1970–71 Football League


The 1970–71 season was the 72nd completed season of The Football League.
Arsenal won the league championship at the home of their North London rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, with Ray Kennedy scoring the winner. This would soon be followed by their FA Cup final tie with Liverpool. They narrowly overcame Leeds to win the league, with a 12-point gap separating Leeds United from third-placed Tottenham. Wolves and Liverpool joined these two teams in the UEFA Cup. Chelsea missed out on the top five on goal average but compensated for this shortcoming by beating Real Madrid in the European Cup Winners' Cup.
Burnley and Blackpool were relegated to the Second Division. Burnley returned from 1973/74 to 1975/76 but it took Blackpool until the 2009–10 season to regain their top flight status after a 3–2 victory over Cardiff City in the Playoff Final.
Wilf McGuinness was sacked after 18 unsuccessful months as manager of Manchester United. Sir Matt Busby was re-appointed as manager on a temporary basis, but never considered returning to his old job on a permanent basis. Leicester City manager Frank O'Farrell was appointed at the end of the season.
Leicester City and Sheffield United were promoted to the First Division. Blackburn Rovers and Bolton Wanderers, two of the most famous and historic names in English football, were relegated to the Third Division.
Preston North End and Fulham finally had something to shout about by getting promoted to the Second Division. Halifax Town achieved its best ever league position, missing out on the Second Division by one place. Reading, Bury, Doncaster Rovers and Gillingham slid into the Fourth Division.
Notts County, Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic, Oldham Athletic and York City were promoted to the Third Division. The Football League voted for the league's four bottom clubs to maintain their status.

Final league tables and results

Beginning with the season 1894–95, clubs finishing level on points were separated according to goal average, or more properly put, goal ratio. In case one or more teams had the same goal difference, this system favoured those teams who had scored fewer goals. The goal average system was eventually scrapped beginning with the 1976–77 season.
Since the Fourth Division was established in the 1958–59 season, the bottom four teams of that division have been required to apply for re-election.

First Division


Top scorers

Goalscorers are listed order of total goals, then according to the number of league goals, then of FA cup goals, then of League Cup goals. A dash means the team of the player in question did not participate in European competitions.
RankScorerClubLeague goalsFA Cup goalsLeague Cup goalsTexaco Cup goalsEuro competitionsTotal
1

Second Division


Top scorers

Goalscorers are listed order of total goals, then according to the number of league goals, then of FA cup goals, then of League Cup goals. A dash means the team of the player in question did not participate in European competitions.
for First Division topscorers by Rothmans. The other 9 goals were distributed between six other players, none of whom made this listing.
RankScorerClubLeague goalsFA Cup goalsLeague Cup goalsTotal
1

Third Division


Top scorers

Goalscorers are listed order of total goals, then according to the number of league goals, then of FA cup goals, then of League Cup goals. A dash means the team of the player in question did not participate in European competitions.
RankScorerClubLeague goalsFA Cup goalsLeague Cup goalsTotal
1

Fourth Division


Top scorers

Goalscorers are listed order of total goals, then according to the number of league goals, then of FA cup goals, then of League Cup goals. A dash means the team of the player in question did not participate in European competitions.
RankScorerClubLeague goalsFA Cup goalsLeague Cup goalsTotal
1

Attendances

Source:

Division One

No.ClubAverage±HighestLowest
1Liverpool FC45,6024,7%53,77738,032
2Manchester United43,945-11,9%58,87831,381
3Arsenal FC43,77622,4%62,05632,073
4Everton FC41,090-17,0%56,84624,371
5Chelsea FC39,545-2,0%61,27714,356
6Leeds United FC39,20413,3%50,19025,004
7Tottenham Hotspur FC35,650-1,1%55,69318,959
8Derby County FC31,367-12,7%36,00723,521
9Manchester City FC31,041-8,5%43,62317,961
10West Ham United FC29,961-1,9%42,32222,800
11Newcastle United FC29,735-20,8%49,69915,583
12Crystal Palace FC28,889-3,4%41,39616,646
13Wolverhampton Wanderers FC27,608-11,4%40,31818,827
14Coventry City FC26,039-18,7%40,02218,365
15West Bromwich Albion FC25,692-7,8%41,13412,684
16Nottingham Forest FC23,324-8,2%40,69213,502
17Huddersfield Town AFC23,22832,5%43,01113,580
18Southampton FC22,267-2,8%30,23115,980
19Blackpool FC20,47230,4%30,7058,905
20Ipswich Town FC20,432-1,4%27,77715,993
21Stoke City FC19,905-17,6%40,00513,299
22Burnley FC16,156-1,8%29,42210,373

Division Two

No.ClubAverage±HighestLowest
1Leicester City FC25,9493,4%36,75220,435
2Sheffield United FC25,25441,6%42,96315,097
3Birmingham City FC24,203-3,2%49,02513,630
4Cardiff City FC21,5220,1%26,66614,853
5Hull City AFC19,73775,8%26,77211,301
6Middlesbrough FC18,534-6,7%30,68212,802
7Luton Town FC17,35317,2%25,17210,205
8Swindon Town FC16,150-19,6%21,39311,508
9Sunderland AFC15,780-27,6%42,6178,596
10Sheffield Wednesday FC15,780-40,2%47,4069,462
11Watford FC14,348-16,7%24,38110,211
12Bristol City FC14,165-13,0%24,96910,187
13Portsmouth FC13,759-7,8%24,7478,193
14Queens Park Rangers FC13,069-25,4%19,2688,613
15Norwich City FC12,657-4,2%16,5968,111
16Charlton Athletic FC10,981-13,5%16,1388,143
17Oxford United FC10,8840,7%16,0277,322
18Carlisle United FC10,65713,5%16,6237,305
19Millwall FC9,862-15,5%16,0125,226
20Leyton Orient FC9,119-19,8%14,7463,941
21Bolton Wanderers FC8,706-13,3%13,4625,813
22Blackburn Rovers FC8,034-35,8%11,2103,971

Division Three

No.ClubAverage±HighestLowest
1Aston Villa FC26,219-4,1%37,64016,694
2Preston North End FC13,7871,8%28,2247,957
3Fulham FC12,00417,0%25,7747,071
4Bristol Rovers FC11,312-4,7%25,4865,252
5Brighton & Hove Albion FC9,824-33,2%22,6136,478
6Chesterfield FC9,636-2,5%16,6895,282
7Plymouth Argyle FC8,704-4,5%17,1755,464
8Wrexham AFC8,137-17,8%18,5363,524
9Swansea City AFC8,035-4,5%13,5353,789
10Rotherham United FC7,885-4,9%14,6664,758
11Reading FC6,889-30,1%14,3353,834
12Mansfield Town FC6,867-3,9%13,1814,251
13Barnsley FC6,830-33,3%14,5632,975
14Bradford City AFC5,997-32,2%10,0293,830
15Torquay United FC5,726-16,8%12,8072,770
16Port Vale FC5,437-21,1%11,2243,450
17Walsall FC5,212-4,0%19,2033,054
18Halifax Town AFC5,1349,8%8,1533,112
19Shrewsbury Town FC5,07218,2%13,6362,816
20Rochdale AFC4,866-20,3%10,3453,217
21Doncaster Rovers FC4,478-47,7%8,1472,416
22Gillingham FC4,241-21,5%10,8121,887
23Bury FC3,993-11,5%8,0472,708
24Tranmere Rovers3,949-10,1%7,1302,513

Division Four

No.ClubAverage±HighestLowest
1Notts County FC10,75786,1%21,0125,826
2Oldham Athletic FC9,546119,1%17,9534,866
3AFC Bournemouth8,67660,4%15,4315,801
4Brentford FC6,776-12,8%10,0584,176
5Northampton Town FC6,60218,0%11,9233,337
6Southend United FC6,4090,9%9,6233,839
7Colchester United FC5,60320,7%7,7773,502
8Lincoln City FC5,499-9,4%10,8493,086
9Aldershot Town FC5,382-11,8%8,6893,379
10York City FC5,25322,9%14,6263,138
11Chester City FC5,08613,4%7,8982,646
12Cambridge United FC4,919-7,5703,576
13Peterborough United FC4,884-20,0%8,0662,769
14Exeter City FC4,703-4,4%7,9183,437
15Grimsby Town FC4,329-2,1%7,8202,256
16Scunthorpe United FC4,007-9,4%7,1142,738
17Stockport County FC3,271-6,7%9,5631,508
18Crewe Alexandra FC3,029-9,5%5,8131,909
19Darlington FC3,0119,7%5,0961,629
20Southport FC2,860-16,6%6,0271,436
21Newport County AFC2,549-7,5%4,5361,479
22Hartlepool United FC2,459-4,0%5,0321,267
23Barrow AFC2,333-36,1%3,7641,452
24Workington AFC2,2094,0%3,0161,437