1984–85 in English football
The 1984–85 season was the 105th season of competitive football in England.
| Season | 1984–85 | |
|---|---|---|
| Men's football | ||
| First Division | Everton | |
| Second Division | Oxford United | |
| Third Division | Bradford City | |
| Fourth Division | Chesterfield | |
| Alliance Premier League | Wealdstone | |
| FA Cup | Manchester United | |
| Associate Members' Cup | Wigan Athletic | |
| League Cup | Norwich City | |
| Charity Shield | Everton | |
The season saw Everton build on their FA Cup success of the previous season by winning their first league title for 15 years and their first European silverware in the form of the European Cup Winners' Cup. However, they lost the FA Cup final to Manchester United. Norwich City won the Football League Cup but were relegated from the First Division.
However, the season was overshadowed by three tragedies involving English clubs. On 11 May 1985, the last day of the league season, a teenage spectator was killed at St Andrew's stadium in a Second Division clash between Birmingham City and Leeds United in another incident of hooliganism which continued to blight English football at home and abroad. A far worse tragedy occurred on the same day when a fire ripped through the stadium of Third Division champions Bradford City, killing 56 spectators. On 29 May, at the European Cup Final in Brussels, rioting by Liverpool fans led to the collapse of a wall and 39 spectators (most of them Italian) were crushed or trampled to death in the panic. Shortly after the game, which Juventus of Italy won 1–0, all English clubs were banned from European competitions for an indefinite period, which ended up being six years for Liverpool and five years for every other English football club.