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      LEAGUE 1    2019/20
     
     

See notes below table
   

 Leading League goalscorer:
Ivan Toney
(Peterborough United)
24 goals

The tragedy that was coronavirus saw the last League 1 matches played on Tuesday March 10th leaving 106 fixtures unplayed. At an EFL meeting on June 9th it was confirmed that the season would be officially ended with a unweighted points per game figure deciding league positions. 

The one major change that made was seeing Wycombe rise five places to the most favourable play-off position with the loser being Peterborough United who lost out on a play-off place. Posh's Barry Fry had his say, of course, believing it to be the worst day in his 60 years involvement with football. Wycombe then went on to beat Oxford in the Play Off Final at a behind closed doors Wembley to claim their place in the Championship for the first time.

How the other half live! 
At the time Manchester United were announcing their record -breaking signing of Harry Maguire for £80 million two of United's near neighbours - Bolton and Bury - must have wished they could have a fraction of that amount in their bank accounts. 

Both Bolton and Bury had started the season with -12 points after breaking Football League financial rules (points deductions). The League had also required the clubs to prove to them that they would be financial viable during the new season. Being unable to do this Bury suffered the suspension (postponement) of their first six League and Cup matches before tragically having their League status removed by the League on August 27th because of the financial issues.
More info

It was also bleak at Coventry City. Six years after a groundshare at Northampton Town had ended another fall-out with the Ricoh's owners (Wasps Rugby Union club) saw them on the move again. Their new home - Birmingham City's St Andrews ground.

   P W D L F A Pts

PPG

Position
Change
    Results 1 Coventry City 34 18 13 3 48 30 67 1.971 Promoted -
    Results 2 Rotherham United 35 18 8 9 61 38 62 1.771 Promoted -
    Results 3 Wycombe Wanderers 34 17 8 9 45 40 59 1.735 Promoted +5
    Results 4 Oxford United 35 17 9 9 61 37 60 1.714 Play Off -1
    Results 5 Portsmouth 35 17 9 9 53 36 60 1.714 Play Off -1
    Results 6 Fleetwood Town 35 16 12 7 51 38 60 1.714 Play Off -1
    Results 7 Peterborough United 35 17 8 10 68 40 59 1.686 -1
    Results 8 Sunderland 36 16 11 9 48 32 59 1.639 -1
    Results 9 Doncaster Rovers 34 15 9 10 51 33 54 1.588 -
    Results 10 Gillingham 35 12 15 8 42 34 51 1.457 +1
    Results 11 Ipswich Town 36 14 10 12 46 36 52 1.444 -1
    Results 12 Burton Albion 35 12 12 11 50 50 48 1.371 -
    Results 13 Blackpool 35 11 12 12 44 43 45 1.286 -
    Results 14 Bristol Rovers 35 12 9 14 38 49 45 1.286 -
    Results 15 Shrewsbury Town 34 10 11 13 31 42 41 1.206 +1
    Results 16 Lincoln City 35 12 6 17 44 46 42 1.200 -1
    Results 17 Accrington Stanley 35 10 10 15 47 53 40 1.143 -
    Results 18 Rochdale 34 10 6 18 39 57 36 1.059 +1
    Results 19 Milton Keynes Dons 35 10 7 18 36 47 37 1.057 -1
    Results 20 AFC Wimbledon 35 8 11 16 39 52 35 1.000 -
    Results 21 Tranmere Rovers 34 8 8 18 36 60 32 0.941 Relegated -
    Results 22 Southend United 35 4 7 24 39 85 19 0.543 Relegated -
    Results 23 Bolton Wanderers 34 5 11 18 27 66 14

*

0.412 Relegated -
   
    Fixtures Bury

 

Bury had a 12 point penalty before the season started but then sadly lost their League place before playing a match - more details.
   
Full home and away table
   


Notes - 
With 106 matches remaining when the coronavirus pandemic brought the League 1 season to a halt the traditional points table couldn't be used to calculate final positions as the clubs had played differing numbers of matches - 34, 35 or 36 league fixtures each. Various ideas were put forward to even out the differences but a straightforward points per game solution was adopted (points divided by games played) with goal difference deciding placings where PPG was the same. The first part of the table above shows details of the traditional table and is followed by the PPG figures which been used to decide final table positions. The final column shows the differences in league positions the move from points to PPG made to each club. As mentioned (left) the most significant changes affected Wycombe and Peterborough but with up to 10 matches remaining fans of many clubs would have been hoping to get a promotion spot, a place in the play-offs or to get out of the relegation area. That's football!

* Bolton suffered a 12 point penalty after entering administration. Bury also suffered a 12 point deduction for the same reason but were sadly expelled from the League before playing a match in 2019/20. More details - points deductions
   
   
All the Play Off matches were played behind closed doors.
Play Off Semi-Finals    Play Off
1st Leg
Fri Jul 3 Fleetwood Town 1 - 4 Wycombe Wanderers
Fri Jul 3 Portsmouth 1 - 1 Oxford United
2nd Leg
Mon Jul 6 Wycombe Wanderers 2 - 2 Fleetwood Town
Mon Jul 6 Oxford United 1 - 1 Portsmouth
Aggregate scores
Wycombe Wanderers 6 - 3 Fleetwood Town
Oxford United 2 - 2 Portsmouth
   Oxford won 5-4 on penalties
                 
Play Off Final (at Wembley)
Mon Jul 13 Wycome Wanderers 2 - 1 Oxford United
Wycombe Wanderers were promoted to the Championship.
    

 


For a really satisfying cigarette that's kind to your throat give me Craven 'A' every time.'

Amazingly Stanley Matthews - a teetotal vegetarian non-smoker who was fit enough to play in the old First Division at 50 years old once endorsed smoking in adverts! Read all about it, click on....
Those were the days!
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