Category: 1984

First Division. 20 teams, as usual. Two automatically relegated, the 18th going to relegation/promotion play-off. If there is anything standing out this season, this is the amazing decline of St. Etienne.

Rennes – last with 23 points. Very weak, but hardly a surprise: Rennes had been relegated before, they had a bit of trouble staying in top flight for long.

Nimes – 19th with 25 points. Their relegation was even less surprising than Rannes’.

St. Etienne – 18th with 30 points. Much stronger than the teams bellow them, but this was hardly a comfort: St. Etienne hit the bottom. The rot was noticed a bit earlier, of course, and the usual measures were taken – the legend Herbin was fired and now Djorkaeff was at the helm, but the team only slipped further down. Whatever it was – lack of money or terrible recruiting – this squad had nothing in common with the one playing at European cup final less than 10 years ago. Even the imported help – the former Polish international Kupcewicz – was of far lesser quality than the foreigners not even of 10 years afo, but only of three years ago. Poor selection and ending in the relegation zone. It was not over yet – St. Etienne still had a chance, if beating the second division pretender, but they lost to Racing Paris and were relegated. Joining the sorry fate of other venerable clubs there – Lyon, Nice, Reims, Marseille (they just climbed up, but were not the team they were years ago).

Brest finished in safety – 17th with 31 points. A close escape, but there was irony in it – modest Brest survived at the expense of mighty St. Etienne.

Another modest club, Toulon, also managed to survive – 16th with 32 points. Standing from left: Duval (entraîneur), Beringuier, Vizcaino, Alfano, Dib, Benedet, Neubert, Perlin, Courbis, Emon, Marc Duval, Riberi, Marc Duval.

First row: Pesce, Verstraete, Boissier, Paganelli, Col, Dalger, Chaussin, N’Kouka, Onnis.

Some old feet never die, though – Delio Onnis, now playing for Toulon, was still the prominent striker – and once again finished the top scorer of the championship. His goals helped the club in its fight for survival a lot.

Nancy – 15th with 32 points. The usual performance more or less.

Rouen – 14th with 34 points. Nothing new here as well.

Lens – 13th with 35 points.

Metz – 12th with 35 points. But they had something better happening.

Bastia – 11th with 36 points. Tarantini was trying to establish himself in Europe again, alas, with the same result as his spell with Birmingham City. Somewhat unlucky guy.

Laval – 10th with 36 points.

Lille – 9th with 37 points.

Strasbourg – 8th with 39 points. The real problem of Strasbourg was age – for years a look at their squad make the impression that such team could do more. Impressive names, but almost always too old already. Even their champion team was too old for keeping longer spell.

Sochaux – 7th with 41 points. Still enjoying their strong spell, but given their resources, that was the best they could do – the club had no means to build really strong team.

Nantes was the last of the leading teams of the 1970s keeping strong: 6th with 45 points. Not a title contender, but remaining solid and at the top of the league. Standing from left: Adonkor, ?, Rio, Halilhodzic, Bossis.

Middle row: Ayache, Baronchelli, Touré, Muller.

Sitting: Poullain, Picot, Bertrand-Demanes, Buscher, Bibard, Amisse.

The squad was a bit short, but good. Nantes needed a few more good players, though – largely because some of the established players were aging.

Toulouse – 5th.

To a point, that was a tempting justification for making another Parisian club strong – Paris SG was not winning. 4th this year with 47 points. Running only for bronze medals. Having the most famous and expensive squad in the country and not even able to challenge the leaders.

Bright and coming Auxerre proved it was not one-time wonder, but clearly was going to stay among the very best. Third this year with 45 points, ahead of Paris SG on better goal-difference. Excellently run by Guy Roux. Cantona was getting his foot in the game, still a young promise.

Monaco – perhaps with stronger squad than the ones winning titles in the previous years, but a bit unlucky. They were favourites entangled in dramatic battle with Bordeaux to the last minute of the championship. And not losing… both rivals finished with 54 points. Bordeaux had stronger defense and may be this was why they finished 2nd on worse goal-difference: stronger defense almost always means weaker strikers.

One may call them lucky and may be they were, but they were also good. Bordeaux clinched the title on better goal-difference after 23 wins, 8 ties, 7 losses, and 72-33 scoring record. Lucky may be, but in the same time their victory was just – Monaco traditionally was jumpy team, unsteadily alternating great seasons with flops. Bordeuax enjoyed very solid spell, the squad was the best in France, the coach was excellent, and there was no mistakes during the transfer periods: good additions were included just in time. By now, they had the closest squad to the great St. Etienne of mid-1970s. Back than the greens had about 16 national team players – Bordeaux presently had Tresor, Battiston, Tigana, Giresse, Lacombe, Tusseau, Girard, Specht, Domenech, Thouvenel, near-national team players like Rohr, Muller, Zenier, and the West German Memering, who made his name with Hamburger SV. Perhaps they needed stronger goalkeeper, but even with what they had, they were the strongest French team and clearly going to lead in the next years.

Group B. 18 teams here, under normal circumstances 3 will be relegated, one going up directly, the second-placed – to promotion/relegation play-offs. One thing must be said in advance: the third mystery of this season. It was almost a repetition of 1970, when the idea of creating a big Parisian club was cooked. Back then conflict with regulations led to two clubs instead of one: Paris FC and Paris St. Germain. Paris FC somehow got the short stick and gradually faded away. So far Paris SG was unable to fulfill the original ambitions. France, along with West Germany, was unique for lacking leading club located in the capital – with time, the old clubs diminished: Stade Francais concentrated on rugby, Red Star lost its power, Racing faded away as well. Paris SG filled the gap to a point and there was the feel that another big club could fill the gap and tap on public craving success. So thought Jean-Luc Lagardere, a wealthy businessman, in 1982 – put money, buy stars, jump-start a big team, make a big club. But which club? And now ill-fated Paris FC came in the picture again: Lagardere thought of merging old Racing with Paris FC, who played in the Second Division. Just by-pass the painful climbing up from lowest divisions and get right to the top at once. But the financial situation of Paris FC was absent and suspicious chairmen of Racing Club de France refused to risk a merger. Lagardere bought Paris FC – and got a debt of more than 4 million francs from the deal. No matter, next step – he renamed Paris FC ‘Paris Racing 1’ , keeping the sky-blue and white colours of Paris FC (oh, at first Paris FC played in red and black, but never mind that – the good news here is sky-blue and white are also the traditional clolours of Racing, how convenient). Then negotiated with the chairmen of Racing Club de France – it was tempting offer: to play in the Second Division. Done! Paris Racing 1 was ‘attached’ to Racing Club de France. That was the professional team of short-lived Paris Racing 1 – the reserves and the youth teams, formerly belonging to Paris FC anyway, were named Paris FC 83 – and included in 4th Division. After all that maneuvering emerged something called Racing Paris, which played in Group B of Second Division in 1983-84. Clear? May be not, but that is all. Kind of all, for soon the name will be different. Presently, Racing Paris was just newcomer, freshly promoted from 3rd Division.

FC Roubaix finished last with 15 points.

Montceau-les-Mines – 17th with 17 points. Along with Roubaix, absolute outsider and relegated, of course.

Red Star (Paris) – 16th with 26 points. Big decline – once upon a time, solid first division club, but now the future looked like 3rd division. However, lucky turn at the end – normally, should have been relegated, but promotion/relegation circumstances between 1st and 2nd division suddenly benefited Red Star and they remained in the second level.

Stade Quimper – 15th with 26 points. Famous player here – the Polish great striker Lubanski. Too old for anything else by now, he was playing his last days in lowly Quimper.

SC Angers – 14th with 26 points.

US Dunkerque – 13th with 27 points.

SC Abbeville – 12th with 28 points.

CS Sedan-Ardennes – 11th with 30 points.

Berrichonne Chateauroux – 10th with 31 points.

Stade Francais (Paris) – another rapidly fading club. Back row : Lamoureux (président), Avisse (directeur sportif), Zaher (entraîneur), Joffre, Hersant, Lacroix, Mauffroy, N’Gouette, Dantheny (entraîneur gardiens), Dussaud (entraîneur).

Middle row: Camus, Govignon, Muscat, Mazzon, Prenveille, Lasséougue, Ferrière, Amelot (masseur).

Crouching: Motz, Harzam, Bouzaglou, Tomasewzki, Martin, Charton, M’Bama.

9th with 33 points.

En Avant Guingamp – 8th with 38 points.

FC Mulhouse – 7th with 38 points. Didier Six here – still national team member!

US Orleans – 6th with 39 points.

US Valenciennes – 5th with 41 points.

Stade Reims – 4th with 45 points. Hard to believe this club played European finals – so far in time and so unlike the present.

AC Le Havre – 3rd with 47 points. Not bad, but not in the race for promotion – just better than the rest of the league.

Racing Paris – 2nd with 52 points. Top row from left:Troch, Muzarelli, Mahmoud, Zagar, Lafargue, Gauthier, Chambo.

Third row: Bonnat (entraîneur adjoint), Carpentier (kinésithérapeute), Zvunka, Ekéké, Bas, Laachi, Renaut, Alain de Martigny (entraîneur), M. Serge Guyot (directeur délégué).

Second row: Oekland, Ben Mabrouck, Sither, Bianchi, Chebel.

Front row: Tihy, Remond, Peltier, Madjer.

They pushed hard, scored most goals, by far – 91; received the least – 26, but at the end it was not quite the envisioned result: second place did not give automatic promotion. And the team was not the mighty squad Lagardere wanted – this vintage was based aging Zvunka, Swedish player Oekland, and the Morocon striker Rabah Madjer – the key player of the team. He was to become European champion, but not with Racing. Early stage of the plan so far and nearly misfiring – but the team got itself together and won the promotion/relegation play-off. Relief. Note the add on the shirts – soon Matra will become part of the name of the club.

FC Tours won the league with 53 points. One point more than Racing did it, but it was also laughing in the face of the newly rich Parisians and their grand ambitions: modest Tours was above them and promoted. Racing was in danger of remaining in Second Division… It was wonderful victory of the underdog – 24 wins, 5 ties, 5 losses, 80-30 goal-difference. And compared to Racing, modest selection – true, there were some former first division players.

That was almost all. Play-offs followed and since statistics are lacking now, it was suffice to say that Racing Paris got what they wanted after prevailing against St. Etienne. Did they played with OGC Nice before that is not even important.

Second Division. 37 teams played here, divided in two groups – A and B. There was constant and mysterious shuffling of teams between the two groups for years. No clear logic could be divined from the movements, though: 13 teams from Group A were moved to group B after the end of the season – the same number was shuffled from B to A. Meaning that only team played consecutively in Group A in 1983-84 and 1984-85, and none in Group B. Practically, the whole group A was named group B for the next season and vice-versa. And that every year. The second mystery involved promotion – the champions of the two groups were directly promoted, no problem here, but there was also a third team – looks like there was a play-off between the second-placed teams in the groups. Yet, it was not direct promotion – there was play-off against the 18th placed in First Division. For some reason statistics omit results and explanation of procedure. And there was a third mystery yet, but it belonged to Group B and will be mentioned in time.

Group A. 19 teams. The group will be evened in the next season, so 4 teams were going to be relegated . This depended on relegation and promotion as well – the group of relegated teams could be bigger or smaller, depending on movements between first and second division.

FCVB Villefranche finished last with 25 points.

AS Angouleme – 18th with 27 points.

FC La Roche-sur-Yon – 17th with 28 points. Wait a minute… They were going down or not? Relegated, yes, but meantime Burg-sous-la-Roche won promotion from 3rd Division. And renamed itself AEPB La Roche-sur-Yon. Was it some amalgamation with the relegated club? Was there any relation at all? Was FC La Roche-sur-Yon actually relegated? Go figure…

AS Libourne – 16th with 29 points. By the rules, they were to be relegated. However, relegation depended on how many teams were promoted from this group to First Division and how many teams came here, relegated from top flight. Unfortunately for AS Libourne, everything went ‘ideally’ and they went down.

AS Beziers -15th with 30 points. They had to fret a little, but since the danger passed away – no larger number of former first division arrived and they were safe. For the moment anyway.

RDFC Besancon – 14th with 30 points. They had to fret during the season, for it was just a fight for survival, but at the end everything was fine, they ended at secure place. Young and unknown yet goalkeeper here: Lama. Almost sinking to Forth Division in the beginning of his career.

FC Gueugnon – 13th with 30 points. Survived.

CS Cuiseaux-Louhans – 12th with 31 points.

FC Sete – not many people remembered by now that Sete was a leading French club years ago. Firm second-division team was the reality for years: 11th with 32 points.

FC Martigues – 10th with 32 points.

CS Thonon – 9th with 33 points. Hard to believe that Anton Ondrus captained Czechoslovakia in 1976 and Parizon was French national team material… both were old veterans, good only to keep a modest second division club afloat.

Olympique Ales – 8th with 36 points. If Thonon had Ondrus, Ales countered with Paulo Cesar Carpeggiani – remember him? One of the few impressive Brazilians at the 1974 World Cup, a wonderful midfielder. Time is nobody’s friend though – almost forgotten, Carpeggiani played second division football now.

 

FC Grenoble – 7th with 37 points and more fading glory: the Hungarians Laszlo Balint and lesser known, but also used to play for Hungary, Csapo.

AS Cannes – 6th with 40 points. More veterans – Revelli, Rampillon, but also current talent – apparently, Cannes was tapping on Icelandic talent: Thordarsson. Well, this was the time to get Icelanders.

La Paillade Montpellier – 5th with 43 points. Not strong enough to run for promotion.

FC Limoges – 4th with 45 points. Good season – for them. A second division was the maximum of their abilities and aims, so it was splendid season. With them, the ‘regular’ second division teams ended – the rest of the league was another kind.

Olympique Lyon – 3rd with 47 points. Weird to see them in second division, but these were dark years for Lyon and even getting Robert Herbin to coach did not help. The squad was lean and poor quality, not much to be done with it. And perhaps this was the year proving that Herbin was one-team coach: yes, he was great in St. Etienne and masterminded its greatest squad and greatest years, but that was in the 1970s and somehow he lost his touch in the 1980s – now in second division and not winning. Rather, on the road to dismissal: Lyon was not contender in the race for promotion.

OGC Nice – 2nd with 53 points. Also a pale shadow of the leading club they were until 1973-74. There long lasting decay was not ending – the squad was rather weak. Curbelo and the Swedish international Larsson were not enough to lift them up. Apparently, they lost the preliminary play-off for possible promotion and remained in second division.

Olympique Marseille won the championship – 22 wins, 12 ties, only 2 losses, 92-32 and 56 points. Not very far ahead of Nice, but clearly the strongest team this season. Suffering in the resent years, yes, but may be on the way of restoring its glory and leading position in French football? May be only in the dreams of its supporters – the squad was not impressive at all. Bracci was too old by now and Olarevic was only a second-string Yugoslavian player. Naturally, Marseille was happy to leave purgatory, but real work was needed, if they wanted to play larger role than struggling to stay in First Division.

 

France. When the championship started, there was no way to know that France will be the king of Europe in the summer of 1984. But French football was already well respected and considered among the best in the world. This was not so on club level, but still the French championship had solid reputation for years and was attractive to foreign players – very often the fate of French clubs depended on the foreign talent they employed. All that is just repeating the well known, so right to the game.

Third Division rarely got any attention outside France. It was divided geographically into 6 groups of 16 teams each. The winners got promoted to Second Division, but this was tricky: second teams of the leading clubs played here and they were not allowed to play in the Second Division. This made promotion a bit weird. For some reason, only 5 teams were promoted this year – that was to even the odd number of teams playing in the Second Division, but the criteria was murky: no team was promoted from Group Est. Why? The question stays. And it was not the only oddity.

Group Centre was won by AJ Auxerre II. They were illegible for promotion, so the second placed team goes up. Well, no – INF Vichy was second and not promoted. One can only speculate – they either refused promotion or failed some other criteria, possibly financial, and were left in third level. Third St. Etienne II, also illegible, so the 4th in the table – CO Le Puy – was promoted. Such is life… finishing 4th and getting awarded for that.

Group Centre-West. FC Toulouse II won it, but was illegible for promotion.

Bourg-sous-la-Roche was promoted as second placed. However, after the season they changed name, becoming AEPB La Roche-sur-Yon.

Group Est. FC Metz II won the championship. They were illegible for promotion, but no matter, for no team was promoted from this group at all.

Group Nord. At last champion got promoted: AC Amiens.

Group Ouest. AC Le Havre II won it, but it was illegible. FC Nantes II was second – also illegible.

Stade Malherbe Caen was 3rd and lucky – they were promoted.

Group Sud: The champions – OGC Nice II – were illegible, so the second-placed was promoted – FC Valence.

That was all. Good luck to the newcomers to Second Division next year.

The Cups. Liverpool derby at the Football League Cup – up and coming Everton vs mighty Liverpool. As derbies go, it was tense and difficult. The final ended 0-0. Liverpool prevailed in the replay – 1-0, thanks to Souness.

Nice picture, but it was battle on the pitch, both teams ambitious.

Perhaps Everton was not at its peak yet and they lost to more experience team. But it was nice challenge and good stepping point for better future.

Difficult victory, but victory. Confirming that Liverpool was the top club and also prevailing over local rivals, which matters a lot. A double does not come every day, especially in England, so it was great season for Liverpool.

The FA Cup opposed Watford to Everton. Well, Everton was truly climbing up, reaching both cup final this year. Watford wanted to get a trophy too. Class decided it – Everton won 2-0, Sharp and Gray scoring the goals.

Everton posed with the FA Cup. It was their 4th and the first one won after 1966.

Watford deserves two pictures. They reached the very possible top – it is arguable was it in 1982-83, when they finished in the championship, or this year, when they had a chance to win the FA Cup. No matter, really, for it was heroic effort of a small club. And a small club they were, unfortunately. Few ever did the kind of miracle Watford did: in 1976-77 they were lost in 4th Division – in 1981-82 they were promoted to the top league, only to finish 2nd in their first season. But it was not possible to go higher than that – Watford had some good players, but there was no chance to build a team of stars. They had to sell – Luther Blissett was already gone to Milan. At best, Watford could be mid-table club. Playing at the cup final was more or less the maximum, a peak more likely to not be repeated. Sorry for the darlings, but that was the reality.

Everton had a decent team for years, but nothing special. Their last triumph was in 1969-70, when they were champions of England. True, they were never in danger of relegation, but they also nothing more than solid squad – nothing to compare with their rivals Liverpool. Even now the team did not very impressive, but the work of Howard Kendall was: it was team going up, having good players, younger and ambitious, not at their peak yet. Since there were no first-class stars around, the best players were not attracting the interest of other clubs and there was room for development in relative peace. Everton was coming, that was made sure this year – noticeable championship and two cup finals. They won one, so ambition was backed up by success.

Lastly, there was something interesting happening: this was 3rd consecutive year when one club reached two cup finals – and won one. Before Everton, Manchester United in 1982-83, and Tottenham Hotspur in 1981-82. Never before 1982 such thing happened, but three years in a row was interesting pattern. Was it possible to continue?

First Division. Two outsiders and two runners for the title, the one was a surprise, but that was England, so it was only a mild surprise.

Woolverhampton Wanderers was dead last with 29. Winning only 6 games. The agony: the crisis settled some time ago, but the Wolves tried to fight it. Relegated in 1981-82, promoted in 1982-83, now relegated again – and this was not the end of suffering.

Notts County – 21st with 41 points. It was inevitable – small club like Notts County could have a great run for a while, but not for long.

Birmingham City – 20th with 48 points. They fought as much as they could, but were relegated at the end. Not a surprise – Birmngham was one of the usual candidates for relegation.

Coventry City – 19th with 50 points. Recently, Coventry sunk to the dangerous zone of the league – 19th in the previous year, 14th in 81-82, 16th in 80-81, 15th in 79-80. There was a sense that Coventry will drop further down and soon, but they kept the nose above the water somehow.

Stoke City – 18th with 50 points. Not a good period, so survival was the only aim. Sammy McIllroy and Dennis Tueart were the only big names here, both aging, so the future was rather dark.

West Bromwich Albion – the good spell was over. 17th with 51 points. For whatever reason – most likely lack of money – West Brom was unable to reinforce the team when they were running strong. And now they dropped down to what usually were in the past – in the lower half of the table, often in danger of relegation.

Luton Town – 16th with 51 points. Good for another season, but may be no longer.

Leicester City – 15th with 51 points.

Norwich City – 14th with 51 points.

Sunderland – 13th with 52 points.

Ipswich Town – their great spell over, they plummeted down. Key players were gone, but no similar replacement came – Ipswich was no longer a great force and may be relegation was in the books. 12th with 53 points.

This may have been the best ever season of Watford, but it was also clear that enthusiasm cannot keep rather ordinary squad on top for long. 11th with 57 points.

That Aston Villa was accidental champion 3 year ago was clear even than – 10th place was pretty much just position for this team. 60 points. Not bad, but nothing special either.

West Ham United was doing fine, although it was clear that they could not do better – that was the limit. 9th with 60 points.

Tottenham Hotspur – 8th with 60 point. Could do better, even expected to do better, but they may be excused – perhaps a bit disappointing in the championship, but winning the UEFA Cup.

Everton – 7th with 62 points. Now, this was team going up, one to watch, one expected to go higher. Although their final standing was no particular different from their usual position in the league, the team was gathering momentum and had splendid season promising even better days to come.

Arsenal – 6th with 63 points. Depends on how one looks at it – they were the only consistently strong London club: all others went to second division at one time or another, Chelsea was still there. But in the same time Arsenal was no title contender either – just good enough to stay among the top 5-6 clubs. No exception this season – 6th placed, but 10 points behind the 5th.

Queens Park Rangers was seemingly repeating their great spell in the mid-70s – just like decade ago, QPR climbed up from second division to prominence: 5th with 73 points. 2 more points would have given them bronze medals. Credits to Terry Venables, of course. Was it just a one-time wonder or something more permanent only the next season could tell.

For years there was nagging sense that Manchester United underperfomed. Squad like that should have been title contender. The same was true for almost 10 years now, always ending with Ron Atkinson – may be a great manager, but no winner. Of course, many were happy – Manchester United had many enemies – but, objectively, this was team at least equal to Liverpool’s. And – 4th with 74 points. Barely near the favourites.

Nottingham Forest was 3rd with 74 points, beating Manchester United on goal-difference. Well, looked like Clough still had the magic and may be his team will stay strong for long. But it was suspect magic: Clough managed to keep well performing team with string of otherwise over-the-hill veterans – no different this year: Colin Todd, Fairclough. The Dutch goalkeeper van Breukelen was not yet the great man between the goalposts – for some reason Clough’s foreign additions misfired.

Speaking of veterans: Lawrie McMenemy based his concept entirely on veterans. Southampton kept a long string of them during Big Mac’s reign. This year – Peter Shilton, Mick Mills, Frank Worthington. And they run for the title, quite a surprise. Nice surprise. And one-time wonder too, for veterans had short life left. How long a team could be run on such concept? Certainly not for ever, so it was especially nice season to be cherished. Alas, it was not really strong squad and unable to win the championship – 2nd with 77 points.

The title went to Liverpool, who else? There was a lot of grumbling against them, Liverpool was blamed for killing traditional English football with their dominance, making the league like the dreaded ‘continental’ leagues – one big club takes all, boring and nasty – but Liverpool was amazing club, knowing what they were doing. Southampton perhaps gave them a scare this season, but at the end the well oiled and balanced squad prevailed over a team based on few veterans. A matter of stamina, a matter of depth, a matter of longer squad. So much has been said about Liverpool and for so many years, there is really no need to repeat the well known. Just for the record: 22 wins, 14 ties, 6 losses, 73-32 goal-difference, 80 points. Not as dominant as in the previous year, but still the champions.

Second Division. Two favourites, entangled in the battle for the first place, one team pretty much alone at 3rd place, two outsiders.

Cambridge United – 22nd with 24 points.

At the beginning of the season there was optimism and expectations that Swansea City will return to First Division. They had good mix of young talent and experienced veterans. That was the formula John Toshack used, but it misfired the previous season, lending the Swans in Second Division. And this time misfired even worse – 21st with 29 points. In two years Swansea went from First Division to Third. What a frustrating experience for Jimmy Rimmer, Ray Kennedy, Bob Latchford, Dean Saunders.

Derby County was the 3rd relegated team – 20th with 42 points. Deep crisis.

Oldham Athletic enjoyed 19th place – with 47 points they finished well ahead of Derby County and survived.

Crystal Palace – 18th with 47 points.

Middlesborugh -17th with 49 points. Malcolm Allison was coaching leading teams no long ago…

Portsmouth – 16th with 49 points. With Mark Hateley… that much.

Cardiff City – 15th with 51 points.

Barnsley – 14th with 52 points.

Charlton Athletic – 13th with 57 points.

Huddersfield Town – 12th with 57 points.

Fulham – 11th with 57 points.

Not even a shadow of the great club they were – now, a mid-table second division team. 10th with 60 points.

Brighton & Hove Albion – 9th with 60 points. Freshly relegated from first division and quickly settling into their familiar role of mid-table second division team.

Shrewsbury Town – doing well, considering the fate of much bigger and famous clubs: 8th with 61 points.

Carlisle United – 7th with 64 points.

Blackburn Rovers – 6th with 67 points.

Grimsby Town – a pleasant surprise. They barely escaped relegation the last season, but now were 5th with 70 points. Only worse goal-difference prevented them from finishing 4th.

Manchester City clinched the 4th place with 70 points. But nothing to warm the hearts of their fans – not only City was relegated from the top league, but it was not even able to fight for quick return.

Newcastle United confidently finished 3rd with 80 points and got promoted. Well done? Depends on how one looks at it – returning to the top league was great. Leaving the competition far behind – very good. But a team with Kevin Keegan, Chris Waddle, Terry McDermott, and Imre Varadi not even close to the leaders? In that in Second Division…

No doubts about Sheffield Wednesday – 2nd with 89 points. Lost 1st place on worse goal-difference, but it was splendid season, leaving the rest of the league in the dust. A long period of suffering finally ended – Sheffield Wednesday did not play top league football since 1969-70. Sinking down to 3rd Division instead. At last they were returning to truly big football.

Chelsea clinched the Second Division title, beating Sheffield Wednesday on goal-difference. Strong season, no doubt, but was it really recovery, as their fans hoped? Only the next season could tell.

It was pure joy for the moment. And nice kit. And first sponsor.

Second division champions – 25 wins, 13 ties, 4 losses, 90-40 goal-difference, 89 points.

Chelsea, Sheffield Wednesday, and Newcastle United promoted to First Division.

Third Division – in a nutshell, one favourite, one outsider, one unlucky team.

Exeter City – 24th with 33 points.

Port Vale – 23rd with 43 points.

Southend United – 22nd with 44 points.

Scunthorpe United – 21st with 46 points. The highest placed of the relegated teams – which was no comfort at all.

Brentford survived – 20th with 49 points.

Plymouth Argyle – 19th with 51 points.

Rotherham United – 18th with 54 points.

Bournemouth – 17th with 55 points.

Preston North End – 16th with 56 points.

Wigan Athletic- 15th with 61 points.

Lincoln City -14th with 61 points.

Newport County – 13th with 62 points.

Burnley – 12th with 62 points.

Orient – 11th with 63 points.

Bolton Wanderers – 10th with 64 points.

Millwall – 9th with 67 points.

Gillingham – 8th with 70 points.

Bradford City – 7th with 71 points.

Walsall – 6th with 75 points.

Bristol Rovers – 5th with 79 points.

Hull City was most unfortunate – they ended with 83 points, but worse goal-difference denied them promotion: 4th place.

Lucky Sheffield United – clinched the last promotional spot only on goal-difference. 83 points left them with no other option and good thing they came above Hull City.

Wimbledon – 2nd with 87 points. Not a title contender, but watch out for them: second promotion in a row. Won the Forth Division the previous year, now going even higher. And distinguishing themselves: if York City had the most points in all leagues, Wimbledon scored most goals this season – 97. The best record in all leagues.

Oxford United reigned supreme – 28 wins, 11 ties, 7 losses, 91-50 goal-difference, 95 points. In excellent form, Oxford had no rival this season and easily won Third Division.

So, Oxford United, Wimbledon, and Sheffield United were going to play second division football next season – job well done.

England. A new record was set this season – for the first time a team finished with three-digit points: 101. This was possible for England introduced 3-points-for-win in 1981-82. The new record was set in Forth Division.

Down there only promotions mattered – relegation did not exist in practice.

So, Chester City had nothing to fear – last with 34 points, but safe.

Hartlepool United ended 23rd with 40 points.

Rochdale – 22nd with 46 points.

Halifax Town – 21st with 48 points.

Wrexham – 20th with 48 points.

Mansfield Town – 19th with 52 points.

Northampton Town – 18th with 53 points.

Swindon Town – 17th with 58 points. Positive goal-difference, though: 58-56.

Crewe Alexandra – 16th with 59 points.

Bury – 15th with 59 points.

Darlington – 14th with 59 points. Shared the record for the least tied games with York City – 8.

Chesterfield – 13th with 60 points.

Stockport County – 12th with 62 points.

Hereford United -11th with 63 points.

Tranmere Rovers – 10th with 66 points.

Torquay United – 9th with 67 points.

Colchester United – 8th with 67 points.

Peterborough United – 7th with 68 points.

Blackpool – 6th with 72 points.

Aldershot – 5th with 75 points. On top of the bulk of the league, but not one of the teams trying to get promoted, too weak.

Bristol City – 4th with 82 points. Satisfied entirely – they were promoted and that was the only important thing.

Reading -3rd with 82 points and going up.

Doncaster Rovers – 2nd with 85 points. Too weak to run for the top place, but otherwise all was fine.

York City – the absolute favourites with no rival: 31 wins, 8 ties, 7 losses. 96-39 goal-difference – they were far above everybody else in every category: the only team to win more than 24 matches; the top scorers, the best defensive record by far. And not just champions, but record makers – the first team ever finishing with three-digit points: 101. Fabulous season.

The top 4 teams were just too strong – they were promoted without any troubles, so had to start thinking about the next season in Third Division.

The Cup final was almost a step back into the 1970s – Bayern vs Borussia Moenchnegladbach. There was more: so far, both teams were unbeaten at cup finals. Bayern played 6 times and won all, Borussia – twice, both times the winner. This time there was no way out – one team will finish with broken record. So much at stake. And it was so hard to break records… the final ended 1-1 after overtime. The rivals remained without a cup final loss… the penalty shoot-out went equal as well for a long time.

Bayern eventually won – 7-6. Huge drama.

It was not just cute, but also symbolic to see the Rummenigge brothers holding the Cup – it was like Karl-Heinz, the aging superstar going to play in Italy giving the reigns to the up and coming youngster. To a point, the picture suggests that Bayern was not going to repeat the mistake they made after 1975, when they kept the old greats way too long: the change was coming, right after the end of the season, winners or no winners – bye-bye, Karl-Heinz, Micheal will be the new king. The next generation.

One could and should sympathize with and feel sorry for Borussia – losing two championship without really losing, coming so close and suffering more from bad luck than anything, but they lost. Unfortunately.

Bayern won its 7th Cup and now were the only team never losing a final. True masters. It could have been to win the championship, but after all they at least finished with a trophy – Borussia and Hamburger SV were empty-handed. It was good to see K-H Rummenigge win just before going to play in Italy. It was good to see the East German defector Nachtweih winning in West Germany. It was good to see Durnberger still winning, as he did during his whole career – the gritty underdog somehow always ending with a trophy. It was good to see Michael Rummenigge winning – the next generation was going to be winners too. And there were warning signs as well – Grobe and Martin, the weak points in the team. May be that was why they barely prevailed over Borussia and lost the championship? Reinforce. But it was for the next months – presently, there was Cup in their hands.