1976–77 Football League First Division

Football League First Division
Season	1976–77
Champions	Liverpool (10th English title)
Relegated	Stoke City; Sunderland,; Tottenham Hotspur
1977–78 European Cup	Liverpool
FA Cup winners; 1977–78 European Cup Winners' Cup	Manchester United (4th FA Cup title)
1977–78 UEFA Cup	Aston Villa,; Ipswich Town; Manchester City,; Newcastle United
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,183 (2.56 per match)
Top goalscorer	Andy Gray (Aston Villa), 25; Malcolm Macdonald (Arsenal), 25
Biggest home win	Ipswich Town – West Bromwich Albion 7–0 (6 Nov 1976)
Biggest away win	Leicester City – West Bromwich Albion 0–5 (7 Mar 1977)
Highest scoring	Derby County – Tottenham Hotspur 8–2 (16 Oct 1976)
	← 1975–76 1977–78 →

Statistics of Football League First Division in the 1976–77 season.

Overview[]

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 were 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.

League standings[]

Pos	Team	Pld	HW	HD	HL	HGF	HGA	AW	AD	AL	AGF	AGA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Liverpool (C)	42	18	3	0	47	11	5	8	8	15	22	+29	57	Qualified for European Cup
2	Manchester City	42	15	5	1	38	13	6	9	6	22	21	+26	56	Qualified for UEFA Cup
3	Ipswich Town	42	15	4	2	41	11	7	4	10	25	28	+27	52	Qualified for UEFA Cup
4	Aston Villa	42	17	3	1	55	17	5	4	12	21	33	+26	51	League Cup winners, qualified for UEFA Cup
5	Newcastle United	42	14	6	1	40	15	4	7	10	24	34	+15	49	Qualified for UEFA Cup
6	Manchester United	42	12	6	3	41	22	6	5	10	30	40	+9	47	FA Cup winners, qualified for Cup Winners' Cup
7	West Bromwich Albion	42	10	6	5	38	22	6	7	8	24	34	+6	45
8	Arsenal	42	11	6	4	37	20	5	5	11	27	39	+5	43
9	Everton	42	9	7	5	35	24	5	7	9	27	40	−2	42
10	Leeds United	42	8	8	5	28	26	7	4	10	20	25	−3	42
11	Leicester City	42	8	9	4	30	28	4	9	8	17	32	−13	42
12	Middlesbrough	42	11	6	4	25	14	3	7	11	15	31	−5	41
13	Birmingham City	42	10	6	5	38	25	3	6	12	25	36	+2	38
14	Queens Park Rangers	42	10	7	4	31	21	3	5	13	16	31	−5	38
15	Derby County	42	9	9	3	36	18	0	10	11	14	37	−5	37
16	Norwich City	42	12	4	5	30	23	2	5	14	17	41	−17	37
17	West Ham United	42	9	6	6	28	23	2	8	11	18	42	−19	36
18	Bristol City	42	8	7	6	25	19	3	6	12	13	29	−10	35
19	Coventry City	42	7	9	5	34	26	3	6	12	14	33	−11	35
20	Sunderland	42	9	5	7	29	16	2	7	12	17	38	−8	34	Relegated
21	Stoke City	42	9	8	4	21	16	1	6	14	7	35	−23	34
22	Tottenham Hotspur	42	9	7	5	26	20	3	2	16	22	52	−24	33

Source:^{[citation needed]}
(C) League Champions

Stats[]

Record

Most wins: Liverpool (23)
Fewest losses: Manchester City (7)
Most goals scored: Aston Villa (76)
Fewest goals conceded: Liverpool (33)
Best goal difference ratio: Liverpool (+29)
Most draws: Derby County (19)
Fewest draws: Aston Villa (7)
Most losses: Tottenham Hotspur
Fewest wins: Derby County (9)
Fewest goals scored: Stoke City (28)
Most goals conceded: Tottenham Hotspur (72)
Worst goal difference ratio: Tottenham Hotspur (–24)

Results[]

Home \ Away	ARS	AST	BIR	BRI	COV	DER	EVE	IPS	LEE	LEI	LIV	MCI	MUN	MID	NEW	NWC	QPR	STK	SUN	TOT	WBA	WHU
Arsenal		3–0	4–0	0–1	2–0	0–0	3–1	1–4	1–1	3–0	1–1	0–0	3–1	1–1	5–3	1–0	3–2	2–0	0–0	1–0	1–2	2–3
Aston Villa	5–1		1–2	3–1	2–2	4–0	2–0	5–2	2–1	2–0	5–1	1–1	3–2	1–0	2–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	4–1	2–1	4–0	4–0
Birmingham City	3–3	2–1		3–0	3–0	5–1	1–1	2–4	0–0	1–1	2–1	0–0	2–3	3–1	1–2	3–2	2–1	2–0	2–0	1–2	0–1	0–0
Bristol City	2–0	0–0	0–1		0–0	2–2	1–2	1–2	1–0	0–1	2–1	1–0	1–1	1–2	1–1	3–1	1–0	1–1	4–1	1–0	1–2	1–1
Coventry City	1–2	2–3	2–1	2–2		2–0	4–2	1–1	4–2	1–1	0–0	0–1	0–2	1–1	1–1	2–0	2–0	5–2	1–2	1–1	1–1	1–1
Derby County	0–0	2–1	0–0	2–0	1–1		2–3	0–0	0–1	1–0	2–3	4–0	0–0	0–0	4–2	2–2	2–0	2–0	1–0	8–2	2–2	1–1
Everton	2–1	0–2	2–2	2–0	1–1	2–0		1–1	0–2	1–2	0–0	2–2	1–2	2–2	2–0	3–1	1–3	3–0	2–0	4–0	1–1	3–2
Ipswich Town	3–1	1–0	1–0	1–0	2–1	0–0	2–0		1–1	0–0	1–0	1–0	2–1	0–1	2–0	5–0	2–2	0–1	3–1	3–1	7–0	4–1
Leeds United	2–1	1–3	1–0	2–0	1–2	2–0	0–0	2–1		2–2	1–1	0–2	0–2		2–2	3–2	0–1	1–1	1–1	2–1	2–2	1–1
Leicester City	4–1	1–1	2–6	0–0	3–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–1		0–1	2–2	1–1	3–3	1–0	1–1	2–2	1–0	2–0	2–1	0–5	2–0
Liverpool	2–0	3–0	4–1	2–1	3–1	3–1	3–1	2–1	3–1	5–1		2–1	1–0	0–0	1–0	1–0	3–1	4–0	2–0	2–0	1–1	0–0
Manchester City	1–0	2–0	2–1	2–1	2–0	3–2	1–1	2–1	2–1	5–0	1–1		1–3	1–0	0–0	2–0	0–0	0–0	1–0	5–0	1–0	4–2
Manchester United	3–2	2–0	2–2	2–1	2–0	3–1	4–0	0–1	1–0	1–1	0–0	3–1		2–0	3–1	2–2	1–0	3–0	3–3	2–3	2–2	0–2
Middlesbrough	3–0	3–2	2–2	0–0	1–0	2–0	2–2	0–2		0–1	0–1	0–0	3–0		1–0	1–0	0–2	0–0	2–1	2–0	1–0	1–1
Newcastle United	0–2	3–2	3–2	0–0	1–0	2–2	4–1	1–1	3–0	0–0	1–0	2–2	2–2	1–0		5–1	2–0	1–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	3–0
Norwich City	1–3	1–1	1–0	2–1	3–0	0–0	2–1	0–1	1–2	3–2	2–1	0–2	2–1	1–0	3–2		2–0	1–1	2–2	1–3	1–0	1–0
Queens Park Rangers	2–1	2–1	2–2	0–1	1–1	1–1	0–4	1–0	0–0	3–2	1–1	0–0	4–0	3–0	1–2	2–3		2–0	2–0	2–1	1–0	1–1
Stoke City	1–1	1–0	1–0	2–2	2–0	1–0	0–1	2–1	2–1	0–1	0–0	0–2	3–3	3–1	0–0	0–0	1–0		0–0	0–0		2–1
Sunderland	2–2	0–1	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–1	0–1	1–0	0–1	0–0	0–1	0–2	2–1	4–0	2–2	0–1	1–0	0–0		2–1	6–1	6–0
Tottenham Hotspur	2–2	3–1	1–0	0–1	0–1	0–0	3–3	1–0	1–0	2–0	1–0	2–2	1–3	0–0	0–2	1–1	3–0	2–0	1–1		0–2	2–1
West Bromwich Albion	0–2	1–1	2–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	3–0	4–0	1–2	2–2	0–1	0–2	4–0	2–1	1–1	2–0	1–1		2–3	4–2		3–0
West Ham United	0–2	0–1	2–2	2–0	2–0	2–2	2–2	0–2	1–3	0–0	2–0	1–0	4–2	0–1	1–2	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	5–3	0–0

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Ian Laschke: Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79. Macdonald and Jane’s, London & Sydney, 1980.
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Managerial changes[]

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Arsenal	Bertie Mee	Retired	4 May 1976	Pre-season	Terry Neill	7 July 1976
Tottenham Hotspur	Terry Neill	Signed by Arsenal	7 July 1976	Pre-season	Keith Burkinshaw	7 July 1976
Sunderland	Bob Stokoe	Resigned	18 October 1976	22nd	Jimmy Adamson	1 December 1976
Derby County	Dave Mackay	Resigned	25 November 1976	19th	Colin Murphy	25 November 1976
Everton	Billy Bingham	Sacked	8 January 1977	15th	Gordon Lee	1 February 1977
Newcastle United	Gordon Lee	Signed by Everton	1 February 1977	7th	Richard Dinnis	1 February 1977
Stoke City	Tony Waddington	Mutual consent	22 March 1977	14th	George Eastham	24 March 1977
Middlesbrough	Jack Charlton	Resigned	2 April 1977	10th	Harold Shepherdson (caretaker)	2 April 1977