2009–10 in English football

England 2009–10
Season information
Premier League	Chelsea
Championship	Newcastle United
League One	Norwich City
League Two	Notts County
Conference	Stevenage Borough
FA Cup	Chelsea
League Cup	Manchester United
Community Shield	Chelsea
← 2008–09	2010–11 →

The season began on 8 August 2009 for the Championship, League One and League Two and 15 August 2009 for the Premier League. The season finished on 2 May 2010 for the Football League Championship, and 9 May 2010 for the other three Divisions.

Promotion and relegation (pre-season)

Teams promoted to 2009–10 Premier League

• Wolverhampton Wanderers
• Birmingham City
• Burnley

Teams relegated from 2008–09 Premier League

• Newcastle United
• Middlesbrough
• West Bromwich Albion

Teams promoted to 2009–10 Football League Championship

• Leicester City
• Peterborough United
• Scunthorpe United

Teams relegated from 2008–09 Football League Championship

• Norwich City
• Southampton (started on −10 points for administration entrance)
• Charlton Athletic

Teams promoted to 2009–10 Football League One

• Brentford
• Exeter City
• Wycombe Wanderers
• Gillingham

Teams relegated from 2008–09 Football League One

• Northampton Town
• Crewe Alexandra
• Cheltenham Town
• Hereford United

Teams promoted to 2009–10 Football League Two

• Burton Albion
• Torquay United

Teams relegated from 2008–09 Football League Two

• Chester City (started on −25 points and expelled from the Football Conference 10 March 2010)
• Luton Town

National team

The home team is on the left column; the away team is on the right column.

Friendly matches

12 August 2009	Netherlands	2–2	England	Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam Attendance: 50,000 Referee: Nicola Rizzoli (Italy)
	Kuyt  10' van der Vaart  38'	(Report)	Defoe  49', 77'

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5 September 2009	England	2–1	Slovenia	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 67,232 Referee: Jonas Eriksson (Sweden)
	Lampard  31' (pen.) Defoe  63'	(Report)	Ljubijankič  85'

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14 November 2009	England	0–1	Brazil	Khalifa International Stadium, Doha Attendance: 50,000 Referee: Abdou Abdulrahman (Qatar)
		(Report)	Nilmar  48'

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3 March 2010	England	3–1	Egypt	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 80,602
	Crouch  56', 80' Wright-Phillips  75'	(Report)	Zidan  23'

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24 May 2010	England	3–1	Mexico	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 88,638
	King  17' Crouch  35' Johnson  47'	(Report)	Franco  45'

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30 May 2010	Japan	1–2	England	UPC-Arena, Graz Attendance: 15,326 Referee: Rene Eisner (Austria)
	Tulio  7'	(Report)	Tulio  72' (o.g.) Nakazawa  83' (o.g.)

World Cup qualifiers

England were in Group 6 of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification process.

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9 September 2009	England	5–1	Croatia	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 87,319 Referee: Alberto Undiano Mallenco (Spain)
	Lampard  7' (pen.), 59' Gerrard  18', 66' Rooney  77'	(Report)	Eduardo  72'

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10 October 2009	Ukraine	1–0	England	Dnipro Stadium, Dnipropetrovsk Attendance: 40,000 Referee: Damir Skomina (Slovenia)
	Nazarenko  27'	(Report)

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14 October 2009	England	3–0	Belarus	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 76,897 Referee: Lucilio Cardoso Cortez Batista (Portugal)
	Crouch  4', 76' Wright-Phillips  59'	(Report)

Final league standings

Premier League

Main article:Premier League 2009-10

In one of the most closely fought title races in recent history, Chelsea were crowned Premier League Champions for the third time in six years. Despite disappointment in the Champions League, the club managed to retain the FA Cup, recording their first domestic double under Carlo Ancelotti. The £80m departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid in the summer meant that Manchester United narrowly missed out on the title, though they managed to retain the League Cup. Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur qualified for the Champions League, while Manchester City, Aston Villa and Liverpool all qualified for the Europa League – the latter recording their lowest league finish since 1999.

Fulham built on last season's finish of 7th place as they came close to Europa League glory in Hamburg, losing 2–1 in extra time to Atlético Madrid with ex-Manchester United striker Diego Forlán scoring the winning goal. Newly promoted Birmingham finished 9th, their highest Premier League finish in decades.

Portsmouth endured a season of financial worries, a 9-point deduction and four different owners that effectively ended their 7-year stay in the top flight. Hull City failed to emulate their previous season's success and were also relegated. After the departure of inspirational manager Owen Coyle at the turn of the year, Burnley's league form under Brian Laws declined rapidly and they were relegated to the Championship after just one season. West Ham United and Wigan Athletic both achieved a narrow survival.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Notes
1	Chelsea	38	27	5	6	103	32	+71	86	2010-11 UEFA Champions League Group stage
2	Manchester United	38	27	4	7	86	28	+58	85
3	Arsenal	38	23	6	9	83	41	+42	75
4	Tottenham Hotspur	38	21	7	10	67	41	+26	70
5	Manchester City	38	18	13	7	73	45	+28	67	2010-11 UEFA Champions League Play-off round
6	Aston Villa	38	17	13	8	52	39	+13	64
7	Liverpool	38	18	9	11	61	35	+26	63
8	Everton	38	16	13	9	60	49	+11	61
9	Birmingham City	38	13	11	14	38	47	−9	50
10	Blackburn Rovers	38	13	11	14	41	55	−14	50
11	Stoke City	38	11	14	13	34	48	−14	47
12	Fulham	38	12	10	16	39	46	−7	46
13	Sunderland	38	11	11	16	48	56	−8	44
14	Bolton Wanderers	38	10	9	19	42	67	−25	39
15	Wolverhampton Wanderers	38	9	11	18	32	56	−24	38
16	Wigan Athletic	38	9	9	20	37	79	−42	36
17	West Ham United	38	8	11	19	47	66	−19	35
18	Burnley	38	8	6	24	42	82	−40	30	Relegation to 2010–11 Football League Championship
19	Hull City	38	6	12	20	34	75	−41	30
20	Portsmouth	38	7	7	24	34	66	−32	28

Updated to games played on 2 May 2010
Source: Barclays Premier League
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd number of goals scored.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round; (Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament

Football League Championship

Main article:2009–10 Football League Championship

Newcastle United put last season's relegation behind them as they returned to the Premier League at the first attempt, staying top for the majority of the season and losing just four games under the management of Chris Hughton. Roberto Di Matteo's first season in charge of West Bromwich Albion ended in automatic promotion for the Baggies for the 3rd time in eight years. They were joined by Blackpool, who were tipped by many as relegation favourites at the beginning of the season, but Ian Holloway's first season in charge of the Lancashire club saw them beat Cardiff City 3-2 in the play-off final, returning to the top flight for the first time since 1971.

Peterborough United went straight back down to League One, employing four different managers and propping up the table for the majority of the season. They were soon joined by Plymouth Argyle, who ended a six-year spell in the second tier. Crystal Palace, who had been on the brink of the play-offs before being penalised 10 points for entering administration, faced Sheffield Wednesday in the final match of the season as they both fought for survival. The game finished 2–2, which meant Palace survived and Wednesday were relegated to League One.

			P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
C	1	Newcastle United	46	30	12	4	90	35	+55	102
P	2	West Bromwich Albion	46	26	13	7	89	48	+41	91
	3	Nottingham Forest	46	22	13	11	65	40	+25	79
	4	Cardiff City	46	22	10	14	73	54	+19	76
	5	Leicester City	46	21	13	12	61	45	+16	76
P	6	Blackpool	46	19	13	14	74	58	+16	70
	7	Swansea City	46	17	18	11	40	37	+3	69
	8	Sheffield United	46	17	14	15	61	54	+7	65
	9	Reading	46	17	12	17	68	63	+5	63
	10	Bristol City	46	15	18	13	56	65	−9	63
	11	Middlesbrough	46	16	14	16	58	50	+8	62
	12	Doncaster Rovers	46	15	15	16	59	58	+1	60
	13	Queens Park Rangers	46	14	15	17	58	65	−7	57
	14	Derby County	46	15	11	20	53	63	−10	56
	15	Ipswich Town	46	12	20	14	50	61	−11	56
	16	Watford	46	14	12	20	61	68	−7	54
	17	Preston North End	46	13	15	18	58	73	−15	54
	18	Barnsley	46	14	12	20	53	69	−16	54
	19	Coventry City	46	13	15	18	47	64	−17	54
	20	Scunthorpe United	46	14	10	22	62	84	−22	52
	21	Crystal Palace	46	14	17	15	50	53	−3	49 A
R	22	Sheffield Wednesday	46	11	14	21	49	69	−20	47
R	23	Plymouth Argyle	46	11	8	27	43	68	−25	41
R	24	Peterborough United	46	8	10	28	46	80	−34	34

A – Crystal Palace deducted 10 points for entering administration

Leading goalscorers: Nicky Maynard (Bristol City) - 20, and Peter Whittingham (Cardiff City) - 20

Football League One

Main article:2009–10 Football League One

After recovering from an embarrassing 7–1 defeat to Colchester on the first day of the season, a turnaround under new manager Paul Lambert and the 24 goals from free-scoring striker Grant Holt saw Norwich City make an immediate return to the Championship. Leeds United secured automatic promotion in the runners-up spot; their season almost fell apart disastrously after they lead the table by eight points at the turn of the year and they also knocked Manchester United out of the FA Cup, but they rebounded in the final weeks of the season and a last day 2-1 victory over Bristol Rovers saw the Yorkshire side end their three-year spell in League One.

Millwall – who narrowly missed out on automatic promotion by just 1 point – beat Swindon in the play-off final, returning to the Championship after a 4-year absence.

Despite being deducted 10 points and missing out on the play-offs, Southampton managed to win the Football League Trophy and prolific striker Rickie Lambert was the league's top marksman with 31 goals.

Stockport spent the entire season in administration and were subsequently relegated. Southend were faced with financial problems, and were also relegated. Wycombe's first season at this level for six years proved a disappointment, and they were immediately relegated back to League Two. Gillingham also suffered an immediate relegation after their play-off victory the previous year, their inability to win an away fixture all season proved to be their downfall.

			P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
C	1	Norwich City	46	29	8	9	89	47	+42	95
P	2	Leeds United	46	25	11	10	77	44	+33	86
P	3	Millwall	46	24	13	9	76	44	+32	85
	4	Charlton Athletic	46	23	15	8	71	48	+23	84
	5	Swindon Town	46	22	16	8	73	57	+16	82
	6	Huddersfield Town	46	23	11	12	82	56	+26	80
	7	Southampton	46	23	14	9	85	47	+38	73 A
	8	Colchester United	46	20	12	14	64	52	+12	72
	9	Brentford	46	14	20	12	55	52	+3	62
	10	Walsall	46	16	14	16	60	63	−3	62
	11	Bristol Rovers	46	19	5	22	59	70	−11	62
	12	Milton Keynes Dons	46	17	9	20	60	68	−8	60
	13	Brighton & Hove Albion	46	15	14	17	56	60	−4	59
	14	Carlisle United	46	15	13	18	63	66	−3	58
	15	Yeovil Town	46	13	14	19	55	59	−4	53
	16	Oldham Athletic	46	13	13	20	39	57	−18	52
	17	Leyton Orient	46	13	12	21	53	63	−10	51
	18	Exeter City	46	11	18	17	48	60	−12	51
	19	Tranmere Rovers	46	14	9	23	45	72	−27	51
	20	Hartlepool United	46	14	11	21	59	67	−8	50*
R	21	Gillingham	46	12	14	20	48	64	−16	50
R	22	Wycombe Wanderers	46	10	15	21	56	76	−20	45
R	23	Southend United	46	10	13	23	51	72	−21	43
R	24	Stockport County	46	5	10	31	35	95	−60	25

A – Southampton deducted 10 points for administration entrance.

* – Hartlepool deducted 3 points for fielding an ineligible player.

Leading goalscorer: Rickie Lambert (Southampton) - 31

Football League Two

Main article:2009–10 Football League Two

Notts County's season mostly made the headlines for all the wrong reasons, as they were involved in an abortive high-spending takeover by a consortium who bought in Sven-Göran Eriksson as Director of Football, and got through four managers during the course of the season. However, they managed to shake off their off-field problems and won the title. Bournemouth continued their revival under Eddie Howe and won promotion in the runners-up spot. The last automatic promotion spot was won by Rochdale, who were promoted for the first time since 1969

Dagenham and Redbridge won the play-offs, reaching the 2nd tier of the Football League for the first time in their 18-year history.

Darlington were unable to recover from losing many of their players during their spell in administration at the end of the previous season, and were relegated in bottom place, becoming only the third club (after Halifax Town and Chester City) to be relegated to the Football Conference on two separate occasions. Grimsby suffered the relegation that they only avoided the previous year due to Luton Town's points deduction; their form improved significantly in the final weeks of the season, but they were ultimately undone by an earlier run of nearly five months without a win, and were relegated to the Blue Square Premier after losing on the final day.

			P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
C	1	Notts County	46	27	12	7	96	31	+65	93
P	2	Bournemouth	46	25	8	13	61	44	+17	83
P	3	Rochdale	46	25	7	14	82	48	+34	82
	4	Morecambe	46	20	13	13	73	64	+9	73
	5	Rotherham United	46	21	10	15	55	52	+3	73
	6	Aldershot Town	46	20	12	14	69	56	+13	72
P	7	Dagenham & Redbridge	46	20	12	14	69	58	+11	72
	8	Chesterfield	46	21	7	18	61	62	−1	70
	9	Bury	46	19	12	15	54	59	−5	69
	10	Port Vale	46	17	17	12	61	50	+11	68
	11	Northampton Town	46	18	13	15	62	53	+9	67
	12	Shrewsbury Town	46	17	12	17	55	54	+1	63
	13	Burton Albion	46	17	11	18	71	70	+1	62
	14	Bradford City	46	16	14	16	59	62	−3	62
	15	Accrington Stanley	46	18	7	21	62	74	−12	61
	16	Hereford United	46	17	8	21	54	65	−11	59
	17	Torquay United	46	14	15	17	64	55	+9	57
	18	Crewe Alexandra	46	15	10	21	68	73	−5	55
	19	Macclesfield Town	46	12	18	16	49	58	−9	54
	20	Lincoln City	46	13	11	22	42	65	−23	50
	21	Barnet	46	12	12	22	47	63	−16	48
	22	Cheltenham Town	46	10	18	18	54	71	−17	48
R	23	Grimsby Town	46	9	17	20	45	72	−27	44
R	24	Darlington	46	8	6	32	33	87	−54	30

Leading goalscorer: Lee Hughes (Notts County) - 30

Cup finals

FA Cup

Main article:FA Cup 2009-10

15 May 2010 15:00	Chelsea	1 – 0	Portsmouth	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 88,335 Referee: Chris Foy
		[Report]	Drogba  59'

Football League Cup

Main article:Football League Cup 2009-10

28 February 2010 15:00	Aston Villa	1 – 2	Manchester United	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 88,596 Referee: Phil Dowd
	Milner  74' (pen)	[Report]	Owen  12' Rooney  74'

FA Community Shield

Main article:FA Community Shield 2009

9 August 2009 15:00	Chelsea	2 – 2	Manchester United	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 88,596 Referee: Chris Foy
	Carvalho  52' Lampard  70'	[Report]	Nani  10' Rooney  90+2'

		Penalties
	Lampard Ballack Drogba Kalou	4 – 1	Giggs Carrick Evra

Football League Trophy

Main article:Football League Trophy 2009-10

28 March 2010 15:00	Carlisle United	1 – 4	Southampton	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 73,476 Referee: Scott Mathieson
	Madine  84'	[Report]	Lambert  15' (pen.) Lallana  44' Waigo  50' Antonio  60'

FA Trophy

Main article:FA Trophy 2009-10

8 May 2010 15:00	Barrow	2 – 1 (a.e.t.)	Stevenage Borough	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 21,223 Referee: Lee Probert
	McEvilly  79' Walker  107'	[Report]	Drury  10'

FA Vase

Main article:FA Vase 2009-10

8 May 2010 15:00	Whitley Bay	6 – 1	Wroxham	Wembley Stadium, London
		[Report]

See also

• English managerial changes 2009-10
• English transfers 2009-10