1994–95 Football League

Overview

The streamlining of the Premier League meant that just two clubs would be promoted from the First Division in 1995. Middlesbrough won the First Division title in their first season under Bryan Robson, while Reading were the club that were to fail to win promotion despite finishing second in the table. Instead, they competed in the playoffs, losing to Bolton Wanderers in the final, who achieved their second promotion in three years under Bruce Rioch — as well as being League Cup runners-up.

1995 saw four clubs relegated from the First Division — Swindon Town (relegated for the second straight season), Burnley, Bristol City and Notts County. Sunderland narrowly avoided the drop following the arrival of enthusiastic new manager Peter Reid, who over the next few years would bring dramatic improvements to the Wearsiders.

A dream start in management saw Bryan Robson guide Middlesbrough to the First Division title and regain the Premiership place that was lost two years ago. Reading finished second — the highest in their history — but the streamlining of the Premiership prevented them from winning promotion and they lost 4–3 to Bolton Wanderers after extra time in the playoff final, having led 2–0 at half time. Losing semi-finalists were Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tranmere Rovers.

Barnsley and Watford were the unlucky sides to narrowly miss out on the play-offs, while an expensively-assembled Derby County side finished a disappointing ninth at the end of what many fans had hoped would be a promotion winning season.

Portsmouth, West Bromwich Albion and Sunderland — three famous clubs which had seen better days — narrowly avoided relegation to the Second Division, but managerial changes at each of these clubs gave fans hope that a return to the elite might not be far away.

Swindon Town suffered a second successive relegation, joining Bristol City, Burnley and Notts County in Division Two.

There would only be two promotion places in the Second Division for 1994–95. They were occupied by champions Birmingham City and playoff winners Huddersfield Town, both enjoying success after seasons of disappointment.

Going down were Cambridge United, Plymouth Argyle, Cardiff City, Chester City and Leyton Orient. This was the first time that five clubs had been relegated from any of the league’s four divisions.

Birmingham sealed an immediate return to the First Division by lifting the Second Division championship trophy, along with the winning the Football League Trophy and completing the "lower-league Double". They were joined in the First Division by playoff winners Huddersfield Town. The unlucky sides in the play-offs were Brentford, Crewe Alexandra and Bristol Rovers.

Unfavoured Leyton Orient, Chester City and Cardiff City were (perhaps inevitably) relegated to the Third Division. But the other two relegated teams were surprise candidates for the drop. Plymouth Argyle had almost won promotion to the First Division a year earlier. Cambridge United had narrowly missed out on a place in the then-new Premier League three years earlier and poor form in the run in sealed their fate after Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic avoided the drop in the final two games of the season after spending most of it in the bottom five.

This season saw three clubs go up from the Third Division instead of four clubs. They were champions Carlisle United, runners-up Walsall and playoff winners Chesterfield.

Exeter City, who almost went out of business in mid-season, finished bottom of the Third Division but kept their league status because Conference champions Macclesfield Town were unable to meet the league’s stadium capacity requirements.

Ambitious Carlisle United sealed the Third Division title to end eight years of basement division football, joined by runners-up Walsall and playoff winners Chesterfield.

Debt-ridden Exeter City finished joint bottom of the league with Scarborough, but retained their league status due to Conference champions Macclesfield Town lacking a stadium adequate for Football League capacity standards.

Final league tables and results

The tables and results below are reproduced here in the exact form that they can be found at The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation website, with home and away statistics separated. Play-off results are from the same website.

First Division

Results

Source:
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second Division

Results

Source:
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Third Division

Results

Source:
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.