THE HISTORY

Across the whole era, the top four levels were the Football League’s Division One, Two, Three and Four. No Premier League yet. Ninety-two clubs in all: 22 in Division One, 22 in Division Two, 24 in Division Three and 24 in Division Four. The Fourth was new in 1958, made when the regional Third Division North and South were split by merit into a national Third and Fourth. A win was worth two points, not three, until the League moved to three in 1981–82.

Promotion was tight at the top. Until 1973 it was two up and two down between the First and Second, and between the Second and Third, with four up and four down between the Third and Fourth. From 1973–74 it was three up and three down between each of the top three divisions. Late in the era the League trimmed its top flight: Division One dropped to 21 clubs for 1987–88 and to 20 from 1988–89, while Division Two grew to 23 and then 24.

Below Division Four sat the non-League game, and a small club could, in principle, climb the whole way, which is the fantasy the game is built on.

Until January 1961, football operated under a legally enforced maximum wage: £20 a week in-season, whoever you were. A manager starting in 1959 begins in a game where the biggest stars and a promising lower-league lad were only ever a few pounds apart.

For most of the era there was no relegation out of the League at all. There was something worse. The bottom four clubs in Division Four had to apply to the League’s annual meeting to be re-elected, and the member clubs voted on them alongside ambitious clubs from outside the League.

Usually the old members looked after their own. Not always. Gateshead were voted out in 1960 and Peterborough United voted in. Bradford Park Avenue went in 1970, replaced by Cambridge United; Barrow in 1972, replaced by Hereford United; Workington in 1977, replaced by Wimbledon; Southport in 1978, replaced by Wigan Athletic. Accrington Stanley, out of money, resigned in 1962.

From 1986–87 the vote was replaced by automatic relegation. The bottom club of Division Four went down to the Football Conference, and the Conference champions came up. The first to fall were Lincoln City in 1987, with Scarborough taking their place.

The play-offs arrived in 1986–87, and for their first two seasons they did a second job: helping the First Division shrink. The club finishing just above the relegation places in the higher division played three clubs from just below the promotion places in the lower one, and had to win to stay up. From 1988–89 it was four clubs from the lower division only.

Every tie was played over two legs, final included; the one-off final at Wembley did not come until 1990. The very first Division One play-off final, Charlton Athletic against Leeds United in 1987, finished level over two legs and went to a replay at St Andrew’s, Birmingham, which Charlton won 2–1 after extra time.

Substitutes. In 1959 the eleven who started were the eleven who finished; a man who was hurt limped on or his side played with ten. The first substitutes came in 1965–66, one a side and only for an injury. Keith Peacock of Charlton was the first, on 21 August 1965. From 1967–68 the substitute could be used for any reason, and from 1987–88 a League side could name two.

Goal average. Level on points, clubs were separated by goals scored divided by goals conceded, not by goal difference. Thirty scored and fifteen let in (2.00) beat sixty scored and forty let in (1.50). Goal difference took over in 1976–77.

The shirt sponsor. Through the sixties and seventies a sponsor could have the hoardings, the programme and the matchday, but not the shirts. Non-League Kettering Town tried it in 1976 and were made to stop. Everton and Liverpool were the first League clubs to wear a sponsor’s name, in 1979, and television would not show sponsored shirts until 1983.

The red card that went away. Yellow and red cards came into the English game in 1976. In January 1981 the red card was withdrawn, and for six and a half seasons a referee sent a man off with a pointed finger instead. It came back for 1987–88.

The band. Through the 60s many grounds had a brass band marching the pitch before kick-off and at half time, the bass drum keeping the step. By the early 70s it had mostly gone, and records over the tannoy took its place.

The terrace. Wooden rattles, painted in the club’s colours and whirled when the ground went up, were part of the noise until the early 70s. Rosettes came out for a cup tie, and in the 70s scarves were tied round the wrists and held up. From the 60s, toilet rolls came over from the end behind the goal when the home side scored. In the late 80s the inflatables arrived: bananas, fish and more, held up on the terraces in 1987–88 and 1988–89.

The scoreboard. Before electronic boards, a ground told you the other scores at half time with a row of letters, A, B, C and on. Your programme told you which match was which letter, and a man on a ladder slotted the numbers in.

The fences. From the late 70s perimeter fences went up along the front of many terraces, and police stood between the home end and the away fans. After Hillsborough in 1989 they came down.

The pitch. On a frosty morning straw was laid on the pitch and raked off to the touchlines before the game. In the 80s a few clubs laid artificial pitches: Queens Park Rangers first in 1981, then Luton Town, Oldham Athletic and Preston North End.

Saturday teatime. The results came through on the teleprinter on television, and an hour or so after the final whistle the town’s Saturday sports paper was on the streets, often printed on pink or green paper.

Sharing the gate. For most of the era the visiting side took a share of the home club’s League gate. In 1983 the League let home clubs keep their own gate money. Cup ties still split the gate between the two clubs.

The three-day week. In early 1974, with power rationed, floodlights could not be used. Matches were moved to early afternoons, and football was played on a Sunday for the first time: FA Cup ties in January 1974, and League matches later that month.

Bookings that add up. In the 70s the FA began totting up disciplinary points for each booking. Enough of them and a player was suspended, whether or not he had ever been sent off.

The club lottery. Clubs raised money through supporters’ development funds from the 60s, and the Lotteries and Amusements Act of 1976 let them run bigger lotteries.

Safety. The Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975 brought the bigger grounds under a safety certificate, and clubs had to pay for the work it asked for. After 1985 the rules tightened again.

Europe. After the Heysel disaster in May 1985, English clubs were banned from European competition for the rest of the decade.