1976–77 in English football

The 1976-77 season was the 97th season of competitive football in England.

Overview

The Football League revamped the tie-breaking criteria for teams level of points, replacing the traditional goal average tie-breaker with one based on goal difference to try and encourage more scoring. Coloured yellow and red cards were introduced for the first time in domestic English football.

First Division

Liverpool retained their league championship trophy and won their first European Cup to confirm Bob Paisley as a successful replacement for Bill Shankly in his third season at the helm. Tottenham Hotspur and Stoke City's long spells in the First Division came to an end with relegation. Stoke sacked their manager Tony Waddington. On the last day of the season, Coventry City and Bristol City played out a controversial 2-2 draw, with play virtually stopping when it was heard that Sunderland had lost to Everton. Both clubs survived while Sunderland was relegated.

After Manchester United manager Tommy Docherty had admitted his affair with the wife of the club's physiotherapist, the club's directors decided that he had broken their moral code and he was sacked.

Second Division

Wolverhampton Wanderers, Chelsea and Nottingham Forest gained promotion to the First Division. Brian Clough's Forest would achieve success beyond the dreams of most supporters over the next few seasons. Carlisle United, Plymouth Argyle and Hereford United occupied the three relegation places. Hereford became the first club to finish bottom of the Second Division after winning the Third Division the previous season.

Third Division

Mansfield Town, Brighton & Hove Albion and Crystal Palace were the three teams promoted to the Second Division. Palace's manager was a certain Terry Venables who would enjoy more success at Palace and elsewhere over the next 20 years. Going down were Reading, Northampton Town, Grimsby Town and York City.

Fourth Division

Cambridge United, Exeter City, Colchester United and Bradford City occupied the four promotion places in the league's lowest division. A terrible season for Workington was compounded by their failure to gain re-election to the Football League, a humiliation which saw them slip into the Northern Premier League. In their place were Southern League champions Wimbledon, who would make amazing progress over the next decade.

The British pop star Elton John took over Fourth Division side Watford and installed Graham Taylor as manager. Former Arsenal manager Bertie Mee came out of retirement to work at Watford as assistant to Graham Taylor. John immediately asserted his ambition by promising to bring First Division football to Watford.

FA Cup

Tommy Docherty guided Manchester United to a 2-1 win over Liverpool in the FA Cup final, but was sacked within weeks after announcing his affair with the wife of the club's physiotherapist.

A new competition, the Debenhams Cup, was introduced to reward the two teams from outside the top two divisions to progress furthest in the FA Cup. Chester beat Port Vale in the final but it was only competed for once more.

League Cup

Ron Saunders took Aston Villa to their second League Cup victory in three seasons as the midlanders continued to re-establish themselves as a top club.

Star players

*Aston Villa's exciting young striker Andy Gray finished the season with a League Cup winners medal as well as being voted Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year by the PFA.
*Liverpool captain Emlyn Hughes added the FWA Player of the Year award to his league championship and European Cup winners medals.
*Manchester United's FA Cup winners included some promising young players like Steve Coppell, Lou Macari and Arthur Albiston, who all looked set for more success as their careers progressed.

Star managers

*Bob Paisley retained Liverpool's league title and guided them to their first European Cup triumph.
*Tommy Docherty ended Manchester United's 14-year wait for the FA Cup and their first trophy of the post Matt Busby era.
*Ron Saunders delivered another League Cup victory for Aston Villa.
*Brian Clough guided Nottingham Forest to promotion to the First Division, but his greatest successes were yet to come....

Transfers

* Liverpool sold Kevin Keegan to West German side Hamburger SV in a £500,000 deal. They replaced him with Celtic striker Kenny Dalglish, who cost a British record fee of £440,000 and was rated alongside Keegan as one of Europe's top strikers.

Deaths

*Peter Houseman, who had played for Chelsea when they won the F.A Cup in 1970 and the Cup Winners Cup a year later, died in a car crash near Oxford at the age of 31. His wife also died in the crash. At the time of his death he had been playing for Oxford United.

Honours

=Third Division=

=Fourth Division=

P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points