1960–61 in English football

The 1960–61 season was the 81st season of competitive football in England. This season was a particularly historic one for domestic football in England, as Tottenham Hotspur became the first club in the twentieth century to "do the Double" by winning both the League and the FA Cup competitions in the same season.

Overview

Tottenham Hotspur sealed the Football League First Division title with a 2–1 home win over Sheffield Wednesday on 17 April 1961. Preston North End, who had been the first team to achieve the League and FA Cup "double", was relegated in last place – and to date have not returned to the top flight of English football since. 1960–61 still remains the last time Tottenham Hotspur won the League Championship.

Portsmouth F.C. became the first former English League champion to be relegated to the Third Division, ten years after winning their second title.

Peterborough United set a football league record by scoring the most league goals in one season (134).

FA Cup

Tottenham Hotspur beat Leicester City 2–0 to win the 1961 FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium to become the first team in the 20th Century to win the double.

League Cup

The 1960–61 was the inaugural staging of the Football League Cup, The tournament was won by Aston Villa, who beat Rotherham United 3–2 on aggregate after extra time. Although Aston Villa are credited as the League Cup Winners in 1960–61, both legs of the Final were held over until after the commencement of the 1961–62 season due to fixture congestion. Villa finally lifted the trophy on 5 September 1961.

Transfers

In June 1961, Denis Law left Manchester City for Italian side Torino in a £100,000 deal – a record fee involving a British player.

Honours

Competition	Winner	Runner-up
First Division	Tottenham Hotspur (2)	Sheffield Wednesday
Second Division	Ipswich Town	Sheffield United
Third Division	Bury	Walsall
Fourth Division	Peterborough United	Crystal Palace
FA Cup	Tottenham Hotspur (3)	Leicester City
League Cup	Aston Villa (1)	Rotherham United
Charity Shield	Burnley and Wolverhampton Wanderers (shared)
Home Championship	England	Wales

Notes = Number in parentheses is the times that club has won that honour. * indicates new record for competition

Awards

Football Writers' Association

• Footballer of the Year – Danny Blanchflower (Tottenham Hotspur)

Football League

Main article: 1960–61 Football League

First Division

Tottenham Hotspur made history by becoming the first team this century to win the double, which in recent seasons had narrowly eluded the likes of Manchester United and Wolves.

Sheffield Wednesday finished runners-up, but an eight-point finishing divide between themselves and the champions meant that they never really looked like claiming the league title which had last been theirs in 1930. Wolves, Everton and defending champions Burnley completed the top five, while FA Cup runners-up Leicester City enjoyed a strong sixth-place finish and Manchester United finished seventh for the second season running.

Aston Villa's failure to mount a title challenge was compensated for by victory in the first-ever edition of the Football League Cup.

Preston North End performed dismally in their first season without retired winger Tom Finney, and went down in bottom place, joined in relegation by Newcastle United.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Tottenham Hotspur	42	31	4	7	115	55	2.091	66	Qualified for the European Cup
2	Sheffield Wednesday	42	23	12	7	78	47	1.660	58
3	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	25	7	10	103	75	1.373	57
4	Burnley	42	22	7	13	102	77	1.325	51
5	Everton	42	22	6	14	87	69	1.261	50
6	Leicester City	42	18	9	15	87	70	1.243	45
7	Manchester United	42	18	9	15	88	76	1.158	45
8	Blackburn Rovers	42	15	13	14	77	76	1.013	43
9	Aston Villa	42	17	9	16	78	77	1.013	43
10	West Bromwich Albion	42	18	5	19	67	71	0.944	41
11	Arsenal	42	15	11	16	77	85	0.906	41
12	Chelsea	42	15	7	20	98	100	0.980	37
13	Manchester City	42	13	11	18	79	90	0.878	37
14	Nottingham Forest	42	14	9	19	62	78	0.795	37
15	Cardiff City	42	13	11	18	60	85	0.706	37
16	West Ham United	42	13	10	19	77	88	0.875	36
17	Fulham	42	14	8	20	72	95	0.758	36
18	Bolton Wanderers	42	12	11	19	58	73	0.795	35
19	Birmingham City	42	14	6	22	62	84	0.738	34
20	Blackpool	42	12	9	21	68	73	0.932	33
21	Newcastle United	42	11	10	21	86	109	0.789	32	Relegated to the Second Division
22	Preston North End	42	10	10	22	43	71	0.606	30

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Second Division

Alf Ramsey's impressive Ipswich side reached the First Division for the first time in their history by winning the Second Division title - an impressive showing for a club who had been in non-league football 25 years earlier. They were joined in promotion by a more illustrious club in the shape of Sheffield United, who have been no strangers to the elite of English football. Liverpool just missed out on First Division football once again, while Norwich City achieved their best final position yet by finishing fourth.

Lincoln City went down in bottom place and were joined in the Third Division by Portsmouth, league champions just over a decade earlier.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Ipswich Town	42	26	7	9	100	55	1.818	59	Promoted to the First Division
2	Sheffield United	42	26	6	10	81	51	1.588	58
3	Liverpool	42	21	10	11	87	58	1.500	52
4	Norwich City	42	20	9	13	70	53	1.321	49
5	Middlesbrough	42	18	12	12	83	74	1.122	48
6	Sunderland	42	17	13	12	75	60	1.250	47
7	Swansea Town	42	18	11	13	77	73	1.055	47
8	Southampton	42	18	8	16	84	81	1.037	44
9	Scunthorpe United	42	14	15	13	69	64	1.078	43
10	Charlton Athletic	42	16	11	15	97	91	1.066	43
11	Plymouth Argyle	42	17	8	17	81	82	0.988	42
12	Derby County	42	15	10	17	80	80	1.000	40
13	Luton Town	42	15	9	18	71	79	0.899	39
14	Leeds United	42	14	10	18	75	83	0.904	38
15	Rotherham United	42	12	13	17	65	64	1.016	37
16	Brighton & Hove Albion	42	14	9	19	61	75	0.813	37
17	Bristol Rovers	42	15	7	20	73	92	0.793	37
18	Stoke City	42	12	12	18	51	59	0.864	36
19	Leyton Orient	42	14	8	20	55	78	0.705	36
20	Huddersfield Town	42	13	9	20	62	71	0.873	35
21	Portsmouth	42	11	11	20	64	91	0.703	33	Relegated to the Third Division
22	Lincoln City	42	8	8	26	48	95	0.505	24

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Third Division

Bury won promotion to the Second Division as champions of the Third Division and were joined in the higher division by runners-up Walsall.

Chesterfield, Colchester United and Tranmere Rovers, who had all spent most or all of their history in nothing higher than the league's third tier, went down to the Fourth Division, but were relegated along with a Bradford City side who had played in the First Division for a number of seasons until 1922 and were FA Cup winners in 1911.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Bury	46	30	8	8	108	45	2.400	68	Promoted to the Second Division
2	Walsall	46	28	6	12	98	60	1.633	62
3	Queens Park Rangers	46	25	10	11	93	60	1.550	60
4	Watford	46	20	12	14	85	72	1.181	52
5	Notts County	46	21	9	16	82	77	1.065	51
6	Grimsby Town	46	20	10	16	77	69	1.116	50
7	Port Vale	46	17	15	14	96	79	1.215	49
8	Barnsley	46	21	7	18	83	80	1.038	49
9	Halifax Town	46	16	17	13	71	78	0.910	49
10	Shrewsbury Town	46	15	16	15	83	75	1.107	46
11	Hull City	46	17	12	17	73	73	1.000	46
12	Torquay United	46	14	17	15	75	83	0.904	45
13	Newport County	46	17	11	18	81	90	0.900	45
14	Bristol City	46	17	10	19	70	68	1.029	44
15	Coventry City	46	16	12	18	80	83	0.964	44
16	Swindon Town	46	14	15	17	62	55	1.127	43
17	Brentford	46	13	17	16	56	70	0.800	43
18	Reading	46	14	12	20	72	83	0.867	40
19	Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic	46	15	10	21	58	76	0.763	40
20	Southend United	46	14	11	21	60	76	0.789	39
21	Tranmere Rovers	46	15	8	23	79	115	0.687	38	Relegated to the Fourth Division
22	Bradford City	46	11	14	21	65	87	0.747	36
23	Colchester United	46	11	11	24	68	101	0.673	33
24	Chesterfield	46	10	12	24	67	87	0.770	32

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Fourth Division

Peterborough United enjoyed a blistering debut in the Football League, finding the net 134 times (with 52 goals coming from centre-forward Terry Bly) and clinching the Fourth Division title. They were joined in promotion by Crystal Palace, Northampton Town and Bradford Park Avenue.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Peterborough United	46	28	10	8	134	65	2.062	66	Promoted to the Third Division
2	Crystal Palace	46	29	6	11	110	69	1.594	64
3	Northampton Town	46	25	10	11	90	62	1.452	60
4	Bradford Park Avenue	46	26	8	12	84	74	1.135	60
5	York City	46	21	9	16	80	60	1.333	51
6	Millwall	46	21	8	17	97	86	1.128	50
7	Darlington	46	18	13	15	78	70	1.114	49
8	Workington	46	21	7	18	74	76	0.974	49
9	Crewe Alexandra	46	20	9	17	61	67	0.910	49
10	Aldershot	46	18	9	19	79	69	1.145	45
11	Doncaster Rovers	46	19	7	20	76	78	0.974	45
12	Oldham Athletic	46	19	7	20	79	88	0.898	45
13	Stockport County	46	18	9	19	57	66	0.864	45
14	Southport	46	19	6	21	69	67	1.030	44
15	Gillingham	46	15	13	18	64	66	0.970	43
16	Wrexham	46	17	8	21	62	56	1.107	42
17	Rochdale	46	17	8	21	60	66	0.909	42
18	Accrington Stanley	46	16	8	22	74	88	0.841	40
19	Carlisle United	46	13	13	20	61	79	0.772	39
20	Mansfield Town	46	16	6	24	71	78	0.910	38
21	Exeter City	46	14	10	22	66	94	0.702	38	Re-elected
22	Barrow	46	13	11	22	52	79	0.658	37
23	Hartlepools United	46	12	8	26	71	103	0.689	32
24	Chester	46	11	9	26	61	104	0.587	31

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Top goalscorers

First Division

• Jimmy Greaves (Chelsea) – 41 goals

Second Division

• Ray Crawford (Ipswich Town) – 39 goals

Third Division

• Tony Richards (Walsall) – 36 goals

Fourth Division

• Terry Bly (Peterborough United) – 52 goals