| Nextseason: | 1984–85 |
The 1983–84 season was the 85th completed season of the English Football League.
Liverpool had a successful first season under the management of Joe Fagan as they wrapped up their third successive league title and the 15th in their history. They overcame strong competition from Southampton, Nottingham Forest and Manchester United to lift the championship trophy. Liverpool had an extremely strong season, as they also won the European Cup and the League Cup.
Southampton finished second in the league to record their highest-ever final position and achieve a UEFA Cup place, claiming six points from the last two games (both away) to climb up from fifth place.
The First Division relegation places were occupied by Birmingham City, Notts County and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The £1 rescue deal of Chelsea by chairman Ken Bates paid off as they won the Second Division title and were promoted to the First Division along with Sheffield Wednesday and Newcastle United.
Cambridge United finished bottom of the Second Division and were relegated to the Third Division. They were joined by two clubs who had been enjoying better fortunes only a short time ago — Swansea City, who had finished sixth in the First Division just two years earlier, and Derby County, who had been league champions just nine years earlier. Derby's Peter Taylor retired as manager and his surprise successor was Arthur Cox, who had just taken Newcastle into the First Division.
Dave Bassett agreed to take charge of Crystal Palace at the end of the season, but changed his mind three days later — without signing the contract — and returned to Wimbledon. Palace installed former Manchester United winger Steve Coppell, 29, as their new manager.
Oxford United, Wimbledon and Sheffield United continued their rise through the league by gaining promotion to the Second Division.
Scunthorpe United, Southend United, Port Vale and Exeter City slipped out of the Third Division.
Narrowly avoiding the Third Division drop zone were Plymouth Argyle, who compensated for their league form by reaching the FA Cup semi finals for the first time in their history.
York City, Doncaster Rovers, Reading and Bristol City occupied the Fourth Division promotion places. York City became the first team in English league football to gain more than 100 points in a season, with 101. It was Bristol City's first successful season for a long time and a reversal of fortune after their recent fall from the First to Fourth Division in successive seasons.
The re-election system voted in favour of the bottom four clubs in the Fourth Division once again.
The tables and results below are reproduced here in the exact form that they can be found at The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation website,[1] with home and away statistics separated.
During the first five seasons of the league, that is, until the season 1893–94, re-election process concerned the clubs which finished in the bottom four of the league. From the 1894–95 season and until the 1920–21 season the re-election process was required of the clubs which finished in the bottom three of the league. From the 1922–23 season on it was required of the bottom two teams of both Third Division North and Third Division South. Since the Fourth Division was established in the 1958–59 season, the re-election process has concerned the bottom four clubs in that division.[2]
| Competition: | First Division |
| Season: | 1983–84 |
| Winners: | Liverpool 15th English title |
| Relegated: | Birmingham City Notts County Wolverhampton Wanderers |
| Continentalcup1: | European Cup |
| Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | Liverpool |
| Continentalcup2: | European Cup Winners' Cup |
| Continentalcup2 Qualifiers: | Everton |
| Continentalcup3: | UEFA Cup |
| Continentalcup3 Qualifiers: | Manchester United Nottingham Forest Queens Park Rangers Southampton Tottenham Hotspur (as defending champions) |
| League Topscorer: | Ian Rush (32 goals)[3] |
| Biggest Home Win: | (28 April 1984) |
| Biggest Away Win: | (12 February 1984) |
| Highest Scoring: | (28 April 1984) |
| Matches: | 462 |
| Total Goals: | 1250 |
| Longest Wins: | 6 matches Queens Park Rangers |
| Longest Unbeaten: | 16 matches Manchester United |
| Longest Losses: | 7 matches Ipswich Town Notts County |
| Prevseason: | 1982–83 |
| Nextseason: | 1984–85 |
Liverpool won the league title for a third successive season, although it was a much closer contest than the previous season. They also lifted a fourth consecutive League Cup and also their fourth European Cup in eight seasons to become the first English team to win three major trophies in the same season.
Their biggest rivals in the title race were Manchester United, who led the table at several stages of the season before dropping points in several crucial games later in the season to finish fourth. Southampton enjoyed their best league season to date with a second place finish, while Nottingham Forest finished third and also reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup. QPR, newly promoted, finished top of all the London clubs with a fifth place final position - which saw manager Terry Venables offered the job as manager of FC Barcelona, which he duly accepted. Tottenham Hotspur were unable to sustain a title challenge but lifted the UEFA Cup in Keith Burkinshaw's final season as manager.
Luton Town were surprise title contenders during the first half of the season before a dismal second half of the season saw them finish 16th.
Watford, the previous season's runners-up, began the season struggling near the foot of the table, before manager Graham Taylor brought Scottish striker Mo Johnston to the club as successor to Luther Blissett, and his new signing scored 20 goals as Watford climbed to a secure 11th place finish.
Everton were in the bottom half of the table and fans were calling for manager Howard Kendall to be sacked by November 1983, but the board stuck by their manager and gave the go-ahead for him to sign Wolves striker Andy Gray, who revived Everton's season as they climbed up to seventh place in the final table and ended their 14-year wait for a major trophy by beating Watford 2-0 in the final of the FA Cup. Gray was cup-tied for Everton's League Cup fixtures, but they still reached the final and took Liverpool to a replay before losing 1-0.
Just one season after winning promotion back to the First Division, Wolves went straight back down to the Second Division in bottom place. Notts County were next to go down, having survived for three seasons in the First Division. The final relegation place went to Birmingham City.
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coventry City | Dave Sexton | Sacked | 27 May 1983 | Pre-season | Bobby Gould | 12 June 1982 |
| Liverpool | Bob Paisley | Retired | 1 June 1983 | Joe Fagan | 1 June 1983 | |
| Notts County | Howard Wilkinson | Signed by Sheffield Wednesday | 2 June 1982 | Larry Lloyd | 7 July 1982 | |
| Stoke City | Richie Barker | Sacked | 9 December 1983 | 21st | Bill Asprey | 9 December 1983 |
| Arsenal | Terry Neill | 16 December 1983 | 15th | Don Howe | 16 December 1983 | |
| West Bromwich Albion | Ron Wylie | 13 February 1984 | 17th | Johnny Giles | 14 February 1984 | |
| Sunderland | Alan Durban | 2 March 1984 | 16th | Len Ashurst | 5 March 1984 | |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | Graham Hawkins | 2 April 1984 | 22nd | Jim Barron (caretaker) | 2 April 1984 |
| Competition: | Second Division |
| Season: | 1983–84 |
| Winners: | Chelsea |
| Promoted: | Chelsea Sheffield Wednesday Newcastle United |
| Relegated: | Derby County Swansea City Cambridge United |
| League Topscorer: | Kerry Dixon (28 goals) |
| Matches: | 462 |
| Total Goals: | 1233 |
| Prevseason: | 1982–83 |
| Nextseason: | 1984–85 |
| Competition: | Football League, Third Division |
| Season: | 1983–84 |
| Winners: | Oxford United (2nd title) |
| Continentalcup1: | Promoted |
| Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | Sheffield United, Wimbledon |
| Continentalcup2: | Relegated |
| Continentalcup2 Qualifiers: | Exeter City, Port Vale, Scunthorpe United, Southend United |
| League Topscorer: | Keith Edwards (Sheffield United), 33 |
| Matches: | 552 |
| Total Goals: | 1586 |
| Prevseason: | 1982–83 |
| Nextseason: | 1984–85 |
| Competition: | Football League, Fourth Division |
| Season: | 1983–84 |
| Winners: | York City (1st title) |
| Continentalcup1: | Promoted |
| Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | Bristol City, Doncaster Rovers, Reading |
| Continentalcup2: | Failed re-election |
| Continentalcup2 Qualifiers: | None |
| Continentalcup3: | New club in the league |
| League Topscorer: | Trevor Senior (Reading), 36 |
| Matches: | 552 |
| Total Goals: | 1505 |
| Prevseason: | 1982–83 |
| Nextseason: | 1984–85 |
As champions of the Alliance Premier League, Maidstone United (1897) won for the second time the right to apply for election to the Football League, to replace one of the four bottom teams in the 1983–84 Football League Fourth Division. The vote went as follows:
| width=150 | Club | width=185 | Final Position | width=50 | Votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24th (Fourth Division) | 52 | ||||
| 21st (Fourth Division) | 52 | ||||
| 22nd (Fourth Division) | 50 | ||||
| 23rd (Fourth Division) | 32 | ||||
| 1st (Alliance Premier League) | 22 |
Hence, all four Football League teams were re-elected, and Maidstone United were again denied membership of the League.