The 1982-83 season was the 103rd season of competitive football in England.

Overview

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First Division

Bob Paisley's last season as Liverpool manager ended on a high as they topped the First Division with a comfortable lead. Bob Paisley retired as Liverpool manager with a record 21 prizes in nine years. His successor was long-serving coach Joe Fagan.

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.

Second Division

Queens Park Rangers, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leicester City won promotion to the First Division. Rotherham United, Burnley and Bolton Wanderers were relegated to the Third Division. It was another blow for Bolton, who had been relegated from the First Division three years earlier.

Charlton Athletic and Wolverhampton Wanderers both came within hours of going bankrupt but were both saved by respective new owners.

Third Division

Portsmouth's revival continued as they ran away with the Third Division championship, followed closely behind by runners-up Cardiff City and third-placed Huddersfield Town. Occupying the four relegation places were Reading, Wrexham, Doncaster Rovers and Chesterfield.

Fourth Division

Wimbledon were crowned Fourth Division champions and the efforts of manager Dave Bassett were bound to ensure that this would not be their last promotion. Hull City, Port Vale and Scunthorpe United occupied the other three promotion places. The re-election system once again went in favour of the bottom four sides in the Fourth Division, 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.

At the end of the season, Fourth Division strugglers Crewe Alexandra appointed Milan-born ex-Wimbledon manager Dario Gradi as their new manager.

FA Cup

Manchester United won their first major trophy under Ron Atkinson's management by hammering Brighton 4-0 in the FA Cup final replay after a 1-1 draw in the first match.

League Cup

Liverpool won their third successive League Cup as an added bonus for manager Bob Paisley during his final season in charge. When his team prepared to ascend the 39 steps to the Royal Box, they all insisted that he should be the man to collect the trophy.

Star players

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• Liverpool's dominant side ran away with the honours as Kenny Dalglish was voted Player of the Year by both the PFA and FWA.
• 21-year-old Liverpool striker Ian Rush established himself as one of the league's finest goalscorers after collecting the PFA Young Player of the Year award as well as league championship and League Cup medals.
• Manchester United's FA Cup winning squad included star players like Bryan Robson, Ray Wilkins and the 18-year-old Norman Whiteside.
• Aston Villa's midfield dynamo Gordon Cowans helps inspire Villa to win the European Super Cup.
• The key player in Watford's rise to the top of the English game was prolific striker Luther Blissett.

Star managers

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• Bob Paisley's illustrious career as Liverpool manager went out on a high as they were league champions and League Cup winners.
• Graham Taylor guided Watford to an impressive second-place finish in their First Division debut season.
• Ron Atkinson won the FA Cup to end Manchester United's six-year trophy drought.
• Terry Venables took Queens Park Rangers back into the First Division after a four-year exile.
• Jimmy Melia guided Brighton to their first-ever FA Cup final although he couldn't save them from relegation to the Second Division.

Honours

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Competition	Winner	Runner-up
First Division	Liverpool	Watford
Second Division	Queens Park Rangers	Wolverhampton Wanderers
Third Division	Portsmouth	Cardiff City
Fourth Division	Wimbledon	Hull City
FA Cup	Manchester United	Brighton & Hove Alb
League Cup	Liverpool	Manchester United
Charity Shield	Liverpool	Tottenham Hotspur

League table

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First Division

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Liverpool	42	24	10	8	87	37	+50	82
2	Watford	42	22	5	15	74	57	+17	71
3	Manchester United	42	19	13	10	56	38	+18	70
4	Tottenham Hotspur	42	20	9	13	65	50	+15	69
5	Nottingham Forest	42	20	9	13	62	50	+12	69
6	Aston Villa	42	21	5	16	62	50	+12	68
7	Everton	42	18	10	14	66	48	+18	64
8	West Ham United	42	20	4	18	68	62	+6	64
9	Ipswich Town	42	15	13	14	64	50	+14	58
10	Arsenal	42	16	10	16	58	56	+2	58
11	West Bromwich Albion	42	15	12	15	51	49	+2	57
12	Southampton	42	15	12	15	54	58	-4	57
13	Stoke City	42	16	9	17	53	64	-11	57
14	Norwich City	42	14	12	16	52	58	-6	54
15	Notts County	42	15	7	20	55	71	-16	52
16	Sunderland	42	12	14	16	48	61	-13	50
17	Birmingham City	42	12	14	16	40	55	-15	50
18	Luton Town	42	12	13	17	65	84	-19	49
19	Coventry City	42	13	9	20	48	59	-11	48
20	Manchester City	42	13	8	21	47	70	-23	47
21	Swansea City	42	10	11	21	51	69	-18	41
22	Brighton & Hove Albion	42	9	13	20	38	68	-30	40

Second Division

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Queens Park Rangers	42	26	7	9	77	36	+41	85
2	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	20	15	7	68	44	+24	75
3	Leicester City	42	20	10	12	72	44	+28	70
4	Fulham	42	20	9	13	64	47	+17	69
5	Newcastle United	42	18	13	11	75	53	+22	67
6	Sheffield Wednesday	42	16	15	11	60	47	+13	63
7	Oldham Athletic	42	14	19	9	64	47	+17	61
8	Leeds United	42	13	21	8	51	46	+5	60
9	Shrewsbury Town	42	15	14	13	48	48	+0	59
10	Barnsley	42	14	15	13	57	55	+2	57
11	Blackburn Rovers	42	15	12	15	58	58	+0	57
12	Cambridge United	42	13	12	17	42	60	-18	51
13	Derby County	42	10	19	13	49	58	-9	49
14	Carlisle United	42	12	12	18	68	70	-2	48
15	Crystal Palace	42	12	12	18	43	52	-9	48
16	Middlesbrough	42	11	15	16	46	67	-21	48
17	Charlton Athletic	42	13	9	20	63	86	-23	48
18	Chelsea	42	11	14	17	51	61	-10	47
19	Grimsby Town	42	12	11	19	45	70	-25	47
20	Rotherham United	42	10	15	17	45	68	-23	45
21	Burnley	42	12	8	22	56	66	-10	44
22	Bolton Wanderers	42	11	11	20	42	61	-19	44

Third Division

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Portsmouth	46	27	10	9	74	41	+33	91
2	Cardiff City	46	25	11	10	76	50	+26	86
3	Huddersfield Town	46	23	13	10	84	49	+35	82
4	Newport County	46	23	9	14	76	54	+22	78
5	Oxford United	46	22	12	12	71	53	+18	78
6	Lincoln City	46	23	7	16	77	51	+26	76
7	Bristol Rovers	46	22	9	15	84	58	+26	75
8	Plymouth Argyle	46	19	8	19	61	66	-5	65
9	Brentford	46	18	10	18	88	77	+11	64
10	Walsall	46	17	13	16	64	63	+1	64
11	Sheffield United	46	19	7	20	62	64	-2	64
12	Bradford City	46	16	13	17	68	69	-1	61
13	Gillingham	46	16	13	17	58	59	-1	61
14	Bournemouth	46	16	13	17	59	68	-9	61
15	Southend United	46	15	14	17	66	65	+1	59
16	Preston North End	46	15	13	18	60	69	-9	58
17	Millwall	46	14	13	19	64	77	-13	55
18	Wigan Athletic	46	15	9	22	60	72	-12	54
19	Exeter City	46	14	12	20	81	104	-23	54
20	Leyton Orient	46	15	9	22	64	88	-24	54
21	Reading	46	12	17	17	64	79	-15	53
22	Wrexham	46	12	15	19	56	76	-20	51
23	Doncaster Rovers	46	9	11	26	57	97	-40	38
24	Chesterfield	46	8	13	25	43	68	-25	37

Fourth Division

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Wimbledon	46	29	11	6	96	45	+51	98
2	Hull City	46	25	15	6	75	34	+41	90
3	Port Vale	46	26	10	10	67	34	+33	88
4	Scunthorpe United	46	23	14	9	71	42	+29	83
5	Bury	46	23	12	11	74	46	+28	81
6	Colchester United	46	24	9	13	75	55	+20	81
7	York City	46	22	13	11	88	58	+30	79
8	Swindon Town	46	19	11	16	61	54	+7	68
9	Peterborough United	46	17	13	16	58	52	+6	64
10	Mansfield Town	46	16	13	17	61	70	-9	61
11	Halifax Town	46	16	12	18	59	66	-7	60
12	Torquay United	46	17	7	22	56	65	-9	58
13	Chester City	46	15	11	20	55	60	-5	56
14	Bristol City	46	13	17	16	59	70	-11	56
15	Northampton Town	46	14	12	20	65	75	-10	54
16	Stockport County	46	14	12	20	60	79	-19	54
17	Darlington	46	13	13	20	61	71	-10	52
18	Aldershot	46	12	15	19	61	82	-21	51
19	Tranmere Rovers	46	13	11	22	49	71	-22	50
20	Rochdale	46	11	16	19	55	73	-18	49
21	Blackpool	46	13	12	21	55	74	-19	49
22	Hartlepool United	46	13	9	24	46	76	-30	48
23	Crewe Alexandra	46	11	8	27	53	71	-18	41
24	Hereford United	46	11	8	27	42	79	-37	41

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