1961–62 in English football

The 1961–62 season was the 82nd season of competitive Football in England.

Overview

The season was notable for the remarkable achievement of Ipswich Town winning the League Championship. Under the managership of Alf Ramsey, the club progressed from the old Third Division South to the First Division. Ipswich were dismissed by most of the media at the time as relegation candidates, but Ramsey's tactics baffled the big clubs in the division such as favourites Tottenham Hotspur and Burnley, and other big names such as Manchester United and Arsenal. Before Ramsey's tenure Ipswich had no tradition to speak of, and indeed had never even played in the top flight of English Football. Ramsey's triumph led him to being offered the job of the England football team manager, which he duly accepted in 1963; England won the World Cup three years later. Liverpool were promoted from the Second Division after eight years. Manager Bill Shankly would soon take the club to unparalleled heights in the years to come. Accrington Stanley resigned from the league because of financial difficulties on 11 March 1962. As a consequence, all their previous results for the season in the Fourth Division were expunged from the records. They were replaced in 1962–63 by Oxford United.

Diary of the season

22 August 1961: Rotherham United beat Aston Villa 2–0 in the first leg of the first ever Football League Cup final. Fixture congestion has meant that last season's competition has stretched into this season.

5 September 1961: Aston Villa clinch the Football League Cup with a 3–0 win over Rotherham United in the second leg of the final.

11 September 1961: The floodlights at the City Ground are officially turned on for the first time as Nottingham Forest face Gillingham in the League Cup.^[1]

11 October 1961: Reports surface indicating Welsh internationalist John Charles of Juventus will soon be back in English football after joining the Bianconeri in 1957: the Italian club's vice-president told the press "[Charles] had already told me of his wish to return to England to look after his children's education".^[2]

18 November 1961: Table-topping Burnley drop their first points of the season by drawing 3–3 with Wolverhampton Wanderers. Elsewhere in the top-flight, Ipswich Town rack up a fifth win in a row by beating Manchester United 4–1, Tottenham Hotspur play out a goalless draw at Sheffield Wednesday, Birmingham City put four without reply past West Ham United, who slump into fifth, below both Ipswich and Spurs. In the rest of the Football League, Liverpool are seven points clear of Scunthorpe United at the top of the Second Division, South Coast clubs Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic and Portsmouth lead Division Three, and Welsh club Wrexham, who have recorded 14 wins already this season, are top of the Fourth Division.^[3]

23 April 1962: Ipswich beat Arsenal 3–0 and Burnley are held by Blackburn Rovers in the East Lancashire derby, giving Town a two-point lead over Burnley at the top of Division One. In the race to evade joining already-relegated Chelsea in next season's second-tier, Cardiff City pick up a useful win against West Ham United, while fellow strugglers Fulham were beaten by West Bromwich Albion. Both Cardiff and Fulham are on 31 points, but the West Londoners have one game more left to play compared with the Bluebirds. In the Second Division, Leyton Orient's win over Luton Town ensures the East London club continue to chase Scunthorpe and Sunderland for the last remaining promotion spot.^[4]

28 April 1962: Ipswich, in the First Division for the first time, are crowned champions of English club football with a 2–0 win at home Aston Villa on the last day of the league season. It is the first major trophy of their history, and the first time that an English club has won the title in their first season as a top division club.^[5]

5 May 1962: Tottenham Hotspur retain the FA Cup with a 3–1 win over Burnley at Wembley Stadium with goals from Jimmy Greaves, Bobby Smith and Danny Blanchflower.

July 1962: Manchester United pay a British record fee of £115,000 for Scottish striker Denis Law from Torino of Italy.

Awards

Football Writers' Association

• Footballer of the Year – Jimmy Adamson (Burnley)

Top goalscorer

• Ray Crawford (Ipswich Town) and Derek Kevan (West Bromwich Albion), 33

Honours

Competition	Winner	Runner-up
First Division	Ipswich Town (1)	Burnley
Second Division	Liverpool	Leyton Orient
Third Division	Portsmouth	Grimsby Town
Fourth Division	Millwall	Colchester United
FA Cup	Tottenham Hotspur (4)	Burnley
League Cup	Norwich City (1)	Rochdale
Charity Shield	Tottenham Hotspur	Football Association XI
British Home Championship	Scotland	Wales

League table

First Division

Ipswich Town achieved a superb debut in the First Division as champions, finishing three points ahead of runners-up Burnley. Third placed Tottenham Hotspur were unable to retain their league title but at least managed to retain the FA Cup, while Everton and Sheffield United completed the top five.

Manchester United endured their worst postwar finish by finishing 15th despite the expensive signing of forward David Herd before the start of the season, which prompted Matt Busby to strengthen United's attack by bringing Denis Law back to England from Italy in British football's first six-figure transfer.

Chelsea, who had gradually lost touch with the First Division's leading pack since their 1955 title triumph, went down in bottom place, and were joined by Cardiff City in relegation.

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Ipswich Town	42	24	8	10	93	67	1.388	56
2	Burnley	42	21	11	10	101	67	1.507	53
3	Tottenham Hotspur	42	21	10	11	88	69	1.275	52
4	Everton	42	20	11	11	88	54	1.630	51
5	Sheffield United	42	19	9	14	61	69	0.884	47
6	Sheffield Wednesday	42	20	6	16	72	58	1.241	46
7	Aston Villa	42	18	8	16	65	56	1.161	44
8	West Ham United	42	17	10	15	76	82	0.927	44
9	West Bromwich Albion	42	15	13	14	83	67	1.239	43
10	Arsenal	42	16	11	15	71	72	0.986	43
11	Bolton Wanderers	42	16	10	16	62	66	0.939	42
12	Manchester City	42	17	7	18	78	81	0.963	41
13	Blackpool	42	15	11	16	70	75	0.933	41
14	Leicester City	42	17	6	19	72	71	1.014	40
15	Manchester United	42	15	9	18	72	75	0.960	39
16	Blackburn Rovers	42	14	11	17	50	58	0.862	39
17	Birmingham City	42	14	10	18	65	81	0.802	38
18	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	13	10	19	73	86	0.849	36
19	Nottingham Forest	42	13	10	19	63	79	0.797	36
20	Fulham	42	13	7	22	66	74	0.892	33
21	Cardiff City	42	9	14	19	50	81	0.617	32
22	Chelsea	42	9	10	23	63	94	0.670	28

Second Division

Liverpool finally secured a First Division comeback as champions of the Second Division, with forward Roger Hunt being instrumental with 40 league goals. They were joined in promotion by a Leyton Orient side who had never appeared in the top flight before. Sunderland missed out on promotion by a single point, while Scunthorpe United (with just over a decade of league football behind them) emerged as surprise promotion contenders before having to settle for a fourth-place finish - still their best finish yet.

Norwich City had a disappointing season in the league after last season's promotion push, but compensated for this by winning the Football League Cup - the first major trophy of their history.

Brighton and Bristol Rovers went down.

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Liverpool	42	27	8	7	99	43	2.302	62
2	Leyton Orient	42	22	10	10	69	40	1.725	54
3	Sunderland	42	22	9	11	85	50	1.700	53
4	Scunthorpe United	42	21	7	14	86	71	1.211	49
5	Plymouth Argyle	42	19	8	15	75	75	1.000	46
6	Southampton	42	18	9	15	77	62	1.242	45
7	Huddersfield Town	42	16	12	14	67	59	1.136	44
8	Stoke City	42	17	8	17	55	57	0.965	42
9	Rotherham United	42	16	9	17	70	76	0.921	41
10	Preston North End	42	15	10	17	55	57	0.965	40
11	Newcastle United	42	15	9	18	64	58	1.103	39
12	Middlesbrough	42	16	7	19	76	72	1.056	39
13	Luton Town	42	17	5	20	69	71	0.972	39
14	Walsall	42	14	11	17	70	75	0.933	39
15	Charlton Athletic	42	15	9	18	69	75	0.920	39
16	Derby County	42	14	11	17	68	75	0.907	39
17	Norwich City	42	14	11	17	61	70	0.871	39
18	Bury	42	17	5	20	52	76	0.684	39
19	Leeds United	42	12	12	18	50	61	0.820	36
20	Swansea Town	42	12	12	18	61	83	0.735	36
21	Bristol Rovers	42	13	7	22	53	81	0.654	33
22	Brighton & Hove Albion	42	10	11	21	42	86	0.488	31

Third Division

Portsmouth achieved an instant return to the Second Division as champions of the Third Division. They were joined in promotion by Grimsby Town.

Newport County, Brentford, Lincoln City and Torquay United went down to the Fourth Division.

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Portsmouth	46	27	11	8	87	47	1.851	65
2	Grimsby Town	46	28	6	12	80	56	1.429	62
3	Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic	46	21	17	8	69	45	1.533	59
4	Queens Park Rangers	46	24	11	11	111	73	1.521	59
5	Peterborough United	46	26	6	14	107	82	1.305	58
6	Bristol City	46	23	8	15	94	72	1.306	54
7	Reading	46	22	9	15	77	66	1.167	53
8	Northampton Town	46	20	11	15	85	57	1.491	51
9	Swindon Town	46	17	15	14	78	71	1.099	49
10	Hull City	46	20	8	18	67	54	1.241	48
11	Bradford Park Avenue	46	20	7	19	80	78	1.026	47
12	Port Vale	46	17	11	18	65	58	1.121	45
13	Notts County	46	17	9	20	67	74	0.905	43
14	Coventry City	46	16	11	19	64	71	0.901	43
15	Crystal Palace	46	14	14	18	83	80	1.038	42
16	Southend United	46	13	16	17	57	69	0.826	42
17	Watford	46	14	13	19	63	74	0.851	41
18	Halifax Town	46	15	10	21	62	84	0.738	40
19	Shrewsbury Town	46	13	12	21	73	84	0.869	38
20	Barnsley	46	13	12	21	71	95	0.747	38
21	Torquay United	46	15	6	25	76	100	0.760	36
22	Lincoln City	46	9	17	20	57	87	0.655	35
23	Brentford	46	13	8	25	53	93	0.570	34
24	Newport County	46	7	8	31	46	102	0.451	22

Fourth Division

Millwall clinched the Fourth Division title, and were joined in promotion by Colchester United, Wrexham and Carlisle United.

Accrington Stanley were forced to resign from the season several weeks before the end of the Fourth Division campaign, and their place in the Fourth Division went to Football League newcomers Oxford United.

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Millwall	44	23	10	11	87	62	1.403	56
2	Colchester United	44	23	9	12	104	71	1.465	55
3	Wrexham	44	22	9	13	96	56	1.714	53
4	Carlisle United	44	22	8	14	64	63	1.016	52
5	Bradford City	44	21	9	14	94	86	1.093	51
6	York City	44	20	10	14	84	53	1.585	50
7	Aldershot	44	22	5	17	81	60	1.350	49
8	Workington	44	19	11	14	69	70	0.986	49
9	Barrow	44	17	14	13	74	58	1.276	48
10	Crewe Alexandra	44	20	6	18	79	70	1.129	46
11	Oldham Athletic	44	17	12	15	77	70	1.100	46
12	Rochdale	44	19	7	18	71	71	1.000	45
13	Darlington	44	18	9	17	61	73	0.836	45
14	Mansfield Town	44	19	6	19	77	66	1.167	44
15	Tranmere Rovers	44	20	4	20	70	81	0.864	44
16	Stockport County	44	17	9	18	70	69	1.014	43
17	Southport	44	17	9	18	61	71	0.859	43
18	Exeter City	44	13	11	20	62	77	0.805	37
19	Chesterfield	44	14	9	21	70	87	0.805	37
20	Gillingham	44	13	11	20	73	94	0.777	37
21	Doncaster Rovers	44	11	7	26	60	85	0.706	29
22	Hartlepools United	44	8	11	25	52	101	0.515	27
23	Chester	44	7	12	25	54	96	0.563	26
24	Accrington Stanley	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.000	0

P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points
Note: Accrington Stanley resigned from the Football League on March 11, 1962. Their record (P33 W5 D8 L20 F19 A60 GA 0.317 Pts 18) was expunged.

References

1. "Undefined Headline". Nottingham Post. 27 September 2014. p. 20–21. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
2. "Charles to Leave Italy". The Herald. Glasgow. 11 October 1961. p. 6. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
3. "Ipswich Town In Spotlight". Montreal Gazette. Reuters. 20 November 1961. p. 27. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
4. "Ipswich Town Near Soccer Title". Montreal Gazette. Associated Press. 24 April 1962. p. 36. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
5. Entertainment & Sports Agency Limited. "2008/9 Results – Ipswich Town FC – BluesWeb.co.uk". Archived from the original on 2009-05-27. Retrieved 2009-05-21.