Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Wimbledon | 42 | 26 | 10 | 6 | 74 | 29 | 62 | |
2 | Yeovil Town | 42 | 21 | 12 | 9 | 68 | 35 | 54 | |
3 | Atherstone Town | 42 | 18 | 15 | 9 | 56 | 55 | 51 | |
4 | Maidstone United | 42 | 17 | 16 | 9 | 52 | 39 | 50 | |
5 | Nuneaton Borough | 42 | 16 | 18 | 8 | 41 | 33 | 50 | |
6 | Gravesend & Northfleet | 42 | 16 | 18 | 8 | 49 | 47 | 50 | |
7 | Grantham | 42 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 56 | 47 | 44 | |
8 | Dunstable* | 42 | 17 | 9 | 16 | 55 | 43 | 43 | |
9 | Bedford Town | 42 | 13 | 17 | 12 | 52 | 51 | 43 | |
10 | Burton Albion | 42 | 17 | 9 | 16 | 52 | 53 | 43 | |
11 | Margate | 42 | 15 | 12 | 15 | 62 | 60 | 42 | |
12 | Hillingdon Borough | 42 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 61 | 54 | 40 | |
13 | Telford United | 42 | 14 | 12 | 16 | 54 | 51 | 40 | |
14 | Chelmsford City | 42 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 52 | 57 | 40 | |
15 | Kettering Town | 42 | 11 | 17 | 14 | 48 | 52 | 39 | |
16 | Bath City | 42 | 11 | 16 | 15 | 62 | 57 | 38 | |
17 | Weymouth | 42 | 13 | 9 | 20 | 51 | 67 | 35 | |
18 | Dover | 42 | 8 | 18 | 16 | 51 | 60 | 34 | |
19 | Wealdstone | 42 | 12 | 9 | 21 | 61 | 82 | 33 | |
20 | Tonbridge Angels* | 42 | 11 | 11 | 20 | 45 | 70 | 33 | |
21 | Cambridge City | 42 | 8 | 15 | 19 | 41 | 67 | 31 | |
22 | Stourbridge | 42 | 10 | 9 | 23 | 38 | 72 | 29 |
*Midway through the season Dunstable Town and Tonbridge folded. Their records were transferred to the new clubs Dunstable and Tonbridge Angels with both clubs being demoted to Division One no matter where they finished. Wealdstone were repreived of relegation.
Yeovil Town made their twenty eighth application to join the Football League - hoping to replace either Stockport County, Newport County, Southport or Workington of the Fourth Division. See the voting results below.
Stockport County - 42 votes (re-elected)
Newport County - 41 vote (re-elected)
Southport - 38 votes (re-elected)
Workington - 21 votes (re-elected)
Unsuccessful Applications
Yeovil Town - 18 votes
Kettering Town - 14 votes
Wigan Athletic - 6 votes
Chelmsford City - 3 votes
Wimbledon - 3 votes
Nuneaton Borough - 2 votes
Telford United - 2 votes
Gainsborough Trinity - 1 vote
Scarborough - 1 vote
This was the last time that Yeovil Town applied to join the Football League as the election system was changed the following season. The change was to limit the number of non-league clubs applying to join to two clubs per season (one from the Northern Premier League and one from the Southern League). This change was successful for getting more non-league clubs to replace decaying Fourth Division sides as Wimbledon replaced Workington in 1977 and Wigan replaced Southport in 1978.
When the new Alliance Premier League was formed only the champions of the league were allowed to apply unless there were circumstances that prevented that club from applying. No further clubs were elected to join the Football League since Wigan in 1977.
Eventually the Football League allowed direct promotion and relegation between the Fourth Division and the Alliance Premier Leauge - with Scarborough becoming the first non-league team to win promotion to the Football League purely on footballing merit. They replaced Lincoln CIty.