First Division. Financial troubles and fans violence – the reality of English football in the 1980s. But the game went on anyway. A race between two teams at the top and 7 teams at the bottom tried hard to survive.
With 39 points Middlesbrough finished last. Many feared relegation before the season started and at the end it was a case of ‘I told you so’. Transfer mistakes were the reason: Middlesbrough sold key players without replacing them adequately.
Wolverhampton Wanderers – 21st with 40 points. Hardly a surprise: the Wolves declined sharply after 1975 and there were no signs of recovery. They already visited Second Division in 1976-77 and, except the 1979-80 season, fought to avoid relegation. The inevitable happened.
The third relegated team was Leeds United – 20th with 42 points. A sad story, really – like the Wolves, Leeds was in decline after 1975, completely failing to rebuild. Hard to believe it – Leeds were fantastic for a long stretch, almost 15 years. But the great players aged and started leaving one after another – and no suitable replacements were recruited. The club plunged into the slippery slope leading to relegation. And there was no escape: it was impoverished squad already. Trevor Cherry and Eddie Gray were the last remains of the great team, both already old. Brian Greenhoff was hardly the player able to invigorate the team – he was also getting long in the tooth and well beyond his peak, like Cherry and Gray. Allan Clarke as manager was little help. As a novelty, there were two familiar names – but well known today, not then – David Seaman as an young broom and mere reserve goalkeeper, and the Argentinian Sabella – we know the coach, not the player.
Four teams survived with 44 points each.
Sunderland – 19th,
Stoke City – 18th,
West Bromwich Albion – 17th, and
Birmingham City – 16th.
The only surprise was WBA – they were quite strong in the recent years, but apparently came to the end of their stretch, largely because they failed to improve their promising squad.
Back row; Harkouk, Christie, Leonard, Kilcline, Avramovic, Hunt, Benjamin
Middle row; Walker(Youth), Stubbs, Hooks, Wood, Mair, Richards, Goodwin, Worthington, O’Brien, Manns, Doherty?, Beavon, Wilkinson (Asst.Man)
Front row; McCulloch, Wheeler(Trainer), Mounteney(Director), Dunnett(Chairman), Sirrel(Manager), Levin(Director), McParland
Kneeling; Youth/Reserves
Notts County – 15th with 47 points. Modest as they were, not a bad season – after all, keeping a place in the top league was the maximum of their dreams.
Coventry City – 15th with 50 points. A typical season – it was the same for years: nothing special, neither going up, nor down. Coventry is largely remembered for their strange kits, not for their performance.
Brighton and Hove Albion – 14th with 52 points. Just playing first division football was great enough – so, it was very good year. They had to really enjoy it and probably did.
Nottingham Forest – 13th with 57 points. Brian Clough said there was nothing left after they won everything, which translates into losing motivation, but there was something obvious even when Forest was on top of the world – they were truly great team and not going to build a dynasty. It was not a decline – it was rather coming down to earth: a good team, but not exceptional. And more likely to sell stars than buying new ones: the case of Trevor Francis this year.
Aston Villa – 11th with 57 points. Better goal-difference placed them above Nottingham Forest, but the two clubs were somewhat similar. Ron Saunders did excellent job in restoring Aston Villa, a process started in the mid-1970s and culminating with winning the 1980-81 championship, but it was clear that Villa did not have outstanding squad and will be one-time wonder. Although it was exactly this season – 1981-82 – Villa achieved its greatest ever success, their rather mediocre performance in England was more or less expected. The squad was not deep enough to handle too many competitions – they excelled in Europe and failed at home. Hard to say that they already reached their peak and the downhill slid started at the time when Villa topped Europe, but that was the sad fact.
Manchester City – a team in decline for sometime already. The measures taken seemed to be more desperate than well though and following a rebuilding plan. Point in case: they bought Trevor Francis. Already getting old. City did the same in the previous years with other aging stars with same results: occasional good spell, but the only constant direction was downhill. 10th this year with 58 points. Nothing to brag about and no hope for recovery. Not hitting the bottom yet.
London clubs were in rough situation for quite sometime and in the face of this general case, West Ham United’s 9th place was very optimistic sign: they just returned from Second Division and continued running strong after winning Second Division championship and reaching the Football League Cup final the previous season. However, it was very thin optimism – the Hammers still depended on ancient by now veterans like Trevor Brooking, Billy Bonds, and Frank Lampard. And almost unnoticed the next generation was aging – Pat Holland, Phil Parkes, Alan Devonshire. Practically, there was no new squad, but only mending and stitching together a team of experienced players, some of them very close to retirement. Temporary and dangerous situation.
Everton – 8th with 64 points. Everton did not catch a lot of attention for so long, they were practically out of sight and mind. No wonder with solid, but not remarkable performances year after year. The lack of interest was perhaps beneficial for them: quietly, Everton started building the team which culminated after a couple of years.
Southampton – 7th with 66 points. On the surface, Southampton enjoyed strong period. But if looked deeper, it was an illusion. Of course, having Keegan, Channon, Watson, and the Yugoslavs Golac and Katalinic makes big impression. Until one looks at the birth dates. And at the Yugoslavian squad for the 1982 World Cup finals. Golac and Katalinic were not in it. Channon and Watson were no longer national team players too. Southampton was a giant on clay legs – one retirement, one heavy injury, and collapse was certain.
Swansea City – 6th with 69 points. The culmination of the great Cinderella story: it started in 1977-78, when the Swans finished 3rd in Forth Division and were promoted. It was quick and steady ascent after that, leading them to First Division. They never won a lower league championship during the climb – rather curiously finishing 3rd every time they reached promotion. Modest club with modest squad, but with big hearts – after all, they ended at the top part of the First Division, rubbing shoulders with Arsenal, which finished just above them with 2 points more. European champions were left far behind! A great testimony for the managerial work of John Toshack, who also played for the team not long ago. Instant darlings, but they were not going to last… after all, John Toshack was their sole star during the climb up as a playing manager. Presently, the only relatively famous name was the former Yugoslavian international Dzamal Hadziabdic – and he was not young. With limited resources, there was no way the Swans could improve the squad with strong players. And Toshack, becoming valuable manager, was not going to stay… So, enjoy the moment – the best season in their history!
Arsenal – 5th with 71 points. All London clubs plunged into crisis after 1976 – all, except Arsenal. The Gunners kept their place among the top English clubs, but… only that. Strong, good, but not exceptional, not a title contender. ‘Second-best’ is perhaps what they were. And nothing different this season either.
Tottenham Hotspur ended above Arsenal only on goal-difference. The crisis, plunging them to second division not long ago, was over: the Spurs built a new strong team, which was almost finished. Ardiles, Villa, Archibald, Clemence – strong foundation. They returned to their almost forgotten position among the favourites. Results came along too. And a bit of strangeness: the Spurs were perhaps the only English team with 3 ‘continentals’ – the Argentine world champions Ardiles and Villa, and the Yugoslav goalkeeper Aleksic. If continental rules applied in England, one had to be always on the bench – it was not exactly a problem, for Ray Clemence was the usual starter, but still it was gray area. Villa was not playing all that much.
Manchester United – 3rd with 78 points. Although they rebuilt quickly and their current squad was fine, it was still not a winning squad. Hard to tell what was missing, but United competed for the title only once after their return from second division in 1975. No different this season either – 3rd, but completely outside the race for the title. Curiously, United finished with the best defensive record in the league, allowing only 29 goals in 42 games: traditionally, United emphasized scoring and did not care much for defense.
Ipswich Town at its finest – running for the title, but losing it. Second with 83 points. However, there was a sense they run on inertia, reaching their peak in the previous season. Still on top, but already over the peak and going down was the inevitable next step. Hard to believe that when they just challenged Liverpool, but one look at the squad tells all: it was the same as 2 years ago. Key players got older.
All depends on the standpoint: for Liverpool fans, it was great – 13th title, wonderful squad, constantly strong team. But others grumbled – Liverpool became a superclub, dominating English football and thus destroying all fun and intrigue. England was not supposed to be like continental Europe and Liverpool made it the same as Italy, Spain, West Germany, not to mention smaller countries: one huge domineering club, always winning. Boring… Not for the boys in red, though. 87 points from 26 wins and 9 ties. Only 7 times they beaten this season. 80-32 goal-difference. Top scorers of the league. No point to compare their current record with previous ones: the English championship introduced 3 points for wins exactly this season, so the numbers were higher at the end – the change hardly affected Liverpool, but, in a sense, reaction to the club’s success: it was felt that winning was no longer a big priority, scoring was getting lower, gates suffered, the arguments went on and on. Indirectly, Liverpool was to blame – so strong they were, they demoralized the rest of the league. What was the point of trying to win against them? What was the point of winning anyway? Liverpool would be champions, no matter what. Of course, Liverpool was not the prime cause for the change of rules, but indirectly they were. No matter – wonderful squad, wonderful season, the most consistent club in the country, and not even a tiny sign of going down. Liverpool was a dynasty, already one of the few greatest clubs in the world. Studded with great stars and also up to modern times: they had their 2 ‘continentals’ – the Zimbabwean goalkeeper Bruce Grobelaar and the Israeli Avi Cohen. So much success and still hungry for more – the whole difference between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.