# 1989–90 Football League First Division

The 1989–90 season was the 91st completed season of The Football League.

## Overview
### Season summary

Liverpool overhauled a greatly improved Aston Villa side to win their 18th league championship trophy and their fifth major trophy in as many seasons under Kenny Dalglish’s management. Having won their 18th title overall, and their 11th in 17 season, this title turned out to mark the end of their domestic dominance of English football in the 1970s and 1980s - they would not win the title again until the 2019–20 Premier League season, 30 years later. Gary Lineker’s arrival at Tottenham Hotspur saw the North Londoners occupy third place after a season of improvement. Defending champions Arsenal finished fourth, while newly promoted Chelsea finished an impressive fifth. Everton briefly topped the league in late autumn but were unable to maintain their title challenge into the second half of the season and finished sixth. Seventh placed Southampton enjoyed their highest finish for five years, while Wimbledon continued to thrive on limited resources and low crowds to finish eighth.
Nottingham Forest won the League Cup for the second successive season, but finished ninth in the league one year, having finished third during the previous two seasons.
Manchester United's season began well with a 4–1 win over defending champions Arsenal, but they were soon struggling in the league and finished a disappointing 13th in a season dominated by the collapse of Michael Knighton's takeover bid and continued calls from the fans for manager Alex Ferguson to be sacked. The season ended on a high note with a win over Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final - the club's first major trophy under Ferguson's management.
Newly promoted Manchester City secured survival back in the First Division with a 14th-place finish, having replaced Mel Machin as manager with Howard Kendall during the first half of the season.
Luton Town stayed up on goal difference at the expense of Sheffield Wednesday, while Charlton’s four-year spell in the First Division came to an end at the beginning of May. Millwall were rooted to the bottom of the division despite briefly topping the league in September, as they won just two more games in the league after their brief lead of the table vanished.
After the generally good behaviour of England fans at the World Cup in Italy, the ban on English clubs in European competitions was lifted for the 1990–91 season. Liverpool, who were present at the Heysel disaster which had prompted the ban in 1985, were denied a place in the European Cup, but runners-up Aston Villa entered the UEFA Cup and FA Cup winners Manchester United entered the European Cup Winners' Cup.

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
| Manchester City | Mel Machin | Sacked | 27 November 1989 | 19th | Tony Book (caretaker) | 29 November 1989 |
| Queens Park Rangers | Trevor Francis | Sacked | 27 November 1989 | 18th | Don Howe | 29 November 1989 |
| Manchester City | Tony Book | End of caretaker spell | 5 December 1989 | 20th | Howard Kendall | 6 December 1989 |
| Luton Town | Ray Harford | Mutual consent | 3 January 1990 | 19th | Jim Ryan | 11 January 1990 |
| Millwall | John Docherty | Sacked | 13 February 1990 | 20th | Bob Pearson | 14 February 1990 |
| Millwall | Bob Pearson | Demoted to chief scout | 16 April 1990 | 20th | Bruce Rioch | 16 April 1990 |

### First Division maps
## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Liverpool (C) | 38 | 23 | 10 | 5 | 78 | 37 | +41 | 79 | Disqualified from the European Cup |
| 2 | Aston Villa | 38 | 21 | 7 | 10 | 57 | 38 | +19 | 70 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 3 | Tottenham Hotspur | 38 | 19 | 6 | 13 | 59 | 47 | +12 | 63 | |
| 4 | Arsenal | 38 | 18 | 8 | 12 | 54 | 38 | +16 | 62 | |
| 5 | Chelsea | 38 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 58 | 50 | +8 | 60 | |
| 6 | Everton | 38 | 17 | 8 | 13 | 57 | 46 | +11 | 59 | |
| 7 | Southampton | 38 | 15 | 10 | 13 | 71 | 63 | +8 | 55 | |
| 8 | Wimbledon | 38 | 13 | 16 | 9 | 47 | 40 | +7 | 55 | |
| 9 | Nottingham Forest | 38 | 15 | 9 | 14 | 55 | 47 | +8 | 54 | |
| 10 | Norwich City | 38 | 13 | 14 | 11 | 44 | 42 | +2 | 53 | |
| 11 | Queens Park Rangers | 38 | 13 | 11 | 14 | 45 | 44 | +1 | 50 | |
| 12 | Coventry City | 38 | 14 | 7 | 17 | 39 | 59 | −20 | 49 | |
| 13 | Manchester United | 38 | 13 | 9 | 16 | 46 | 47 | −1 | 48 | Qualification for the European Cup Winners' Cup first round |
| 14 | Manchester City | 38 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 43 | 52 | −9 | 48 | |
| 15 | Crystal Palace | 38 | 13 | 9 | 16 | 42 | 66 | −24 | 48 | |
| 16 | Derby County | 38 | 13 | 7 | 18 | 43 | 40 | +3 | 46 | |
| 17 | Luton Town | 38 | 10 | 13 | 15 | 43 | 57 | −14 | 43 | |
| 18 | Sheffield Wednesday (R) | 38 | 11 | 10 | 17 | 35 | 51 | −16 | 43 | Relegation to the Second Division |
| 19 | Charlton Athletic (R) | 38 | 7 | 9 | 22 | 31 | 57 | −26 | 30 | Relegation to the Second Division |
| 20 | Millwall (R) | 38 | 5 | 11 | 22 | 39 | 65 | −26 | 26 | Relegation to the Second Division |

## Results table

| Home \ Away | ARS | AST | CHA | CHE | COV | CRY | DER | EVE | LIV | LUT | MCI | MUN | MIL | NWC | NOT | QPR | SHW | SOU | TOT | WDN |
| Arsenal | | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 4–3 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 5–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 |
| Aston Villa | 2–1 | | 1–1 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 6–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 3–3 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–3 |
| Charlton Athletic | 0–0 | 0–2 | | 3–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–4 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2–4 | 1–3 | 1–2 |
| Chelsea | 0–0 | 0–3 | 3–1 | | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–5 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 2–5 |
| Coventry City | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 3–2 | | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–6 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–4 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–4 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 |
| Crystal Palace | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 0–1 | | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 4–3 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 2–3 | 2–0 |
| Derby County | 1–3 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 4–1 | 3–1 | | 0–1 | 0–3 | 2–3 | 6–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| Everton | 3–0 | 3–3 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 2–1 | | 1–3 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| Liverpool | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 0–1 | 9–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | | 2–2 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 2–1 |
| Luton Town | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 | | 1–1 | 1–3 | 2–1 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 |
| Manchester City | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–4 | 3–1 | | 5–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| Manchester United | 4–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 4–1 | 1–1 | | 5–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 |
| Millwall | 1–2 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 1–3 | 4–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 0–0 |
| Norwich City | 2–2 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 4–4 | 2–2 | 0–1 |
| Nottingham Forest | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–4 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 3–1 | 0–1 | | 2–2 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 0–1 |
| Queens Park Rangers | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 4–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 0–0 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | | 1–0 | 1–4 | 3–1 | 2–3 |
| Sheffield Wednesday | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–3 | 2–0 | | 0–1 | 2–4 | 0–1 |
| Southampton | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 2–3 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 4–1 | 6–3 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 2–2 | | 1–1 | 2–2 |
| Tottenham Hotspur | 2–1 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 1–4 | 3–2 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 4–0 | 2–3 | 3–2 | 3–0 | 2–1 | | 0–1 |
| Wimbledon | 1–0 | 0–2 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 3–3 | 1–0 | |

## Season statistics
### Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Gary Lineker | Tottenham Hotspur | 24 |
| 2 | John Barnes | Liverpool | 22 |
| 3 | Kerry Dixon | Chelsea | 20 |
| 3 | Matt Le Tissier | Southampton | 20 |
| 5 | David Platt | Aston Villa | 19 |
| 6 | Ian Rush | Liverpool | 18 |
| 6 | Rod Wallace | Southampton | 18 |
| 8 | David Hirst | Sheffield Wednesday | 14 |
| 8 | Kevin Wilson | Chelsea | 14 |
| 10 | Tony Cottee | Everton | 13 |
| 10 | Mark Hughes | Manchester United | 13 |

### Hat-tricks

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
| Mark Hughes | Manchester United | Millwall | 5–1 (H) | 16 September 1989 |
| Trevor Francis | Queens Park Rangers | Aston Villa | 3–1 (A) | 23 September 1989 |
| Gary Lineker | Tottenham Hotspur | Queens Park Rangers | 3–2 (H) | 30 September 1989 |
| Gary Lineker | Tottenham Hotspur | Norwich City | 4–0 (H) | 4 February 1990 |
| Ronny Rosenthal | Liverpool | Charlton Athletic | 4–0 (A) | 11 April 1990 |
| John Barnes | Liverpool | Coventry City | 6–1 (A) | 5 May 1990 |
| Kerry Dixon | Chelsea | Millwall | 3–1 (A) | 5 May 1990 |
    Note: (H) – Home; (A) – Away