1966–67 in English football

Football in England

Season	1966–67
Men's football
First Division	Manchester United
Second Division	Coventry City
Third Division	Queens Park Rangers
Fourth Division	Stockport County
FA Cup	Tottenham Hotspur
League Cup	Queens Park Rangers
Charity Shield	Liverpool

The 1966–67 season was the 87th season of competitive football in England.

Events

Queens Park Rangers won the Football League Cup on the first occasion it was played at Wembley, coming from 2-0 down at half-time to beat West Bromwich Albion 3-2.

Peter Osgood broke his leg playing for Chelsea at Blackpool in a Football League Cup Tie on 5 October. It kept him out of football for the rest of the season.

Northampton Town became the first team to be relegated in successive seasons from the top tier (in which they have spent only one season) to the third tier since Bradford Park Avenue in 1921 and 1922. This was however to happen eight further times in the next eighteen seasons, including two cases (Bristol City and Wolverhampton Wanderers) who were relegated in three successive seasons.

Deaths

• 3 September – John Nicholson, 29, Doncaster Rovers midfielder (car crash).

Debuts

10 September 1966: Colin Todd, 17-year-old midfielder, makes his debut for Sunderland against Chelsea in the First Division.

Retirements

• Kenny Morgans, 28-year-old Newport County winger, who began his career with Manchester United and was one of the nine players who survived the Munich air disaster in 1958.
• Dennis Viollet, 34-year-old Stoke City forward, previously with Manchester United (scoring 179 goals between 1952 and 1962 and winning two league title medals) and another survivor of the Munich air disaster.
• Noel Cantwell, 35-year-old Manchester United and Ireland international full-back, joined the club in 1960 from West Ham United and was captain of the 1963 FA Cup winning side.

Honours

Competition	Winner	Runner-up
First Division	Manchester United (7*)	Nottingham Forest
Second Division	Coventry City	Wolverhampton Wanderers
Third Division	Queens Park Rangers	Middlesbrough
Fourth Division	Stockport County	Southport
FA Cup	Tottenham Hotspur (5)	Chelsea
League Cup	Queens Park Rangers (1)	West Bromwich Albion
Charity Shield	Liverpool	Everton
Home Championship	Scotland	England

Football League

Main article: 1966–67 Football League

First Division

Manchester United clinched their second league title in three seasons, finishing four points ahead of Nottingham Forest and FA Cup winners Tottenham. Leeds United and Liverpool completed the top five. A 6-1 signature victory at West Ham United on the penultimate weekend of the season, with the fabled triumvirate of Best, Law and Charlton all on the scoresheet, confirmed what was Matt Busby’s (the Manchester United Manager) fifth and final top flight league title. Manchester United were formally presented with the league title trophy a week later, after their final match of the season (a 0-0 draw at home to Stoke City). It was to be a further 26 years before Manchester United returned to the top of English football, winning the inaugural Premier League title in 1993.

Blackpool and Aston Villa dropped into the Second Division.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Manchester United	42	24	12	6	84	45	1.867	60	Qualified for the European Cup
2	Nottingham Forest	42	23	10	9	64	41	1.561	56	Qualified for the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
3	Tottenham Hotspur	42	24	8	10	71	48	1.479	56	Qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup
4	Leeds United	42	22	11	9	62	42	1.476	55	Qualified for the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
5	Liverpool	42	19	13	10	64	47	1.362	51
6	Everton	42	19	10	13	65	46	1.413	48
7	Arsenal	42	16	14	12	58	47	1.234	46
8	Leicester City	42	18	8	16	78	71	1.099	44
9	Chelsea	42	15	14	13	67	62	1.081	44
10	Sheffield United	42	16	10	16	52	59	0.881	42
11	Sheffield Wednesday	42	14	13	15	56	47	1.191	41
12	Stoke City	42	17	7	18	63	58	1.086	41
13	West Bromwich Albion	42	16	7	19	77	73	1.055	39
14	Burnley	42	15	9	18	66	76	0.868	39
15	Manchester City	42	12	15	15	43	52	0.827	39
16	West Ham United	42	14	8	20	80	84	0.952	36
17	Sunderland	42	14	8	20	58	72	0.806	36
18	Fulham	42	11	12	19	71	83	0.855	34
19	Southampton	42	14	6	22	74	92	0.804	34
20	Newcastle United	42	12	9	21	39	81	0.481	33
21	Aston Villa	42	11	7	24	54	85	0.635	29	Relegated to the Second Division
22	Blackpool	42	6	9	27	41	76	0.539	21

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Second Division

Coventry City, under the management of Jimmy Hill, reached the First Division for the first time in their history as Second Division champions. They would wait 51 years to be promoted from any league again until 2018. Wolves ended their two-year exile from the top flight by securing promotion as runners-up.

Carlisle United missed out on First Division football by six points - which would have given them a third promotion in four seasons, the quickest rise from the Fourth Division to the First.

Bury went down to the Third Division, as did Northampton Town in a second successive relegation.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Coventry City	42	23	13	6	74	43	1.721	59	Promoted to the First Division
2	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	25	8	9	88	48	1.833	58
3	Carlisle United	42	23	6	13	71	54	1.315	52
4	Blackburn Rovers	42	19	13	10	56	46	1.217	51
5	Ipswich Town	42	17	16	9	70	54	1.296	50
6	Huddersfield Town	42	20	9	13	58	46	1.261	49
7	Crystal Palace	42	19	10	13	61	55	1.109	48
8	Millwall	42	18	9	15	49	58	0.845	45
9	Bolton Wanderers	42	14	14	14	64	58	1.103	42
10	Birmingham City	42	16	8	18	70	66	1.061	40
11	Norwich City	42	13	14	15	49	55	0.891	40
12	Hull City	42	16	7	19	77	72	1.069	39
13	Preston North End	42	16	7	19	65	67	0.970	39
14	Portsmouth	42	13	13	16	59	70	0.843	39
15	Bristol City	42	12	14	16	56	62	0.903	38
16	Plymouth Argyle	42	14	9	19	59	58	1.017	37
17	Derby County	42	12	12	18	68	72	0.944	36
18	Rotherham United	42	13	10	19	61	70	0.871	36
19	Charlton Athletic	42	13	9	20	49	53	0.925	35
20	Cardiff City	42	12	9	21	61	87	0.701	33
21	Northampton Town	42	12	6	24	47	84	0.560	30	Relegated to the Third Division
22	Bury	42	11	6	25	49	83	0.590	28

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Third Division

Queens Park Rangers sealed promotion as runaway champions of the Third Division, and also won the League Cup to become the first team at this level to win a major trophy. They were joined in promotion by runners-up Middlesbrough, while Watford missed out on Second Division football by a single point.

Workington, Doncaster Rovers, Darlington and Swansea Town were relegated to the Fourth Division.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Queens Park Rangers	46	26	15	5	103	38	2.711	67	Promoted to the Second Division
2	Middlesbrough	46	23	9	14	87	64	1.359	55
3	Watford	46	20	14	12	61	46	1.326	54
4	Reading	46	22	9	15	76	57	1.333	53
5	Bristol Rovers	46	20	13	13	76	67	1.134	53
6	Shrewsbury Town	46	20	12	14	77	62	1.242	52
7	Torquay United	46	21	9	16	73	54	1.352	51
8	Swindon Town	46	20	10	16	81	59	1.373	50
9	Mansfield Town	46	20	9	17	84	79	1.063	49
10	Oldham Athletic	46	19	10	17	80	63	1.270	48
11	Gillingham	46	15	16	15	58	62	0.935	46
12	Walsall	46	18	10	18	65	72	0.903	46
13	Colchester United	46	17	10	19	76	73	1.041	44
14	Orient	46	13	18	15	58	68	0.853	44
15	Peterborough United	46	14	15	17	66	71	0.930	43
16	Oxford United	46	15	13	18	61	66	0.924	43
17	Grimsby Town	46	17	9	20	61	68	0.897	43
18	Scunthorpe United	46	17	8	21	58	73	0.795	42
19	Brighton & Hove Albion	46	13	15	18	61	71	0.859	41
20	Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic	46	12	17	17	39	57	0.684	41
21	Swansea Town	46	12	15	19	85	89	0.955	39	Relegated to the Fourth Division
22	Darlington	46	13	11	22	47	81	0.580	37
23	Doncaster Rovers	46	12	8	26	58	117	0.496	32
24	Workington	46	12	7	27	55	89	0.618	31

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Fourth Division

Stockport County clinched promotion to the Third Division as Fourth Division champions, and went upwards along with Southport, Barrow and Tranmere Rovers.

Luton Town recorded the lowest finish to date by finishing 17th, less than a decade after being First Division members and FA Cup finalists.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Stockport County	46	26	12	8	69	42	1.643	64	Promoted to the Third Division
2	Southport	46	23	13	10	69	42	1.643	59
3	Barrow	46	24	11	11	76	54	1.407	59
4	Tranmere Rovers	46	22	14	10	66	43	1.535	58
5	Crewe Alexandra	46	21	12	13	70	55	1.273	54
6	Southend United	46	22	9	15	70	49	1.429	53
7	Wrexham	46	16	20	10	76	62	1.226	52
8	Hartlepools United	46	22	7	17	66	64	1.031	51
9	Brentford	46	18	13	15	58	56	1.036	49
10	Aldershot	46	18	12	16	72	57	1.263	48
11	Bradford City	46	19	10	17	74	62	1.194	48
12	Halifax Town	46	15	14	17	59	68	0.868	44
13	Port Vale	46	14	15	17	55	58	0.948	43
14	Exeter City	46	14	15	17	50	60	0.833	43
15	Chesterfield	46	17	8	21	60	63	0.952	42
16	Barnsley	46	13	15	18	60	64	0.938	41
17	Luton Town	46	16	9	21	59	73	0.808	41
18	Newport County	46	12	16	18	56	63	0.889	40
19	Chester	46	15	10	21	54	78	0.692	40
20	Notts County	46	13	11	22	53	72	0.736	37
21	Rochdale	46	13	11	22	53	75	0.707	37	Re-elected
22	York City	46	12	11	23	65	79	0.823	35
23	Bradford Park Avenue	46	11	13	22	52	79	0.658	35
24	Lincoln City	46	9	13	24	58	82	0.707	31

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Top goalscorers

First Division

• Ron Davies (Southampton) – 37 goals

Second Division

• Bobby Gould (Coventry City) – 24 goals

Third Division

• Rodney Marsh (Queens Park Rangers) – 30 goals

Fourth Division

• Ernie Phythian (Hartlepools United) – 23 goals