1984–85 Alliance Premier League

Alliance Premier League
Season1984–85
ChampionsWealdstone (1st Alliance Premier League title)
Promoted to the Football LeagueNone
Runners-upNuneaton Borough
Relegated to
Level 6		Gateshead,
Worcester City,
Yeovil Town
Promoted for the next seasonCheltenham Town,
Stafford Rangers,
Wycombe Wanderers
Matches played462
Goals scored1,343 (2.91 per match)
Top goalscorerPaul Culpin (Nuneaton Borough), 36
Biggest home winBarnet – Wealdstone 7–0
Biggest away winBath City – Kettering Town 1–6;
Gateshead – Enfield 0–6
Highest scoringAltrincham – Boston United 7–2;
Weymouth – Gateshead 5–4
Longest winning run?
Longest unbeaten run?
Longest losing run?
Highest attendance?
Lowest attendance?
Average attendance?

The Alliance Premier League season of 1984–85 (known as the Gola League 1984–85 for sponsorship reasons) was the sixth season of the Alliance Premier League. This was the first year where the Isthmian League acted as an APL feeder league.

New teams in the league this season

Final table

Pos Team Pld HW HD HL HGF HGA AW AD AL AGF AGA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Wealdstone[a] 42 8 8 5 31 26 12 2 7 33 28 +10 62 Football Conference Champions, no promotion
2 Nuneaton Borough 42 13 8 0 55 23 6 6 9 30 30 +32 58
3 Dartford[b] 42 7 7 7 28 25 10 6 5 29 23 +9 57
4 Bath City 42 15 1 5 30 22 6 8 7 22 27 +3 57
5 Altrincham 42 13 2 6 39 21 8 4 9 24 26 +16 56
6 Scarborough 42 10 7 4 35 20 7 6 8 34 42 +7 54
7 Enfield 42 11 7 3 48 27 6 6 9 36 34 +23 53
8 Kidderminster Harriers 42 8 4 9 40 38 9 4 8 39 39 +2 51
9 Northwich Victoria 42 9 4 8 22 19 7 7 7 28 27 +4 50
10 Telford United 42 10 7 4 36 24 5 7 9 23 30 +5 49
11 Frickley Athletic 42 12 3 6 38 25 6 4 11 27 46 −6 49
12 Kettering Town 42 9 6 6 37 22 6 6 9 31 37 +9 48
13 Maidstone United 42 10 7 4 38 24 5 6 10 20 27 +7 48
14 Runcorn 42 6 9 6 27 21 7 6 8 21 26 +1 48 Conference League Cup winners
15 Barnet 42 9 7 5 36 20 6 4 11 23 32 +7 47
16 Weymouth 42 13 1 7 41 32 2 12 7 29 34 +4 45
17 Boston United 42 10 5 6 43 32 5 5 11 26 37 0 45
18 Barrow[b] 42 6 9 6 25 22 5 7 9 22 35 −10 43
19 Dagenham 42 8 6 7 28 27 5 4 12 19 40 −20 41
20 Worcester City 42 7 4 10 29 36 5 5 11 26 48 −29 38 Relegated to the Southern League
21 Gateshead 42 5 6 10 27 42 4 6 11 24 40 −31 33[c] Relegated to the Northern Premier League
22 Yeovil Town 42 4 7 10 26 36 2 4 15 18 51 −43 25 Relegated to the Isthmian League
Source: [1]
Rules for classification: 2 points for a home win, 3 points for an away win, 1 point for a draw.
Notes:
  1. ^ FA Trophy winners
  2. ^ a b New club in the Conference
  3. ^ Gateshead had 1 point deducted.

Results

Home \ Away ALT BAR BRW BAT BOS DAG DAR ENF FRK GAT KET KID MDS NOR NUN RUN SCA TEL WEA WEY WRC YEO
Altrincham 0–2 2–0 0–0 7–2 3–1 2–1 3–2 3–4 2–0 2–1 2–1 2–0 1–2 1–0 0–1 3–0 0–1 1–2 2–0 1–1 2–0
Barnet 1–0 4–0 2–1 1–0 0–0 0–1 3–2 1–2 1–1 4–2 2–4 0–0 1–1 1–1 1–1 1–2 0–1 7–0 0–0 2–0 4–1
Barrow 0–2 1–0 0–1 1–1 3–1 0–0 1–1 6–0 0–1 0–1 3–1 0–2 0–0 0–0 1–1 1–1 2–1 2–1 3–3 1–0 2–2
Bath City 1–0 2–1 1–2 2–1 2–0 1–0 1–0 3–0 1–1 1–6 0–2 1–0 0–3 1–0 0–1 2–1 2–1 3–1 2–1 3–1 1–0
Boston United 0–0 2–1 1–3 1–2 4–1 2–0 3–2 2–1 1–1 3–1 2–3 1–0 3–4 2–3 2–0 3–3 1–3 1–1 2–2 4–1 3–0
Dagenham 1–1 0–0 1–1 0–0 1–2 0–1 0–3 4–1 0–2 2–1 2–2 4–1 2–1 2–1 2–1 0–2 1–0 1–2 2–2 1–3 2–0
Dartford 1–0 2–0 2–0 1–3 1–1 3–0 1–2 0–2 1–2 0–1 2–1 1–1 1–0 2–2 1–1 3–1 0–0 2–3 1–1 2–3 1–1
Enfield 3–3 3–3 0–0 1–1 1–1 3–2 0–1 1–0 3–1 5–3 5–2 1–2 3–2 1–0 1–1 3–4 0–0 2–0 2–1 6–0 4–0
Frickley Athletic 2–1 3–1 2–2 2–0 2–1 0–2 2–4 1–0 1–0 3–0 3–0 1–3 4–0 1–1 1–1 2–3 1–2 0–2 2–0 2–1 3–1
Gateshead 0–1 0–2 1–2 1–1 1–2 2–1 0–0 0–5 3–2 1–4 4–1 2–1 2–6 0–2 0–3 3–1 1–1 1–2 2–2 2–2 1–1
Kettering Town 1–2 4–0 0–0 1–2 2–1 0–1 0–2 4–3 5–0 1–1 2–2 2–0 2–2 1–1 3–0 0–1 4–2 0–1 1–1 1–0 3–0
Kidderminster Harriers 0–2 1–4 0–1 2–2 2–0 5–1 1–1 1–3 2–4 3–0 2–2 2–1 3–1 3–4 0–1 3–2 0–2 0–3 3–3 4–1 3–0
Maidstone United 3–0 1–0 2–0 2–0 2–2 0–1 2–1 2–2 1–1 1–0 3–0 1–4 1–0 2–2 5–1 2–2 0–0 0–1 1–4 4–0 3–3
Northwich Victoria 1–2 2–0 1–0 3–1 1–0 0–1 0–1 1–1 3–0 2–0 1–2 0–2 0–0 1–0 0–1 1–1 1–0 0–2 0–3 2–2 2–0
Nuneaton Borough 4–1 1–1 5–2 0–0 4–2 2–2 5–1 2–2 0–0 3–0 1–1 1–1 3–2 2–2 2–1 5–2 2–1 1–0 4–2 3–0 5–0
Runcorn 1–2 2–1 0–0 0–0 1–2 3–0 1–1 1–1 0–0 1–1 2–2 1–2 1–4 0–0 1–0 1–1 3–0 2–0 3–1 1–2 3–0
Scarborough 2–1 1–1 1–1 2–0 1–0 5–0 1–3 2–3 1–2 5–1 0–0 2–1 1–0 0–0 3–2 0–0 4–1 1–1 0–0 1–2 2–1
Telford United 0–2 1–0 3–1 3–1 1–1 1–1 1–2 2–0 5–3 1–1 1–1 3–2 0–0 0–1 2–1 3–1 1–2 4–2 0–0 1–1 3–1
Wealdstone 1–0 1–2 2–2 0–1 0–1 0–0 0–0 1–2 1–1 4–2 1–0 5–2 1–1 1–1 3–1 1–0 1–0 2–2 3–2 3–3 0–3
Weymouth 2–1 3–0 3–1 2–2 2–1 1–0 1–2 4–2 2–1 5–4 3–0 0–2 0–1 1–0 1–3 0–2 1–2 3–2 0–3 3–1 4–2
Worcester City 1–1 1–2 3–2 1–2 2–1 1–3 2–5 1–0 2–1 4–1 1–2 1–2 1–1 0–1 1–4 2–0 4–1 0–0 0–4 1–1 0–2
Yeovil Town 1–2 2–1 1–2 3–2 2–4 2–1 2–2 0–0 1–2 0–4 1–1 0–0 3–0 0–1 1–2 1–3 2–2 3–3 0–2 0–0 1–2
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Rothmans Football Yearbook 1985–86. Queen Anne Press, Macdonald Futura Publishers, London & Sydney, 1985;[1] Football Conference statistics.
Note: For this season, the Rothmans Football Yearbook 1985–86 had 15 incorrect match results in their results grid, which rendered it as good as useless. Correct results were obtained from the Football Conference, courtesy of Dennis Strudwick, general manager, and John Harman, Statistician.
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
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Locations of the Alliance Premier League teams 1984–1985
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Locations of the Alliance Premier League 1984–1985 London teams

Top scorers

Rank Player Club League FA Cup FA Trophy League Cup Total[1]
1 Paul Culpin Nuneaton Borough 36
2 Gary Hooley Frickley Athletic 29
3 Frank Murphy Nuneaton 21
= John Powell Kidderminster Harriers 21
5 Paul Bennett Altrincham 20
6 Paul Davies Kidderminster Harriers 19
= Dave Flint Enfield 19
= Bob Lee Boston United 19
= Steve Mahoney Kidderminster Harriers 19
10 Ian Donaldson Gateshead 17
= Paul Moss Worcester City 17
12 Mike Doherty Weymouth 16
= Bill Jeffery Kettering Town 16
= Gerry Pearson Kidderminster Harriers 16
15 Mark Graves Wealdstone 15
16 Marshall Burke Scarborough 13
= Colin Cowperthwaite Barrow 13
= Nicky Evans Barnet 13
= Paul Reid Northwich Victoria 13
= Mark Smith Kettering Town 13
= Les Whitton Dagenham 13
22 Carl Richards Enfield 12
23 Mark Carter Runcorn 11

Promotion and relegation

Relegated

Election to the Football League

This year Wealdstone, the champions of the Alliance Premier League, could not apply for election because their stadium did not meet Football League requirements. 2nd placed Nuneaton could not apply either for the same reason, and nor could 3rd placed Dartford, so 4th placed Bath City won by default the right to apply for election to the Football League to replace one of the four bottom sides in the 1984–85 Football League Fourth Division. The voting went as follows:

Club Final Position Votes
Northampton Town 23rd (Fourth Division) 52
Stockport County 22nd (Fourth Division) 50
Torquay United 24th (Fourth Division) 50
Halifax Town 21st (Fourth Division) 48
Bath City 4th (Alliance Premier League) 8

As a result of this, Bath City failed to gain membership of the Football League.

References

  1. ^ a b c Peter Dunk (ed.), Rothmans Football Yearbook 1985–86. Queen Anne Press, Macdonald & Co., London & Sydney, 1985.