1980–81 Alliance Premier League

The 1980–81 Alliance Premier League season was the second season of the Alliance Premier League. Altrincham were the winners of their second Alliance Premier League title.

Alliance Premier League

Season	1980–81
Champions	Altrincham (2nd Alliance Premier League title)
Promoted to the Football League	None
Runners-up	Kettering Town
Relegated to Level 6	Bangor City, Nuneaton Borough, Wealdstone
Promoted for the next season	Dagenham, Dartford, Enfield, Runcorn, Trowbridge Town
Matches played	380
Goals scored	1,048 (2.76 per match)
Top goalscorer	Colin Williams (26 goals)
Biggest home win	Kettering Town 6–1 Frickley Athletic AP Leamington 5–0 Telford United Bath City 5–0 AP Leamington Frickley Athletic 5–0 Barrow
Biggest away win	Yeovil Town 0–5 Weymouth
Highest scoring	Bangor City 4–5 Altrincham
← 1979–80 1981–82 →

New team(s) in the league this season

• Frickley Athletic (promoted 1979–80)

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	HW	HD	HL	HGF	HGA	AW	AD	AL	AGF	AGA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Altrincham	38	14	2	3	40	21	9	6	4	32	20	+31	54	Alliance Premier League champions, no promotion
2	Kettering Town	38	13	4	2	38	12	8	5	6	28	25	+29	51
3	Scarborough	38	10	7	2	25	11	7	6	6	24	18	+20	47
4	Northwich Victoria	38	12	4	3	32	13	5	7	7	21	27	+13	45
5	Weymouth	38	11	4	4	30	18	8	2	9	24	22	+14	44
6	Bath City	38	9	6	4	23	8	7	4	8	28	24	+19	42
7	Maidstone United	38	12	4	3	42	18	4	5	10	22	35	+11	41
8	Boston United	38	10	4	5	39	30	6	5	8	24	28	+5	41
9	Barrow	38	10	3	6	25	18	5	5	9	25	31	+1	38
10	Frickley Athletic	38	10	4	5	36	22	5	4	10	25	40	−1	38
11	Stafford Rangers	38	10	4	5	34	22	1	11	7	22	34	0	37
12	Worcester City	38	10	4	5	33	25	4	3	12	14	29	−7	35
13	Telford United	38	7	6	6	25	23	6	3	10	22	36	−12	35
14	Yeovil Town	38	9	2	8	37	30	5	4	10	23	34	−4	34
15	Gravesend & Northfleet	38	8	4	7	26	21	5	4	10	22	34	−7	34
16	AP Leamington	38	6	7	6	29	26	4	4	11	18	40	−19	31
17	Barnet	38	8	5	6	27	26	4	2	13	12	38	−25	31
18	Nuneaton Borough	38	6	5	8	27	31	4	4	11	22	34	−16	29	Relegated to Southern League Midland Division
19	Wealdstone	38	6	8	5	27	19	3	3	13	10	37	−19	29	Relegated to Southern League Southern Division
20	Bangor City	38	5	6	8	25	34	1	6	12	10	34	−33	24	Relegated to Northern Premier League

Source:
Notes:

Note: FA Trophy winners (Bishop's Stortford, Isthmian League Division One)

Results

Home \ Away	ALT	APL	BAN	BAR	BRW	BAT	BOS	FRK	GRN	KET	MDS	NOR	NUN	SCA	STA	TEL	WEA	WEY	WRC	YEO
Altrincham		4–1	2–0	2–0	2–2	3–1	2–0	2–0	2–1	4–1	2–1	1–1	0–3	4–3	4–2	0–2	2–0	1–2	1–0	2–1
AP Leamington	2–4		1–0	0–1	2–2	0–4	0–0	2–2	4–1	3–3	2–3	1–1	0–1	2–0	1–1	5–0	1–1	0–1	2–1	1–0
Bangor City	4–5	1–0		4–2	2–6	0–1	1–1	4–3	1–1	0–1	1–1	0–0	2–5	0–3	0–0	2–0	0–2	2–0	1–1	0–2
Barnet	3–2	1–0	0–1		0–0	1–5	2–2	2–0	1–1	0–1	4–1	1–0	1–0	1–2	1–1	2–1	3–0	0–3	0–2	4–4
Barrow	0–4	0–2	3–0	1–1		0–0	0–2	0–0	3–1	2–1	4–1	2–1	1–0	0–1	5–1	0–1	1–0	0–1	1–0	2–1
Bath City	0–1	5–0	0–0	1–0	2–1		2–0	3–0	1–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–1	0–0	0–1	2–0	2–3	3–0	2–1
Boston United	1–1	2–3	1–1	3–0	0–2	4–2		1–2	2–1	2–1	1–1	2–3	3–1	0–3	2–2	5–3	2–1	2–1	3–1	3–1
Frickley Athletic	0–2	0–0	4–0	3–0	5–0	2–1	0–1		2–4	1–1	2–1	0–1	4–3	1–0	3–2	4–1	1–1	1–2	1–1	2–1
Gravesend & Northfleet	0–2	4–0	1–0	0–2	0–2	2–1	1–2	3–1		1–0	1–2	0–1	4–0	1–1	1–1	2–2	0–1	1–0	2–1	2–2
Kettering Town	1–1	3–0	3–1	2–1	0–1	2–2	0–0	6–1	2–0		3–0	3–3	3–0	1–0	1–0	2–1	0–1	1–0	1–0	4–0
Maidstone United	1–2	2–1	1–0	4–1	1–0	2–1	2–2	1–1	1–1	1–2		4–0	1–3	1–1	4–1	3–0	4–0	3–0	2–0	4–2
Northwich Victoria	1–0	2–0	2–1	4–1	0–0	3–1	3–1	1–3	4–0	1–1	2–1		2–0	0–1	2–1	1–0	0–0	0–0	3–0	1–2
Nuneaton Borough	0–0	3–0	3–2	0–1	3–1	0–0	0–2	0–1	1–2	1–5	1–1	2–0		0–4	2–2	3–3	2–0	1–4	2–3	3–0
Scarborough	1–0	0–0	1–1	3–0	0–0	1–0	3–2	2–1	1–0	1–2	1–2	0–0	2–1		0–0	1–1	4–0	2–0	0–0	2–1
Stafford Rangers	1–3	1–1	4–0	1–0	1–0	0–2	2–3	3–3	2–3	3–1	3–1	2–0	2–2	2–1		0–1	3–0	2–0	1–0	1–1
Telford United	3–2	2–3	1–1	0–0	5–2	2–1	2–0	1–0	0–0	0–2	1–2	1–3	2–2	0–0	1–1		2–1	1–0	1–2	0–1
Wealdstone	1–2	1–2	1–1	2–0	2–0	0–1	3–0	0–2	3–1	1–1	2–1	1–1	0–0	2–2	1–1	4–0		1–1	1–2	1–1
Weymouth	0–0	3–2	4–0	3–0	2–1	1–1	2–1	1–2	0–1	1–2	1–1	4–3	1–0	1–1	2–1	1–0	2–1		1–0	0–1
Worcester City	0–0	3–3	1–1	4–0	2–4	0–2	1–4	3–0	3–1	2–1	2–1	2–1	1–0	2–0	1–1	0–3	4–1	2–1		0–1
Yeovil Town	1–1	3–0	1–0	1–2	2–1	1–2	2–1	5–3	1–3	1–2	2–1	1–2	5–1	0–0	3–4	1–2	4–0	0–5	3–0

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Rothmans Football Yearbook 1981–82. Queen Anne Press, Macdonald Futura Publishers, London & Sydney, 1982.
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Altrincham

Bangor City

Barnet

Barrow

Bath City

Boston United

Gravesend & N

Frickley

Kettering Town

AP Leamington

Maidstone

Northwich Victoria

Nuneaton Borough

Scarborough

Stafford

Telford United

Wealdstone

Weymouth

Worcester City

Yeovil Town

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Locations of the 1980–81 Alliance Premier League clubs

Tops scorers

Rank	Player	Club	League	FA Cup	FA Trophy	League Cup	Total
1	Williams	Northwich Victoria					26
2	J. N. Evans	Kettering Town					25
3	Graham Heathcote	Altrincham					19
=	John Rogers	Altrincham					19
=	Graham Withey	Bath City					19
6	Frank Ovard	Maidstone United					17
7	Clive Green	Yeovil Town					16
8	Colin Cowperthwaite	Barrow					15
9	David Mather	Telford United					13
10	D. Gardner	AP Leamington					12
=	Hickton	AP Leamington					12
=	Aniello Iannone	Weymouth					12
=	Mick Wadsworth	Frickley Athletic					12
=	Woodall	Frickley Athletic					12

Promotion and relegation

Promoted

• Dagenham (from the Isthmian League Premier Division)
• Dartford (from the Southern League Southern Division)
• Enfield (from the Isthmian League Premier Division)
• Runcorn (from the Northern Premier League)
• Trowbridge Town (from the Southern League Midland Division)

Relegated

• Bangor City (to the Northern Premier League)
• Nuneaton Borough (to the Southern League Midland Division)
• Wealdstone (to the Southern League Southern Division)

Election to the Football League

As winners of the Alliance Premier League Altrincham won (for the second season running) the right to apply for election to the Football League to replace one of the four bottom sides in the 1980–81 Football League Fourth Division. The vote went as follows:

Club	Final Position	Votes
Tranmere Rovers	21st (Fourth Division)	48
Hereford United	22nd (Fourth Division)	46
York City	24th (Fourth Division)	46
Halifax Town	23rd (Fourth Division)	41
Altrincham	1st (Alliance Premier League)	15

As a result of this, Altrincham did not gain membership of the Football League.

External links

• 1980–81 Football Conference Results
• Re-election Results – The Division Four final league table, including the results of the re-election vote.