Looking Back……Season 1979/80

The first season after the formation of the Alliance Premier League.

At the end of the 1978/79 season, the long-awaited Alliance Premier League had been formed and the Southern League lost more than half of its top clubs.

Thirteen clubs from the Premier Division joined the new league, leading to a restructuring of the Southern League for this season, in which it was divided solely into Midland and Southern divisions.

The Midland Division began the 79/80 season with Bridgend Town, Cheltenham Town and Witney Town from the previous campaign`s Premier Division plus Minehead, Trowbridge Town and Taunton Town from Division One South.

The remainder came from the old Division One North.

Dartford, Dorchester Town, Hastings United, Hillingdon Borough and Margate started the new season in the southern section having been in the Premier Division, while Fareham Town were promoted from the Hampshire League to join the eighteen clubs who were previously members of the Division One South.

The summer of 1979 also sadly saw Atherstone Town fold, although they quickly re-formed as Atherstone United and played in the West Midlands (Regional) League.

Pundits found it tricky to predict who would come out on top in 1979/80 as all of the top teams had gone.

It was assumed that the sides coming into the Midland Division from the old Premier Division would fare well.

And, indeed, it was one of them, Bridgend Town, who defied the odds to lift the prestigious title under the management of Lyn Jones.

Jones went on to become assistant manager of the Welsh women's team as well as managing Porthcawl Town, Inter Cardiff and Merthyr Tydfil.

The Welsh side won the Midland Division title by three points from Minehead, who were runners-up, and Bedford Town, who finished seven points adrift of the north Somerset coastal town outfit.

However, it was still just possible that Trevor Gould`s Eagles might be promoted to the Alliance Premier League as neither Bridgend nor Minehead applied, so if Bedford had been able to give guarantees of security of tenure of their ground, they could have applied themselves as the next highest club in the division. But that is exactly what they couldn’t do, with the Wells lease having just two years left to run, and the faint hope promptly vanished.

Sadly, just a couple of years later, the famous Bedford Town name disappeared off the football map in May 1982 after losing their old Eyrie ground.

In the end, no club gained admittance to the Alliance Premier League at the end of the season.

Corby Town finished rock-bottom and it certainly wasn`t a great campaign for the Midland Division`s Northamptonshire sides as Wellingborough Town ended up in third-bottom spot.

In the southern section, apart from Margate, who finished a disappointing 17th, the other four clubs who were in the Premier Division the previous season fared pretty well.

One of those, Dorchester Town, celebrated its centenary by winning the title by a one-point margin over Aylesbury United.

Stuart Bell succeeded David Best as manager during the season, and the Magpies went unbeaten in the last 14 games to clinch the title.

A young Trevor Senior (pictured) impressed alongside ever-present top scorer Paul Thorne, whilst Graham Roberts joined neighbours Weymouth early in the campaign for £6,000 before going on to star for Tottenham Hotspur and England.

Of the other sides from the Premier Division, Dartford finished fifth, Hillingdon Borough seventh and Hastings United tenth.

Tonbridge Angels finished bottom of the pile in 79/80, a massive 17 points adrift of second-bottom Salisbury.

Another major problem for Tonbridge loomed when the club's landlords, the local council, wanted the Angel Ground for development.

A battle lasting up to three years that went as far as the High Courts ensued before the club was eventually offered a new ground at Longmead, its present home.

The appropriately named Micky Angel scored the last ever goal at the old Angel Ground in 1980.

The 1979/80 season was certainly a miserable one for the Kent side, who managed just three wins all season – 1-0 against a Basingstoke Town side who were to end up in third-bottom spot, 2-1 at home to Kent rivals Folkestone & Shepway and 1-0 at home to another county rival, Margate on November 10th which was their final success – four draws and twenty-eight defeats followed!

Bridgend were declared Southern League champions after defeating Dorchester 3–0 at home and 2–1 away to win a championship play-off.

There was no promotion to the Alliance Premier League and no relegation to feeder leagues at the end of the campaign.

In the FA Cup, the Southern League had five representatives in the First Round Proper.

Kidderminster Harriers lost 2-0 at home to a then-Third Division Blackburn Rovers and Salisbury were beaten 2-1 at home by Blackburn`s league rivals Millwall.

Minehead lost 2-1 at home to Isthmian League Chesham United, while the league was assured of one club in the hat for the Second Round as Fareham Town from the South were drawn against Merthyr Tydfil of the Midland section.

Fareham were beaten 3-2 at home by a Martyrs side who, disappointingly, were paired with Chesham in the next round.

They drew 1-1 at Chesham and then lost the replay 3-1 at Penydarren Park.

This was the year of Harlow Town`s famous run to the Fourth Round, beating Leicester City along the way after entering at the Preliminary Round stage, beating Lowestoft Town, Hornchurch, Bury Town, Harwich & Parkeston and Margate to reach the First Round proper for the first time, where they defeated Leytonstone/Ilford 2–1.

In the Second Round they drew 1–1 away at Football League side Southend United before winning the replay at the Sportcentre 1–0 in front of 5,000 spectators.

The club were then drawn away to Second Division leaders Leicester City, who included a young Gary Lineker.

After a 1–1 draw at Filbert Street, Harlow famously won the replay at the Sportcentre 1–0, watched by a club-record attendance of 9,723.

In the Fourth Round Harlow were drawn away to Watford, losing 4–3.