50 years ago - Oldham 1 Notts County 3

[60YearsAPie]

Northampton had moved into 2nd after winning on the Friday night.

Interesting that. The Football Post that day said 'second-in-the-table Oldham' and the league table after Notts victory showed Oldham above Northampton. They were on goal difference but in 1970/71 goal average was used. It was some years later this was changed to goal difference. Were the Football Post ahead of their time? Or could they just not work out goal averages?

It confirms Hateley had a goal disallowed as well!

[upthemaggies]

Interesting that. The Football Post that day said 'second-in-the-table Oldham' and the league table after Notts victory showed Oldham above Northampton. They were on goal difference but in 1970/71 goal average was used. It was some years later this was changed to goal difference. Were the Football Post ahead of their time? Or could they just not work out goal averages?

The latter and it probably was just them. I've got most of the Sunday Observer's tables and results pages to hand saved on my laptop from 1964 to 1998, so a quick check shows they have Northampton above Oldham on the Sunday, as does my own site (I was becoming paranoid I'd messed up the coding somewhere). Lord knows why it took the FL so long to change to the much more sensible, fairer and easier to understand Goal difference system. It's amazing how some daft rules persist for so long - The one club per city entry into the UEFA Cup for example lasted until 1976 as a relic of The Fairs Cup (which was originally a sideshow of the European Trade fairs). The tossing of a coin to decide drawn European ties is beyond belief.

[Observerpie]

It was interesting (from what I could see) that 7 of those clubs in the league table are no longer league clubs. Perhaps someone knows if there are any more from the full table.

[60YearsAPie]

It was interesting (from what I could see) that 7 of those clubs in the league table are no longer league clubs. Perhaps someone knows if there are any more from the full table.

Here's the full table at 6th March 1971.

[upthemaggies]

It was interesting (from what I could see) that 7 of those clubs in the league table are no longer league clubs. Perhaps someone knows if there are any more from the full table.

I make it ten, though many more have dropped out and come back in again.
Notts
Chester
Southport
York
Darlington
Stockport
Workington
Aldershot
Hartlepool
Barrow (who finished 24th but got re-elected, so them losing there place the following year isn't quite the injustice it's made out to be, it's the club that replaced them and where they finished that was more controversial)

Also from the 3rd tier.
Halifax (Who finished 3rd but still only two up until 1973/74).
Chesterfield
Wrexham
Torquay
Bury


1970/71 was also Cambridge United's first ever season in the FL (replacing Bradford PA)
Telford won the 2nd ever FA Trophy (introduced in 1969/70 for clubs that were semi-professional)

[Frigiliana Pie 1]

I think only 8 of the 24 have been in the Football League without a break since 1971 - Bournemouth, Oldham, Northampton, Peterborough, Crewe, S****horpe, Brentford and Southend. It’s quite possible that Southend will lose their status at the end of this season. And I think that Northampton would have been relegated in the 1990s but were saved because somebody’s ground was not up to the required standard.