1980–81 Alliance Premier League

The Alliance Premier League season of 1980–81 was the second season of the Alliance Premier League. Altrincham were the winners of their second Alliance Premier League title.

New team(s) in the league this season

• Frickley Athletic (promoted 1979–80)

Final table^[1]

Alliance Premier League

Season	1980–81[1]
Champions	Altrincham (2nd Alliance Premier League title)
Promoted to the Football League	None
Runners-up	Kettering Town
Relegated to Level 6	Bangor City, Nuneaton Borough, Wealdstone
Promoted for the next season	Dagenham, Dartford, Enfield, Runcorn, Trowbridge Town
Matches played	380
Goals scored	1048 (2.76 per match)
Top goalscorer	Ray Williams (Northwich Victoria), 26 [notes 1]
Biggest home win	Kettering Town – Frickley Athletic 6–1; AP Leamington – Telford United 5–0; Bath City – AP Leamington 5–0; Frickley Athletic – Barrow 5–0
Biggest away win	Yeovil Town – Weymouth 0–5
Highest scoring	Bangor City – Altrincham 4–5
Longest winning run	?
Longest unbeaten run	?
Longest losing run	?
Highest attendance	?
Lowest attendance	?
Average attendance	?
← 1979–80 1981–82 →

Altrincham

Bangor City

Barnet

Barrow

Bath City

Boston United

Gravesend & N

Frickley

Kettering Town

Leamington

Maidstone

Northwich Victoria

Nuneaton

Scarborough

Stafford

Telford United

Wealdstone

Weymouth

Worcester City

Yeovil Town

Locations of the Alliance Premier League 1980–1981

Pos	Team	Pld		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		F	A	GD		Pts	Notes
1	Altrincham	38		14	2	3	40	21		9	6	4	32	20		72	41	+ 31		54
2	Kettering Town	38		13	4	2	38	12		8	5	6	28	25		66	37	+ 29		51
3	Scarborough	38		10	7	2	25	11		7	6	6	24	18		49	29	+ 20		47
4	Northwich Victoria	38		12	4	3	32	13		5	7	7	21	27		53	40	+ 13		45
5	Weymouth	38		11	4	4	30	18		8	2	9	24	22		54	40	+ 14		44
6	Bath City	38		9	6	4	23	8		7	4	8	28	24		51	32	+ 19		42
7	Maidstone United	38		12	4	3	42	18		4	5	10	22	35		64	53	+ 11		41
8	Boston United	38		10	4	5	39	30		6	5	8	24	28		63	58	+ 5		41
9	Barrow	38		10	3	6	25	18		5	5	9	25	31		50	49	+ 1		38
10	Frickley Athletic	38		10	4	5	36	22		5	4	10	25	40		61	62	– 1		38
11	Stafford Rangers	38		10	4	5	34	22		1	11	7	22	34		56	56	± 0		37
12	Worcester City	38		10	4	5	33	25		4	3	12	14	29		47	54	– 7		35
13	Telford United	38		7	6	6	25	23		6	3	10	22	36		47	59	– 12		35
14	Yeovil Town	38		9	2	8	37	30		5	4	10	23	34		60	64	– 4		34
15	Gravesend & Northfleet	38		8	4	7	26	21		5	4	10	22	34		48	55	– 7		34
16	AP Leamington	38		6	7	6	29	26		4	4	11	18	40		47	66	– 19		31
17	Barnet	38		8	5	6	27	26		4	2	13	12	38		39	64	– 25		31
18	Nuneaton Borough	38		6	5	8	27	31		4	4	11	22	34		49	65	– 16		29	Relegated to Southern League
19	Wealdstone	38		6	8	5	27	19		3	3	13	10	37		37	56	– 19		29	Relegated to Southern League
20	Bangor City	38		5	6	8	25	34		1	6	12	10	34		35	68	– 33		24	Relegated to Northern Premier League

• Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points
• Points were scored until the 1981–82 season as follows: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw.

1. Williams' goals include also goals scored in the League Cup.

Key
	Alliance Premier League Champions, no promotion
	FA Trophy winners (Bishop's Stortford, Isthmian League Division One)
	Alliance Premier League Cup winners, see Altrincham
	New club in the Alliance Premier League
	Relegated to Level 6

Results^[1]

Home ╲ Away

ALT

APL

BAN

BAR

BRW

BAT

BOS

FRK

GRN

KET

MAI

NOR

NUN

SCA

STA

TEL

WEA

WEY

WRC

YEO

Altrincham

4–1

2–0

2–0

2–2

3–1

2–0

2–0

2–1

4–1

2–1

1–1

0–3

4–3

4–2

0–2

2–0

1–2

1–0

2–1

AP Leamington

2–4

1–0

0–1

2–2

0–4

0–0

2–2

4–1

3–3

2–3

1–1

0–1

2–0

1–1

5–0

1–1

0–1

2–1

1–0

Bangor City

4–5

1–0

4–2

2–6

0–1

1–1

4–3

1–1

0–1

1–1

0–0

2–5

0–3

0–0

2–0

0–2

2–0

1–1

0–2

Barnet

3–2

1–0

0–1

0–0

1–5

2–2

2–0

1–1

0–1

4–1

1–0

1–0

1–2

1–1

2–1

3–0

0–3

0–2

4–4

Barrow

0–4

0–2

3–0

1–1

0–0

0–2

0–0

3–1

2–1

4–1

2–1

1–0

0–1

5–1

0–1

1–0

0–1

1–0

2–1

Bath City

0–1

5–0

0–0

1–0

2–1

2–0

3–0

1–0

0–0

0–0

0–0

0–0

0–1

0–0

0–1

2–0

2–3

3–0

2–1

Boston United

1–1

2–3

1–1

3–0

0–2

4–2

1–2

2–1

2–1

1–1

2–3

3–1

0–3

2–2

5–3

2–1

2–1

3–1

3–1

Frickley Athletic

0–2

0–0

4–0

3–0

5–0

2–1

0–1

2–4

1–1

2–1

0–1

4–3

1–0

3–2

4–1

1–1

1–2

1–1

2–1

Gravesend & Northfleet

0–2

4–0

1–0

0–2

0–2

2–1

1–2

3–1

1–0

1–2

0–1

4–0

1–1

1–1

2–2

0–1

1–0

2–1

2–2

Kettering Town

1–1

3–0

3–1

2–1

0–1

2–2

0–0

6–1

2–0

3–0

3–3

3–0

1–0

1–0

2–1

0–1

1–0

1–0

4–0

Maidstone United

1–2

2–1

1–0

4–1

1–0

2–1

2–2

1–1

1–1

1–2

4–0

1–3

1–1

4–1

3–0

4–0

3–0

2–0

4–2

Northwich Victoria

1–0

2–0

2–1

4–1

0–0

3–1

3–1

1–3

4–0

1–1

2–1

2–0

0–1

2–1

1–0

0–0

0–0

3–0

1–2

Nuneaton Borough

0–0

3–0

3–2

0–1

3–1

0–0

0–2

0–1

1–2

1–5

1–1

2–0

0–4

2–2

3–3

2–0

1–4

2–3

3–0

Scarborough

1–0

0–0

1–1

3–0

0–0

1–0

3–2

2–1

1–0

1–2

1–2

0–0

2–1

0–0

1–1

4–0

2–0

0–0

2–1

Stafford Rangers

1–3

1–1

4–0

1–0

1–0

0–2

2–3

3–3

2–3

3–1

3–1

2–0

2–2

2–1

0–1

3–0

2–0

1–0

1–1

Telford United

3–2

2–3

1–1

0–0

5–2

2–1

2–0

1–0

0–0

0–2

1–2

1–3

2–2

0–0

1–1

2–1

1–0

1–2

0–1

Wealdstone

1–2

1–2

1–1

2–0

2–0

0–1

3–0

0–2

3–1

1–1

2–1

1–1

0–0

2–2

1–1

4–0

1–1

1–2

1–1

Weymouth

0–0

3–2

4–0

3–0

2–1

1–1

2–1

1–2

0–1

1–2

1–1

4–3

1–0

1–1

2–1

1–0

2–1

1–0

0–1

Worcester City

0–0

3–3

1–1

4–0

2–4

0–2

1–4

3–0

3–1

2–1

2–1

2–1

1–0

2–0

1–1

0–3

4–1

2–1

0–1

Yeovil Town

1–1

3–0

1–0

1–2

2–1

1–2

2–1

5–3

1–3

1–2

2–1

1–2

5–1

0–0

3–4

1–2

4–0

0–5

3–0

Source: Rothmans Football Yearbook 1981–82. Queen Anne Press, Macdonald Futura Publishers, London & Sydney, 1982.
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Topscorers^{[1][notes2 1]}

Rank	Player	Club	League	FA Cup	FA Trophy	League Cup	Total
1	Williams	Northwich Victoria					26
2	J. N. Evans	Kettering Town					25
3	Graham Heathcote	Altrincham					19
=	John Rogers	Altrincham					19
=	Graham Withey	Bath City					19
6	Frank Ovard	Maidstone United					17
7	Clive Green	Yeovil Town					16
8	Colin Cowperthwaite	Barrow					15
9	David Mather	Telford United					13
10	D. Gardner	AP Leamington					12
=	Hickton	AP Leamington					12
=	Aniello Iannone	Weymouth					12
=	Mick Wadsworth	Frickley Athletic					12
=	Woodall	Frickley Athletic					12

1. The number of goals is the sum of league and league cup goals.

Promotion and relegation

Promoted

• Dagenham (from the Isthmian League)
• Dartford (from the Southern Premier League)
• Enfield (from the Isthmian League)
• Runcorn (from the Northern Premier League)
• Trowbridge Town (from the Southern Premier League)

Relegated

• Bangor City (to the Northern Premier League)
• Nuneaton Borough (to the Southern Premier League)
• Wealdstone (to the Southern Premier League)

Election to the Football League

As winners of the Alliance Premier League Altrincham won (for the second season running) the right to apply for election to the Football League to replace one of the four bottom sides in the 1980–81 Football League Fourth Division. The vote went as follows:

Club	Final Position	Votes
Tranmere Rovers	21st (Fourth Division)	48
Hereford United	22nd (Fourth Division)	46
York City	24th (Fourth Division)	46
Halifax Town	23rd (Fourth Division)	41
Altrincham	1st (Alliance Premier League)	15

As a result of this, Altrincham did not gain membership of the Football League.

References

1. Rollin, Jack (ed.): Rothmans Football Yearbook 1981–82, p. 902–904. Queen Anne Press, MacDonald Futura Publishers, London, 1981.

External links

• 1980–81 Football Conference Results
• Re-election Results – The Division Four final league table, including the results of the re-election vote.