1976-77 In English Football Article Index for
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1976-77 In English Football




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. They were joined by Sunderland .


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.


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 League. In their place were Southern League champions Wimbledon , who would make amazing progress over the next decade or so.


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.


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 .

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....


SIGNIFICANT EVENTS

  • Liverpool retained the league title and won their first European Cup, but missed out on the treble after losing 2-1 to Manchester United in the F.A Cup final.

  • Stoke City were relegated to the Second Division just two years after narrowly missing out on the league title. Tony Waddington was sacked after 17 years as manager.

  • Tottenham Hotspur were relegated to the First Division after failing to keep up the momentum from the Bill Nicholson era. Keith Burkinshaw was named as their new manager with a view to restoring the club's fortunes.

  • Southern League champions Wimbledon were elected to the Football League in favour of Fourth Division bottom club Workington.

  • Terry Venables began his management career on a high note by taking Crystal Palace into the Second Division.

  • Liverpool sold Kevin Keegan to West German side HSV Hamburg in a £500,000 deal.

  • Tommy Docherty was sacked as Manchester United manager, just weeks after winning the F.A Cup, for having an affair with the wife of the club's physiotherapist.

  • 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.

  • 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.