Manchester City win their third league title in a row, becoming the 5th club to achieve this feat. They also win the
UEFA Champions League and the
FA Cup, matching Manchester United's treble achievement 24 years prior.
Seven years after winning the league and two years after finally winning the FA Cup,
Leicester City are relegated after nine years in the top flight.
In a season played behind closed doors, Manchester City win the
League Cup for the fourth consecutive season and eighth in total, and their fifth
Premier League title, seventh in the top flight overall.
Jack Grealish becomes the most expensive English footballer of all time after a transfer to Premier League champions Manchester City for 100 million pounds.
2020
All football action stops in March, due to lockdown rules in the outbreak of the
COVID-19 pandemic. It resumes on 17 July, behind closed doors.
Liverpool win the
Premier League for the first time, which marks their first national league title since 1990.
Arsenal win the FA Cup, extending their record amount to 14.
Manchester City win the
Premier League title and become the Centurions, the first club to win the top flight title with 100 points. During the season they break multiple all-time Premier League and Top Division records.
In
League One, the two offshoot clubs of
Wimbledon,
AFC Wimbledon and
Milton Keynes Dons, end the 2017–18 season with different fates, with AFC Wimbledon surviving and MK Dons relegated to
League Two. This means that the 2018–19 season will be the first in which AFCW will play in a higher division than MK Dons.
Chelsea win the FA Cup, beating Manchester United 1-0.
2017
Arsène Wenger becomes the most successful manager in
FA Cup history, winning his 7th FA Cup.
Arsenal reclaim the record of most FA Cup titles with 13.
Arsenal fail to qualify for the
UEFA Champions League for the first time since 1997.
Chelsea win their fifth Premier League title, and sixth English title, achieving a record of 30 wins, in
Antonio Conte's first season in English football.
Tottenham Hotspur play out their final season at
White Hart Lane after nearly 120 years. Spurs beat Manchester United 2-1 on the final match there, with
Harry Kane scoring the last goal for Tottenham at this ground and
Wayne Rooney becoming the final goalscorer there. The club plan to use
Wembley Stadium with their
new stadium being built within White Hart Lane's footprint.
2016
The Football League renames itself as the
English Football League, with all of the leagues and cup competitions it organises including "EFL" in their titles.
Leicester City win the top tier title of English football for the first time in history, with one British sports book having offered preseason odds of 5000/1 against their winning the title, just 8 years after their relegation to the 3rd tier.
Leicester City's
Jamie Vardy became the first player to score in 11 consecutive appearances in Premier League history.
Defending champions
Chelsea sack manager
José Mourinho in December while in 16th place and eventually fail to qualify for European football, for the first time in two decades, finishing 10th, the lowest position for a Premier League holder. This record only stood for one year, as Leicester City finished 12th the
following season.
Eden Hazard, the previous season's
PFA Players' Player of the Year, did not score a league goal until late April.
Manchester United sack manager Louis van Gaal despite winning the
FA Cup, after a poor league season which sees the club miss out on next season's
Champions League. Former Chelsea manager
Jose Mourinho is appointed in his place.
AFC Bournemouth were promoted to the top flight for the first time after winning the
Championship, just eight years after they were in administration and barely survived in the Football League.
2014
19 May:
Louis van Gaal is confirmed as manager of
Manchester United. Former interim manager
Ryan Giggs is named as his assistant, and confirms his retirement as a player at the age of 40 after nearly a quarter of a century during which he played 963 games and won an English record of 22 major trophies.[1]
Arsenal win the
FA Cup, their first major trophy in 9 years.
Wigan Athletic win the
FA Cup for the first time, but are relegated from the Premier League, becoming the first FA Cup winners to be relegated in the same season as their Cup win.
Manchester City win the
Premier League title ahead of rivals
Manchester United on goal difference, their 3rd overall English league win, and becomes the first team relegated from the Premier League to win the title. This was also their first English league title success since 1968.
Manchester City won the 130th FA Cup Final beating
Stoke City 1–0 at Wembley, claiming a major trophy after 36 years.
Birmingham City claim the second major trophy in their history after beating
Arsenal in the
League Cup Final. Despite that, however, they were relegated on the final day of the league season.
On Saturday, 5 February there were 41 goals from 8 Premier League games which was the record for a single day in the Premier League since it became a 20-team division. The results were Aston Villa 2–2
Fulham,
Everton 5–3
Blackpool, Manchester City 3–0
West Brom, Newcastle 4–4 Arsenal, Stoke 3–2
Sunderland, Tottenham 2–1
Bolton, Wigan 4–3
Blackburn,
Wolves 2–1 Manchester United.
Chelsea become the seventh team to win the league and
FA Cup double, scoring a record 108 Premier League goals in the process.
Chester City, the
Conference team who were relegated from
The Football League last year, go out of business after 125 years in existence. They are reformed as
Chester and will initially compete in a regional division.
Cristiano Ronaldo, a
Portuguese forward, becomes the most expensive footballer in the world when Manchester United sell him to the Spanish giants
Real Madrid for £80million.
Having been deducted a record 30 points for financial irregularities before the start of the season,
Luton Town are relegated to the Conference and become the first club to fall to that level after three successive relegations.
2008
Portsmouth beat Cardiff City 1–0 in the FA Cup final, winning the competition for the first time in 49 years, the longest gap between two FA Cup wins for the same club.
In early September, both
Kevin Keegan and
Alan Curbishley walk out of their Premier League management jobs, citing boardroom interference in transfers. In the same week,
Dimitar Berbatov completes a move to
Manchester United against the wishes of the
Tottenham Hotspur board.
Manchester City were purchased by the
Abu Dhabi United Group and on the same day broke the transfer record by purchasing
Robinho of Brazil for £32million – slightly exceeding the £30.75million that their city rivals paid for Berbatov.
Three clubs start the
Football League Two season with points deductions. Both
Rotherham United and
AFC Bournemouth started the season on -17 points after exiting administration without using a Company Voluntary Agreement.
Luton Town started on -30 points after a 20-point deduction due to exiting administration without using a CVA and a 10-point deduction due to illegal agent payments during transfers. This 30-point deduction doubled the previous record for points deduction imposed on a club set in 2007.
Manchester United win the Premier League for the 10th time and overall 17th English League championship. It is also the tenth title for manager Sir Alex Ferguson (now the longest serving manager in English football with 22 years of unbroken service at the club) and
Ryan Giggs, the only player to have collected title medals with all 10 of their championship winning sides since 1993.
The
2008 UEFA Champions League final is the first all-English club final in European Cup history, and after 120 minutes, Manchester United beat Chelsea on penalties after a 1–1 draw in Moscow, Russia.
Leicester City are relegated to the third tier of English football for the first time in their 124-year history.
Steve McClaren is fired from the job as England manager after failing to qualify for
the 2008 Euros – the first time in 24 years that England have failed to qualify for the European Championships.
Manchester United win the Premiership for the ninth time under Sir Alex Ferguson.
Chelsea win a cup double winning the
FA Cup in the first final back at the recently completed
Wembley Stadium. The match finished 1–0 with
Didier Drogba scoring the only goal in the last minute of extra-time.
Ryan Giggs set a new record for the player to appear in the most finals. However, he could not beat
Mark Hughes' record for the most finals won by one player. The victory by Chelsea stopped
Manchester United from winning the Double.
Leeds United entered
administration on 4 May after a number of years struggling with the debt incurred by previous boards, thus incurring a 10-point deduction for the
2006–07 season, resulting in them being relegated to the third tier for the first time, but this was not the last of them. Two months later, on 4 August, the club was sold without a C.V.A. after entering administration, required by league rules.[3] In consequence, Leeds were hit with the biggest point deduction yet in English professional football history (until Luton's 30 point penalty a year later), starting the
2007–08 League One season on -15.
Boston United enter administration in the final minutes of the league season to take a 10-point deduction in the
2006–07 season. They are relegated two divisions to the
Conference North.
Chelsea become
League Cup champions after beating
Arsenal 2–1 at the
Millennium Stadium. This was also the last major English Cup Final to be played at the Millennium Stadium before the move back to
Wembley Stadium after its completion.
Charlton Athletic become the first
Premiership club to change their shirt design mid-season due to the collapse of former sponsors Allsports.
Alan Shearer retires two weeks early following a knee injury. After a professional career that lasted almost 20 years, the former
England and
Newcastle captain bows out as the Premiership's leading goal scorer of all time with 260 goals in 441 games but only one trophy, the 1994–95 Premiership title.[4]
Sunderland are relegated from the Premiership, and break the record set by
Stoke City 21 years earlier for the lowest points accumulated, ending the season with just 15 points. They also matched Stoke's record low of just 3 wins.
Reading are promoted to the top flight for the first time in their history, after winning the
Football League championship with a professional league record of 106 points.
Liverpool beat
West Ham 3–1 on penalties in the 125th
FA Cup final after the game finished 3–3 in normal time. It is the last
FA Cup game at the
Millennium Stadium before Wembley re-opens.
The players of
Aston Villa make history on 14 July by issuing a joint statement critical of chairman
Doug Ellis, the first-ever time such a statement has been formally issued to the press by a collective of players from any English football club.
In their first season as a top division club and only their 28th in the professional leagues,
Wigan Athletic finish tenth (having spent much of the season in the top five) and are League Cup runners-up to Manchester United who beat them 4–0 in the final.
Oxford United, the 1986 League Cup winners and members of the First Division from 1985 to 1988, become the first former winners of a major trophy to be relegated to the Conference.
Chelsea win the
Premier League title as they set a new Premier League record for fewest goals conceded (15) and most points attained (95).
Arsenal become the first team to win the
FA Cup on penalties when they triumph over
Manchester United in the shootout after a goalless draw.
George Best, widely regarded one of the greatest footballers in the history of
Manchester United and the footballing world, dies aged 59 after a short illness.
EvertonstrikerWayne Rooney, still only 18, becomes the world's most expensive teenager when he signs for
Manchester United in a transfer deal which could eventually rise to £25million from an initial £20million.
Carlisle United, who spent one season in the First Division during the 1970s, become the first former members of the top flight to be relegated to the Conference after 76 years of league membership. They go down with
York City, who have played in the Football League for 75 years and eliminated several clubs (notably Arsenal, Manchester United and Everton) from the top flight in cup competitions.
Sunderland confirm themselves as statistically the worst team in the
Premiership era after they are relegated with a record low of 4 wins, 19 points and 21 goals.
On 16 March, a
First Division match between
Sheffield United and West Bromwich Albion degenerates into one of the most violent in English football history, featuring multiple on-field assaults and ending with abandonment when United, trailing 3–0 at the time, were left with 6 players. This match enters English football lore as the
Battle of Bramall Lane.
Everton become the first team to have spent 100 seasons in the top flight of
English football.
The FA approves the plan of
Wimbledon to move to
Milton Keynes. The move is extremely unpopular with the club's fans, who form a breakaway club called
AFC Wimbledon. The new club is playing at a much lower level (
Combined Counties League) than the original one, who are competing in Division One, but the new Wimbledon club is soon enjoying the highest attendance.
Brighton & Hove Albion become only the seventh club in English football history to win back-to-back promotion championships after winning the 2001–02 League One title (having won the 2000–01 League Two title the season before).
David Rocastle, who won a
League Cup and two league championships with
Arsenal as well as never being on the losing side in his 14 England appearances, dies of cancer aged 33.
Paul Vaessen who famously scored the winning goal for
Arsenal against
Juventus at the Stadio Comunale, in the second leg of a Cup Winners' Cup semi-final on 23 April 1980, (the first time an English club had beaten Juventus in Turin), dies of a drug overdose at the age of 39, He had led a troubled life since injury resulted in his premature retirement from football in 1983 aged just 21. He was known as "a forgotten hero" as his death gained no media coverage at all, announcements of Paul's death in his local free newspaper omitted the fact that he had formerly been a footballer and merely labeled him a "local addict".
Coventry City suffer relegation from the
Premiership after 34 successive seasons of top-flight football.
Fulham are promoted to the
Premiership, becoming the first club since the
Premier League's formation to have made their way from Division Three (now League Two) to the top flight.
Les Sealey, who kept goal for Manchester United in their FA Cup triumph of 1990 and the European Cup Winners' Cup triumph of 1991, dies of a heart attack aged 43.
England lose 1–0 to
Germany in their opening qualifier for the
2002 World Cup, in a game which is also the last game at
Wembley Stadium before it closes its doors after 77 years for a complete revamp. The historic goal is scored by
Dietmar Hamann.
Sir Stanley Matthews, legendary former England, Blackpool and
Stoke City winger, dies after a short illness at the age of 85.
The new home of Welsh football is the 72,000-seat
Millennium Stadium, which stands on the site of
Cardiff Arms Park, and will host all English cup finals and playoff finals until
Wembley is reopened.
Arsenal equal
Manchester United's record of two league championship and
FA Cupdoubles in their first full season under the management of Frenchman
Arsène Wenger, who was also the first foreign manager to win the English top flight.
England go out of the
World Cup in France after losing on penalties to
Argentina after a 2–2 draw.
Charlton Athletic win promotion to the Premier League by beating Sunderland 7–6 on penalties after a 4–4 draw in the Division One playoff final at Wembley.
1997
After captaining
Manchester United to their fourth
Premiership title in five seasons and 11th English League championship overall,
Eric Cantona announces his retirement as a player.
Ruud Gullit becomes the first foreign manager to win an English trophy after his
Chelsea side defeated
Middlesbrough 2–0 in the
FA Cup final to end their 26-year trophy drought.
Middlesbrough experience a unique season. They are on the losing side in both domestic cup finals and have a 3-point deduction imposed for postponing a
Premiership fixture at short notice seeing them relegated in second from bottom place – so they finished in the last two of all three major English competitions.
Alan Shearer is ruled out of football for seven months after suffering a broken ankle in a pre-season game.
Brighton & Hove Albion, FA Cup runners-up 14 years ago, avoid relegation to the Conference by drawing 1–1 away with
Hereford United, who go down instead, on the last day of the Division Three season.
Billy Bremner, legendary
Leeds United captain of the 1960s and 1970s, dies of a heart attack aged 54.
1996
Manchester United win a unique second league championship and
FA Cupdouble. Following taunts that "You win nothing with kids", the young team hits back by achieving something that no English team has done before.
Kenny Dalglish becomes the third manager to win the English league with different clubs after
Blackburn Rovers clinch the
Premiership title to top the English league for the first time since 1914.
Manchester United become only the fourth club in the 20th century to win the league championship and
FA Cupdouble. They achieve this triumph just four months after the death of former manager
Sir Matt Busby at the age of 84. They are denied an unprecedented 'treble' by
Aston Villa, who defeat them in the final of the
League Cup.
Tottenham Hotspur are found guilty of financial irregularities dating back to the 1980s and handed the most severe punishment in the history of English football: a £600,000 fine, 12 league points deducted and a one-year ban from the
FA Cup. The points deduction and the
FA Cup ban are later quashed but the fine is increased to a new record of £1.5million.
Liverpool's famous
Spion Kop is demolished to make way for a new all-seater stand, as is Aston Villa's Holte End, as standing accommodation is banned from Premier League stadiums.
1993
Manchester United win the inaugural
Premiership title to end their 26-year wait for the league championship. They strengthened themselves for the defence of their big prize by paying a British record fee of £3.75million for
Nottingham Forest's young Irish midfielder
Roy Keane.
Brian Clough retires as manager of
Nottingham Forest after 18 years in charge, and goes out on a low note as Forest are relegated from the Premier League.
Norwich City finish third in the Premier League and qualify for the
UEFA Cup, where they famously eliminate
FC Bayern Munich in the second round before being beaten by
Inter Milan in the next round.
Newcastle United are promoted back to the top flight after a four-year exile.
Blackburn Rovers, back in the top flight for the first time since the 1960s, make
Alan Shearer England's most expensive footballer by paying
Southampton £3.5million for his services.
Liverpool win the
FA Cup for the fifth time in their centenary year.
Aldershot, who have struggled to stay afloat for two years, finally go out of business on 25 March.
Maidstone United follow suit on 17 August after their financial crisis leaves them with no option but to quit the Football League.
Eight years after retiring as a player,
Kevin Keegan returns to football as manager of Newcastle United and saves them from Second Division relegation.
Gary Lineker retires from international football with 48 goals to his name for England – just one goal short of the record set by
Bobby Charlton. He also calls time on his career in England, joining
Nagoya Grampus of Japan.
England are eliminated from
Euro 92 in the group stages after losing their final group game 2–1 to host nation
Sweden.
After a slow start to the new Premier League campaign puts their league title hopes under serious doubt, Manchester United pay Leeds United £1.2million for French striker
Eric Cantona in hope of winning a title race which by late November is being led by the likes of Aston Villa and Norwich City.
Paul Gascoigne joins
Lazio of Italy in a £5.5million move from Tottenham Hotspur.
Dean Saunders becomes the most expensive player in English footballer when he is transferred from
Derby County to
Liverpool in a £2.9million deal.
Tottenham Hotspur win the FA Cup for a record eighth time, beating
Nottingham Forest 2–1 in the final, but midfielder
Paul Gascoigne is ruled out for a year with a knee injury suffered early in the game.
Barnet are promoted to the Football League as Conference champions.
Kenny Dalglish resigns as Liverpool manager on 22 February, and returns to football as manager of Second Division side Blackburn Rovers on 12 October following the club's takeover by wealthy local steel baron
Jack Walker.
1990
Liverpool win their eighteenth top-flight title, which will be their last for the next 30 years.
England reach the semi-finals of the
World Cup before losing to eventual winners
Germany on penalties after a 1–1 draw. Manager
Bobby Robson resigns after the competition to take charge of Dutch side
PSV Eindhoven and is succeeded by
Aston Villa manager
Graham Taylor, who in turn is replaced by
Czech coach
Jozef Venglos – the first manager in the top flight of English football from outside of the British Isles.
Play-off finals become one-legged matches played at
Wembley. In the Second Division,
Swindon Town beat
Sunderland 1–0 but stay in the Second Division after being found guilty of financial irregularities, with Sunderland being promoted in their place.
Manchester United win their first major trophy under the management of Alex Ferguson, beating
Crystal Palace 1–0 in the FA Cup final replay after drawing the first match 3–3.
Peter Shilton retires from international football at the age of 40, kept goal a record 125 caps for the country.
Manchester United and
Arsenal were respectively deducted 1 and 2 points, for a 21-man brawl involving their players on the pitch. The first and, so far, the only instances in English league history where a team were docked points for player misconduct.
Arsenal win the league championship for the first time in 18 years, in the final minute of the
final game of the season from
Michael Thomas, giving them a 2–0 away win over nearest rivals
Liverpool to snatch the title on goals scored, with both teams goal difference being equal.
Liverpool go on to win the
FA Cup with a 3–2 extra-time victory over
Everton at
Wembley.
Ian Rush, who scored twice in the 1986 all-Merseyside final triumph, does so again.
John Lyall's 15-year reign as
West Ham manager comes to an end after they are relegated from the First Division.
Newport County go out of business on 27 February and are then expelled from the
Football Conference for failing to fulfill their fixtures.
Alex Ferguson makes a host of big-money signings for Manchester United in his latest attempt to win them their first league title since 1967, paying a total of more than £7 million for
Mike Phelan,
Neil Webb,
Paul Ince,
Gary Pallister and
Danny Wallace.
Liverpool wrap up their seventeenth league title after losing just two league games in a 40-game season.
Wimbledon beat
Liverpool 1–0 to win the
FA Cup in one of the most dramatic finals seen at
Wembley. The triumph came at the end of
Wimbledon's 11th season as a Football League club and only their second as First Division members.
Lincoln City, the first club to suffer automatic relegation from the Football League, regain their league status at the first time of asking by clinching the
Football Conference title.
Paul Gascoigne, 21-year-old Newcastle United midfielder, becomes England's first £2 million footballer when he signs for Tottenham Hotspur.
Shortly after Gascoigne's transfer, the national transfer fee record is broken again when
Everton pay £2.2million for
West Ham United striker
Tony Cottee.
Ian Rush returns to Liverpool after an unsuccessful season at
Juventus in Italy for £2.8million – the third time in the space of a few weeks that the record fee paid by an English club is broken.
Mark Hughes returns to Manchester United after two years away for a fee of £1.8million.
Portsmouth are relegated to the Second Division a year after promotion.
1987
Tottenham manager
David Pleat resigns after rumours in the media that he has been involved in a vice ring. He is replaced by
Terry Venables.
Coventry City win the first major trophy in their history by beating
Tottenham Hotspur (unbeaten in their previous seven finals) 3–2 in the
FA Cup final.
Everton win their ninth league title in adversity after struggling with massive injuries all season, still managing to win the league by 11 clear points.
Lincoln City become the first English club to suffer automatic relegation from the Football League after the re-election system is scrapped. They are replaced by
Conference champions
Scarborough.
Liverpool win the league championship and
FA Cupdouble in
Kenny Dalglish's first season as player-manager, after
Everton throw away their huge advantage in the closing weeks of the season.
Liverpool sell Ian Rush to Juventus of Italy for £3.2 million, but keep him for a season on loan.
Wimbledon, who only joined the Football League nine years ago, win promotion to the First Division to complete a four-year rise from the Fourth Division.
Swindon Town, Fourth Division champions, set a new Football League record of 102 points.
Wolverhampton Wanderers suffer a third successive relegation and fall into the Fourth Division, but are saved from going out of business by a new takeover deal, as are
Middlesbrough after relegation to the Third Division.
West Ham United finish a club-best third in the league and are just four points behind champions Liverpool.
Manchester United manager Ron Atkinson is sacked in November after a poor start to the season, instantly replaced by the successful
Aberdeen manager
Alex Ferguson.
1985
Everton win their 8th league title with 5 league games to spare, they then take their foot off the gas to lose 3 of their last 5 but still set a club record points total.
56 spectators are burnt to death and more than 200 are injured in a fire at
Bradford City's
Valley Parade stadium on 11 May.
39 spectators, most of them Italian, are trampled to death in rioting on the terraces of the
Heysel Stadium at the
European Cup final between
Liverpool and
Juventus.[5] Despite the carnage, the match is played and
Juventus win 1–0. The sequel of the tragedy was a 5-year ban on English clubs from European competition, with a 6-year ban on
Liverpool.
Everton establish themselves as one of the strongest club sides in Europe after winning the league championship with four matches to spare and adding the
Cup Winners' Cup to their trophy cabinet.
Anton Johnson is banned from football for life after it is revealed that he had illegally taken control of two football clubs (
Southend United and
Rotherham United) at the same time and had also mishandled the finances of both clubs.
Oxford United promoted to the top flight, after claiming the Second Division championship, a year after they won the Third Division championship in 1984, the only club to have won two consecutive championships on the way to the Top Flight.
A 14-year-old boy is crushed to death by a collapsed wall when
Leeds United fans riot on the last game of the Second Division season at
Birmingham City, but media coverage and public attention of the tragedy is overshadowed as it occurred on the same afternoon as the Bradford City fire.
Harry Catterick, who managed Everton to league title glory in 1963 and 1970 as well as an FA Cup triumph in 1966, dies from a heart attack while watching their FA Cup quarter-final win over
Ipswich Town at
Goodison Park.
1984
Liverpool become the first English club to win three major competitions in the same season when they win the league championship, the
League Cup and the
European Cup in
Joe Fagan's first season as manager.
Bob Paisley retires after nine years as
Liverpool manager. He finishes on a high with the league championship and
League Cup to bring his tally of major prizes to an English record of 21. His successor is 62-year-old coach
Joe Fagan.
Manchester United chairman
Louis Edwards, 65, dies of a heart attack weeks after being accused of financial irregularities by
ITV. Control of the club passes to his son
Martin.
West Ham beat
Arsenal in the
FA Cup final to become the third Second Division team in eight years to win the trophy thanks to a
Trevor Brooking goal.
One of
Nottingham Forest's key players in the European triumph is
Trevor Francis, who four months earlier had signed from
Birmingham City and became Britain's first million-pound footballer.
Danny Blanchflower's short-lived and unsuccessful reign as manager of
Chelsea comes to an end after the club suffers relegation to the Second Division.
Brighton & Hove Albion are promoted to the top flight for the first time in their history.
1978
Newly promoted
Nottingham Forest win the league title and
League Cup for the first time in their history. As of 2021–22 they are the last newly promoted club to become league champions.
Peter Houseman, who played in Chelsea's
FA Cup and
Cup Winners' Cup winning teams of 1970 and 1971, is killed in a car crash near Oxford at the age of 31 along with his wife.
Derby County, in
Dave Mackay's first full season as manager, win their second league title in four years to add to the 1972 championship which had been won by Mackay's predecessor,
Brian Clough.
Carlisle United, who had topped the 1974–75 First Division after three games, are relegated after failing to put together a consistent run of good form in their first season as a top division club.
Manchester United are promoted back to the First Division one season after losing their top-flight status.
Aston Villa re-establish themselves a top English side by winning the
League Cup and gaining promotion to the First Division in the same season.
1974
The Football Association scraps the distinction between professional and amateur players leading to no more
UK teams being entered for the Olympics.
Manchester United are relegated to the Second Division for the first time since the 1930s. Their fate is ironically sealed when former player
Denis Law scores the winning goal for
Manchester City at
Old Trafford with his final touch in league football, but
Birmingham City's victory would have condemned them to relegation regardless of the outcome of United's game.
The Football League announces that three clubs, instead of two, are to be relegated from the First and Second Divisions from the end of the 1973–74 season onwards, with three clubs being promoted to the Second and Third Divisions. The four-up, four-down system between the Third and Fourth Divisions would continue.
Hereford United end their first season as a Football League club by winning promotion from the Fourth Division.
1972
Stoke City win the
League Cup to record the first major trophy of their history.
Derby County, managed by 37-year-old
Brian Clough, win the first league championship of their history.
Manchester United win the league championship – their fifth under
Matt Busby and their seventh of all time, and last for the next 26 years, until the formation of the
Premier League.
GoalkeeperHarry Gregg leaves
Manchester United after 10 years during which he established himself as one of the best goalkeepers in the English game, but with no medals to show for it: he had missed the 1963
FA Cup final due to injury and had not played enough games to qualify for a medal when United won the league in 1965 and 1967.
Coventry City, managed by
Jimmy Hill, win the Second Division championship and are promoted to the First Division for the first time in their history.
1911
FA Cup winners
Bradford City finish second from bottom in the Fourth Division and have to seek re-election in order to preserve their Football League place.
Aston Villa played
Rotherham United in the first-ever
League Cup final. The second leg of the final is withheld until the 1961–62 season due to fixture congestion.
Manchester City sell 21-year-old Scottish striker
Denis Law to Torino of Italy in the first £100,000 deal involving a British club.
Terry Bly scores 52 league goals for
Peterborough United as they complete their first league season as Fourth Division champions.
1960
Burnley overcome a spirited challenge of 106-goal
Wolves to win the league championship.
Wolves compensate for their league championship disappointment by overcoming
Blackburn Rovers in the
FA Cup final.
Oldham Athletic, league runners-up 45 years earlier, finish second from bottom in the Fourth Division but retain their league status after the Football League's members vote for
Gateshead to go down and
Midland League champions
Peterborough United to go up for the 1960–61 season.
In an incident known as the
Munich air disaster, eight
Manchester United players die and two more have their careers ended by injury after a plane crash at
Munich-Riem Airport. Manager
Matt Busby is badly injured and spends two months in hospital recovering from multiple injuries.
Wolves win the league championship for the second time and qualify for the
European Cup for the first time.
Sunderland are relegated from the First Division for the first time, having been in the top division every season since joining the Football League in 1890.
Aston Villa beat
Manchester United 2–1 in the
FA Cup final to win the trophy for a record seventh time. Their victory denies United the double, meaning Villa are still the last team to achieve the feat, back in 1896–97.
Stanley Matthews retires from international football at the age of 42, but continues his club career with
Blackpool.
Charlton Athletic turn the tables on
Huddersfield Town during the final 20 minutes of a Second Division fixture by turning a 5–1 deficit into a 7–6 lead.
Manchester United win the league championship with a reshaped side containing mostly young players including
Duncan Edwards (19),
David Pegg (20),
Albert Scanlon (20) and
Mark Jones (22). They become England's first representatives in the
European Cup, in the competition's second season, as the previous league champions Chelsea were blocked from entering the inaugural tournament by
the Football Association.
38-year-old
Stanley Matthews is instrumental in turning
Blackpool's 3–1 deficit into a 4–3 victory against
Bolton Wanderers in the
FA Cup final, ending his 20-year hunt for a major trophy. The final is still widely known as the
'Matthews Final', despite the fact that his teammate
Stan Mortensen scored a hat-trick in the game.
Arsenal win a record-breaking seventh league title with a superior goal difference over
Preston North End, who also have 54 points and have not won the league title since 1890.
A major shock in the first round as five times Cup winners, and First Division staple, Blackburn Rovers, are unexpectedly beaten by the amateurs of Corinthian F.C. at the Crystal Palace.
Newcastle United beat
Aston Villa to win the
FA Cup in what became known as the "Rainy Day Final" due to the weather and pitch conditions.
1923
Liverpool win a second consecutive league championship, a fourth in total.
Bolton Wanderers defeat
West Ham United 2–0 in the first
FA Cup final to be held at
Wembley. The match kicked off 44 minutes late due to overcrowding – there was an estimated 200,000 fans in attendance, and it was not until a police constable on a white police horse helped clear the pitch that the match took place. As a result, the match is now known as the
White Horse Final.
Aston Villa centre-half
Tommy Ball is shot dead by his neighbour in November thus becoming the only Football League player to have been murdered.[9]
Leeds City are expelled and dissolved by the football league after financial irregularities including the payment of players during the
First World War. In its place, a new club is formed,
Leeds United.
1915
Everton win the final league title before league football is suspended because of the
First World War.
FA Cup Final: Sheffield United 3–0 Chelsea
Sheffield United F.C win the FA Cup.
1914
Blackburn Rovers win their second league title and their second in three seasons.
Bradford City win the FA Cup, its only major honour.
1910
Aston Villa win the league championship for a record sixth time.
Brighton & Hove Albion, champions of the Southern Football League, defeat Aston Villa, Football League champions, to win the
1910 FA Charity Shield, their only top-flight honour to date.
Chelsea Football Club is founded at The Rising Sun pub (now The Butcher's Hook), Fulham Road, London, on 14 March and like Bradford City in 1903 are immediately elected to the league.
West Bromwich Albion defeat
Aston Villa in the
FA Cup final. There are suspicions over the performance of Villa keeper
Jimmy Warner. His pub is burned down by a mob and he never plays for the club again.
Assistant referees are first introduced as linesmen.
1890
Luton Town player
Frank Whitby becomes the first professional player in the south of England on 15 December, earning 5 shillings per week.
1880s
1889
Preston North End complete the first season of
the Football League as unbeaten champions. They also become the first team to win the 'double', gaining the
FA Cup without conceding a goal.
First
floodlit football match played at
Bramall Lane, Sheffield on 14 October 1878 in front of an attendance of 20,000.
Newton Heath LYR Football Club was formed by the Carriage and Wagon department of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway depot at Newton Heath (later known as Manchester United Football Club).
St Domingo's FC is formed, later changing its name in November 1879 – to
Everton.
First "goalkeepers", and transition from "dribbling game" to "
passing game" is seen in club matches in
Sheffield and London.
A match between
England and
Scotland, finishes in a 1–0 win for England at the
Kennington Oval in London. This was the first match between the nations but is not recognised as being the first international (see 1872).
First use of referee. During a match in
Rochdale, between the Bodyguards club and the Fearnaught club[12]
1820s
1823
First description of a
pass comes from
Suffolk.[13][14] In this Moor describes a team ball game with goals in which a player who can not advance further "throws the ball [he must in no case give it] to some less beleaguered friend more free and more in breath than himself". Although this description refers to throwing, Moor tells us that the game was at other times a football one: "Sometimes a large football was used; the game was then called 'kicking camp'."