May
While the mini-run of two draws and two wins had moved City up to sixth place two defeats and a draw saw them slip down again. A Tuesday night game at Chester resulted in defeat by the only goal of the match midway through the second half. Jimmy Gordon had retained his place in goal and Glenn Cockerill was given another start in place of Alan Harding. Dave Smith returned in midfield as Phil Neale had now resumed his cricketing career with Worcestershire which he did to good effect, scoring his first County Championship century later in the month in a match played at Newark.
The last away match of the season was a final reminder of what being in the third tier was all about – a visit to Selhurst Park to play Crystal Palace, one of the ‘big names’ of the division. A big ground too – a cut above the likes of Brentford which had been the usual destination for matches in London. It wasn’t a new ground for me as I had been once before as a young teenager when a family friend in Nottingham had taken me on a trip to see Forest play (and lose) in an FA Cup tie.
Managed by Terry Venables, Palace were in fourth place and battling it out with Wrexham for the third promotion spot having beaten the Welsh side in front of over 16,000 at Selhurst Park the previous Tuesday night. That attendance figure was up by another 2,000 for City’s visit as the South Londoners turned out to cheer their side on to the promotion which was to be achieved following another win over Wrexham in their final game of the season.
Peter Grotier returned in goal for City and Alan Harding was back in place of Cockerill but although the Imps were second best on the day in a 4-1 defeat the game was not without controversy. The home side took a two-goal lead with two penalties by full back Paul Hinshelwoood either side of half time, awarded after, respectively, Terry Cooper had tripped Dave Swindlehurst and Dennis Booth had handled – both “diabolical” decisions according to Graham Taylor. The third goal, by Steve Perrin came from a cross which Taylor maintained “must have gone at least two feet out of play”. Despite Palace having lost their goalkeeper at half time due to a muscle injury City had been unable to take advantage until the substitute in goal, Nicky Chatterton, a midfield player, dropped the ball allowing Alan Harding to pull a goal back. But Jeff Bourne completed the scoring eight minutes from time resulting in Taylor immediately withdrawing Terry Cooper from the field, saying afterwards “I will not tolerate anyone not pulling their weight whatever the state of the game”. The substitute thereby given his league debut was 17-year-old apprentice Mark Cox who had earned his chance after scoring 35 goals in the season in the youth team and reserve friendly matches.
The final game of the season came the following Wednesday night with the visit of Peterborough United. Following the events of the previous game Terry Cooper was dropped with Ian Branfoot taking his place while John Fleming returned on the right with Phil Hubbard on bench. Another young player given an outing in what turned out to be his only game for the Imps was 19-year-old youth product Jackie Gallagher in place of Dave Smith. A win would have given City a final placing of eighth, but after Peterborough equalised Alan Harding’s second goal in two games the draw meant a finish of ninth. The final gate of the season was just over 5,000.
The season wound down with a benefit match the following Monday night for Percy Freeman. 3,132 turned up to see a 2-2 draw with Second Division Sheffield United including a goal from ‘The Big Fella’ himself.
Overall, City’s final placing of ninth was probably a fair reflection of the season, as although never in the slightest danger of relegation they could never quite sustain a promotion challenge on the two occasions during the season when they well placed to do so. Generally speaking, they were usually good enough to beat teams in the lower half of the table but found it difficult against the top sides, especially away from home. Their away record in general was moderate, but at home, while only the top three sides lost fewer than City’s two at home, no team drew more than their nine and it was the inability to turn some of these draws into wins that prevented a higher placing even if not actually one in the top three. It also has to be said that, to coin a phrase, ‘the weather was against us!’. The disruption caused by only completing four league games in the months of December and January meant two games a week had to be fitted in from March onwards.
It wasn’t to be expected that the side would be such prolific scorers as they had been when winning promotion, the previous season, but they still managed to be the fourth highest scorers in the division with 77. Unfortunately, they found it much more difficult defensively with 70 goals conceded, a total exceeded only by five other clubs.
Leading scorer again was John Ward with a total of 18 goals, although as usual there were those who said he missed as many as he scored. Close behind him was Peter Graham with 17 which was his best in a season for the Imps. Also in double figures were Phil Hubbard with eleven and Sam Ellis with ten, eight of which were penalties. Percy Freeman, who had mainly been out of the side in the second half of the season finished with nine, and Alan Harding and Dave Smith chipped in with nine and five respectively.
The average home league attendance was 7,475 which, while a good average for the division was still almost a thousand down on the previous season.
The number of goals conceded in the season perhaps indicated the part of the team where changes were most needed. Three out of the back four – Ian Branfoot, Sam Ellis and Terry Cooper had played together for practically all of the three previous seasons, but during the current season, probably rightly, the lineup had started to evolve with the introduction of Brendan Guest at right back and then with Phil Neale also filling that role. Ian Branfoot at the age of 31 had begun to take more of a back seat as he was now starting to be moved into a coaching role. Sam Ellis however, although 30 himself, was if anything playing better than ever and had in fact been voted Player of the Season for the second year in a row. Although younger than either Ellis or Branfoot, there seemed to be some doubt over Terry Cooper’s future, with what seemed to be a deteriorating relationship with Graham Taylor and with another young player in Dean Crombie having played regularly towards the end of the season.
Elsewhere in football, Liverpool won the league championship for the second year in a row by one point ahead of Manchester City and became the second English club to win the European Cup beating Borussia Munchengladbach 3-1 in Rome. However, they were prevented from completing a treble by losing 2-1 to sixth-placed Manchester United in the FA Cup final. League Cup winners for the second time in three years were Aston Villa, beating Everton in a final that went to two replays.
An unfamiliar name to finish in bottom place of the First Division was Tottenham Hotspur, relegated to play in the second tier for the first time since 1950. Down with them went Stoke City and Sunderland, the latter club after just one season in the top flight. They were replaced by Second Division champions Wolves returning after one season, Chelsea, and Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest. Down from the Second Division, and who the Imps could look forward to playing the following season were Hereford United whose stay at that level had been the briefest, Carlisle United and Plymouth.
Third Division champions were Mansfield Town with their second promotion in three seasons and who had done well to finish ahead of a very good Brighton & Hove Albion side. In Terry Venables’ first year as a manager Crystal Palace finished narrowly ahead of Rotherham on goal difference in the third promotion place. The Imps had done the best of the four sides promoted into the division for this season, with Tranmere Rovers a respectable 14th. However, and surprisingly, Northampton Town who had been the only side to seriously challenge Lincoln for the championship the previous year had followed it up with a disastrous season and they and fellow promotees Reading went straight back down again. City lost out on another Lincolnshire derby as Grimsby Town finished next to bottom one point ahead of York City.
With manager Ron Atkinson now having got into his stride Cambridge United won the championship of Division Four, and back into the Third Division for the first time in eleven years came Exeter City along with Colchester United and Bradford City. Bottom club Workington with a record of only four wins and over a hundred goals conceded had been hanging on to Football League membership by a thread in the last two years but now found, like Bradford (Park Avenue) a few years before that four re-election pleas in a row were just too many. They found themselves voted out of the Football League, polling six votes fewer than Southern League champions Wimbledon. Next-to-bottom Southport, who had won only three games all season along with recording six home league attendances of under one thousand, were making their third re-election plea in four seasons and were perhaps fortunate there was another team even worse than themselves. As it was, they were fairly comfortably voted back in for another season along with Halifax Town and Hartlepool.
Lincoln City’s season, while disappointing at various times, for example, the difficulty in doing no better than drawing home games at the start of the season, had nevertheless finished with a creditably high placing in the table. With the stability and steady progress under Graham Taylor there was every hope that would be continued – but in fact within barely a month of the season ending there was to be an upheaval that ended both stability and progress.