Second Division. Here the aftermath of the match-fixing affair was still felt. Lazio was the prime sufferer, for they went into really dark times, but also L.R. Vicenza – they were denied promotion this year. Meantime Trieastina had 1 point deducted and Empoli benefited from all that. There was some bigger irregularity at the bottom of the table and Perugia was relegated not to Third Division, but to the 4th Division as a result. Well, it was not easy to clean Italian football.
Monza – last with 26 points and relegated.
Catanzaro – 19th with 30 points and relegated.
Perugia – 18th with 32 points. Whatever they did to elevate themselves from the the relegation zone did not work – only instead of going to 3rd Division, they were punished with relegation to 4th Division.
Pescara – 17th with 33 points and relegated.
Palermo survived – barely, but survived. 16th with 34 points. 20 of them came from ties – nobody tied more games in the division: 20 out of 38 total!
Cagliari – apart from their intriguing kit, nothing to be proud of: 15th with 35 points. This club was Italian champion full of exciting stars once – and now barely escaping relegation from Second Division.
Sambenedettese – 14th with 35 points. Good for another season in the second level – pretty much all they dreamed of.
Catania – 13th with 36 points.
Lazio – 12th with 36 points. Bad times, troubled times.
Arezzo – 11th with 36 points.
Campobasso – 10th with 37 points. Not bad, considering the names bellow them.
Cremonese – 9th with 37 points,
Cesena – 8th with 39 points.
Genoa – 7th with 40. Perhaps around that time they lost their original position as the leading club of the city.
Bologna – another team down on its luck and not doing well at all. 6th with 41 points.
Triestina – 5th with 44 points. Lost promotion because of deducted point – without that point, they dropped from 4th to 5th place.
Empoli – really lucky guys. They were 5th with their 45 points, just behind Triestina on worse goal-difference. Then L.R. Vicenza was not admitted to the top league, Triestina was punished and suddenly Empoli was 4th and promoted instead of Vicenza. Lucky, indeed.
L. R. Vicenza was trying hard to recover its position – the glorious days of the late 1970s were still fresh in memory. But also fresh was their participation in the match-fixing affair. They finished 3rd with 46 points and clinched promotional spot, but they were not permitted to join First Division, still penalized.
Brescia – 2nd with 47 points. Going up again for another try among the best. It was never ending struggle… up and down, up and down, now it was going up, so it was fine.
Ascoli had wonderful season, winning Serie B with 50 points. 17 wins, 16 ties, 5 losses, 56-33 goal-difference. They were the only team not losing home match in the league. Scored most goals by far. A somewhat lesser version of Brescia – a team meandering between first and second division – so, winning Serie B was great success.