the best players in the world. To say England was going down may be harsh – English clubs still dominated the European tournaments. Liverpool was arguably the best club in the world. In the same time the national team was constant disappointment, English football neglected to adopt the newest developments in the game, foreign players were still looked upon with suspicion, even hostility, so they rarely had the chance to influence the British game. No foreign coaches were even considered – instead, English clubs thought modernizing the game by introducing young local coaches. ‘Playing-coach’ was old and well established feature of British football, but at this time there were much more playing-coaches than usual. The results were not all that great, though.
Negative trends – and to them the failures of some traditional powerhouses must be added – were counter-balanced by domination in the European Champions Cup and the rise of Tottenham Hotspurs and, surprisingly, of Watford. The coming of the underdog was marked a few years back by the sudden leap forward of West Bromwich Albion, followed by Swansea Town, now Watford, and the remarkable climb out of obscurity to the top of Wimbledon just started. England also firmly established – the only leading innovation of British football since 1966 – the system of 3 points for a win and 1 for a tie. It worked, because it rewarded attacking football and winning, and soon became the staple we are familiar with.
And, of course, only in England 4th Division football attracted interest and coverage. But 4th Division is 4th Division…
Teams like Northampton Town inhabited the league. They were 15th.
Chester finished a bit better – 13th.
Mansfield Town – 10th. Apart from local interest, the lowest professional division was interesting only at the top – which clubs get promotion. This season they were:
Scunthorpe United – 4th with 83 points.
Port Vale – 3rd with 88 points.
Hull City – 2nd with 90 points.
Wimbledon won the league with 98 points. Back: John Leslie, Paul Fishenden, Doug Hatcher, Alan Cork, Steve Ketteridge.
Middle: Alan Gillett (Assistant Manager), Mark Morris, Glyn Hodges, Steve Jones, Dave Beasant, Stewart Evans, Mick Smith, Tony Tagg, Derek French (Physio), Dave Bassett (Manager).
Front: Chris Dibble, Wayne Entwistle, Steve Galliers, Gary Peters, Dean Thomas, Wally Downes, Kevin Gage.
At this point nobody paid much attention – 4th Division champions, wonderful, going up to Third Division, well done, who are Wimbledon? But in 1986 many had to look back to this victory, saying ‘Aha, it started this very year’. Apart from winning the championship, Wimbledon scored most goals in English professional football this season – 96. Liverpool was second with 87 goals.