2014–15 In English Football

The 2014–15 season was the 135th season of competitive association football in England.

Promotion and relegation

Pre-season

National teams

England national football team

UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying

International Friendlies

England women's national football team

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification (UEFA)

UEFA competitions

2014–15 UEFA Champions League

Play-off Round

Group stage

=Group B

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=Group D

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=Group E

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=Group G

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Knockout phase

=Round of 16

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=Quarter-finals

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=Semi-finals

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2014–15 UEFA Europa League

Qualifying rounds

League season

Premier League

Despite criticism about their style of play, Chelsea regained the Premier League title after five years and handed manager José Mourinho his first title in his second spell back at the club. In addition, similar to the club's first season under Mourinho in 2004, the Blues also won the League Cup. Manchester City came second; whilst the highest scorers in the league, they never looked like defending their title. A large winless spell in January, not helped by powerhouse midfielder Yaya Touré heading to the Africa Cup of Nations saw their title defense effectively end in mid-March. Arsenal finished third, but missed out on the chance to take the runners-up spot, which was largely owed to a failure to score at home three times in their last six games. In spite of this, they retained the FA Cup title. Manchester United took the final spot for the Champions League, securing a return to the elite competition in Louis van Gaal's first season as manager, despite several defeats that included a shock 5–3 defeat to Leicester City and a 4–0 thrashing at Milton Keynes Dons in the League Cup.

Tottenham Hotspur's first season under Mauricio Pochettino saw the impressive emergence of young striker Harry Kane, but was also blighted by the issues of the previous season as their defensive woes continued; because of this, their Champions League hopes evaporated by early March. Liverpool endured a turbulent season as they struggled to adjust to life without controversial striker Luis Suárez, whilst also being without Daniel Sturridge for large portions of the campaign due to injury. Having stood 12th in late November with just 14 points, the team rallied after New Year's Day as they mounted a late Champions League attempt, with a focus more on defense than goals and impressively made the semi-finals of both club competitions, but ultimately fell short overall. In spite of these issues, however, both Spurs and Liverpool secured Europa League spots.

Southampton were tipped by many for relegation following the loss of Pochettino and many key players over the summer, but they exceeded all expectations by challenging for the Champions League, their challenge continuing into April until a poor run of form against relegation battlers saw them slip out of the race. In spite of this, manager Ronald Koeman received universal praise for his work at the club in his first season and because of Arsenal's FA Cup win, they qualified for the Europa League. Swansea secured their best points total in Garry Monk's first full season, becoming another club to exceed expectations and even complete league doubles over Manchester United and Arsenal, whilst Stoke finished ninth, securing their best points total in the top flight.

Rounding out the top ten were Crystal Palace, who were tipped to struggle following the departure of Tony Pulis just two days before the start of the season; former boss Neil Warnock returned for a second spell, but only lasted four months before being sacked with the club facing another relegation battle. The surprise managerial appointment of former player Alan Pardew saw the Eagles rocket up into mid-table and ultimately survive, securing their highest ever Premier League finish. Another surprise saw pre-season relegation favourites Leicester City achieve survival against all the odds. Despite a reasonable start that included a famous 5–3 victory over Manchester United, their form dropped and they fell to the bottom of the table in November. With relegation looking likely at the beginning of April, the Foxes suddenly came to life and secured 22 points from their last nine games to become the only promoted team to avoid the drop.

Queens Park Rangers' return to the Premier League ended in immediate relegation; the club's failure to earn an away point until mid-February proving to be a key factor despite the impressive 18 goals of Charlie Austin. Burnley finished second-bottom, being the lowest goal-scorers in the league and even a shock 1–0 win over Manchester City failing to save them. Hull City filled the last relegation spot, struggling for the majority of the season amidst controversial plans by chairman Assem Allam to change the club's name to Hull Tigers. Newcastle United, whose form sharply plummeted following the departure of Alan Pardew, survived on the last day.

Football League Championship

In a Championship season marked with constant changes among the top six, AFC Bournemouth completed a turnaround from being within five minutes of liquidation in 2008, to reaching the Premier League for the first time in their history. They remained top for around half the season and snatched the title on the last day to win promotion as champions. This meant that Eddie Howe had achieved the rare feat of taking a club from the fourth tier to the top flight for the first time, an achievement for which he was named the Football League Manager of the Decade.

Despite a spell in which they changed managers four times in 35 days between August and October, Watford found stability under Serbian Slaviša Jokanović and took advantage of slip-ups by other teams to win automatic promotion to the Premier League after an eight-year absence. Securing an immediate return to the Premier League through the play-offs were Norwich City, who beat Middlesbrough in the final; they had topped the standings early on in the season, only to fall to mid-table after a poor run of form within the winter period. Manager Neil Adams ultimately resigned in January, before the appointment of Hamilton boss Alex Neil in January re-invigorated the Canaries' campaign.

Reading endured a season of ups and downs, having first sacked Nigel Adkins in mid-December. This led to former West Bromwich Albion manager Steve Clarke taking over the reins and despite there being an outside chance of relegation going into the last few games, the Royals beat the drop and also reached the FA Cup semi-finals, losing to Arsenal in extra-time. Rotherham United came perilously close to being dropped into the relegation zone in the final weeks after they were deducted three points for fielding an ineligible player, though they ultimately stayed up after the teams below them failed to capitalise on the situation.

Blackpool finished in bottom place (having stayed in that place since September until the end of the season), posting the joint-worst points total for a club in a 24-team second tier, failing to win away once and conceding 91 goals overall. Relegation was not helped by fan protests against owner Owen Oyston's running of the club (eventually culminating in an on-field protest that forced their final game of the season to be abandoned), as well as the fact that they had only eight players two weeks before the season started. Wigan Athletic were also relegated, just two years after they had won the FA Cup and played in the Premier League. During the season, they went through three managers and failed to win a home game between September and April as the extra games from the previous season appeared to take its toll on the Latics. Millwall filled the final relegation spot, having sacked Ian Holloway in March and appointed Neil Harris as his replacement, but he could not save them from the drop to the third tier.

Football League One

Bristol City ended their two-year absence from the Championship, topping the division for virtually the entire season and becoming the first club in the country to win promotion. Milton Keynes Dons, the top scorers in any of the four divisions, snatched automatic promotion from under the noses of Preston North End on the final day, winning promotion to the Championship for the first time as the current incarnation of the club; they also enjoyed a famous Football League Cup upset over Manchester United in their first ever meeting. Preston made amends for their last-day slip-up by thrashing Swindon Town in the play-off final to end a five-year absence from the second tier, and in the process finally winning a play-off tournament after nine unsuccessful tries.

Despite being hotly tipped to make an immediate return to the Championship, Yeovil Town spent most of the season rooted to the bottom of the table (and in fact, they were glued to the bottom from February) and they suffered their second successive relegation, finding themselves back in League Two for the first time in a decade after only recording ten wins in the whole season. Similarly, Leyton Orient were also among the promotion favourites after their play-off final appearance the previous year but struggled all season after going through four managers and they ultimately finished second bottom. Crawley Town were relegated back to League Two after three years at this level; they had appeared to be well out of the reach of relegation but following manager John Gregory stepping down for heart surgery, their form collapsed under Dean Saunders. Notts County filled the final relegation spot, ultimately being cost dear by a disastrous second half of the season after some promising early form.

Crewe Alexandra survived a second relegation battle in a row despite more heavy thrashings in the season, whilst Colchester United's final day win to deny Preston automatic promotion confirmed their survival having been cut adrift for most of the season.

Football League Two

Just six years after their first ever promotion to the Football League and just missing out on promotion a year earlier, Burton Albion were promoted as champions. While manager Gary Rowett departed for Birmingham City early in the season, his replacement in top-flight legend Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink guided the club into the top six and then finally promotion. Shrewsbury Town went up in second, securing an instant return to League One; they had actually led the table for much of the season but were made to pay for slip-ups that Burton took advantage of. Taking the third automatic slot in dramatic fashion were Bury, who almost slipped out of the race, but a last-day win over Tranmere Rovers saw the club also promoted. Southend United were forced all the way to extra time and penalties by Wycombe Wanderers, but ultimately scraped past their opponents to take the last promotion spot and secure their place in League One.

Luton Town, on their return to the Football League after five years, just missed out on a playoff place by virtue of Plymouth Argyle's victory over Shrewsbury whilst Portsmouth suffered an even lower league finish than the previous year, finishing in 16th with the club failing to make anything similar to a promotion challenge, but some good run of forms prevented them from being in another relegation battle.

Falling out of the Football League were Tranmere Rovers, who suffered a second relegation in a row and dropped into the Football Conference after 94 years. Cheltenham Town filled the second relegation spot, falling out of the Football League after sixteen years; they had started the season reasonably well with 23 points from 14 games, but imploded disastrously after long-serving manager Mark Yates was sacked in favor of Paul Buckle, with not even the late-season arrival of veteran manager Gary Johnson saving them. Hartlepool United had been in the relegation zone for good chunks of the season, but an impressive March saw the club fight their way to safety.

Conference Premier

A close title race saw Barnet return to the Football League after a two-year absence, which also made them the first club to win promotion to the Football League three times. Pushing them all the way and then winning in the playoffs were Bristol Rovers who secured an immediate return to the Football League, despite being pushed themselves all the way to penalties by Grimsby.

Following the departure of manager Kevin Wilkin late in the previous season, Nuneaton were relegated in bottom place. AFC Telford United were immediately relegated back to the Conference North after being in bottom place for most of the season. Dartford finished third-bottom and experienced the relegation that they only avoided the previous season thanks to the demise of Salisbury City. Alfreton Town filled the final relegation spot and went down on goal difference; they were ultimately cost dear by having the worst defensive record in the division, eventually culminating in a 7–0 thrashing by Bristol Rovers on the final day of the season, when a draw would have been sufficient to prevent relegation.

Cup competitions

FA Cup

Final

League Cup

Final

Community Shield

Football League Trophy

Final

Women's football

FA Women's Cup

Women's Super League

Women's Super League 2

Managerial changes

This is a list of changes of managers within English league football:

Diary of the season

* 8 August: Blackburn Rovers and Cardiff City play out a 1–1 draw in the opening game of the season, with Kenwyne Jones getting the season's first goal.
* 16 August: The Premier League's first fixture sees Swansea defeat Manchester United 2–1. Swansea end the day joint-top with Arsenal, who won their own game against Crystal Palace by the same margin.
* 21 August: Crystal Palace sporting director Iain Moody is forced to resign from his position after a team investigating accusations of fraud made by his previous club Cardiff City discover numerous e-mails containing apparently racist, homophobic and anti-semitic insults, sent to and from former Cardiff manager Malky Mackay. The discovery also causes Crystal Palace to confirm that they will not appoint Mackay as their new manager, the position having been vacant since the resignation of Tony Pulis a week prior. Coventry City confirm that they will return to their former Ricoh Arena ground starting with their home game against Gillingham on 5 September, ending a spell of a little over a year playing at Northampton Town's Sixfields Stadium due to a rent dispute.
* 26 August: In the League Cup second round, Manchester United lose 4–0 to League One side Milton Keynes Dons. Three other Premier League sides fall to lower-league opposition, as Burnley are knocked out by Sheffield Wednesday, Leicester City by Shrewsbury Town, and West Ham by Sheffield United.
* 28 August: Wayne Rooney is confirmed as the new England captain, following Steven Gerrard

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