1976–77 Football League First Division

Football League First Division
Season	1976–77
Champions	Liverpool (10th English title)
Relegated	Stoke City; Sunderland,; Tottenham Hotspur
1977–78 European Cup	Liverpool
FA Cup winners; 1977–78 European Cup Winners' Cup	Manchester United (4th FA Cup title)
1977–78 UEFA Cup	Aston Villa,; Ipswich Town; Manchester City,; Newcastle United
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,183 (2.56 per match)
Top goalscorer	Andy Gray (Aston Villa), 25; Malcolm Macdonald (Arsenal), 25
Biggest home win	Ipswich – West Brom 7–0 (6 Nov 1976)
Biggest away win	Leicester – West Brom 0–5 (7 Mar 1977)
Highest scoring	Derby – Tottenham 8–2 (16 Oct 1976)
	← 1975–76 1977–78 →

Statistics of Football League First Division in the 1976–77 season.

Overview

Liverpool retained their league championship trophy and won their first European Cup to confirm Bob Paisley as a successful replacement for Bill Shankly in his third season at the helm. Tottenham Hotspur and Stoke City's long spells in the First Division came to an end with relegation. Stoke sacked their manager Tony Waddington. On the last day of the season, Coventry City and Bristol City played out a controversial 2–2 draw, with play virtually stopping when it was heard that Sunderland had lost to Everton. Both clubs survived while Sunderland were relegated.

After Manchester United manager Tommy Docherty had admitted his affair with the wife of the club's physiotherapist, the club's directors decided that he had broken their moral code and he was sacked.

League standings

Pos	Team	Pld	HW	HD	HL	HGF	HGA	AW	AD	AL	AGF	AGA	GR	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Liverpool (C)	42	18	3	0	47	11	5	8	8	15	22	1.879	57	Qualified for European Cup
2	Manchester City	42	15	5	1	38	13	6	9	6	22	21	1.765	56	Qualified for UEFA Cup
3	Ipswich Town	42	15	4	2	41	11	7	4	10	25	28	1.692	52	Qualified for UEFA Cup
4	Aston Villa	42	17	3	1	55	17	5	4	12	21	33	1.520	51	League Cup winners, qualified for UEFA Cup
5	Newcastle United	42	14	6	1	40	15	4	7	10	24	34	1.306	49	Qualified for UEFA Cup
6	Manchester United	42	12	6	3	41	22	6	5	10	30	40	1.145	47	FA Cup winners, qualified for Cup Winners' Cup
7	West Bromwich Albion	42	10	6	5	38	22	6	7	8	24	34	1.107	45
8	Arsenal	42	11	6	4	37	20	5	5	11	27	39	1.085	43
9	Everton	42	9	7	5	35	24	5	7	9	27	40	0.969	42
10	Leeds United	42	8	8	5	28	26	7	4	10	20	25	0.941	42
11	Leicester City	42	8	9	4	30	28	4	9	8	17	32	0.783	42
12	Middlesbrough	42	11	6	4	25	14	3	7	11	15	31	0.889	41
13	Birmingham City	42	10	6	5	38	25	3	6	12	25	36	1.033	38
14	Queens Park Rangers	42	10	7	4	31	21	3	5	13	16	31	0.904	38
15	Derby County	42	9	9	3	36	18	0	10	11	14	37	0.909	37
16	Norwich City	42	12	4	5	30	23	2	5	14	17	41	0.734	37
17	West Ham United	42	9	6	6	28	23	2	8	11	18	42	0.708	36
18	Bristol City	42	8	7	6	25	19	3	6	12	13	29	0.792	35
19	Coventry City	42	7	9	5	34	26	3	6	12	14	33	0.814	35
20	Sunderland	42	9	5	7	29	16	2	7	12	17	38	0.852	34	Relegated
21	Stoke City	42	9	8	4	21	16	1	6	14	7	35	0.549	34
22	Tottenham Hotspur	42	9	7	5	26	20	3	2	16	22	52	0.667	33

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
(C) League Champions

Stats

Record

Most wins: Liverpool (23)
Fewest losses: Manchester City (7)
Most goals scored: Aston Villa (76)
Fewest goals conceded: Liverpool (33)
Best goal difference ratio: Liverpool (+29)
Most draws: Derby County (19)
Fewest draws: Aston Villa (7)
Most losses: Tottenham Hotspur
Fewest wins: Derby County (9)
Fewest goals scored: Stoke City (28)
Most goals conceded: Tottenham Hotspur (72)
Worst goal difference ratio: Tottenham Hotspur (–24)

Results

Home \ Away	ARS	AST	BIR	BRI	COV	DER	EVE	IPS	LEE	LEI	LIV	MCI	MUN	MID	NEW	NWC	QPR	STK	SUN	TOT	WBA	WHU
Arsenal		3–0	4–0	0–1	2–0	0–0	3–1	1–4	1–1	3–0	1–1	0–0	3–1	1–1	5–3	1–0	3–2	2–0	0–0	1–0	1–2	2–3
Aston Villa	5–1		1–2	3–1	2–2	4–0	2–0	5–2	2–1	2–0	5–1	1–1	3–2	1–0	2–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	4–1	2–1	4–0	4–0
Birmingham	3–3	2–1		3–0	3–0	5–1	1–1	2–4	0–0	1–1	2–1	0–0	2–3	3–1	1–2	3–2	2–1	2–0	2–0	1–2	0–1	0–0
Bristol City	2–0	0–0	0–1		0–0	2–2	1–2	1–2	1–0	0–1	2–1	1–0	1–1	1–2	1–1	3–1	1–0	1–1	4–1	1–0	1–2	1–1
Coventry City	1–2	2–3	2–1	2–2		2–0	4–2	1–1	4–2	1–1	0–0	0–1	0–2	1–1	1–1	2–0	2–0	5–2	1–2	1–1	1–1	1–1
Derby County	0–0	2–1	0–0	2–0	1–1		2–3	0–0	0–1	1–0	2–3	4–0	0–0	0–0	4–2	2–2	2–0	2–0	1–0	8–2	2–2	1–1
Everton	2–1	0–2	2–2	2–0	1–1	2–0		1–1	0–2	1–2	0–0	2–2	1–2	2–2	2–0	3–1	1–3	3–0	2–0	4–0	1–1	3–2
Ipswich Town	3–1	1–0	1–0	1–0	2–1	0–0	2–0		1–1	0–0	1–0	1–0	2–1	0–1	2–0	5–0	2–2	0–1	3–1	3–1	7–0	4–1
Leeds United	2–1	1–3	1–0	2–0	1–2	2–0	0–0	2–1		2–2	1–1	0–2	0–2	2–1	2–2	3–2	0–1	1–1	1–1	2–1	2–2	1–1
Leicester City	4–1	1–1	2–6	0–0	3–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–1		0–1	2–2	1–1	3–3	1–0	1–1	2–2	1–0	2–0	2–1	0–5	2–0
Liverpool	2–0	3–0	4–1	2–1	3–1	3–1	3–1	2–1	3–1	5–1		2–1	1–0	0–0	1–0	1–0	3–1	4–0	2–0	2–0	1–1	0–0
Manchester City	1–0	2–0	2–1	2–1	2–0	3–2	1–1	2–1	2–1	5–0	1–1		1–3	1–0	0–0	2–0	0–0	0–0	1–0	5–0	1–0	4–2
Manchester United	3–2	2–0	2–2	2–1	2–0	3–1	4–0	0–1	1–0	1–1	0–0	3–1		2–0	3–1	2–2	1–0	3–0	3–3	2–3	2–2	0–2
Middlesbrough	3–0	3–2	2–2	0–0	1–0	2–0	2–2	0–2	1–0	0–1	0–1	0–0	3–0		1–0	1–0	0–2	0–0	2–1	2–0	1–0	1–1
Newcastle United	0–2	3–2	3–2	0–0	1–0	2–2	4–1	1–1	3–0	0–0	1–0	2–2	2–2	1–0		5–1	2–0	1–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	3–0
Norwich City	1–3	1–1	1–0	2–1	3–0	0–0	2–1	0–1	1–2	3–2	2–1	0–2	2–1	1–0	3–2		2–0	1–1	2–2	1–3	1–0	1–0
Queens Park Rangers	2–1	2–1	2–2	0–1	1–1	1–1	0–4	1–0	0–0	3–2	1–1	0–0	4–0	3–0	1–2	2–3		2–0	2–0	2–1	1–0	1–1
Stoke City	1–1	1–0	1–0	2–2	2–0	1–0	0–1	2–1	2–1	0–1	0–0	0–2	3–3	3–1	0–0	0–0	1–0		0–0	0–0	0–2	2–1
Sunderland	2–2	0–1	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–1	0–1	1–0	0–1	0–0	0–1	0–2	2–1	4–0	2–2	0–1	1–0	0–0		2–1	6–1	6–0
Tottenham Hotspur	2–2	3–1	1–0	0–1	0–1	0–0	3–3	1–0	1–0	2–0	1–0	2–2	1–3	0–0	0–2	1–1	3–0	2–0	1–1		0–2	2–1
West Bromwich Albion	0–2	1–1	2–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	3–0	4–0	1–2	2–2	0–1	0–2	4–0	2–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	3–1	2–3	4–2		3–0
West Ham United	0–2	0–1	2–2	2–0	2–0	2–2	2–2	0–2	1–3	0–0	2–0	1–0	4–2	0–1	1–2	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	5–3	0–0

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Ian Laschke: Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79. Macdonald and Jane’s, London & Sydney, 1980.
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.