1984–85 Alliance Premier League

The Alliance Premier League season of 1984–85 (known as the Gola League 1984–85 for sponsorship reasons) was the sixth season of the Alliance Premier League. This was the first year where the Isthmian League acted as an APL feeder league.

New teams in the league this season

• Barrow (promoted 1983–84)
• Dartford (promoted 1983–84)

Final table^[1]

Alliance Premier League

Season	1984–85
Champions	Wealdstone (1st Alliance Premier League title)
Promoted to the Football League	None
Runners-up	Nuneaton Borough
Relegated to Level 6	Gateshead, Worcester City, Yeovil Town
Promoted for the next season	Cheltenham Town, Stafford Rangers, Wycombe Wanderers
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1343 (2.91 per match)
Top goalscorer	Paul Culpin (Nuneaton Borough), 36
Biggest home win	Barnet – Wealdstone 7–0
Biggest away win	Bath City – Kettering Town 1–6; Gateshead – Enfield 0–6
Highest scoring	Altrincham – Boston United 7–2; Weymouth – Gateshead 5–4
Longest winning run	?
Longest unbeaten run	?
Longest losing run	?
Highest attendance	?
Lowest attendance	?
Average attendance	?
← 1983–84 1985–86 →

Altrincham

Barnet

Barrow

Bath City

Boston United

Dagenham

Dartford

Enfield

Frickley

Gateshead

Kettering Town

Kidderminster Harriers

Maidstone

Northwich Victoria

Nuneaton

Runcorn

Scarborough

Telford United

Wealdstone

Weymouth

Worcester City

Yeovil Town

Locations of the Alliance Premier League teams 1984–1985

Barnet

Dagenham

Dartford

Enfield

Wealdstone

Locations of the Alliance Premier League 1984–1985 London teams

Pos	Team	Pld		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		F	A	GD		Pts	Notes
1	Wealdstone	42		8	8	5	31	26		12	2	7	33	28		64	54	+ 10		62
2	Nuneaton Borough	42		13	8	0	55	23		6	6	9	30	30		85	53	+ 32		58
3	Dartford	42		7	7	7	28	25		10	6	5	29	23		57	48	+ 9		57
4	Bath City	42		15	1	5	30	22		6	8	7	22	27		52	49	+ 3		57
5	Altrincham	42		13	2	6	39	21		8	4	9	24	26		63	47	+ 16		56
6	Scarborough	42		10	7	4	35	20		7	6	8	34	42		69	62	+ 7		54
7	Enfield	42		11	7	3	48	27		6	6	9	36	34		84	61	+ 23		53
8	Kidderminster Harriers	42		8	4	9	40	38		9	4	8	39	39		79	77	+ 2		51
9	Northwich Victoria	42		9	4	8	22	19		7	7	7	28	27		50	46	+ 4		50
10	Telford United	42		10	7	4	36	24		5	7	9	23	30		59	54	+ 5		49
11	Frickley Athletic	42		12	3	6	38	25		6	4	11	27	46		65	71	– 6		49
12	Kettering Town	42		9	6	6	37	22		6	6	9	31	37		68	59	+ 9		48
13	Maidstone United	42		10	7	4	38	24		5	6	10	20	27		58	51	+ 7		48
14	Runcorn	42		6	9	6	27	21		7	6	8	21	26		48	47	+ 1		48
15	Barnet	42		9	7	5	36	20		6	4	11	23	32		59	52	+ 7		47
16	Weymouth	42		13	1	7	41	32		2	12	7	29	34		70	66	+ 4		45
17	Boston United	42		10	5	6	43	32		5	5	11	26	37		69	69	± 0		45
18	Barrow	42		6	9	6	25	22		5	7	9	22	35		47	57	– 10		43
19	Dagenham	42		8	6	7	28	27		5	4	12	19	40		47	67	– 20		41
20	Worcester City	42		7	4	10	29	36		5	5	11	26	48		55	84	– 29		38	Relegated to the Southern League
21	Gateshead [notes 1]	42		5	6	10	27	42		4	6	11	24	40		51	82	– 31		33	Relegated to the Northern Premier League
22	Yeovil Town	42		4	7	10	26	36		2	4	15	18	51		44	87	– 43		25	Relegated to the Isthmian 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 scored from the 1983–84 season until 1987: 2 points for a home win, 3 points for an away win, 1 point for a draw.

1. Gateshead had 1 point deducted.

Key
	Football Conference Champions, no promotion
	FA Trophy winners, see Wealdstone
	Conference League Cup winners
	New club in the Conference
	Relegated to Level 6

Results^[1]

For this season, the Rothmans Football Yearbook 1985–86 had 15 incorrect match results in their results grid, which rendered it as good as useless. Correct results were obtained from the Football Conference, courtesy of Dennis Strudwick, general manager, and John Harman, Statistician.

Home ╲ Away

ALT

BAR

BRW

BAT

BOS

DAG

DAR

ENF

FRK

GAT

KET

KID

MAI

NOR

NUN

RUN

SCA

TEL

WEA

WEY

WRC

YEO

Altrincham

0–2

2–0

0–0

7–2

3–1

2–1

3–2

3–4

2–0

2–1

2–1

2–0

1–2

1–0

0–1

3–0

0–1

1–2

2–0

1–1

2–0

Barnet

1–0

4–0

2–1

1–0

0–0

0–1

3–2

1–2

1–1

4–2

2–4

0–0

1–1

1–1

1–1

1–2

0–1

7–0

0–0

2–0

4–1

Barrow

0–2

1–0

0–1

1–1

3–1

0–0

1–1

6–0

0–1

0–1

3–1

0–2

0–0

0–0

1–1

1–1

2–1

2–1

3–3

1–0

2–2

Bath City

1–0

2–1

1–2

2–1

2–0

1–0

1–0

3–0

1–1

1–6

0–2

1–0

0–3

1–0

0–1

2–1

2–1

3–1

2–1

3–1

1–0

Boston United

0–0

2–1

1–3

1–2

4–1

2–0

3–2

2–1

1–1

3–1

2–3

1–0

3–4

2–3

2–0

3–3

1–3

1–1

2–2

4–1

3–0

Dagenham

1–1

0–0

1–1

0–0

1–2

0–1

0–3

4–1

0–2

2–1

2–2

4–1

2–1

2–1

2–1

0–2

1–0

1–2

2–2

1–3

2–0

Dartford

1–0

2–0

2–0

1–3

1–1

3–0

1–2

0–2

1–2

0–1

2–1

1–1

1–0

2–2

1–1

3–1

0–0

2–3

1–1

2–3

1–1

Enfield

3–3

3–3

0–0

1–1

1–1

3–2

0–1

1–0

3–1

5–3

5–2

1–2

3–2

1–0

1–1

3–4

0–0

2–0

2–1

6–0

4–0

Frickley Athletic

2–1

3–1

2–2

2–0

2–1

0–2

2–4

1–0

1–0

3–0

3–0

1–3

4–0

1–1

1–1

2–3

1–2

0–2

2–0

2–1

3–1

Gateshead

0–1

0–2

1–2

1–1

1–2

2–1

0–0

0–5

3–2

1–4

4–1

2–1

2–6

0–2

0–3

3–1

1–1

1–2

2–2

2–2

1–1

Kettering Town

1–2

4–0

0–0

1–2

2–1

0–1

0–2

4–3

5–0

1–1

2–2

2–0

2–2

1–1

3–0

0–1

4–2

0–1

1–1

1–0

3–0

Kidderminster Harriers

0–2

1–4

0–1

2–2

2–0

5–1

1–1

1–3

2–4

3–0

2–2

2–1

3–1

3–4

0–1

3–2

0–2

0–3

3–3

4–1

3–0

Maidstone United

3–0

1–0

2–0

2–0

2–2

0–1

2–1

2–2

1–1

1–0

3–0

1–4

1–0

2–2

5–1

2–2

0–0

0–1

1–4

4–0

3–3

Northwich Victoria

1–2

2–0

1–0

3–1

1–0

0–1

0–1

1–1

3–0

2–0

1–2

0–2

0–0

1–0

0–1

1–1

1–0

0–2

0–3

2–2

2–0

Nuneaton Borough

4–1

1–1

5–2

0–0

4–2

2–2

5–1

2–2

0–0

3–0

1–1

1–1

3–2

2–2

2–1

5–2

2–1

1–0

4–2

3–0

5–0

Runcorn

1–2

2–1

0–0

0–0

1–2

3–0

1–1

1–1

0–0

1–1

2–2

1–2

1–4

0–0

1–0

1–1

3–0

2–0

3–1

1–2

3–0

Scarborough

2–1

1–1

1–1

2–0

1–0

5–0

1–3

2–3

1–2

5–1

0–0

2–1

1–0

0–0

3–2

0–0

4–1

1–1

0–0

1–2

2–1

Telford United

0–2

1–0

3–1

3–1

1–1

1–1

1–2

2–0

5–3

1–1

1–1

3–2

0–0

0–1

2–1

3–1

1–2

4–2

0–0

1–1

3–1

Wealdstone

1–0

1–2

2–2

0–1

0–1

0–0

0–0

1–2

1–1

4–2

1–0

5–2

1–1

1–1

3–1

1–0

1–0

2–2

3–2

3–3

0–3

Weymouth

2–1

3–0

3–1

2–2

2–1

1–0

1–2

4–2

2–1

5–4

3–0

0–2

0–1

1–0

1–3

0–2

1–2

3–2

0–3

3–1

4–2

Worcester City

1–1

1–2

3–2

1–2

2–1

1–3

2–5

1–0

2–1

4–1

1–2

1–2

1–1

0–1

1–4

2–0

4–1

0–0

0–4

1–1

0–2

Yeovil Town

1–2

2–1

1–2

3–2

2–4

2–1

2–2

0–0

1–2

0–4

1–1

0–0

3–0

0–1

1–2

1–3

2–2

3–3

0–2

0–0

1–2

Source: Rothmans Football Yearbook 1985–86. Queen Anne Press, Macdonald Futura Publishers, London & Sydney, 1985; Football Conference statistics.
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For coming matches, an a indicates there is an article about the match.

Topscorers^[1]

Rank	Player	Club	League	FA Cup	FA Trophy	League Cup	Total
1	Paul Culpin	Nuneaton Borough	36
2	Gary Hooley	Frickley Athletic	29
3	Frank Murphy	Nuneaton	21
=	John Powell	Kidderminster Harriers	21
5	Paul Bennett	Altrincham	20
6	Paul Davies	Kidderminster Harriers	19
=	Dave Flint	Enfield	19
=	Bob Lee	Boston United	19
=	Steve Mahoney	Kidderminster Harriers	19
10	Ian Donaldson	Gateshead	17
=	Paul Moss	Worcester City	17
12	Mike Doherty	Weymouth	16
=	Bill Jeffery	Kettering Town	16
=	Gerry Pearson	Kidderminster Harriers	16
15	Mark Graves	Wealdstone	15
16	Marshall Burke	Scarborough	13
=	Colin Cowperthwaite	Barrow	13
=	Nicky Evans	Barnet	13
=	Paul Reid	Northwich Victoria	13
=	Mark Smith	Kettering Town	13
=	Les Whitton	Dagenham	13
22	Carl Richards	Enfield	12
23	Mark Carter	Runcorn	11

Promotion and relegation

Promoted

• Cheltenham Town (from the Southern Premier League)
• Stafford Rangers (from the Northern Premier League)
• Wycombe Wanderers (from the Isthmian League)

Relegated

• Gateshead (to the Northern Premier League)
• Worcester City (to the Southern Premier League)
• Yeovil Town (to the Isthmian League)

Election to the Football League

This year Wealdstone, the winners of the Alliance Premier League, could not apply for election because they did not meet Football League requirements. 2nd placed Nuneaton could not apply either for the same reasons, and neither could 3rd placed Dartford, so 4th placed Bath City won the right to apply for election to the Football League to replace one of the four bottom sides in the 1984–85 Football League Fourth Division. The vote went as follows:

Club	Final Position	Votes
Northampton Town	23rd (Fourth Division)	52
Stockport County	22nd (Fourth Division)	50
Torquay United	24th (Fourth Division)	50
Halifax Town	21st (Fourth Division)	48
Bath City	4th (Alliance Premier League)	8

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

References

1. Peter Dunk (ed.), Rothmans Football Yearbook 1985–86. Queen Anne Press, Macdonald & Co., London & Sydney, 1985.

External links

• 1984–85 Conference National Results
• Re-election Results – The Division Four final league table, including the results of the re-election vote.