1995–96 Football League

Football League, Second Division
Season	1995–96
Champions	Swindon Town (1st third tier title)
Direct promotion	Swindon Town,; Oxford United
Promoted through play-offs	Bradford City
Relegated	Brighton & Hove Albion,; Carlisle United,; Hull City,; Swansea City
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1,414 (2.56 per match)
Top goalscorer	Marcus Stewart (Bristol Rovers), 21;; Gary Martindale (Peterborough United/ Notts County), 21
	← 1994–95 1996–97 →

First Division
Season	1995–96
Champions	Sunderland
Promoted	Sunderland; Derby County; Leicester City
Relegated	Millwall; Watford; Luton Town
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1,417 (2.57 per match)
Top goalscorer	John Aldridge; (27 goals)
Biggest home win	Sunderland 6–0 Millwall; (9 December 1995)
Biggest away win	Barnsley 0–5 Birmingham City; (2 September 1995)
Highest scoring	Watford 6–3 Grimsby Town; (23 April 1996)
	← 1994–95 1996–97 →

The Football League
Season	1995–96
Champions	Sunderland
Promoted	Sunderland; Derby County; Leicester City
	← 1994–95 1996–97 →

The 1995–96 Football League season was the 97th completed season of The Football League. It was contested through three divisions, the First Division, Second Division and Third Division.^[1]

First Division

The Division One promotion race was one of the most dramatic seen at this level in many years.

Sunderland, who frequently topped the table after overcoming the previous leaders Millwall 6-0 at Roker Park in early December, clinched the Division One title in their first full season under the management of Peter Reid, five years after last playing among the elite in the old First Division. Derby County, who had been relegated alongside them that year, followed the Wearsiders into the Premier League as Division One runners-up, giving their new manager Jim Smith the fifth promotion of his managerial career. Crystal Palace finished third in the final table a season after relegation and a mere three months after their new manager Dave Bassett had taken over the club when they were in 16th place. Stoke City finished fourth as they mounted their first serious attempt to regain the top flight place which they had last held in 1985. Leicester City finished fifth after an erratic season, which had seen manager Mark McGhee defect to Wolves before Christmas to be succeeded by Martin O'Neill, who had been manager of Norwich City for just six months when he accepted the offer to take charge at Filbert Street. The final playoff place was occupied by Charlton Athletic, whose manager Alan Curbishley was now in sole charge after being joint manager alongside Steve Gritt for his first four seasons. The playoff final saw Crystal Palace take the lead in the first half before Garry Parker equalised for Leicester, and the game went into extra time. With just seconds remaining, new signing Steve Claridge clinched the winner for Leicester, who secured the third and final promotion place.

Things turned out very differently during the second half of the season for a number of clubs who had looked like promotion contenders in the first half of the campaign. West Bromwich Albion had been near the top of the table in October, before going on a 14-match winless run from which they picked up one point out of a possible 42 and dropped into the relegation zone. Improved form after ending their winless run in February lifted them up to a secure mid-table finish, but it was scant consolation for what might have been. Their local rivals Birmingham City had looked like promotion contenders halfway through the season, but faded away to finish 15th - a slump which cost manager Barry Fry his job after three seasons in charge, and sparked the return of legendary former player Trevor Francis to the club as manager. Norwich City had been in the promotion race when they lost manager Martin O'Neill to Leicester just before Christmas, but they were unable to sustain their promotion challenge under new manager Gary Megson, who was replaced at the end of the season by Mike Walker - the man who had turned them into Premier League title contenders and UEFA Cup competitors a few seasons earlier. Millwall had been top of Division One in early December when they were knocked off the top by a Sunderland side who beat them 6-0 at Roker Park. Manager Mick McCarthy left to take charge of the Republic of Ireland in February, and the slide down the table continued under his successor Jimmy Nicholl, culminating in relegation on the final day of the season.

Joining Millwall in Division Two for 1996-97 were Luton Town and Watford, who had both spent most of the season in the bottom three despite mid-season managerial changes. Following the departure of David Pleat to Sheffield Wednesday in the summer of 1995, Luton had appointed coach Terry Westley as manager, only to replace him with the Bradford City manager Lennie Lawrence just before Christmas. Watford were bottom of the table when they sacked Glenn Roeder as manager in February, and then turned to Graham Taylor for his second spell in charge at Vicarage Road, three months after his resignation at Wolves.

Wolves, one of the pre-season promotion favourites, failed to deliver the goods in the league and were heading towards the relegation zone when manager Graham Taylor resigned in November. The month-long search for a new manager ended with the appointment of Leicester City's Mark McGhee, who turned his back on a promotion challenge to help ensure that Wolves avoided relegation and prepared for a promotion push in 1996-97.

As well as managerial changes, relocation was another key theme of the 1995-96 campaign in Division One. Sunderland moved ahead with plans to leave Roker Park in favour of a new all-seater stadium at Monkwearmouth, due for completion in the summer of 1997. Having previously settled on revamping the Baseball Ground, Derby County chairman Lionel Pickering announced in February that the club would be relocating to Pride Park, with work beginning on the new stadium over the coming months and that the new stadium would be ready in time for the 1997-98 season. Stoke City, who had played at the Victoria Ground for almost 120 years, announced that they would be moving to a new 28,000-seater stadium at Trentham Lakes at the same time. Reading were pressing on with plans to relocate to a new 25,000-seater stadium by the end of the decade.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Sunderland (C, P)	46	22	17	7	59	33	+26	83	Promotion to the Premier League
2	Derby County (P)	46	21	16	9	71	51	+20	79	Promotion to the Premier League
3	Crystal Palace	46	20	15	11	67	48	+19	75	Qualification for the First Division play-offs
4	Stoke City	46	20	13	13	60	49	+11	73
5	Leicester City (O, P)	46	19	14	13	66	60	+6	71
6	Charlton Athletic	46	17	20	9	57	45	+12	71
7	Ipswich Town	46	19	12	15	79	69	+10	69
8	Huddersfield Town	46	17	12	17	61	58	+3	63
9	Sheffield United	46	16	14	16	57	54	+3	62
10	Barnsley	46	14	18	14	60	66	−6	60
11	West Bromwich Albion	46	16	12	18	60	68	−8	60
12	Port Vale	46	15	15	16	59	66	−7	60
13	Tranmere Rovers	46	14	17	15	64	60	+4	59
14	Southend United	46	15	14	17	52	61	−9	59
15	Birmingham City	46	15	13	18	61	64	−3	58
16	Norwich City	46	14	15	17	59	55	+4	57
17	Grimsby Town	46	14	14	18	55	69	−14	56
18	Oldham Athletic	46	14	14	18	54	50	+4	56
19	Reading	46	13	17	16	54	63	−9	56
20	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46	13	16	17	56	62	−6	55
21	Portsmouth	46	13	13	20	61	69	−8	52
22	Millwall (R)	46	13	13	20	43	63	−20	52	Relegation to the Second Division
23	Watford (R)	46	10	18	18	62	70	−8	48
24	Luton Town (R)	46	11	12	23	40	64	−24	45

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goals scored; 3) Goal difference
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Play-offs

Semifinals 1st leg – May 12th; 2nd leg – May 15th, 1996					Final at Wembley May 27th, 1996

3rd	Crystal Palace	2	1	3

6th	Charlton Athletic	1	0	1
					3rd	Crystal Palace	1

					5th	Leicester City (a.e.t.)	2
4th	Stoke City	0	0	0

5th	Leicester City	0	1	1

^[1]

Results

Home \ Away	BAR	BIR	CHA	CRY	DER	GRI	HUD	IPS	LEI	LUT	MIL	NWC	OLD	PTV	POR	REA	SHU	STD	STK	SUN	TRA	WAT	WBA	WOL
Barnsley		0–5	1–2	1–1	2–0	1–1	3–0	3–3	2–2	1–0	3–1	2–2	2–1	1–1	0–0	0–1	2–2	1–1	3–1	0–1	2–1	2–1	1–1	1–0
Birmingham City	0–0		3–4	0–0	1–4	3–1	2–0	3–1	2–2	4–0	2–2	3–1	0–0	3–1	2–0	1–2	0–1	2–0	1–1	0–2	1–0	1–0	1–1	2–0
Charlton Athletic	1–1	3–1		0–0	0–0	0–1	2–1	0–2	0–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	2–2	2–1	2–1	1–1	0–3	2–1	1–1	0–0	2–1	4–1	1–1
Crystal Palace	4–3	3–2	1–1		0–0	5–0	0–0	1–1	0–1	2–0	1–2	0–1	2–2	2–2	0–0	0–2	0–0	2–0	1–1	0–1	2–1	4–0	1–0	3–2
Derby County	4–1	1–1	2–0	2–1		1–1	3–2	1–1	0–1	1–1	2–2	2–1	2–1	0–0	3–2	3–0	4–2	1–0	3–1	3–1	6–2	1–1	3–0	0–0
Grimsby Town	3–1	2–1	1–2	0–2	1–1		1–1	3–1	2–2	0–0	1–2	2–2	1–1	1–0	2–1	0–0	0–2	1–1	1–0	0–4	1–1	0–0	1–0	3–0
Huddersfield Town	3–0	4–2	2–2	3–0	0–1	1–3		2–1	3–1	1–0	3–0	3–2	0–0	0–2	0–1	3–1	1–2	3–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–0	4–1	2–1
Ipswich Town	2–2	2–0	1–5	1–0	1–0	2–2	2–1		4–2	0–1	0–0	2–1	2–1	5–1	3–2	1–2	1–1	1–1	4–1	3–0	1–2	4–2	2–1	1–2
Leicester City	2–2	3–0	1–1	2–3	0–0	2–1	2–1	0–2		1–1	2–1	3–2	2–0	1–1	4–2	1–1	0–2	1–3	2–3	0–0	0–1	1–0	1–2	1–0
Luton Town	1–3	0–0	0–1	0–0	1–2	3–2	2–2	1–2	1–1		1–0	1–3	1–1	3–2	3–1	1–2	1–0	3–1	1–2	0–2	3–2	0–0	1–2	2–3
Millwall	0–1	2–0	0–2	1–4	0–1	2–1	0–0	2–1	1–1	1–0		2–1	0–1	1–2	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–0	2–3	1–2	2–2	1–2	2–1	0–1
Norwich City	3–1	1–1	0–1	1–0	1–0	2–2	2–0	2–1	0–1	0–1	0–0		2–1	2–1	1–1	3–3	0–0	0–1	0–1	0–0	1–1	1–2	2–2	2–3
Oldham Athletic	0–1	4–0	1–1	3–1	0–1	1–0	3–0	1–1	3–1	1–0	2–2	2–0		2–2	1–1	2–1	2–1	0–1	2–0	1–2	1–2	0–0	1–2	0–0
Port Vale	3–0	1–2	1–3	1–2	1–1	1–0	1–0	2–1	0–2	1–0	0–1	1–0	1–3		0–2	3–2	2–3	2–1	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	3–1	2–2
Portsmouth	0–0	0–1	2–1	2–3	2–2	3–1	1–1	0–1	2–1	4–0	0–1	1–0	2–1	1–2		0–0	1–2	4–2	3–3	2–2	0–2	4–2	0–2	0–2
Reading	0–0	0–1	0–0	0–2	3–2	0–2	3–1	1–4	1–1	3–1	1–2	0–3	2–0	2–2	0–1		0–3	3–3	1–0	1–1	1–0	0–0	3–1	3–0
Sheffield United	1–0	1–1	2–0	2–3	0–2	1–2	0–2	2–2	1–3	1–0	2–0	2–1	2–1	1–1	4–1	0–0		3–0	0–0	0–0	0–2	1–1	1–2	2–1
Southend United	0–0	3–1	1–1	1–1	1–2	1–0	0–0	2–1	2–1	0–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	2–1	2–1	0–0	2–1		2–4	0–2	2–0	1–1	2–1	2–1
Stoke City	2–0	1–0	1–0	1–2	1–1	1–2	1–1	3–1	1–0	5–0	1–0	1–1	0–1	0–1	2–1	1–1	2–2	1–0		1–0	0–0	2–0	2–1	2–0
Sunderland	2–1	3–0	0–0	1–0	3–0	1–0	3–2	1–0	1–2	1–0	6–0	0–1	1–0	0–0	1–1	2–2	2–0	1–0	0–0		0–0	1–1	0–0	2–0
Tranmere Rovers	1–3	2–2	0–0	2–3	5–1	0–1	3–1	5–2	1–1	1–0	2–2	1–1	2–0	2–1	1–2	2–1	1–1	3–0	0–0	2–0		2–3	2–2	2–2
Watford	2–3	1–1	1–2	0–0	0–0	6–3	0–1	2–3	0–1	1–1	0–1	0–2	2–1	5–2	1–2	4–2	2–1	2–2	3–0	3–3	3–0		1–1	1–1
West Bromwich Albion	2–1	1–0	1–0	2–3	3–2	3–1	1–2	0–0	2–3	0–2	1–0	1–4	1–0	1–1	2–1	2–0	3–1	3–1	0–1	0–1	1–1	4–4		0–0
Wolverhampton Wanderers	2–2	3–2	0–0	0–2	3–0	4–1	0–0	2–2	2–3	0–0	1–1	0–2	1–3	0–1	2–2	1–1	1–0	2–0	1–4	3–0	2–1	3–0	1–1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	John Aldridge	Tranmere Rovers	27
2	Dougie Freedman	Crystal Palace	20
=	Dean Sturridge	Derby County	20
4	Ian Marshall	Ipswich Town	19
=	Iwan Roberts	Leicester City	19
6	Alex Mathie	Ipswich Town	18
7	Andy Payton	Barnsley	17
=	Bob Taylor	West Bromwich Albion	17

Locations

Locations of the First Division London teams

Second Division

Following back-to-back relegations, Swindon Town took a turn in the right direction by sealing the Division Two title with 92 points and securing a return to Division One in their first full season under manager Steve McMahon. They were joined in promotion by their local rivals Oxford United, who finished runners-up. The final promotion place was won by Bradford City, who won at Wembley for the first time in their history with a 2-0 triumph over Notts County in the playoff final. Crewe Alexandra were beaten in the semi-finals for a second successive season. Blackpool finished third and were also beaten in the playoff semi-finals, which was quickly followed by the dismissal of manager Sam Allardyce despite having come closer than any other Blackpool manager to regaining the second tier place which Blackpool had last held in 1978.

Down at the bottom end of the table, Hull City dropped into the fourth tier for the first time in more than a decade, having won just five league games all season. Debt-ridden Brighton, whose chairman Bill Archer came under fire from fans over his plans to sell the Goldstone Ground and groundshare with another club, went down in 23rd place. Swansea City went down after being managed by four different men in the same season, with Liverpool legend Jan Molby taking over as player-manager before relegation was confirmed in hope of bringing some long-awaited success to the South Wales side. Carlisle United's disappointing return to the third tier of the English league ended in instant relegation as they occupied the fourth and final relegation place.

York City, who beat the drop at Carlisle's expense, made the headlines in the autumn with a shock 3-0 win over a Manchester United side, who finished the season as Premier League champions and FA Cup winners, in the first leg of the League Cup second round. This would prove to be the only time that the double winners lost a competitive game at home all season. York went on to eliminate their illustrious opponents from the competition, as a 3-1 United win at Bootham Crescent in the return leg was not enough to save Alex Ferguson's team from suffering a humiliating exit from the competition.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Swindon Town (C, P)	46	25	17	4	71	34	+37	92	Promotion to the First Division
2	Oxford United (P)	46	24	11	11	76	39	+37	83	Promotion to the First Division
3	Blackpool	46	23	13	10	67	40	+27	82	Qualification for the Second Division play-offs
4	Notts County	46	21	15	10	63	39	+24	78
5	Crewe Alexandra	46	22	7	17	77	60	+17	73
6	Bradford City (O, P)	46	22	7	17	71	69	+2	73
7	Chesterfield	46	20	12	14	56	51	+5	72
8	Wrexham	46	18	16	12	76	55	+21	70
9	Stockport County	46	19	13	14	61	47	+14	70
10	Bristol Rovers	46	20	10	16	57	60	−3	70
11	Walsall	46	19	12	15	60	45	+15	69
12	Wycombe Wanderers	46	15	15	16	63	59	+4	60
13	Bristol City	46	15	15	16	55	60	−5	60
14	Bournemouth	46	16	10	20	51	70	−19	58
15	Brentford	46	15	13	18	43	49	−6	58
16	Rotherham United	46	14	14	18	54	62	−8	56
17	Burnley	46	14	13	19	56	68	−12	55
18	Shrewsbury Town	46	13	14	19	58	70	−12	53
19	Peterborough United	46	13	13	20	59	66	−7	52
20	York City	46	13	13	20	58	73	−15	52
21	Carlisle United (R)	46	12	13	21	57	72	−15	49	Relegation to the Third Division
22	Swansea City (R)	46	11	14	21	43	79	−36	47
23	Brighton & Hove Albion (R)	46	10	10	26	46	69	−23	40
24	Hull City (R)	46	5	16	25	36	78	−42	31

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated