Season 1971-72

The 1971–1972 season was the 72nd completed season of The Football League.

Brian Clough, 37, won the first major trophy of his managerial career by guiding Derby County to their first ever league championship. They overcame Leeds United to win a four-horse race also contested with Liverpool and Manchester City. There were later bribery allegations from The Sun newspaper regarding Leeds manager Don Revie and Leeds' final opponents Wolverhampton Wanderers. The footballing authorities never investigated these allegations to decide whether they were true or not.

Nottingham Forest and Huddersfield Town lost their First Division status. By the end of the decade, Forest had made an explosive comeback to the top flight. 1971 – 1972 was Huddersfield's last season in the top flight to date, and within a few seasons they would be in the Fourth Division — most of their existence since 1972 has been spent in the league's lower two divisions.

In the Second Division Norwich City and Birmingham City were promoted. This marked the first time that Norwich City reached the top flight in their history, less than 70 years after the club was founded. Charlton Athletic and Watford were relegated.

Aston Villa ended their two-year spell in the Third Division by gaining promotion as champions, and by the end of the decade would be firmly re-established as a First Division club. Brighton & Hove Albion followed Villa into the Second Division, but would not reach the heady heights that the midlanders would experience. Mansfield Town, Barnsley, Torquay United and Bradford City were relegated.

Grimsby Town, Southend United, Brentford and Scunthorpe United were promoted from the Fourth Division. Barrow were voted out of the Football League and replaced by Hereford United, who a short time earlier had achieved a shock FA Cup victory over Newcastle United.

Ernie Tagg sacked himself as manager of Crewe Alexandra because he felt that a younger manager should take charge of the club.

Source: Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia

Season 1971-72 matches (grid view)

	Derby County		2:0	1:0	3:1	2:1	2:2	1:0	2:2	2:1	3:0	0:1	3:0	1:0	2:0	2:0	0:0	4:0	1:0	2:2	3:0	4:0	3:0
	Leeds United	3:0		1:0	3:0	3:0	1:1	2:0	5:1	0:0	1:0	5:1	2:1	2:2	0:0	3:2	3:0	1:0	1:0	7:0	2:0	6:1	3:1
	Liverpool	3:2	0:2		3:0	3:2	0:0	0:0	2:2	3:2	2:0	5:0	3:2	2:0	1:0	4:0	2:0	2:1	3:1	1:0	4:1	3:1	2:0
	Manchester City	2:0	0:1	1:0		2:0	4:0	1:0	3:3	5:2	2:1	2:1	1:1	4:0	3:1	1:0	2:1	1:2	4:0	3:0	4:0	2:2	1:0
	Arsenal	2:0	2:0	0:0	1:2		0:2	3:0	3:0	2:1	0:1	4:2	3:0	2:1	2:1	1:1	2:0	0:1	2:0	1:0	2:1	3:0	1:0
	Tottenham Hotspur	0:1	1:0	2:0	1:1	1:1		3:0	2:0	4:1	2:0	0:0	4:3	2:1	0:1	3:0	3:2	2:0	1:0	1:0	3:0	6:1	4:1
	Chelsea	1:1	0:0	0:0	2:2	1:2	1:0		2:3	3:1	2:0	3:3	2:1	2:0	3:1	4:0	1:0	2:0	3:3	3:0	2:1	2:0	2:2
	Manchester United	1:0	0:1	0:3	1:3	3:1	3:1	0:1		1:3	2:0	0:2	3:2	1:0	4:2	0:0	3:1	3:0	2:2	3:2	4:0	3:2	2:0
	Wolverhampton Wanderers	2:1	2:1	0:0	2:1	5:1	2:2	0:2	1:1		1:2	2:0	0:1	2:2	1:0	1:1	0:1	2:0	1:1	4:2	1:0	4:2	2:2
	Sheffield United	0:4	3:0	1:1	3:3	0:5	2:2	1:0	1:1	2:2		1:0	1:1	7:0	3:0	1:1	0:0	2:3	2:0	3:1	1:0	2:1	3:1
	Newcastle United	0:1	1:0	3:2	0:0	2:0	3:1	0:0	0:1	2:0	1:2		2:0	0:1	2:2	0:0	4:2	0:0	4:2	3:1	1:2	2:1	0:0
	Leicester City	0:2	0:0	1:0	0:0	0:0	0:1	1:1	2:0	1:2	0:1	3:0		1:0	2:0	0:0	0:1	2:1	1:0	0:1	0:0	2:1	2:0
	Ipswich Town	0:0	0:2	0:0	2:1	0:1	2:1	1:2	0:0	2:1	0:0	0:0	1:2		1:0	0:0	2:3	2:1	3:1	1:1	0:2	1:1	1:0
	West Ham United	3:3	2:2	0:2	0:2	0:0	2:0	2:1	3:0	1:0	1:2	0:1	1:1	0:0		1:0	0:1	2:1	4:0	1:0	1:1	4:2	3:0
	Everton	0:2	0:0	1:0	1:2	2:1	1:1	2:0	1:0	2:2	0:1	1:0	0:0	1:1	2:1		2:1	0:0	1:2	8:0	0:0	1:1	2:2
	WBA	0:0	0:1	1:0	0:2	0:1	1:1	4:0	2:1	2:3	2:2	0:3	0:1	1:2	0:0	2:0		0:1	1:1	3:2	1:1	1:0	1:1
	Stoke City	1:1	0:3	0:0	1:3	0:0	2:0	0:1	1:1	0:1	2:2	3:3	3:1	3:3	0:0	1:1	1:1		1:0	3:1	3:1	0:2	1:0
	Coventry City	2:2	3:1	0:2	1:1	0:1	1:0	1:1	2:3	0:0	3:2	1:0	1:1	1:1	1:1	4:1	0:2	1:1		1:0	1:1	1:1	2:1
	Southampton	1:2	2:1	0:1	2:0	0:1	0:0	2:2	2:5	1:2	3:2	1:2	1:0	0:0	3:3	0:1	1:1	3:1	3:1		1:0	4:1	1:2
	Crystal Palace	0:1	1:1	0:1	1:2	2:2	1:1	2:3	1:3	0:2	5:1	2:0	1:1	1:1	0:3	2:1	0:2	2:0	2:2	2:3		1:1	0:0
	Nottingham Forest	0:2	0:2	2:3	2:2	1:1	0:1	2:1	0:0	1:3	2:3	1:0	1:2	0:2	1:0	1:0	4:1	0:0	4:0	2:3	0:1		1:2
	Huddersfield Town	2:1	2:1	0:1	1:1	0:1	1:1	1:2	0:3	0:1	0:0	0:0	2:2	1:3	1:0	0:0	1:0	0:0	0:1	0:2	0:1	0:1

Season matches ordered by date

1.		Derby County
2.		Leeds United
3.		Liverpool
4.		Manchester City
5.		Arsenal
6.		Tottenham Hotspur
7.		Chelsea
8.		Manchester United
9.		Wolverhampton Wanderers
10.		Sheffield United
11.		Newcastle United
12.		Leicester City
13.		Ipswich Town
14.		West Ham United
15.		Everton
16.		WBA
17.		Stoke City
18.		Coventry City
19.		Southampton
20.		Crystal Palace
21.		Nottingham Forest
22.		Huddersfield Town

Full standing - Home, Away, Total

			Home						Away						Total
#	Club		T	W	D	L	GD	P	T	W	D	L	GD	P	T	W	D	L	GD	P
1.		Derby County	21	16	4	1	43:10	0	21	8	6	7	26:23	0	42	24	10	8	69:33	58
2.		Leeds United	21	17	4	0	54:10	0	21	7	5	9	19:21	0	42	24	9	9	73:31	57
3.		Liverpool	21	17	3	1	48:16	0	21	7	6	8	16:14	0	42	24	9	9	64:30	57
4.		Manchester City	21	16	3	2	48:15	0	21	7	8	6	29:30	0	42	23	11	8	77:45	57
5.		Arsenal	21	15	2	4	36:13	0	21	7	6	8	22:27	0	42	22	8	12	58:40	52
6.		Tottenham Hotspur	21	16	3	2	45:13	0	21	3	10	8	18:29	0	42	19	13	10	63:42	51
7.		Chelsea	21	12	7	2	41:20	0	21	6	5	10	17:29	0	42	18	12	12	58:49	48
8.		Manchester United	21	13	2	6	39:26	0	21	6	8	7	30:35	0	42	19	10	13	69:61	48
9.		Wolverhampton Wanderers	21	10	7	4	35:23	0	21	8	4	9	30:34	0	42	18	11	13	65:57	47
10.		Sheffield United	21	10	8	3	39:26	0	21	7	4	10	22:34	0	42	17	12	13	61:60	46
11.		Newcastle United	21	10	6	5	30:18	0	21	5	5	11	19:34	0	42	15	11	16	49:52	41
12.		Leicester City	21	9	6	6	18:11	0	21	4	7	10	23:35	0	42	13	13	16	41:46	39
13.		Ipswich Town	21	7	8	6	19:19	0	21	4	8	9	20:34	0	42	11	16	15	39:53	38
14.		West Ham United	21	10	6	5	31:19	0	21	2	6	13	16:32	0	42	12	12	18	47:51	36
15.		Everton	21	8	9	4	28:17	0	21	1	9	11	9:31	0	42	9	18	15	37:48	36
16.		WBA	21	6	7	8	22:23	0	21	6	4	11	20:31	0	42	12	11	19	42:54	35
17.		Stoke City	21	6	10	5	26:25	0	21	4	5	12	13:31	0	42	10	15	17	39:56	35
18.		Coventry City	21	7	10	4	27:23	0	21	2	5	14	17:44	0	42	9	15	18	44:67	33
19.		Southampton	21	8	5	8	31:28	0	21	4	2	15	21:52	0	42	12	7	23	52:80	31
20.		Crystal Palace	21	4	8	9	26:31	0	21	4	5	12	13:34	0	42	8	13	21	39:65	29
21.		Nottingham Forest	21	6	4	11	25:29	0	21	2	5	14	22:52	0	42	8	9	25	47:81	25
22.		Huddersfield Town	21	4	7	10	12:22	0	21	2	6	13	15:37	0	42	6	13	23	27:59	25