1979–80 Leicester City F.C. season

During the 1979–80 English football season, Leicester City F.C. competed in the Football League Second Division.

Leicester City

1979–80 season
Chairman	Dennis Sharp
Manager	Jock Wallace
Second Division	1st (champions)
FA Cup	Third round
League Cup	First round
Top goalscorer	League: Young (14) All: Young (15)
Average home league attendance	18,636

Season summary

In the 1979–80 season, Leicester were promoted as champions of the Second Division for the sixth time in the club's history. From start of the season, the Foxes scored in every game until their 2–0 defeat at Charlton Athletic in mid-December. The only negative part of Leicester's season was a shock FA Cup exit against non-league Harlow Town. It was the first time the Foxes lost to a non-league team in a cup competition since the 1914–15 season. Despite that, after a 2–1 win at Filbert Street against Charlton, Leicester were all but assured of promotion and on the final day of the season, the Foxes beat Leyton Orient at Brisbane Road and with Sunderland only picking up a point, Leicester were crowned champions.

Final league table

Main article: 1979–80 Football League § Second Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Leicester City (C, P)	42	21	13	8	58	38	+20	55	Promotion to the First Division
2	Sunderland (P)	42	21	12	9	69	42	+27	54
3	Birmingham City (P)	42	21	11	10	58	38	+20	53
4	Chelsea	42	23	7	12	66	52	+14	53
5	Queens Park Rangers	42	18	13	11	75	53	+22	49

Source:
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
42	21	13	8	58	38	+20	55	12	5	4	32	19	+13	9	8	4	26	19	+7

Source: 1979-80 Football League Second Division table

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42
Ground	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	A
Result	W	D	W	L	W	L	D	W	D	W	L	D	W	W	D	D	W	W	D	L	D	L	W	W	D	W	W	D	D	L	L	D	W	W	L	W	W	W	W	D	W	W
Position	3	4	1	3	3	5	5	3	4	5	6	6	6	3	5	5	5	4	3	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	1	1	1	1	4	3	3	2	3	4	4	2	1	2	1	1

Source: 11v11.com: 1979-80 Leicester City results
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Results

Leicester City's score comes first

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League Second Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
18 August 1979	Watford	H	2–0	15,772	Young (2)
21 August 1979	Cambridge United	A	1–1	6,042	Young
25 August 1979	Queens Park Rangers	A	4–1	13,091	Peake (2), May, Goodwin
1 September 1979	Luton Town	H	1–3	16,241	May
8 September 1979	Notts County	H	1–0	16,595	Young
15 September 1979	Newcastle United	A	2–3	26,443	Smith (2, 1 pen)
22 September 1979	Fulham	H	3–3	21,447	Young (2), Smith
29 September 1979	Swansea City	A	2–0	15,104	Rofe (2)
6 October 1979	Shrewsbury Town	A	2–2	9,045	Goodwin, Byrne
10 October 1979	Cambridge United	H	2–1	15,960	Young, Wilson
13 October 1979	West Ham United	H	1–2	22,472	Williams
20 October 1979	Oldham Athletic	A	1–1	10,297	Young
27 October 1979	Sunderland	H	2–1	19,365	Lineker (2)
3 November 1979	Watford	A	3–1	14,743	Smith (2, 1 pen), Peake
10 November 1979	Burnley	H	1–1	17,191	Young
17 November 1979	Preston North End	A	1–1	10,038	Lineker
24 November 1979	Wrexham	H	2–0	15,316	Strickland, Henderson
1 December 1979	Birmingham City	A	2–1	25,748	Smith, Henderson
8 December 1979	Leyton Orient	H	2–2	16,303	Henderson, Goodwin
15 December 1979	Charlton Athletic	A	0–2	6,717
21 December 1979	Cardiff City	H	0–0	12,877
26 December 1979	Chelsea	A	0–1	25,320
29 December 1979	Queens Park Rangers	H	2–0	20,743	Rofe, Henderson
1 January 1980	Bristol Rovers	H	3–0	21,579	Smith (2), Goodwin
12 January 1980	Luton Town	A	0–0	14,141
19 January 1980	Notts County	A	1–0	14,859	Strickland
2 February 1980	Newcastle United	H	1–0	22,549	Smith (pen)
9 February 1980	Fulham	A	0–0	8,691
20 February 1980	Swansea City	H	1–1	17,597	Henderson
23 February 1980	West Ham United	A	1–3	27,762	Young
1 March 1980	Oldham Athletic	H	0–1	16,991
8 March 1980	Sunderland	A	0–0	29,487
15 March 1980	Shrewsbury Town	H	2–0	15,391	Young, Edmunds
22 March 1980	Burnley	A	2–1	7,173	Edmunds, Young
29 March 1980	Preston North End	H	1–2	15,293	Kelly
5 April 1980	Chelsea	H	1–0	25,826	May
8 April 1980	Cardiff City	A	1–0	10,291	Smith
12 April 1980	Birmingham City	H	2–1	26,075	Wilson, Young
19 April 1980	Wrexham	A	1–0	10,023	Kelly
23 April 1980	Bristol Rovers	A	1–1	8,205	Smith
26 April 1980	Charlton Athletic	H	2–1	23,875	Young, Smith
3 May 1980	Leyton Orient	A	1–0	13,828	May

FA Cup

Main article: 1979–80 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	5 January 1980	Harlow Town	H	1–1	21,302	Henderson
R3R	8 January 1980	Harlow Town	A	0–1	9,723

League Cup

Main article: 1979–80 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1 1st leg	11 August 1979	Rotherham United	H	1–2	11,210	Young
R1 2nd leg	14 August 1979	Rotherham United	A	0–3 (lost 1–5 on agg)	5,179

Squad

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

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
-	GK	ENG	Mark Wallington
-	GK	SCO	Alexander Edmond
-	DF	SCO	Tommy Williams
-	DF	SCO	Gregor Stevens
-	DF	ENG	Larry May
-	DF	SCO	Ian Wilson
-	MF	IRL	Pat Byrne
-	MF	SCO	Eddie Kelly
-	FW	SCO	Alan Young
-	FW	SCO	Martin Henderson
-	DF	SCO	Bobby Smith
-	DF	ENG	Dennis Rofe

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
-	MF	ENG	Andy Peake
-	MF	ENG	Mark Goodwin
-	MF	SCO	Alan Lee
-	DF	NIR	John O'Neill
-	FW	SCO	Derek Strickland
-	DF	SCO	Peter Welsh
-	FW	ENG	Gary Lineker
-	MF	ENG	Mick Duffy
-	FW	ENG	David Buchanan
-	DF	ENG	Geoff Scott
-	MF	ENG	Paul Edmunds
-	DF	ATG	Everton Carr