1984–85 Birmingham City F.C. season

The 1984–85 Football League season was Birmingham City Football Club's 82nd in the Football League and their 33rd in the Second Division, to which they were relegated in 1983–84. They finished in second position in the 22-team division, so were promoted back to the First Division after only one season. They entered the 1984–85 FA Cup in the third round proper, and lost to Norwich City in that round after three replays. They were eliminated from the League Cup by West Bromwich Albion in the third round after a replay.

Birmingham City F.C.
1984–85 season
ChairmanKeith Coombs
ManagerRon Saunders
GroundSt Andrew's
Football League Second Division2nd (promoted)
FA CupThird round
(eliminated by Norwich City)
League CupThird round
(eliminated by West Bromwich Albion)
Top goalscorerLeague: Wayne Clarke (17)
All: Wayne Clarke (19)
Highest home attendance24,871 vs Leeds United, 11 May 1985
Lowest home attendance7,964 vs Plymouth Argyle, League Cup 2nd round, 25 September 1984
Average home league attendance12,522

Wayne Clarke was the club's top scorer, with 19 goals in all competitions, of which 17 were scored in the league.

The last home game of the season, a 1–0 win against Leeds United in front of a season-high crowd of nearly 25,000 that confirmed promotion back to the top flight, was marred by rioting in which 500 people were injured and a 15-year-old boy died when a wall collapsed. The match took place on the same day as the Bradford City stadium fire, and both formed part of the remit of Mr Justice Popplewell's inquiry into safety at sports grounds.[1] According to his report, the events at St Andrew's "more clearly resembled the Battle of Agincourt than a football match".[2]

Football League First Division

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Date League
position
Opponents Venue Result Score
F–A
Scorers Attendance
25 August 1984 6th Oldham Athletic A W 1–0 Clements og 5,307
1 September 1984 4th Wimbledon H W 4–2 Clarke 2, Ferguson, Hopkins 10,445
4 September 1984 2nd Fulham A W 1–0 Clarke 6,031
8 September 1984 2nd Crystal Palace A W 2–0 Clarke, Hopkins 6,523
15 September 1984 1st Carlisle United H W 2–0 Clarke, Harford 11,740
18 September 1984 1st Portsmouth H L 0–1 18,046
22 September 1984 1st Wolverhampton Wanderers A W 2–0 Hopkins, Kuhl 16,698
29 September 1984 1st Huddersfield Town H W 1–0 Hopkins 11,480
6 October 1984 1st Brighton & Hove Albion A L 0–2 13,695
13 October 1984 4th Blackburn Rovers H L 0–2 12,758
20 October 1984 4th Notts County A W 3–1 Clarke 2, Harford 5,788
27 October 1984 2nd Oxford United H D 0–0 20,421
3 November 1984 3rd Shrewsbury Town H D 0–0 9,807
10 November 1984 4th Manchester City A L 0–1 25,369
17 November 1984 6th Charlton Athletic A L 1–2 Morley 4,850
24 November 1984 5th Barnsley H D 0–0 9,505
1 December 1984 5th Cardiff City A W 2–1 Morley 2 5,057
8 December 1984 5th Middlesbrough H W 3–2 Saxby og, Rees, Wright pen 8,004
15 December 1984 4th Leeds United A W 1–0 Clarke 15,859
22 December 1984 3rd Wimbledon A W 2–1 Geddis 2 3,674
26 December 1984 2nd Grimsby Town H W 2–1 Geddis, Platnauer 14,180
29 December 1984 3rd Fulham H D 2–2 Clarke, Hopkins 11,833
1 January 1985 3rd Sheffield United A W 4–3 Hopkins, Geddis, Clarke, West og 16,571
2 February 1985 4th Huddersfield Town A W 1–0 Geddis 7,460
23 February 1985 4th Shrewsbury Town A L 0–1 7,177
2 March 1985 3rd Oxford United A W 3–0 Clarke 2, Geddis 11,584
5 March 1985 3rd Oldham Athletic H L 0–1 10,489
9 March 1985 2nd Notts County H W 2–1 Clarke, Hopkins 9,071
12 March 1985 2nd Carlisle United A L 1–2 Clarke 4,099
16 March 1985 5th Blackburn Rovers A L 1–2 Rees 10,595
19 March 1985 4th Manchester City H D 0–0 18,004
23 March 1985 4th Brighton & Hove Albion H D 1–1 Hopkins 8,986
30 March 1985 3rd Wolverhampton Wanderers H W 1–0 Geddis 10,236
5 April 1985 4th Grimsby Town A L 0–1 6,939
8 April 1985 4th Sheffield United H W 4–1 Clarke 2, Daly, Kennedy 10,235
13 April 1985 2nd Portsmouth A W 3–1 Geddis 3 23,983
16 April 1985 2nd Crystal Palace H W 3–0 Clarke, Geddis, Kennedy 10,727
20 April 1985 2nd Charlton Athletic H W 2–1 Kennedy, Wright pen 10,697
27 April 1985 2nd Barnsley A W 1–0 Geddis 6,757
4 May 1985 2nd Cardiff City H W 2–0 Hopkins, Kennedy 15,868
6 May 1985 2nd Middlesbrough A D 0–0 7,840
11 May 1985 2nd Leeds United H W 1–0 Kuhl 24,871

League table (part)

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Final Second Division table (part)[3]
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1st Oxford United 42 25 9 8 84 36 +48 84
2nd Birmingham City 42 25 7 10 59 33 +26 82
3rd Manchester City 42 21 11 10 66 40 +26 74
4th Portsmouth 42 20 14 8 69 50 +19 74
5th Blackburn Rovers 42 21 10 11 66 41 +25 73

Results summary

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Overall Home Away
Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts W D L GF GA GD W D L GF GA GD
42 25 7 10 59 33  +26 82 12 6 3 30 15  +15 13 1 7 29 18  +11

Source: [4]

FA Cup

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Round Date Opponents Venue Result Score
F–A
Scorers Attendance
Third round 5 January 1985 Norwich City H D 0–0 12,941
Third round replay 23 January 1985 Norwich City A D 1–1
aet
Wright 11,883
Third round 2nd replay 26 January 1985 Norwich City H D 1–1
aet
Geddis 11,755
Third round 3rd replay 28 January 1985 Norwich City A L 0–1 12,396

League Cup

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Round Date Opponents Venue Result Score
F–A
Scorers Attendance
Second round 1st leg 25 September 1984 Plymouth Argyle H W 4–1 Clarke, Hopkins, Harford, Rees 7,964
Second round 2nd leg 9 October 1984 Plymouth Argyle A W 1–0 Clarke 4,650
Third round 30 October 1984 West Bromwich Albion H D 0–0 17,616
Third round replay 7 November 1984 West Bromwich Albion A L 1–3 Shearer 16,717

Appearances and goals

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Numbers in parentheses denote appearances made as a substitute.
Players with name in italics and marked * were on loan from another club for the whole of their season with Birmingham.
Players marked † left the club during the playing season.
Key to positions: GK – Goalkeeper; DF – Defender; MF – Midfielder; FW – Forward
Players' appearances and goals by competition
Pos. Nat. Name League FA Cup League Cup Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
GK   ENG Tony Coton 7 0 0 0 0 0 7 0
GK   IRL Jim McDonagh * 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
GK   ENG Mark Prudhoe 1 0 0 0 4 0 5 0
GK   ENG David Seaman 33 0 4 0 0 0 37 0
DF   SCO Ken Armstrong 36 0 3 0 4 0 43 0
DF   NIR Jim Hagan 21 (8) 0 1 (2) 0 4 0 26 (10) 0
DF   ENG Ray Ranson 28 0 4 0 0 0 32 0
DF   ENG Brian Roberts 41 0 4 0 4 0 49 0
DF   WAL Pat Van Den Hauwe 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 0
DF   ENG Billy Wright 42 2 4 1 4 0 50 3
MF   SCO Des Bremner 30 0 4 0 3 0 37 0
MF   IRL Gerry Daly 29 (1) 1 4 0 2 0 35 (1) 1
MF   ENG Paul Gorman 6 0 0 0 1 0 7 0
MF   ENG Mick Halsall 2 (1) 0 0 0 2 0 4 (1) 0
MF   ENG Robert Hopkins 39 9 4 0 2 1 45 10
MF   ENG Mark Jones 9 (1) 0 0 0 1 (1) 0 10 (2) 0
MF   ENG Martin Kuhl 25 (2) 2 0 0 4 0 31 (2) 2
MF   ENG Tony Morley * 4 3 0 0 0 0 4 3
MF   ENG Nick Platnauer 11 1 4 0 0 0 15 1
MF   WAL Byron Stevenson 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 0
MF   ENG Stuart Storer 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
FW   ENG Ian Brown 0 0 0 0 0 (1) 0 0 (1) 0
FW   ENG Wayne Clarke 40 17 4 0 3 2 47 19
FW   ENG Mick Ferguson 2 1 0 0 0 0 2 1
FW   ENG David Geddis 18 12 0 0 4 1 22 13
FW   ENG Mick Harford 12 2 0 0 3 1 15 3
FW   SCO Andy Kennedy 4 (3) 4 0 0 0 0 4 (3) 4
FW   ENG John Linford * 1 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 1 (1) 0
FW   WAL Tony Rees 5 (4) 2 0 0 1 (1) 1 6 (5) 3
FW   ENG Guy Russell 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
FW   ENG Peter Shearer 2 (2) 0 0 0 1 1 3 (2) 1

See also

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Sources

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  • Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9.
  • Matthews, Tony (2010). Birmingham City: The Complete Record. Derby: DB Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85983-853-2.
  • For match dates, league positions and results: "Birmingham City 1984–1985: Results". Statto Organisation. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  • For lineups, appearances, goalscorers and attendances: Matthews (2010), Complete Record, pp. 404–05.

References

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  1. ^ Webster, Philip (25 July 1985). "Ban on visiting fans urged in judge's football safety report". The Times. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
  2. ^ Popplewell, Mr Justice (July 1985). Committee of Inquiry into Crowd Safety and Control at Sports Grounds Interim Report (Cmnd. 9585) (PDF). London: HMSO. 4.38. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  3. ^ "Birmingham City 1984–1985 : English Division Two (old) Table". Statto Organisation. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
  4. ^ "Birmingham City league performance history". 11v11. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 30 May 2024. Select content required via dropdown menus.