1979–80 Football League
The 1979–80 season was the 81st completed season of The Football League.
Bob Paisley's Liverpool retained their league championship trophy after fighting off a determined challenge by Dave Sexton's Manchester United. Nottingham Forest failed to make a sustained title challenge but compensated for this by retaining the European Cup.
Bristol City and Bolton Wanderers were relegated after brief, uneventful spells in the First Division notable only because Bristol City’s relegation ends the last time South West England had a team in the top tier until Swindon Town's promotion to the Premier League in 1993. On the other hand, Derby County's relegation came just five years after they had been league champions.
Kevin Keegan ended his three-year spell with Hamburger SV in Germany and returned to England in a shock £400,000 move to Southampton. Lawrie McMenemy's new signing was the transfer surprise of the season. Keegan was the current European Footballer of the Year and rated as one of the best strikers in the world, while Southampton were still struggling to establish themselves as a First Division side. But this move showed that Southampton had ambition and were determined to compete with the best.
Leicester City, Sunderland and Birmingham City ended their relatively short spells in the Second Division and occupied the division's three promotion places. Going down were Fulham, Burnley and Charlton Athletic.
Grimsby Town, Blackburn Rovers and Sheffield Wednesday all achieved some long-awaited success by gaining promotion from the Third Division. Bury, Southend United, Mansfield Town and Wimbledon occupied the Third Division's relegation places.
Fallen giants Huddersfield Town and Portsmouth finally achieved some success by gaining promotion from the Fourth Division. Newport County achieved their first promotion since 1939 and Walsall were also promoted. Re-election results are given at the end of this article.
Final league tables and results
The tables and results below are reproduced here in the exact form that they can be found at website with home and away statistics separated.First Division
Liverpool won the First Division title for the fourth time in five seasons, finishing two points above Manchester United, who had their best league campaign for more than a decade. Ipswich Town, Arsenal and Nottingham Forest completed the top five, with Forest also retaining the European Cup, while Arsenal were on the losing side in the finals of both the FA Cup and the European Cup Winners' Cup. Wolves, who finished sixth, won the League Cup.Bolton Wanderers, Derby County and Bristol City were relegated to the Second Division.
Managerial changes
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Derby County |  Second DivisionLeicester City won the Second Division title for a record sixth time to reclaim their First Division status after a two-year exile. Birmingham City achieved an instant return to the elite in third place, while the final promotion place went to Sunderland.Chelsea missed out on promotion on goal difference, while QPR weren't far behind. West Ham United's failure to win promotion at the second attempt was compensated for by victory in the FA Cup. Charlton Athletic, Burnley and Fulham went down to the Third Division. Third DivisionFourth DivisionElection/Re-election to the Football LeagueWinners of the Alliance Premier League, Altrincham, won the right to apply for election to the Football League to replace one of the four bottom teams in the 1979–80 Football League Division Four. The vote went as follows:
As a result of this, all four Football League teams were re-elected, and Altrincham were denied membership of the League. AttendancesSource:Division One
Division Two
Division Three
Division Four
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