Forget about lower division – First Division was the thing, focusing interest. Well, the kings of European club football played here, Kevin Keegan returned back to England, Admiral was losing its grip because Adidas dressed more and more English clubs, shirt advertisement arrived this year, some ‘continentals’ were grumpily recognized as worthy additions to the British game, and… financial troubles plus the plaque of hooliganism. Interesting season. Actually, more interesting, when one looks back: new champion, some other surprises. The first one was found at the very bottom of the final table – Crystal Palace finished last and more than that, they were hopeless outsiders.
Well, Crystal Palace was never very strong and rather up and down team, but managed by Terry Venables, coached by George Graham, having Gerry Francis, Tery Fenwick, Clive Allen, and… only 19 points. The 21st team had 32.
Leicester City finished 21st, but they fought – nothing like Crystal Palace. Gary Lineker was going to taste second division, which was nothing really upsetting at the time, for he was not yet the famous superstar.
With 33 points, Norwich City ended also relegated – 20th place. More or less, expected relegation – Norwich were nothing much and therefore likely candidate for second division experience, which they were more than familiar with. Justin Fashanu going down, but like Lineker, he was not famous yet.
Brighton & Hove Albion survived – they finished 19th with 35 points. Worse goal-difference placed them last of three teams with the same points, but it was fine – Brighton survived again and was going to experience at least one more season with the best.
Ups and downs across the league: three clubs, already in crisis, and steadily going down.
Woolverhampton Wanderers was 18th. The Wolves were probably at more advanced stage of rot than the others.
Manchester City – 12th this year. Still depending of aged players known for years and going to pay very heavy price for that. But not yet. Perhaps Dennis Tueart was the best example of the crisis – he was shuffling between England and USA, apparently not good for City anymore, but called back to help.
Leeds United was the third club in obvious crisis – they finished 9th this season, which was perhaps a bit misleading: the sad truth was that Leeds failed to rebuild. The great team of the early 1970s was gone.
Those were the clubs in crisis. Three others underperformed and went down, but only for the moment.
Manchester United was 8th – the previous season they competed for the title, losing it by 2 points. Nothing similar this year, but the sad truth was Manchester United was inconsistent. Talented bunch, but somehow never living up to its potential.
Notthingham Forest was 7th. Brian Clough explained that the team won everything and lost interest, but… that was precisely the difference between a good team and excellent team: those, who are really strong do not lose the hunger for winning. Frankly, the days of Nottingham were over – the team was good, but going to be middle-of-the-road.
Liverpool was 5th – there lowest final position since 1971, but they won the European Champions Cup again this year, so it was clear that they just had accidentally weak season.
So much for the weaklings. Other clubs were on their way up.
Tottenham Hotspur was 10th, but their new team was almost completed. Osvaldo Ardiles proved the skeptics wrong, establishing himself as one of the greatest stars in the league.
Southampton was the other club getting stronger – they finished 6th, one point behind Liverpool. Surely the arrival of Kevin Keegan helped, but he was not alone: Mike Channon, Charlie George, Dave Watson, Chris Nicholl, the Yugoslavians Ivan Golac and Ivo Catalinic constituted impressive squad. The only problem was longivity, for the approach was risky – Southampton constructed a team of veterans and such teams hardly last long. It worked for the moment and having Keegan in the team promised good future.
The last club deserving a mention had nothing to do with performance – Coventry City were mid-table club and this season was no different (16th in the final table), but they were already famous for their weird kits. This year they put a new finishing touch:
This was their already familiar kit – the amusing part was their reserve version in brown – but apparently considered too simple, it was changed.
One can call it avanguard or stupidly ugly, depending on taste, but Coventry was one of a kind in England. How much Talbot influenced the club’s brass is debatable, but it was a big T made on their jerseys and… shorts. Amusing.
Four clubs competed for the title, none was a surprising newcomer to the top of the league, but nevertheless the champions were considered a bit of a surprise.
Ron Atkinson knew his job and West Bromwich Albion finished 4th – strong years continued, the team was good and at its best form. Alas, it was more solid than great and had not a champion make.
Arsenal, the strongest London club at the time, was in its typical good form and finished 3rd with 53 points. Hard to tell what was missing, but something was missing – this squad was unable to win a championship. Actually, this season was their best.
Ipswich Town finished with silver and the most goals scored in the league. Perhaps the best team at the moment, but probably paying the price for having to fight on two fronts: they won the UEFA Cup, they lost the English title. But stable for years and at its peak this year.
Surprise champions – Aston Villa. With 60 points, they left Ipswich 4 points behind and won their 7th title, but their first after 1909-10! A wonderful return of Aston Villa to the leaders of English football.
Bright new champions, but… yes, there was ‘but’. The ascend of Aston Villa started pretty much at the same as Ipswich: in 1973. At that time Villa was not even if the premier division. Going up was steady and near the end of the 1970s they were already among the top group of English clubs. All thanks to the wonderful work of manager Ron Saunders. The only problem was that Aston Villa had weaker squad – as far as names go – than Liverpool, Ipswich Town, Nottingham Forest, Arsenal, Manchester United. Compared to the others, ‘the Lions’ had no stars – more or less Jimmy Rimmer was their best known name and the aging goalkeeper was mostly known as long-time reserve in Manchester United. The rest of the team was not even that famous, but had a group of talented youngsters, who establsiehd their names this season: Des Bremner, Tony Morley, Dennis Mortimer. Add Peter Withe, who was no longer young and so far with less successful career than Rimmer, but finding his right place at last and playing fine football. Hardly a squad coming to mind, if one was asked to predict to new champion at the start of the season. Well, may be they were a bit lucky and taking advantage of disinterest, lack of concentration, or temporary lack of form of the favourites, but nobody can say Aston Villa was actually given the title by the others: the squad was at its best, they played with ambition, they won the most games this year – 26 – and lost less than anybody else, except Arsenal and Liverpoo – the three teams lost 8 matches each. Aston Villa was a nice underdog and their victory was fantastic. It did not look like they were going to build a dynasty, but even this victory was not yet the best of Ron Saunders and his boys.