Bob Paisley’s last season as Liverpool manager ended on a high as they topped the First Division with a comfortable lead. Paisley retired as Liverpool manager with a record 21 prizes in nine years.[citation needed] His successor was the club's long-serving coach Joe Fagan. Newly promoted Watford were the shock of the season, finishing in second place in their first season in the top flight.
Manchester City were relegated despite a four-year spending spree totalling around £5million. Swansea City were also relegated after only their second season as a First Division club. They had finished sixth a year earlier and at several stages had topped the league table. Brighton & Hove Albion joined them on the way down.
Wimbledon were crowned Fourth Division champions. Hull City, Port Vale and Scunthorpe United occupied the other three promotion places. The re-election system went in favour of the bottom four sides in the Fourth Division, all of whom were re-elected for the following season, but had things gone differently then Blackpool could have gone out of the Football League little over a decade after they had been a First Division side.[citation needed]
At the end of the season, Fourth Division strugglers Crewe Alexandra appointed Milan-born ex-Wimbledon manager Dario Gradi as their new manager.
Final league tables and results
The tables and results below are reproduced here in the exact form that they can be found at The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation website,[1] with home and away statistics separated.
During the first five seasons of the league, that is, until the season 1893–94, re-election process concerned the clubs which finished in the bottom four of the league. From the 1894–95 season and until the 1920–21 season the re-election process was required of the clubs which finished in the bottom three of the league. From the 1922–23 season on it was required of the bottom two teams of both Third Division North and Third Division South. Since the Fourth Division was established in the 1958–59 season, the re-election process has concerned the bottom four clubs in that division.[2]
Liverpool were dominant throughout Bob Paisley's final season as manager, retaining the league title and winning a third successive League Cup. Paisley, who had won 21 major trophies in nine seasons as manager, handed over the reins to his assistant Joe Fagan.
Second place in the league went to Watford, who took the First Division by storm in their first season at this level. Manchester United won the FA Cup in Ron Atkinson's second season as manager, and also finished third in the league for the second consecutive season. Tottenham Hotspur continued to thrive, finishing fourth and qualifying for the UEFA Cup, although they failed to add any silverware to the FA Cup victories of 1981 and 1982. Nottingham Forest finished fifth and secured a place in the UEFA Cup.
Brighton, who took Manchester United to a replay in the FA Cup final, went down in bottom place after four seasons in the First Division. Swansea City, who had finished sixth on their First Division debut a year earlier, were unable to maintain their fine form for a second season, and went down in second place from bottom. The final relegation place went to Manchester City, whose 17-year stay in the First Division was ended in the final minutes of the final game of the season, when a Raddy Antic goal gave visitors Luton Town a 1-0 victory and saved them from an immediate return to the Second Division.
For the first time in eight years, there were no English clubs winning European trophies this season.
Locations of the Football League Fourth Division London teams 1982–1983
Election/Re-election to the Football League
This year Enfield, the winners of the Alliance Premier League, could not apply for election because they did not meet Football League requirements, so 2nd placed Maidstone United won the right to apply for election to the Football League to replace one of the four bottom sides in the 1982–83 Football League Fourth Division. The vote went as follows: