1989–90 Football League

Second Division
Season	1989–90
Champions	Leeds United
Promoted	Leeds United; Sheffield United; Sunderland
Relegated	Bournemouth; Bradford City; Stoke City
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1,526 (2.76 per match)
Top goalscorer	Micky Quinn; (32 goals)
	← 1988–89 1990–91 →

First Division
Season	1989–90
Champions	Liverpool; 18th English title
Relegated	Sheffield Wednesday; Charlton Athletic; Millwall
European Cup Winners' Cup	Manchester United
UEFA Cup	Aston Villa
Matches played	380
Goals scored	986 (2.59 per match)
Top goalscorer	Gary Lineker; (24 goals)
Biggest home win	Liverpool 9–0 Crystal Palace; (12 September 1989)
Biggest away win	Coventry City 1–6 Liverpool; (5 May 1990)
Highest scoring	Liverpool 9–0 Crystal Palace; (12 September 1989); Southampton 6–3 Luton Town; (25 November 1989)
	← 1988–89 1990–91 →

The Football League
Season	1989–90
Champions	Liverpool
Relegated	Colchester United
New club in League	Maidstone United
	← 1988–89 1990–91 →

The 1989–90 season was the 91st completed season of The Football League.

Liverpool overhauled a greatly improved Aston Villa side to win their 18th league championship trophy and their fifth major trophy in as many seasons under Kenny Dalglish's management. Gary Lineker's arrival at Tottenham Hotspur saw the North Londoners occupy third place after a season of improvement.

In this season, London had eight entrants in the top-flight, the highest number of participants ever.

Luton Town stayed up on goal difference at the expense of Sheffield Wednesday, while Charlton's four-year spell in the First Division came to an end at the beginning of May. Millwall were rooted to the bottom of the division despite briefly topping the league in September.

Leeds United finally returned to the top flight after an eight-year exile, as Howard Wilkinson's side lifted the Second Division championship trophy thanks to a superior goal difference over runners-up Sheffield United, who won their second successive promotion under Dave Bassett.

Swindon Town won the Second Division playoff final but Sunderland were promoted instead after the Swindon board admitted a series of financial irregularities. Swindon were initially demoted to the Third Division and replaced by Tranmere, the division's losing Play-Off finalists, but this decision was later reversed on appeal.

AFC Bournemouth, Stoke City and Bradford City occupied the relegation places. Bournemouth did not return to second tier of English football until the 2013–14 season.

The city of Bristol was celebrating after Rovers were crowned champions and City finished runners-up in the Third Division to gain promotion. The third promotion spot was secured by playoff winners Notts County, who beat Leyland DAF Trophy (i.e. EFL Trophy) winners Tranmere Rovers at Wembley.

Walsall suffered a second successive relegation and would be joined in the Fourth Division the following season by Blackpool, Cardiff City and Northampton Town.

Exeter City were crowned Fourth Division champions and went up to the Third Division along with runners-up Grimsby Town, third-placed Southend United and playoff winners Cambridge United. Newly promoted Maidstone United almost ended their first league season with success, but their promotion hopes were ended by playoff failure.

Colchester United were relegated from the league and replaced by Football Conference champions Darlington, who regained their league status just one season after losing it.

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,^[1] with home and away statistics separated.

First Division

Liverpool won the First Division title for the 18th time, finishing nine points ahead of their nearest rivals Aston Villa, who had emerged as title contenders just two seasons after being promoted, sealing England's solitary UEFA Cup place after the ban on English clubs in European competitions was lifted after five years, although Liverpool missed out on a European Cup place following UEFA's decision to exclude them from European competitions for at least one more season. Tottenham Hotspur improved on their sixth-place finish in 1989 by finishing third. Defending champions Arsenal slipped to fourth, and newly promoted Chelsea finished fifth.

Manchester United finished a disappointing 13th in the league – their lowest since relegation in 1974 – but compensated for this by winning the FA Cup, equalling the record of seven wins in the competition.

Millwall, who briefly topped the table in mid September, went down in bottom place after winning just two more games all season. Charlton Athletic's four-year spell in the First Division ended in relegation, and the final relegation place went to a Sheffield Wednesday side who went down on goal difference after a late turnaround in form for Luton Town.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Liverpool (C)	38	23	10	5	78	37	41	79	Disqualified from the European Cup^[a]
2	Aston Villa	38	21	7	10	57	38	19	70	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
3	Tottenham Hotspur	38	19	6	13	59	47	12	63
4	Arsenal	38	18	8	12	54	38	16	62
5	Chelsea	38	16	12	10	58	50	8	60
6	Everton	38	17	8	13	57	46	11	59
7	Southampton	38	15	10	13	71	63	8	55
8	Wimbledon	38	13	16	9	47	40	7	55
9	Nottingham Forest	38	15	9	14	55	47	8	54
10	Norwich City	38	13	14	11	44	42	2	53
11	Queens Park Rangers	38	13	11	14	45	44	1	50
12	Coventry City	38	14	7	17	39	59	−20	49
13	Manchester United	38	13	9	16	46	47	−1	48	Qualification for the European Cup Winners' Cup first round^[b]
14	Manchester City	38	12	12	14	43	52	−9	48
15	Crystal Palace	38	13	9	16	42	66	−24	48
16	Derby County	38	13	7	18	43	40	3	46
17	Luton Town	38	10	13	15	43	57	−14	43
18	Sheffield Wednesday (R)	38	11	10	17	35	51	−16	43	Relegation to the Second Division
19	Charlton Athletic (R)	38	7	9	22	31	57	−26	30
20	Millwall (R)	38	5	11	22	39	65	−26	26

Source: World Football
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

First Division results

Home \ Away	ARS	AST	CHA	CHE	COV	CRY	DER	EVE	LIV	LUT	MCI	MUN	MIL	NWC	NOT	QPR	SHW	SOU	TOT	WDN
Arsenal		0–1	1–0	0–1	2–0	4–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	3–2	4–0	1–0	2–0	4–3	3–0	3–0	5–0	2–1	1–0	0–0
Aston Villa	2–1		1–1	1–0	4–1	2–1	1–0	6–2	1–1	2–0	1–2	3–0	1–0	3–3	2–1	1–3	1–0	2–1	2–0	0–3
Charlton Athletic	0–0	0–2		3–0	1–1	1–2	0–0	0–1	0–4	2–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	0–1	1–1	1–0	1–2	2–4	1–3	1–2
Chelsea	0–0	0–3	3–1		1–0	3–0	1–1	2–1	2–5	1–0	1–1	1–0	4–0	0–0	2–2	1–1	4–0	2–2	1–2	2–5
Coventry City	0–1	2–0	1–2	3–2		1–0	1–0	2–0	1–6	1–0	2–1	1–4	3–1	1–0	0–2	1–1	1–4	1–0	0–0	2–1
Crystal Palace	1–1	1–0	2–0	2–2	0–1		1–1	2–1	0–2	1–1	2–2	1–1	4–3	1–0	1–0	0–3	1–1	3–1	2–3	2–0
Derby County	1–3	0–1	2–0	0–1	4–1	3–1		0–1	0–3	2–3	6–0	2–0	2–0	0–2	0–2	2–0	2–0	0–1	2–1	1–1
Everton	3–0	3–3	2–1	0–1	2–0	4–0	2–1		1–3	2–1	0–0	3–2	2–1	3–1	4–0	1–0	2–0	3–0	2–1	1–1
Liverpool	2–1	1–1	1–0	4–1	0–1	9–0	1–0	2–1		2–2	3–1	0–0	1–0	0–0	2–2	2–1	2–1	3–2	1–0	2–1
Luton Town	2–0	0–1	1–0	0–3	3–2	1–0	1–0	2–2	0–0		1–1	1–3	2–1	4–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	0–0	1–1
Manchester City	1–1	0–2	1–2	1–1	1–0	3–0	0–1	1–0	1–4	3–1		5–1	2–0	1–0	0–3	1–0	2–1	1–2	1–1	1–1
Manchester United	4–1	2–0	1–0	0–0	3–0	1–2	1–2	0–0	1–2	4–1	1–1		5–1	0–2	1–0	0–0	0–0	2–1	0–1	0–0
Millwall	1–2	2–0	2–2	1–3	4–1	1–2	1–1	1–2	1–2	1–1	1–1	1–2		0–1	1–0	1–2	2–0	2–2	0–1	0–0
Norwich City	2–2	2–0	0–0	2–0	0–0	2–0	1–0	1–1	0–0	2–0	0–1	2–0	1–1		1–1	0–0	2–1	4–4	2–2	0–1
Nottingham Forest	1–2	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–4	3–1	2–1	1–0	2–2	3–0	1–0	4–0	3–1	0–1		2–2	0–1	2–0	1–3	0–1
Queens Park Rangers	2–0	1–1	0–1	4–2	1–1	2–0	0–1	1–0	3–2	0–0	1–3	1–2	0–0	2–1	2–0		1–0	1–4	3–1	2–3
Sheffield Wednesday	1–0	1–0	3–0	1–1	0–0	2–2	1–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–0	1–0	1–1	0–2	0–3	2–0		0–1	2–4	0–1
Southampton	1–0	2–1	3–2	2–3	3–0	1–1	2–1	2–2	4–1	6–3	2–1	0–2	1–2	4–1	2–0	0–2	2–2		1–1	2–2
Tottenham Hotspur	2–1	0–2	3–0	1–4	3–2	0–1	1–2	2–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	2–1	3–1	4–0	2–3	3–2	3–0	2–1		0–1
Wimbledon	1–0	0–2	3–1	0–1	0–0	0–1	1–1	3–1	1–2	1–2	1–0	2–2	2–2	1–1	1–3	0–0	1–1	3–3	1–0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

First Division maps

Locations of the Football League First Division 1989–1990 teams

Locations of the Football League First Division London teams 1989–1990

Second Division

A tight race for promotion from the Second Division saw the two automatic promotion places decided on the final day of the season, with Leeds United going up as champions after an eight-year exile from the First Division, followed by their Yorkshire rivals Sheffield United, who finished runners-up to clinch a second successive promotion and end their 14-year absence from the First Division.

Swindon Town beat Sunderland 1–0 in the playoff final to secure a First Division place for the first time, only for promotion to be withdrawn weeks later for financial irregularities. The Football League promoted Sunderland to the First Division in their place, and demoted them to the Third Division, although they were allowed to remain in the Second Division on appeal. Newcastle United, whose new signing Mick Quinn topped the Football League goal charts with 32 goals, had squandered their chance on an immediate return to the First Division by losing to Sunderland in the playoff semi-finals. Blackburn Rovers, who had last played First Division football in the mid-1960s, lost in the other semi-final.

Two of the teams who just missed out on the playoffs enjoyed memorable cup runs. West Ham United reached the semi-finals of the League Cup, while Oldham Athletic were semi-finalists in the FA Cup and beaten finalists in the League Cup.

Stoke City were relegated to the Third Division after finishing bottom of the Second Division, and were joined in the drop zone by Bradford City and AFC Bournemouth. Middlesbrough, who finished fourth from bottom, narrowly avoided a second successive relegation.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Leeds United (C, P)	46	24	13	9	79	52	27	85	Promotion to the First Division
2	Sheffield United (P)	46	24	13	9	78	58	20	85	Promotion to the First Division
3	Newcastle United	46	22	14	10	80	55	25	80	Qualification for the Second Division play-offs
4	Swindon Town^[c] (O)	46	20	14	12	79	59	20	74
5	Blackburn Rovers	46	19	17	10	74	59	15	74
6	Sunderland^[c] (P)	46	20	14	12	70	64	6	74
7	West Ham United	46	20	12	14	80	57	23	72
8	Oldham Athletic	46	19	14	13	70	57	13	71
9	Ipswich Town	46	19	12	15	67	66	1	69
10	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46	18	13	15	67	60	7	67
11	Port Vale	46	15	16	15	62	57	5	61
12	Portsmouth	46	15	16	15	62	65	−3	61
13	Leicester City	46	15	14	17	67	79	−12	59
14	Hull City	46	14	16	16	58	65	−7	58
15	Watford	46	14	15	17	58	60	−2	57
16	Plymouth Argyle	46	14	13	19	58	63	−5	55
17	Oxford United	46	15	9	22	57	66	−9	54
18	Brighton & Hove Albion	46	15	9	22	56	72	−16	54
19	Barnsley	46	13	15	18	49	71	−22	54
20	West Bromwich Albion	46	12	15	19	67	71	−4	51
21	Middlesbrough	46	13	11	22	52	63	−11	50
22	Bournemouth (R)	46	12	12	22	57	76	−19	48	Relegation to the Third Division
23	Bradford City (R)	46	9	14	23	44	68	−24	41
24	Stoke City (R)	46	6	19	21	35	63	−28	37

Source: Statto
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

^ Liverpool were banned by UEFA from its competitions from the season 1985–86 on for 10 years, because of the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985, involving Liverpool fans. The ban was eventually lifted for the 1991–92 season.
^ Manchester United qualified for the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup as the 1989–90 FA Cup winners.
^ ^a ^b Swindon Town were disqualified from promotion after being found guilty of making illegal payments, and the play-off runners-up Sunderland were promoted in their place.

Results

Home \ Away	BAR	BLB	BOU	BRA	B&HA	HUL	IPS	LEE	LEI	MID	NEW	OLD	OXF	PLY	PTV	POR	SHU	STK	SUN	SWI	WAT	WBA	WHU	WOL
Barnsley		0–0	0–1	2–0	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–0	2–2	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–0	1–1	0–3	0–1	1–2	3–2	1–0	0–1	0–1	2–2	1–1	2–2
Blackburn Rovers	5–0		1–1	2–2	1–1	0–0	2–2	1–2	2–4	2–4	2–0	1–0	2–2	2–0	1–0	2–0	0–0	3–0	1–1	2–1	2–2	2–1	5–4	2–3
Bournemouth	2–1	2–4		1–0	0–2	5–4	3–1	0–1	2–3	2–2	2–1	2–0	0–1	2–2	1–0	0–1	0–1	2–1	0–1	1–2	0–0	1–1	1–1	1–1
Bradford City	0–0	0–1	1–0		2–0	2–3	1–0	0–1	2–0	0–1	3–2	1–1	1–2	0–1	2–2	1–1	1–4	1–0	0–1	1–1	2–1	2–0	2–1	1–1
Brighton & Hove Albion	1–1	1–2	2–1	2–1		2–0	1–0	2–2	1–0	1–0	0–3	1–1	0–1	2–1	2–0	0–0	2–2	1–4	1–2	1–2	1–0	0–3	3–0	1–1
Hull City	1–2	2–0	1–4	2–1	0–2		4–3	0–1	1–1	0–0	1–3	0–0	1–0	3–3	2–1	1–2	0–0	0–0	3–2	2–3	0–0	0–2	1–1	2–0
Ipswich Town	3–1	3–1	1–1	1–0	2–1	0–1		2–2	2–2	3–0	2–1	1–1	1–0	3–0	3–2	0–1	1–1	2–2	1–1	1–0	1–0	3–1	1–0	1–3
Leeds United	1–2	1–1	3–0	1–1	3–0	4–3	1–1		2–1	2–1	1–0	1–1	2–1	2–1	0–0	2–0	4–0	2–0	2–0	4–0	2–1	2–2	3–2	1–0
Leicester City	2–2	0–1	2–1	1–1	1–0	2–1	0–1	4–3		2–1	2–2	3–0	0–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–5	2–1	2–3	2–1	1–1	1–3	1–0	0–0
Middlesbrough	0–1	0–3	2–1	2–0	2–2	1–0	1–2	0–2	4–1		4–1	1–0	1–0	0–2	2–3	2–0	3–3	0–1	3–0	0–2	1–2	0–0	0–1	4–2
Newcastle United	4–1	2–1	3–0	1–0	2–0	2–0	2–1	5–2	5–4	2–2		2–1	2–3	3–1	2–2	1–0	2–0	3–0	1–1	0–0	2–1	2–1	2–1	1–4
Oldham Athletic	2–0	2–0	4–0	2–2	1–1	3–2	4–1	3–1	1–0	2–0	1–1		4–1	3–2	2–1	3–3	0–2	2–0	2–1	2–2	1–1	2–1	3–0	1–1
Oxford United	2–3	1–1	1–2	2–1	0–1	0–0	2–2	2–4	4–2	3–1	2–1	0–1		3–2	0–0	2–1	3–0	3–0	0–1	2–2	1–1	0–1	0–2	2–2
Plymouth Argyle	2–1	2–2	1–0	1–1	2–1	1–2	1–0	1–1	3–1	1–2	1–1	2–0	2–0		1–2	0–2	0–0	3–0	3–0	0–3	0–0	2–2	1–1	0–1
Port Vale	2–1	0–0	1–1	3–2	2–1	1–1	5–0	0–0	2–1	1–1	1–2	2–0	1–2	3–0		1–1	1–1	0–0	1–2	2–0	1–0	2–1	2–2	3–1
Portsmouth	2–1	1–1	2–1	3–0	3–0	2–2	2–3	3–3	2–3	3–1	1–1	2–1	2–1	0–3	2–0		3–2	0–0	3–3	1–1	1–2	1–1	0–1	1–3
Sheffield United	1–2	1–2	4–2	1–1	5–4	0–0	2–0	2–2	1–1	1–0	1–1	2–1	2–1	1–0	2–1	2–1		2–1	1–3	2–0	4–1	3–1	0–2	3–0
Stoke City	0–1	0–1	0–0	1–1	3–2	1–1	0–0	1–1	0–1	0–0	2–1	1–2	1–2	0–0	1–1	1–2	0–1		0–2	1–1	2–2	2–1	1–1	2–0
Sunderland	4–2	0–1	3–2	1–0	2–1	0–1	2–4	0–1	2–2	2–1	0–0	2–3	1–0	3–1	2–2	2–2	1–1	2–1		2–2	4–0	1–1	4–3	1–1
Swindon Town	0–0	4–3	2–3	3–1	1–2	1–3	3–0	3–2	1–1	1–1	1–1	3–2	3–0	3–0	3–0	2–2	0–2	6–0	0–2		2–0	2–1	2–2	3–1
Watford	2–2	3–1	2–2	7–2	4–2	3–1	3–3	1–0	3–1	1–0	0–0	3–0	0–1	1–2	1–0	1–0	1–3	1–1	1–1	0–2		0–2	0–1	3–1
West Bromwich Albion	7–0	2–2	2–2	2–0	3–0	1–1	1–3	2–1	0–1	0–0	1–5	2–2	3–2	0–3	2–3	0–0	0–3	1–1	1–1	1–2	2–0		1–3	1–2
West Ham United	4–2	1–1	4–1	2–0	3–1	1–2	2–0	0–1	3–1	2–0	0–0	0–2	3–2	3–2	2–2	2–1	5–0	0–0	5–0	1–1	1–0	2–3		4–0
Wolverhampton Wanderers	1–1	1–2	3–1	1–1	2–4	1–2	2–1	1–0	5–0	2–0	0–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	2–0	5–0	1–2	0–0	0–1	2–1	1–1	2–1	1–0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second Division play-offs

The semifinals were decided over two legs. The final consisted of only a single match.
The full results can be found at: Football League Division Two play-offs 1990.

Semifinals 1st leg – 13 May; 2nd leg – 16 May 1990					Final at Wembley 28 May 1990

3rd	Newcastle United	0	0	0

6th	Sunderland	0	2	2
					6th	Sunderland^{[notes2 1]}	0

					4th	Swindon Town	1
4th	Swindon Town	2	2	4

5th	Blackburn Rovers	1	1	2

^ Following successful prosecutions against Swindon Town and the club chairman, Brian Hillier, after they admitted 36 breaches of League rules —
35 of which are related to illegal payments, Swindon remained in the Second Division and Sunderland took their promotion place (see History of Swindon Town F.C.).

Second Division maps

Barnsley

Bournemouth

Bradford City

Brighton & Hove Albion

Wolverhampton Wanderers

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Locations of the Football League Second Division 1989–1990 teams

Watford

West Ham

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Locations of the Football League Second Division London teams 1989–1990

Third Division

The two automatic promotion places in the Third Division were clinched by the two Bristol clubs, with Rovers finishing champions and City finishing runners-up, having both been relegated from the Second Division nine years before. The playoffs were won by Notts County.

Walsall finished bottom of the Fourth Division and suffered a second consecutive relegation in their final season at Fellows Park, leaving them in the Fourth Division for their first season at the new Bescot Stadium. Joining them in the bottom four were Blackpool, Cardiff City and Northampton Town.

Football League, Third Division
Season	1989–90
Champions	Bristol Rovers (1st title)
Promoted	Bristol City, Notts County
Relegated	Blackpool, Cardiff City, Northampton, Walsall
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1,414 (2.56 per match)
Top goalscorer	Bob Taylor (Bristol City), 27^[2]
← 1988–89 1990–91 →

Pos	Team	Pld	HW	HD	HL	HGF	HGA	AW	AD	AL	AGF	AGA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Bristol Rovers	46	15	8	0	43	14	11	7	5	28	21	36	93	Division Champions, promoted
2	Bristol City	46	15	5	3	40	16	12	5	6	36	24	36	91	Promoted
3	Notts County	46	17	4	2	40	18	8	8	7	33	35	20	87	Promoted through play-offs^[a]
4	Tranmere Rovers	46	15	5	3	54	22	8	6	9	32	27	37	80	Participated in play-offs
5	Bury	46	11	7	5	35	19	10	4	9	35	30	21	74
6	Bolton Wanderers	46	12	7	4	32	19	6	8	9	27	29	11	69
7	Birmingham City	46	10	7	6	33	19	8	5	10	27	40	1	66
8	Huddersfield Town	46	11	5	7	30	23	6	9	8	31	39	−1	65
9	Rotherham United	46	12	6	5	48	28	5	7	11	23	34	9	64
10	Reading	46	10	9	4	33	21	5	10	8	24	32	4	64
11	Shrewsbury Town	46	10	9	4	38	24	6	6	11	21	30	5	63
12	Crewe Alexandra	46	10	8	5	32	24	5	9	9	24	29	3	62
13	Brentford	46	11	4	8	41	31	7	3	13	25	35	0	61
14	Leyton Orient	46	9	6	8	28	24	7	4	12	24	32	−4	58
15	Mansfield Town	46	13	2	8	34	25	3	5	15	16	40	−15	55
16	Chester City	46	11	7	5	30	23	2	8	13	13	32	−12	54
17	Swansea City	46	10	6	7	25	27	4	6	13	20	36	−18	54
18	Wigan Athletic	46	10	6	7	29	22	3	8	12	19	42	−16	53
19	Preston North End	46	10	7	6	42	30	4	3	16	23	49	−14	52
20	Fulham	46	8	8	7	33	27	4	7	12	22	39	−11	51
21	Cardiff City	46	6	9	8	30	35	6	5	12	21	35	−19	50	Relegated
22	Northampton Town	46	7	7	9	27	31	4	7	12	24	37	−17	47
23	Blackpool	46	8	6	9	29	33	2	10	11	20	40	−24	46
24	Walsall	46	6	8	9	23	30	3	6	14	17	42	−32	41

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Notes:

^ Notts County were promoted through the play-offs.

Third Division results

Home \ Away	BIR	BLP	BOL	BRE	BRI	BRR	BRY	CAR	CHR	CRE	FUL	HUD	LEY	MAN	NOR	NTC	PNE	REA	ROT	SHR	SWA	TRA	WAL	WIG
Birmingham City		3–1	1–0	0–1	0–4	2–2	0–0	1–1	0–0	3–0	1–1	0–1	0–0	4–1	4–0	1–2	3–1	0–1	4–1	0–1	2–0	2–1	2–0	0–0
Blackpool	3–2		2–1	4–0	1–3	0–3	0–1	1–0	1–3	1–3	0–1	2–2	1–0	3–1	1–0	0–0	2–2	0–0	1–2	0–1	2–2	0–3	4–3	0–0
Bolton Wanderers	3–1	2–0		0–1	1–0	1–0	3–1	3–1	1–0	0–0	0–0	2–2	2–1	1–1	0–3	3–0	2–1	3–0	0–2	0–1	0–0	1–1	1–1	3–2
Brentford	0–1	5–0	1–2		0–2	2–1	0–1	0–1	1–1	0–2	2–0	2–1	4–3	2–1	3–2	0–1	2–2	1–1	4–2	1–1	2–1	2–4	4–0	3–1
Bristol City	1–0	2–0	1–1	2–0		0–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	4–1	5–1	1–1	2–1	1–1	3–1	2–0	2–1	0–1	0–0	2–1	1–3	1–3	4–0	3–0
Bristol Rovers	0–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	3–0		2–1	2–1	2–1	1–1	2–0	2–2	0–0	1–1	4–2	3–2	3–0	0–0	2–0	1–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	6–1
Bury	0–0	2–0	2–0	0–2	1–1	0–0		2–0	1–0	0–3	0–0	6–0	2–0	3–0	1–0	3–2	1–2	4–0	1–1	0–0	3–2	1–2	0–2	2–2
Cardiff City	0–1	2–2	0–2	2–2	0–3	1–1	3–1		1–1	0–0	3–3	1–5	1–1	1–0	2–3	1–3	3–0	3–2	2–0	0–1	0–2	0–0	3–1	1–1
Chester	4–0	2–0	2–0	1–1	0–3	0–0	1–4	1–0		2–1	0–2	2–1	1–0	0–2	0–1	3–3	3–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	1–0	2–2	1–1	0–0
Crewe Alexandra	0–2	2–0	2–2	2–3	0–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	0–0		2–3	3–0	0–1	2–1	2–1	1–0	1–0	1–1	0–0	1–1	1–1	2–2	3–1	3–2
Fulham	1–2	0–0	2–2	1–0	0–1	1–2	2–2	2–5	1–0	1–1		0–0	1–2	1–0	1–1	5–2	3–1	1–2	1–1	2–1	2–0	1–2	0–0	4–0
Huddersfield Town	1–2	2–2	1–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	2–1	2–3	4–1	0–1	0–1		2–0	1–0	2–2	1–2	0–2	0–1	2–1	1–1	1–0	1–0	1–0	2–0
Leyton Orient	1–2	2–0	0–0	0–1	1–1	0–1	2–3	3–1	0–3	2–1	1–1	1–0		3–1	1–1	0–1	3–1	4–1	1–1	1–0	0–2	0–1	1–1	1–0
Mansfield Town	5–2	0–3	0–1	2–3	1–0	0–1	1–0	1–0	1–0	2–1	3–0	1–2	1–0		1–2	1–3	2–2	1–1	3–1	2–1	4–0	1–0	0–2	1–0
Northampton Town	2–2	4–2	0–2	0–2	2–0	1–2	0–1	1–1	1–0	3–1	2–2	1–0	0–1	1–2		0–0	1–2	2–1	1–2	2–1	1–1	0–4	1–1	1–1
Notts County	3–2	0–1	2–1	3–1	0–0	3–1	0–4	2–1	0–0	2–0	2–0	1–0	1–0	4–2	3–2		2–1	0–0	2–0	4–0	2–1	1–0	2–0	1–1
Preston North End	2–2	2–1	1–4	4–2	2–2	0–1	2–3	4–0	5–0	0–0	1–0	3–3	0–3	4–0	0–0	2–4		1–0	0–1	2–1	2–0	2–2	2–0	1–1
Reading	0–2	1–1	2–0	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–0	0–1	1–1	1–1	3–2	0–0	1–1	1–0	3–2	1–1	6–0		3–2	3–3	1–1	1–0	0–1	2–0
Rotherham United	5–1	1–1	1–0	2–1	1–2	3–2	1–3	4–0	5–0	1–3	2–1	0–0	5–2	0–0	2–0	1–2	3–1	1–1		4–2	3–2	0–0	2–2	1–2
Shrewsbury Town	2–0	1–1	3–3	1–0	0–1	2–3	3–1	0–0	2–0	0–0	2–0	3–3	4–2	0–1	2–0	2–2	2–0	1–1	1–1		1–1	3–1	2–0	1–3
Swansea City	1–1	0–0	0–0	2–1	0–5	0–0	0–1	0–1	2–1	3–2	4–2	1–3	0–1	1–0	1–1	0–0	2–1	1–6	1–0	0–1		1–0	2–0	3–0
Tranmere Rovers	5–1	4–2	1–3	2–2	6–0	1–2	2–4	3–0	0–0	1–1	2–1	4–0	3–0	1–1	0–0	2–0	2–1	3–1	2–1	3–1	3–0		2–1	2–0
Walsall	0–1	1–1	2–1	2–1	0–2	1–2	2–2	0–2	1–1	1–1	0–0	2–3	1–3	1–0	1–0	2–2	1–0	1–1	1–1	0–2	0–1	2–1		1–2
Wigan Athletic	1–0	1–1	2–0	2–1	2–3	1–2	0–0	1–1	1–0	1–0	2–1	1–2	0–2	4–0	0–0	1–1	0–1	3–1	0–3	0–0	2–0	1–3	3–0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Third Division play-offs

The semifinals were decided over two legs. The final consisted of only a single match.
The full results can be found at: Football League Division Three play-offs 1990.

Semifinals 1st leg – 13 May; 2nd leg – 16 May 1990					Final at Wembley 27 May 1990

3rd	Notts County	1	2	3

6th	Bolton Wanderers	1	0	1
					3rd	Notts County	2

					4th	Tranmere Rovers	0
4th	Tranmere Rovers	0	2	2

5th	Bury	0	0	0

Third Division maps

Locations of the Football League Third Division teams 1989–1990

Locations of the Football League Third Division London teams 1989–1990

Fourth Division

Exeter City clinched the Fourth Division title to end their six-year spell in the league's basement division. They were joined by Southend United, relegated the previous season, and by a Grimsby Town side who had spent two seasons in the Fourth Division since their most recent relegation. The final promotion place went to playoff winners Cambridge United, who triumphed 1–0 over Chesterfield in their first professional Wembley final with a goal from promising young striker Dion Dublin. Losing semi-finalists in the playoffs were newly promoted Maidstone United, and a Stockport County side whose striker Brett Angell was the division's top scorer on 23 league goals.

Colchester United, who had managed a remarkable escape from relegation the previous season under inspirational new manager Jock Wallace, were unable to escape the drop this time, going down after 40 years in the Football League and being replaced by a Darlington side who had dropped out of the league 12 months before.

Football League, Fourth Division
Season	1989–90
Champions	Exeter City (1st title)
Promoted	Cambridge United, Grimsby Town, Southend United
Relegated to Conference	Colchester United
New club in the league	Maidstone United
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1,426 (2.58 per match)
Top goalscorer	Brett Angell (Stockport County), 23^[2]
← 1988–89 1990–91 →

Pos	Team	Pld	HW	HD	HL	HGF	HGA	AW	AD	AL	AGF	AGA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Exeter City	46	20	3	0	50	14	8	2	13	33	34	35	89	Division Champions, promoted
2	Grimsby Town	46	14	4	5	41	20	8	9	6	29	27	23	79	Promoted
3	Southend United	46	15	3	5	35	14	7	6	10	26	34	13	75	Promoted
4	Stockport County	46	13	6	4	45	27	8	5	10	23	35	6	74	Participated in play-offs
5	Maidstone United^[a]	46	14	4	5	49	21	8	3	12	28	40	16	73	Participated in play-offs
6	Cambridge United	46	14	3	6	45	30	7	7	9	31	36	10	73	Promoted through play-offs^[b]
7	Chesterfield	46	12	9	2	41	19	7	5	11	22	31	13	71	Participated in play-offs
8	Carlisle United	46	15	4	4	38	20	6	4	13	23	40	1	71
9	Peterborough United	46	10	8	5	35	23	7	9	7	24	23	13	68
10	Lincoln City	46	11	6	6	30	27	7	8	8	18	21	0	68
11	Scunthorpe United	46	9	9	5	42	25	8	6	9	27	29	15	66
12	Rochdale	46	11	4	8	28	23	9	2	12	24	32	−3	66
13	York City	46	10	5	8	29	24	6	11	6	26	29	2	64
14	Gillingham	46	9	8	6	28	21	8	3	12	18	27	−2	62
15	Torquay United	46	12	2	9	33	29	3	10	10	20	37	−13	57
16	Burnley	46	6	10	7	19	18	8	4	11	26	37	−10	56
17	Hereford United	46	7	4	12	31	32	8	6	9	25	30	−6	55
18	Scarborough	46	10	5	8	35	28	5	5	13	25	45	−13	55
19	Hartlepool United	46	12	4	7	45	33	3	6	14	21	55	−22	55
20	Doncaster Rovers	46	7	7	9	29	29	7	2	14	24	31	−7	51
21	Wrexham	46	8	8	7	28	28	5	4	14	23	39	−16	51	Welsh Cup runners-up, qualified for UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1990–91 First round^[c]
22	Aldershot	46	8	7	8	28	26	4	7	12	21	43	−20	50
23	Halifax Town	46	5	9	9	31	29	7	4	12	26	36	−8	49
24	Colchester United	46	9	3	11	26	25	2	7	14	22	50	−27	43	Relegated to Conference

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Notes:

^ New club in the league
^ Cambridge United were promoted through play-offs.
^ Wrexham were runners-up in the Welsh Cup final, and since winners Hereford United are an English club, Wrexham were awarded the right to participate in the Cup Winners' Cup.

Fourth Division results

Home \ Away	ALD	BUR	CAM	CRL	CHF	COL	DON	EXE	GIL	GRI	HAL	HAR	HER	LIN	MDS	PET	ROC	SCA	SCU	STD	STP	TOR	WRE	YOR
Aldershot		1–1	0–2	1–0	0–0	4–0	1–1	0–1	1–0	0–0	2–0	6–1	0–2	0–1	0–2	0–1	1–1	1–1	4–2	0–5	2–1	1–2	1–0	2–2
Burnley	0–0		1–3	2–1	0–0	0–0	0–1	1–0	1–2	1–1	1–0	0–0	3–1	0–0	1–1	1–2	0–1	3–0	0–1	0–0	0–0	1–0	2–3	1–1
Cambridge United	2–2	0–1		1–2	0–1	4–0	1–0	3–2	2–1	2–0	1–0	2–1	0–1	2–1	2–0	3–2	0–3	5–2	5–3	2–1	0–2	5–2	1–1	2–2
Carlisle United	1–3	1–1	3–1		4–3	1–0	1–0	1–0	3–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	2–1	1–2	3–2	0–0	0–1	3–1	0–1	3–0	3–1	2–0	1–0	2–1
Chesterfield	2–0	0–1	1–1	3–0		1–1	0–1	2–1	2–0	2–0	4–3	3–1	2–1	0–0	3–1	1–1	2–1	2–2	1–1	1–1	1–1	5–1	3–0	0–0
Colchester United	1–0	1–2	1–2	4–0	1–0		2–0	0–1	2–0	1–0	2–2	3–1	1–1	0–1	4–1	0–1	1–2	0–0	1–0	0–2	0–1	0–3	1–3	0–2
Doncaster Rovers	0–1	2–3	2–1	1–1	1–0	2–0		2–1	0–0	0–0	3–4	2–2	0–1	0–1	1–1	0–3	4–0	1–1	1–2	0–1	2–1	2–1	2–2	1–2
Exeter City	2–0	2–1	3–2	0–0	2–1	2–1	1–0		3–1	2–1	2–0	3–1	2–0	3–0	2–0	2–0	5–0	3–2	1–0	2–1	1–1	3–0	1–1	3–1
Gillingham	0–0	0–0	1–0	2–1	3–0	3–3	3–1	1–1		1–2	3–1	0–0	0–1	1–1	1–2	0–0	1–0	2–0	0–3	5–0	0–3	0–2	1–0	0–0
Grimsby Town	2–1	4–2	0–0	1–0	0–1	4–1	2–1	1–0	2–0		1–1	0–0	0–2	1–0	2–3	1–2	1–2	3–0	2–1	2–0	4–2	0–0	5–1	3–0
Halifax Town	4–2	0–0	0–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	0–2	1–2	0–1	2–2		4–0	1–1	0–1	1–2	2–2	1–0	1–2	0–1	1–2	1–2	3–1	4–2	2–2
Hartlepool United	2–0	3–0	1–2	1–0	3–1	0–2	0–6	0–3	1–2	4–2	2–0		1–2	1–1	4–2	2–2	2–1	4–1	3–2	1–1	5–0	1–1	3–0	1–2
Hereford United	4–1	0–1	0–2	2–2	3–2	2–0	0–1	2–1	1–2	0–1	0–1	4–1		2–2	3–0	1–2	1–3	3–1	1–2	0–3	1–2	0–0	0–0	1–2
Lincoln City	0–1	1–0	4–3	1–3	1–1	2–1	2–1	1–5	1–3	1–1	2–1	4–1	1–0		1–2	1–0	1–2	0–0	1–0	2–0	0–0	2–2	1–0	0–0
Maidstone United	5–1	1–2	2–2	5–2	0–1	4–1	1–0	1–0	0–1	2–2	1–2	4–2	2–0	2–0		1–1	2–0	4–1	1–1	3–0	0–1	5–1	2–0	1–0
Peterborough United	1–1	4–1	1–2	3–0	1–1	1–0	2–1	4–3	1–1	1–1	3–0	0–2	1–1	1–0	1–0		0–1	1–2	1–1	1–2	2–0	1–1	3–1	1–1
Rochdale	2–0	2–1	2–0	1–2	1–0	2–2	1–3	1–0	1–0	0–1	0–2	0–0	5–2	1–0	3–2	1–2		1–0	3–0	0–1	1–1	0–0	0–3	0–1
Scarborough	1–0	4–2	1–1	2–1	2–3	2–2	1–2	1–2	0–1	3–1	2–3	4–1	0–1	2–0	0–1	2–1	2–1		0–0	1–1	2–0	0–0	2–1	1–3
Scunthorpe United	3–2	3–0	1–1	2–3	0–1	4–0	4–1	5–4	0–0	2–2	1–1	0–1	3–3	1–1	1–0	0–0	0–1	0–1		1–1	5–0	2–0	3–1	1–1
Southend United	5–0	3–2	0–0	2–0	0–2	0–2	2–0	1–2	2–0	0–2	2–0	3–0	2–0	2–0	0–1	0–0	3–2	1–0	0–0		2–0	1–0	2–1	2–0
Stockport County	1–1	3–1	3–1	3–1	3–1	1–1	3–1	2–1	1–0	2–4	0–1	6–0	2–1	1–1	1–2	0–0	2–1	3–2	4–2	1–0		1–1	0–2	2–2
Torquay United	1–2	0–1	3–0	1–2	1–0	4–1	2–0	0–2	0–2	0–3	1–0	4–3	1–1	0–3	2–1	2–1	1–0	3–2	0–3	3–0	3–0		0–1	1–1
Wrexham	2–2	1–0	2–3	1–0	0–2	3–2	0–0	1–1	2–1	0–1	2–1	1–2	0–0	0–2	4–2	2–1	1–1	0–2	0–0	3–3	0–1	1–1		2–0
York City	2–2	1–3	4–2	0–1	4–0	3–1	2–1	3–0	1–0	0–1	0–2	1–1	1–2	0–0	0–0	1–0	1–0	1–2	0–1	2–1	0–3	1–1	1–0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Fourth Division play-offs

The semifinals were decided over two legs. The final consisted of only a single match.
The full results can be found at: Football League Division Four play-offs 1990.

Semifinals 1st leg –13 May; 2nd leg –16 May 1990					Final at Wembley 26 May 1990

4th	Stockport County	0	0	0

7th	Chesterfield	4	2	6
					7th	Chesterfield	0

					6th	Cambridge United	1
5th	Maidstone United (1897)	1	0	1

6th	Cambridge United	1	2	3