1980–81 Leicester City F.C. season

Leicester City

1980–81 season
Chairman	Dennis Sharp
Manager	Jock Wallace
First Division	21st (relegated)
FA Cup	Fourth round
League Cup	Second round
Top goalscorer	League: Melrose (9) All: Melrose (11)
Average home league attendance	19,476
← 1979–80 1981–82 →

During the 1980–81 English football season, Leicester City F.C. competed in the Football League First Division.

Season summary

In the 1980–81 season, Leicester were in the relegation places for most of the season and were stuck in the bottom three since the beginning of November which also included only 2 wins in 16 league games from beginning of September to the end of November. Their only highlight of the season was their famous league double over Liverpool as well as inflicting Liverpool's first home defeat in 85 games on 31 January 1981 with a 2-1 win at Anfield.

Final league table

Main article: 1980–81 Football League

Pos	Team	Pld		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		F	A	GD		Pts
1	Aston Villa	42		16	3	2	40	13		10	5	6	32	27		72	40	+32		60
2	Ipswich Town	42		15	4	2	45	14		8	6	7	32	29		77	43	+34		56
3	Arsenal	42		13	8	0	36	17		6	7	8	25	28		61	45	+16		53
4	West Bromwich Albion	42		15	4	2	40	15		5	8	8	20	27		60	42	+18		52
5	Liverpool	42		13	5	3	38	15		4	12	5	24	27		62	42	+20		51
6	Southampton	42		15	4	2	47	22		5	6	10	29	34		76	56	+20		50
7	Nottingham Forest	42		15	3	3	44	20		4	9	8	18	24		62	44	+18		50
8	Manchester United	42		9	11	1	30	14		6	7	8	21	22		51	36	+15		48
9	Leeds United	42		10	5	6	19	19		7	5	9	20	28		39	47	–8		44
10	Tottenham Hotspur	42		9	9	3	44	31		5	6	10	26	37		70	68	+2		43
11	Stoke City	42		8	9	4	31	23		4	9	8	20	37		51	60	–9		42
12	Manchester City	42		10	7	4	35	25		4	4	13	21	34		56	59	–3		39
13	Birmingham City	42		11	5	5	32	23		2	7	12	18	38		50	61	–11		38
14	Middlesbrough	42		14	4	3	38	16		2	1	18	15	45		53	61	–8		37
15	Everton	42		8	6	7	32	25		5	4	12	23	33		55	58	–3		36
16	Coventry City	42		9	6	6	31	30		4	4	13	17	38		48	68	–20		36
17	Sunderland	42		10	4	7	32	19		4	3	14	20	34		52	53	–1		35
18	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42		11	2	8	26	20		2	7	12	17	35		43	55	–12		35
19	Brighton & Hove Albion	42		10	3	8	30	26		4	4	13	24	41		54	67	–13		35
20	Norwich City	42		9	7	5	34	25		4	0	17	15	48		49	73	–24		33
21	Leicester City	42		7	5	9	20	23		6	1	14	20	44		40	67	–27		32
22	Crystal Palace	42		6	4	11	32	37		0	3	18	15	46		47	83	–36		19

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

Key
	League Champions, qualified for European Cup
	Qualified for European Cup
	FA Cup winners, qualified for Cup Winners' Cup
	Qualified for UEFA Cup
	League Cup Winners, see Liverpool
	Relegated

Results

Leicester City's score comes first

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League First Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
16 August 1980	Ipswich Town	H	0–1	21,640
19 August 1980	Everton	A	0–1	23,337
23 August 1980	Liverpool	H	2–0	28,455	Peake, Henderson
30 August 1980	Leeds United	A	2–1	18,530	O'Neill, Henderson
6 September 1980	Sunderland	H	0–1	20,638
13 September 1980	Manchester United	A	0–5	43,229
20 September 1980	Nottingham Forest	A	0–5	27,145
27 September 1980	Tottenham Hotspur	H	2–1	22,616	Smith, Buchanan
4 October 1980	Arsenal	A	0–1	28,490
8 October 1980	Stoke City	H	1–1	14,549	Wilson
11 October 1980	Coventry City	H	1–3	17,104	Lineker
18 October 1980	Crystal Palace	A	1–2	16,387	Young
21 October 1980	Middlesbrough	A	0–1	13,114
25 October 1980	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	2–0	18,133	Henderson, Young
1 November 1980	Aston Villa	A	0–2	29,953
8 November 1980	Manchester City	H	1–1	19,104	Young
12 November 1980	Everton	H	0–1	15,511
15 November 1980	Ipswich Town	A	1–3	19,892	Williams
22 November 1980	West Bromwich Albion	A	1–3	17,752	Lineker
29 November 1980	Norwich City	H	1–2	13,958	Young
6 December 1980	Birmingham City	A	2–1	18,479	Melrose (2)
13 December 1980	Middlesbrough	H	1–0	13,998	MacDonald
20 December 1980	Stoke City	A	0–1	13,433
26 December 1980	Brighton & Hove Albion	H	0–1	19,570
27 December 1980	Southampton	A	0–4	21,886
10 January 1981	West Bromwich Albion	H	0–2	17,778
17 January 1981	Leeds United	H	0–1	16,094
31 January 1981	Liverpool	A	2–1	35,154	Byrne, Melrose
7 February 1981	Manchester United	H	1–0	26,085	Melrose
14 February 1981	Sunderland	A	0–1	22,569
21 February 1981	Tottenham Hotspur	A	2–1	27,326	Lynex, Byrne
28 February 1981	Nottingham Forest	H	1–1	26,608	Lynex
7 March 1981	Arsenal	H	1–0	20,198	Williams
14 March 1981	Coventry City	A	1–4	21,430	Young
21 March 1981	Crystal Palace	H	1–1	15,176	O'Neill
28 March 1981	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	1–0	21,694	Melrose
31 March 1981	Manchester City	A	3–3	10,291	Williams, Young, Melrose
4 April 1981	Aston Villa	H	2–4	26,032	Lynex (2, 1 pen)
18 April 1981	Southampton	H	2–2	21,349	Young, Lynex (pen)
20 April 1981	Brighton & Hove Albion	A	1–2	21,176	MacDonald
25 April 1981	Birmingham City	H	1–0	13,666	Williams
2 May 1981	Norwich City	A	3–2	24,675	Melrose (3)

FA Cup

Main article: 1980-81 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	3 January 1981	Cardiff City	H	3–0	17,527	Lineker, Buchanan, Melrose
R4	24 January 1981	Exeter City	H	1–1	20,996	Henderson
R4R	28 January 1981	Exeter City	A	1–3	15,268	Melrose

League Cup

Main article: 1980–81 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R2 1st leg	26 August 1980	West Bromwich Albion	A	0–1	13,810
R2 2nd leg	3 September 1980	West Bromwich Albion	H	0–1 (lost 0-2 on agg)	17,081

Squad

[1] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player - GK Mark Wallington - DF Tommy Williams - DF William Gibson - MF Andy Peake - DF Larry May - DF John O'Neill - MF Paul Edmunds - FW Jim Melrose - FW Alan Young - DF Ian Wilson - DF Bobby Smith - FW Martin Henderson - MF Mark Goodwin - DF Everton Carr

No. Position Player - MF Neil Grewcock - DF Peter Welsh - MF Eddie Kelly - DF Geoff Scott - FW Dave Buchanan - FW Gary Lineker - MF Pat Byrne - MF Stewart Hamill - MF Kevin MacDonald - DF Paul Friar - MF Steve Lynex - MF Paul Ramsey - DF Norman Leet