Teams from the English Football League (The Championship, League One and Two) have once again demonstrated their pulling power.
This was underlined as attendances last season broke the 17-million mark for the first time in 50 years. A total of 17.1 million spectators attended the 1,656 Football League matches − an increase of 4.4 per cent on last season and the highest aggregate crowd figure since the 1959-60 campaign.
The Football League continues to enjoy sustained attendance growth with gates having more than doubled during the last 25 years.
The Championship has retained its place as the fourth most-watched league in Europe with a total audience of more than 9.9 million fans. Crowds grew by 0.3 per cent last season and averaged 17,949.
Only Germany’s Bundesliga (13.1m), the Premier League (12.9m) and Spain’s La Liga (11.0m) boast better attendances with the Football League’s top division alone attracting more supporters than Italy’s Serie A (9.1m) and France’s Ligue 1 (7.6m).
Other records for past season read:
Aston Villa’s 1-0 victory at Manchester United in the Premier League is the Midlanders’ first at Old Trafford in 26 years.
Striker Kris Boyd, of Rangers, nets a nap-hand in the 7-1 win over Dundee United at Ibrox Park. His haul takes him to a total of 160 to surpass Henrik Larsson (Celtic) as the Scottish Premier League all-time top scorer.
After their 1-1 draw at St Andrews against Manchester United, Birmingham extend their unbeaten streak to 12 matches – the best run in the top flight in the club’s 101-year history.
Manchester United crash out of the FA Cup after a shock 1-0 defeat to League One side Leeds United in the third round. The last time the Red Devils were knocked out in the third round of the FA Cup was 16 years ago when they bowed out at Bournemouth.
Chelsea score seven goals in the Premier League for the first time in 50 years, hammering Sunderland 7-2 at Stamford Bridge. In 1960, Jimmy Greaves hit five goals as the Blues thrashed West Brom 7-1 at home.
After the tennis score of 6-4 for Aston Villa at home against Blackburn, the Villans reach the League Cup final for the first time since 1996 (beat Leeds 3-0).
Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar becomes the club’s oldest post-war player at the age of 39 years and 79 days.
Wolves do the double on Tottenham with an identical score of 1-0, at Molineux and White Hart Lane − their first double in top-flight football since season 1980-81.
In the Champions League second round first-leg ties, Manchester United claim their first win at Milan 3-2.
Gerrard tops
Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard becomes the top British scorer in Europe, taking his total to 33 after his netting against Romanian side Urziceni.
Debt-laden Portsmouth become the first Premier League club to go into administration.
Reading reach the FA Cup quarter-finals for the first time in 83 years.
Arsenal’s negative 32-year-old record of failing to overturn a first leg deficit in a European tie since beating Hajduk Split, is finally broken with a 6-2 aggregate victory over FC Porto (1-2, 5-0).
Frank Lampard’s four-goal burst in Chelsea’s 7-1 home win over Aston Villa takes him to third in the club’s all-time best scorers’ list, eclipsing Roy Bentley and Peter Osgood with 151 goals. The two leading club marksmen are Kerry Dixon on 193 and Bobby Tambling on 202.
Ross County create history, beating Celtic 2-0 at Hampden Park to advance to the final of the Scottish Cup for the first time.
At White Hart Lane, Tottenham beat Arsenal 2-1 in the Premier League for the first time (home and away) since 1999.
After their negative result against Atletico Madrid in the Europa League, going down on the away goals rule (2-2), Liverpool become the first English club to play in 16 European semi-finals.
For the fourth consecutive season, a Manchester United player wins the Professional Football Association Players’ award as Wayne Rooney follows in the footsteps of Ryan Giggs and Cristiano Ronaldo (twice). For the third time in four years, United players won both the PFA and the Writers Footballer of the Year − 2007 Cristiano Ronaldo, 2008 Ronaldo and 2009 Rooney.
For the first time in their history, Fulham reach the final of a European competition, defeating Hamburg 2-1 on aggregate in the Europa League.
Tottenham Hotspur achieve an historic qualification to the Champions League after finishing fourth.
After 99 years of League Football, Grimsby Town find themselves out of the top football structure. Darlington were also relegated to the Conference, finishing at rock bottom.
Chelsea become the first Premier League side to score more than 100 goals (103) in a season.
Pepe Reina, the Liverpool goalkeeper, shares the award for most Premier League clean sheets with Chelsea’s Petr Cech (17 each).
The ‘double’ clinched by Chelsea last season is the 11th in the English football history.
At Wembley, Blackpool edge Cardiff 3-2 to secure promotion to the top flight for the first time in 39 years.
In Liechtenstein, England beat Spain 2-1 to lift their first ever UEFA U-17 Championship.