1969–70 in English football

The 1969-70 season was the 90th season of competitive football in England.

Overview

First Division

Everton won their seventh title, finishing nine points clear of Leeds United with Chelsea in third and newly promoted Derby County in fourth. Sheffield Wednesday and Sunderland were both relegated.

econd Division

Huddersfield Town claimed the divisional title and were promoted along with runners-up Blackpool. Aston Villa endured the worst season in their history and were relegated to the Third Division for the first time, along with bottom club Preston North End, for whom it was also a first relegation to the third tier.

Third Division

Orient won the title and were promoted along with Luton Town, who had finished third the previous season. As usual four teams were relegated, with Bournemouth, Southport, Barrow and Stockport County all making the drop.

Fourth Division

Chesterfield won the title and were promoted along with Wrexham, Swansea City and Port Vale. Bradford Park Avenue lost their application for re-election and were replaced by Cambridge United.

FA Cup

Chelsea won the cup by beating Leeds United 2-1 in a replay at Old Trafford after a 2-2 draw at Wembley Stadium. Leeds took the lead through Mick Jones before an equaliser from Peter Osgood forced the replay to extra-time. David Webb then scored the winner in the 104th minute to give Chelsea a first ever FA Cup triumph.

Manchester United beat Watford 2-0 at Highbury in the first ever third-place playoff, held the day before the final.

A number of non-league clubs made it to the Third Round i.e. Brentwood, Hillingdon Borough and South Shields as well as Sutton United who reached the Fourth Round before losing 6-0 to Leeds.

League Cup

Manchester City FC won the League Cup by beating West Bromwich Albion 2-1 after extra time. Second Division Carlisle United enjoyed a run to the Semi-finals of the competition but lost to Albion. In the other semi Manchester City beat local rivals Manchester United.

European football

Arsenal won the UEFA Cup Final, beating R.S.C. Anderlecht 4-3 on aggregate. Manchester City won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final 2-1, defeating Górnik Zabrze of Poland 2-1 at the Prater Stadium in Vienna to complete a double triumph.

Star players

The Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year was awarded to Billy Bremner who was the outstanding player of the season despite the failure of Leeds to win any trophies. Jeff Astle of West Bromwich Albion finished the season as Division One top scorer by netting 25 goals. Albert Kinsey of Wrexham was overall league top-scorer, hitting 27 goals for the Fourth Division outfit.

Star Managers

* Legendary Everton manager Harry Catterick continued his run of success at the club with a league title.
* Dave Sexton led his Chelsea to an historic first ever win in the FA Cup.
* Joe Mercer continued his run of success with Manchester City by capturing the League Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup.
* Bertie Mee led his Arsenal side to a first ever European triumph and set the club up for their Double win the following season.

National team

England took part in the 1970 FIFA World Cup, qualifying from their group after beating Romania and Czechoslovakia but losing to Brazil. The team then went out in the quarter finals after losing 3-2 (after extra time) to West Germany. Preparations had been damaged after star defender Bobby Moore was arrested in Bogotá over later disproven allegations of theft.

Honours

Third Division

Fourth Division

P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points