1979–80 Alliance Premier League

Alliance Premier League
Season1979–80[1]
ChampionsAltrincham
Promoted to the Football LeagueNone
Runners-upWeymouth
Relegated to
Level 6		Redditch United
Promoted for next seasonFrickley Athletic
Matches played380
Goals scored972 (2.56 per match)
Top goalscorerG. J. Smith Northwich Victoria (29 goals)[notes2 1]
Biggest home winMaidstone United 6–0 Bath City
Biggest away winRedditch United 1–5 Bangor City
Stafford Rangers 1–5 Weymouth
Highest scoringNorthwich Victoria 6–3 Barrow
Kettering Town 3–6 Stafford Rangers

The 1979–80 Alliance Premier League was the inaugural season of the Alliance Premier League – the first league outside the Football League to cover the whole of England.

Overview

Between 1979 and 2004 the single-division Alliance Premier League formed Level 5 of the English football league system. Since 2004 two regional divisions were added at Level 6.

The founder members of the Alliance Premier League were drawn from the Southern League and Northern Premier League, covering the country from Yeovil Town in the South West to Barrow in the far North. One club from Wales – Bangor City – also participated.

Teams

From the Northern Premier League
From the Southern League

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Altrincham (C) 38 24 8 6 79 35 +44 56
2 Weymouth 38 22 10 6 73 37 +36 54
3 Worcester City 38 19 11 8 53 36 +17 49
4 Boston United 38 16 13 9 52 43 +9 45
5 Gravesend & Northfleet 38 17 10 11 49 44 +5 44
6 Maidstone United 38 16 11 11 54 37 +17 43
7 Kettering Town 38 15 13 10 55 50 +5 43
8 Northwich Victoria 38 16 10 12 50 38 +12 42
9 Bangor City 38 14 14 10 41 46 −5 42
10 Nuneaton Borough 38 13 13 12 58 44 +14 39
11 Scarborough 38 12 15 11 47 38 +9 39
12 Yeovil Town 38 13 10 15 46 49 −3 36
13 Telford United 38 13 8 17 52 60 −8 34
14 Barrow 38 14 6 18 47 55 −8 34
15 Wealdstone 38 9 15 14 42 54 −12 33
16 Bath City 38 10 12 16 43 69 −26 32
17 Barnet 38 10 10 18 32 48 −16 30
18 AP Leamington 38 7 11 20 32 63 −31 25
19 Stafford Rangers 38 6 10 22 41 57 −16 22
20 Redditch United (R) 38 5 8 25 26 69 −43 18 Relegation to the Southern League Midland Division
Source: [1]
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away ALT APL BAN BAR BRW BAT BOS GRN KET MDS NOR NUN RED SCA STA TEL WEA WEY WRC YEO
Altrincham 3–0 5–0 1–0 3–1 4–0 3–0 4–1 0–0 1–0 0–0 3–1 2–0 2–0 3–1 2–0 2–1 3–2 3–1 1–1
AP Leamington 1–4 1–1 2–1 0–1 1–2 2–0 0–1 1–3 0–2 2–2 0–0 0–2 1–1 2–0 2–1 0–0 0–2 1–0 0–4
Bangor City 1–1 3–2 1–1 1–1 2–1 2–0 1–2 1–1 1–0 0–3 1–0 1–0 1–0 1–1 1–1 1–0 1–2 0–2 1–0
Barnet 2–0 1–0 1–1 1–1 1–0 0–0 3–0 0–2 0–1 0–2 2–1 0–0 0–0 2–1 4–1 1–3 0–2 0–0 0–3
Barrow 1–3 6–2 1–1 3–1 2–1 0–1 1–1 1–2 0–2 1–0 1–0 2–0 0–0 2–1 2–0 1–0 0–1 1–2 2–0
Bath City 1–1 0–0 2–1 1–2 1–0 0–1 2–0 3–0 1–1 0–0 1–1 1–1 1–0 2–1 1–1 4–4 4–2 0–4 1–1
Boston United 2–5 2–0 3–1 1–1 3–0 3–2 4–0 1–0 1–1 2–0 2–2 2–0 2–2 3–2 3–1 0–0 2–2 1–1 3–0
Gravesend & Northfleet 0–2 3–2 1–1 1–0 5–1 2–0 0–0 2–2 1–0 2–1 2–2 1–0 3–0 2–0 1–2 3–0 2–3 3–2 2–0
Kettering Town 1–2 1–1 0–1 1–0 0–4 1–2 3–1 0–0 1–1 1–0 1–1 2–1 1–0 3–6 3–2 2–0 3–1 0–0 5–3
Maidstone United 2–2 0–0 0–1 2–0 2–0 6–0 1–0 3–0 1–3 3–4 1–1 4–1 2–0 2–0 3–0 3–0 1–1 2–1 0–1
Northwich Victoria 1–0 2–1 4–0 2–0 6–3 6–1 0–1 0–0 2–2 0–2 2–1 1–0 1–1 1–0 2–1 0–0 0–0 1–0 0–1
Nuneaton Borough 2–0 1–1 2–2 2–1 3–0 1–1 2–0 3–1 2–2 4–0 2–1 5–1 3–1 3–1 1–1 0–1 1–2 1–0 3–0
Redditch United 0–1 3–1 1–5 1–0 1–3 1–1 0–2 0–2 0–1 0–0 0–1 1–0 1–2 0–2 2–2 4–1 0–2 1–1 2–2
Scarborough 1–1 5–0 0–0 0–0 2–0 6–1 2–4 1–1 2–0 1–2 2–1 2–1 3–0 0–0 1–2 0–0 0–0 4–1 0–0
Stafford Rangers 1–2 1–1 0–1 1–2 1–1 4–0 0–0 0–1 0–0 1–1 4–1 0–1 1–1 3–1 0–1 0–1 1–5 0–0 2–1
Telford United 3–2 0–1 2–0 1–2 3–2 3–1 4–1 1–2 1–0 3–1 0–0 2–1 2–1 0–1 2–2 1–3 3–3 0–1 0–3
Wealdstone 1–4 1–2 0–0 2–1 2–1 1–1 1–1 0–0 2–2 0–0 0–1 2–2 2–0 2–4 2–1 0–0 1–1 2–4 5–0
Weymouth 0–0 2–1 4–2 1–1 1–0 1–2 3–0 1–0 3–1 1–1 2–0 2–0 6–0 0–1 2–1 3–2 4–0 1–2 3–0
Worcester City 3–2 1–1 0–0 2–1 2–0 2–1 0–0 1–0 1–4 3–1 2–1 1–1 3–0 0–0 1–0 2–1 2–1 1–1 2–0
Yeovil Town 3–2 1–0 1–2 5–0 0–1 1–0 0–0 1–1 1–1 3–0 1–1 2–1 2–0 1–1 3–1 0–2 1–1 0–1 0–2
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Rothmans Football Yearbook 1980–81. Queen Anne Press, Macdonald Futura Publishers, London & Sydney, 1981.[1]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Locations of the 1979–80 Alliance Premier League clubs
Locations of the 1979–80 Alliance Premier League London clubs

Promotion and relegation

Relegated

Top scorers

Rank Player Club League FA Cup FA Trophy League Cup Total[1][notes2 2]
1 G. J. Smith Northwich Victoria 29
2 Tommy Paterson Weymouth 28
3 John Rogers Altrincham 24
4 Aniello Iannone Weymouth 22
5 J. P. Daubney Maidstone United 21
6 Barry Whitbread Altrincham 20
7 Bobby Brown Boston United 19
8 R. O. Gauden Scarborough 16
= David Mather Telford United 16
10 Roy Clayton Kettering Town 14
11 M. J. Neale Nuneaton Borough 13
= M. C. Wheeler Bath City 13
13 Colin Cowperthwaite Barrow 12
= J. N. Evans Kettering Town 12
= D. Gardner AP Leamington 12
= Gerry O'Hara Worcester City 12
17 Neil Cordice Wealdstone 11
= Barry Howard Altrincham 11
= N. B. Johnson Wealdstone 11
= M. D. Phelps Worcester City 11
= P. Phipps Kettering Town 11
= P. T. Wilkey Telford United 11
  1. ^ G. J. Smith's goals include also goals scored in the League Cup.
  2. ^ The number of goals is the sum of league and league cup goals.

Election to the Football League

As winners of the Alliance Premier League, Altrincham won the right to apply for election to the Football League to replace one of the four bottom teams in the 1979–80 Football League Fourth Division. The vote went as follows:

Club Final Position Votes
Darlington 22nd (Fourth Division) 49
Crewe Alexandra 23rd (Fourth Division) 48
Hereford United 21st (Fourth Division) 48
Rochdale 24th (Fourth Division) 26
Altrincham 1st (Alliance Premier League) 25

As a result of this, Altrincham failed to be elected to membership of the Football League, falling just one point behind Fourth Division's bottom club Rochdale.

References

  1. ^ a b c d Rollin, Jack (ed.): Rothmans Football Yearbook 1980–81, p. 939–947. Queen Anne Press, Queen Anne Press, London & Sydney, 1980.
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