1971–72 in English football

The 1971–72 season was the 92nd season of competitive football in England.

Football League

Main article: 1971–72 Football League

First Division

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. It was a tight race, and by the time Manchester City played their last game of the season, they were actually top of the league but had no chance of actually being champions due to the narrowness of the gap at the top and the fact that Derby County and Liverpool soon had a game together.

There were later bribery allegations from The Sun newspaper regarding Leeds manager Don Revie, who stood accused of attempting to bribe Wolverhampton Wanderers on the final day of the season in an attempt to win the league title. Captain Billy Bremner won a high court battle to clear his name of the allegations, with evidence provided by Wolves striker Derek Dougan. Although Leeds failed to win the league, they did win the FA Cup for the first time of their history.

Stoke City finally got their hands on some silverware after a century of trying, by winning the League Cup.

Manchester United started the season well under new manager Frank O'Farrell and topped the league for a while, but then lost eight league games in a row and finished eighth in the final table. Troubled winger George Best was dropped from the team towards the end of the season after failing to turn up for training, the latest controversy to surround the hugely popular Northern Irish star, whose excellent early season form had fuelled United's title hopes.

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 under Brian Clough. 1971–72 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 third tier, with eleven seasons being spent in the second and six in the bottom.

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Derby County	42	24	10	8	69	33	2.091	58
2	Leeds United	42	24	9	9	73	31	2.355	57
3	Liverpool	42	24	9	9	64	30	2.133	57
4	Manchester City	42	23	11	8	77	45	1.711	57
5	Arsenal	42	22	8	12	58	40	1.450	52
6	Tottenham Hotspur	42	19	13	10	63	42	1.500	51
7	Chelsea	42	18	12	12	58	49	1.184	48
8	Manchester United	42	19	10	13	69	61	1.131	48
9	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	18	11	13	65	57	1.140	47
10	Sheffield United	42	17	12	13	61	60	1.017	46
11	Newcastle United	42	15	11	16	49	52	0.942	41
12	Leicester City	42	13	13	16	41	46	0.891	39
13	Ipswich Town	42	11	16	15	39	53	0.736	38
14	West Ham United	42	12	12	18	47	51	0.922	36
15	Everton	42	9	18	15	37	48	0.771	36
16	West Bromwich Albion	42	12	11	19	42	54	0.778	35
17	Stoke City	42	10	15	17	39	56	0.696	35
18	Coventry City	42	9	15	18	44	67	0.657	33
19	Southampton	42	12	7	23	52	80	0.650	31
20	Crystal Palace	42	8	13	21	39	65	0.600	29
21	Nottingham Forest	42	8	9	25	47	81	0.580	25
22	Huddersfield Town	42	6	13	23	27	59	0.458	25

Second Division

Norwich City won the Second Division and were promoted along with Birmingham City. 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.

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Norwich City	42	21	15	6	60	36	1.667	57
2	Birmingham City	42	19	18	5	60	31	1.935	56
3	Millwall	42	19	17	6	64	46	1.391	55
4	Queens Park Rangers	42	20	14	8	57	28	2.036	54
5	Sunderland	42	17	16	9	67	57	1.175	50
6	Blackpool	42	20	7	15	70	50	1.400	47
7	Burnley	42	20	6	16	70	55	1.273	46
8	Bristol City	42	18	10	14	61	49	1.245	46
9	Middlesbrough	42	19	8	15	50	48	1.042	46
10	Carlisle United	42	17	9	16	61	57	1.070	43
11	Swindon Town	42	15	12	15	47	47	1.000	42
12	Hull City	42	14	10	18	49	53	0.925	38
13	Luton Town	42	10	18	14	43	48	0.896	38
14	Sheffield Wednesday	42	13	12	17	51	58	0.879	38
15	Oxford United	42	12	14	16	43	55	0.782	38
16	Portsmouth	42	12	13	17	59	68	0.868	37
17	Orient	42	14	9	19	50	61	0.820	37
18	Preston North End	42	12	12	18	52	58	0.897	36
19	Cardiff City	42	10	14	18	56	69	0.812	34
20	Fulham	42	12	10	20	45	68	0.662	34
21	Charlton Athletic	42	12	9	21	55	77	0.714	33
22	Watford	42	5	9	28	24	75	0.320	19

Third Division

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.

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Aston Villa	46	32	6	8	85	32	2.656	70
2	Brighton & Hove Albion	46	27	11	8	82	47	1.745	65
3	Bournemouth	46	23	16	7	73	37	1.973	62
4	Notts County	46	25	12	9	74	44	1.682	62
5	Rotherham United	46	20	15	11	69	52	1.327	55
6	Bristol Rovers	46	21	12	13	75	56	1.339	54
7	Bolton Wanderers	46	17	16	13	51	41	1.244	50
8	Plymouth Argyle	46	20	10	16	74	64	1.156	50
9	Walsall	46	15	18	13	62	57	1.088	48
10	Blackburn Rovers	46	19	9	18	54	57	0.947	47
11	Oldham Athletic	46	17	11	18	59	63	0.937	45
12	Shrewsbury Town	46	17	10	19	73	65	1.123	44
13	Chesterfield	46	18	8	20	57	57	1.000	44
14	Swansea City	46	17	10	19	46	59	0.780	44
15	Port Vale	46	13	15	18	43	59	0.729	41
16	Wrexham	46	16	8	22	59	63	0.937	40
17	Halifax Town	46	13	12	21	48	61	0.787	38
18	Rochdale	46	12	13	21	57	83	0.687	37
19	York City	46	12	12	22	57	66	0.864	36
20	Tranmere Rovers	46	10	16	20	50	71	0.704	36
21	Mansfield Town	46	8	20	18	41	63	0.651	36
22	Barnsley	46	9	18	19	32	64	0.500	36
23	Torquay United	46	10	12	24	41	69	0.594	32
24	Bradford City	46	11	10	25	45	77	0.584	32

Fourth Division

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.

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Grimsby Town	46	28	7	11	88	56	1.571	63
2	Southend United	46	24	12	10	81	55	1.473	60
3	Brentford	46	24	11	11	76	44	1.727	59
4	Scunthorpe United	46	22	13	11	56	37	1.514	57
5	Lincoln City	46	21	14	11	77	59	1.305	56
6	Workington	46	16	19	11	50	34	1.471	51
7	Southport	46	18	14	14	66	46	1.435	50
8	Peterborough United	46	17	16	13	82	64	1.281	50
9	Bury	46	19	12	15	73	59	1.237	50
10	Cambridge United	46	17	14	15	62	60	1.033	48
11	Colchester United	46	19	10	17	70	69	1.014	48
12	Doncaster Rovers	46	16	14	16	56	63	0.889	46
13	Gillingham	46	16	13	17	61	67	0.910	45
14	Newport County	46	18	8	20	60	72	0.833	44
15	Exeter City	46	16	11	19	61	68	0.897	43
16	Reading	46	17	8	21	56	76	0.737	42
17	Aldershot	46	9	22	15	48	54	0.889	40
18	Hartlepool	46	17	6	23	58	69	0.841	40
19	Darlington	46	14	11	21	64	82	0.780	39
20	Chester	46	10	18	18	47	56	0.839	38
21	Northampton Town	46	12	13	21	66	79	0.835	37
22	Barrow	46	13	11	22	40	71	0.563	37
23	Stockport County	46	9	14	23	55	87	0.632	32
24	Crewe Alexandra	46	10	9	27	43	69	0.623	29

P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points |}

FA Cup

Main article: 1971–72 FA Cup

Leeds United won the FA Cup for the first time in their history by beating the previous year's winners, Arsenal, 1–0 in the final at Wembley. Allan Clarke scored the winning goal.

1971–72 marked the centenary of the FA Cup. Non-League Hereford United of the Southern League provided one of the shocks of the season by knocking out Newcastle United 2–1 after extra time in the 3rd Round Replay.

League Cup

Main articles: 1971–72 Football League Cup and 1972 Football League Cup Final

Stoke City won the 1972 Football League Cup Final to claim the only major trophy in their history.

European competitions

The 1972 UEFA Cup Final was the final of the first ever UEFA Cup and was contested by two English teams, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs won 2–1 in the first leg at the Molineux on 3 May. The second leg, played on 17 May at White Hart Lane, ended 1–1. The 3–2 aggregate win by Tottenham Hotspur gave them the second European trophy in their history

Diary of the season

8 July 1971: Bill Shankly signs a three-year contract as Liverpool manager which will keep him in charge until the end of the 1973-74 season.

6 November 1971: The Manchester derby at Maine Road ends in a 3–3 thriller, with debutant 17-year-old winger Sammy McIlroy on the scoresheet for United.

27 November 1971: Alan Woodward scores four of the seven Sheffield United put past Ipswich Town without reply, while elsewhere, George Best is the hat-trick hero as Manchester United beat Southampton 5–2, and Wolverhampton Wanderers beat West Bromwich Albion 3–2 in the Black Country derby.

15 December 1971: John Ritchie's goal and a penalty save from Gordon Banks gives Stoke City a replay in the Football League Cup semi-final against West Ham United.

31 December 1971: At the end of the year, Manchester United are top of the First Division, three points ahead of Manchester City and four ahead of Leeds United. West Bromwich Albion and Nottingham Forest occupy the relegation places.

19 February 1972: Leeds United thrash Manchester United 5–1 at Elland Road and are two points behind Manchester City at the top of the table. Manchester United have now lost five League matches in a row.

4 March 1972: Leeds United beat Southampton 7–0 and will overtake Manchester City at the top of the table if they win their two games in hand. Manchester United are beaten for the sixth consecutive match in the League when they lose 2–0 to Tottenham Hotspur.

1 April 1972: Derby County beat Leeds United 2–0 and take over at the top of the First Division.

26 April 1972: Derby County win the Texaco Cup by beating Airdrieonians 2–1 on aggregate. Crystal Palace's 2–0 win over Stoke City relegates both Nottingham Forest and Huddersfield Town from the First Division.

1 May 1972: Derby County, in their last League game of the season, beat Liverpool 1–0 . Leeds United beat Chelsea 2–0 and will win the title if they can beat Wolverhampton Wanderers in their final fixture.

6 May 1972: Leeds United win the FA Cup for the first time in their history by beating Arsenal 1–0 in the final at Wembley, with Allan Clarke heading the only goal in the second half.

8 May 1972: Derby County win the League Championship as neither Leeds United nor Liverpool manage to win their final league games. Leeds would have overtaken Derby on goal average had they drawn with Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux, but lose 2-1, while Liverpool draw 0-0 with Arsenal at Highbury.

11 May 1972: The First Division season ends when Tottenham Hotspur beat Arsenal 2–0 in the North London derby at Highbury.

Star players

• Gordon Banks was voted FWA Footballer of the Year by the FWA to add to his League Cup winners medal.
• Norman Hunter and Billy Bremner helped Leeds win the FA Cup.
• Roy McFarland and Colin Todd helped Derby win the league championship.

Star managers

• Brian Clough guided Derby to their first-ever league championship triumph.
• Don Revie helped Leeds lift the FA Cup for the first time.
• Tony Waddington ended Stoke City's trophyless history by winning the League Cup.

National team

England were eliminated from the 1972 European Championships in the quarter-finals after losing 3–1 on aggregate over two legs (1–3 at Wembley and 0–0 in West Berlin) to West Germany, who went on to win the tournament.

Honours

Competition	Winner	Runner-up
First Division	Derby County (1)	Leeds United
Second Division	Norwich City	Birmingham City
Third Division	Aston Villa	Brighton & Hove Albion
Fourth Division	Grimsby Town	Southend United
FA Cup	Leeds United (1)	Arsenal
League Cup	Stoke City (1)	Chelsea
Charity Shield	Leicester City	Liverpool
Home Championship	Shared by England and Scotland

Notes = Number in parentheses is the times that club has won that honour. * indicates new record for competition