ATV Midlands Football Highlights 1968-83
The Midlands Sunday highlights version of Star Soccer began on Sunday 11th August 1968 covering a goalless draw between West Bromwich Albion and Sheffield Wednesday. The commentator, 45 year old Hugh Johns, was already familiar to Midlands viewers having described a number of England matches (including the triumphant 1966 World Cup final) and Manchester United's 1968 European Cup final victory for the whole ITV network, Johns became best known for his catchphrase "One-nothing!" which he often shouted out whenever the first goal was scored.

The origins of Star Soccer
ATV, who produced the programme, had originally provided the first weekend commercial television service for the London area (starting in September 1955). Ten years later they began producing an infrequent football highlights show for London viewers only (also called Star Soccer), the Midlands and North's weekend commercial service at that time was ABC television who produced World Of Soccer with Gerry Loftus. The original commentator on the London version of Star Soccer was Peter Lorenzo, Hugh Johns joined from TWW (Television Wales and West) and one of his earliest ATV assignments was an FA Cup tie between Chelsea and Hull City in March 1966*.

*Johns may also have been on the mic for at least one pre-1968/69 mid-week Midlands match which could have gone out under the Star Soccer title as ATV had broadcast a Monday-Friday service to the Midlands since 1956.

In July 1968 ATV lost their weekend Capital franchise to 'London Weekend Television' but they would gain an exclusive seven days a week Midlands contract, Hugh Johns was retained by ATV - as was the Star Soccer brand - and both then became synonymous with Midlands football*. The show was still being broadcast in black and white in 1968 but was now hosted by the ex-Wolverhampton Wanderers legend Billy Wright (who had co-commentated with Johns in the ATV London era). From November 1969 Star Soccer was broadcast in colour and in 1972 former Westward TV presenter Gary Newbon took over as the anchor man in the studio, Newbon could still be seen presenting the programme in its' final season of 1982/83 whilst Hugh Johns lasted until the end of 1981/82.

See here for an article on Star Soccer published in 1977.

*Star Soccer would sometimes be screened by other smaller regions who struggled to justify covering matches of their own (HTV and Border for example).

The ATV/Central region's clubs 1968-1983

West Brom & Wolves
Chosen for ATV Midlands first ever Star Soccer match, Alan Ashman's West Bromwich Albion were the region's undisputed glamour club at the start of 1968/69 having just won the FA Cup thanks to a goal scored by one of the game's best known strikers of the period, Jeff Astle, Albion also found another potent goalscorer in Ally Brown.
Still fresh in the memory at the time was the late 1950's glory days of Wolverhampton Wanderers who were now back in the top flight with the likes of Derek 'The Doog' Dougan and Peter Knowles (who quit football at the age of 25 in 1969 due to his beliefs as a Jehovah's witness). The first ATV covered black country derby in February 1970 ended in a 3-3 draw, viewers had to wait until October 1972 to see a victory between the two when Don Howe's West Brom won 1-0 thanks to a goal by Bobby Gould, but it was Wolves (managed by Bill McGarry since November 1968) who were generally the more successful side in the early 1970's, winning the League Cup in 1974 as well as reaching the final of the UEFA cup two years earlier, but they then suffered a surprise relegation in 1976 - a fate already suffered by West Brom back in 1973, by which time two other clubs had emerged as the Midlands front-runners......

Derby & Stoke
Stoke City's first home appearance on Star Soccer saw them beat league champions Manchester City in September 1968, Tony Waddington's Potters reached two consecutive FA Cup Semi-finals in 1971 & 72 (both on ITV), inbetween which they won the League Cup (also on ITV) and then finished 5th in '73/74 and '74/75. The stars in stripes included England goalkeeper Gordon Banks, Mike Pejic, Alan Hudson, Terry Conroy and George Eastham. Derby County were even more successful to the point of dominating Midlands football in the first half of the '70's with two top flight championships, the first was managed by the region's biggest football personality of the Star Soccer era, Brian Clough, who had also guided Derby to promotion as champions of the 2nd tier in 1969, the Rams enjoyed an impressive run of ATV recorded victories in their first season back in the top flight (Spurs & Liverpool both thrashed, West Brom and Man Utd also beaten) before Derby claimed the ultimate domestic prize in 1972. By this time the combined average viewing figures for ITV regional highlights was said to be around 8 million, but sadly viewers were largely denied the chance of watching the likes of Kevin Hector, John Robson, Colin Todd, Alan Hinton and Roy McFarland in the latter stages of Derby's triumphant campaign as TV cameras were apparently no longer welcome at the Baseball Ground*. Highlights from Derby home matches were back on TV the following season and the Rams went on to win the league once again in 1975 under Dave MacKay. Brian Clough had fallen out with the Derby board in 1973 and then spent a couple of inauspicious season's managing outside the region, but he would be back......

*Following the televised win over Coventry City on 29th January 1972, only one further Derby home match of the title winning 1971/72 season appears to have been shown on TV (and that was on the BBC), ATV are not known to have covered another Derby home match until 28th October 1972.

Notts County & Forest
The two Nottingham clubs began the Star Soccer years at opposite ends of the four divisions, yet by the mid-1970's both were competing in the 2nd tier and it was Notts County who began to gain the upper hand under manager Jimmy Sirrel, a fact that became apparent to ATV viewers when the Magpies' Les Bradd netted a last minute winner at the City Ground in August 1975, but in the same year that Sirrel was tempted away from County to manage outside the Midlands, Brian Clough returned to the region as manager of Nottingham Forest. Ex-Derby heroes John O'Hare, Archie Gemmill and captain John McGovern all joined Clough at Forest who won promotion in 1976/77 (best remembered on Star Soccer for a 6-1 win v Sheffield United). England goalkeeper Peter Shilton (ex Leicester and Stoke) also arrived at the City Ground for Forest's first season back in the top flight, ATV viewers saw them beat Derby 3-0 on the 2nd weekend of a campaign that ended with Forest being crowned as champions, they also added two League cups to the trophy cabinet in 1978 and 1979 and then went on to lift the European Cup, not once, but twice - in succession! The only goal in their initial 1979 European Cup final success was scored by the first million pound player, Trevor Francis, who had followed Kenny Burns to Forest from Birmingham City.....

Birmingham & Villa
The two clubs representing the Midlands 'capital' city had both struggled to make much of an impression in the early days of Star Soccer, Aston Villa even dropped into the 3rd tier in 1970 as well as suffering a 4-0 defeat in the first Birmingham derby to be televised by ATV back in September 1968, but both were to achieve promotion in 1972 with Freddie Goodwin's Birmingham (boasting a formidable front line of Trevor Francis, Bob Latchford and Bob Hatton) making a return to the top flight whilst Vic Crowe's Villa won promotion from the 3rd. As a 2nd tier club (now managed by Ron Saunders) Aston Villa won the League Cup in 1975 and two years later they won it again - this time as a top flight outfit. Regular Birmingham derby's had resumed in September 1975 with Star Soccer viewers witnessing a 2-1 home win for the Villa (Chico Hamilton and Brian Little on target for the winning side). Almost a year to the day later, ATV captured a victory for the Blues on the same ground by the same score, this being the first in a sequence of Star Soccer Brum-derby away victories registered by both clubs before the Blues were relegated in 1979.

The early 1980's
At the turn of the decade, Wolves and West Brom seemed the most likely Midlands clubs to challenge Forest's dominance, John Barnwell's men in gold included the long serving Kenny Hibbitt and John Richards as well as George 'that Afro' Berry, whilst Ron Atkinson's Albion lined up with an unprecedented triumvirate of black players; Laurie Cunningham, Cyrille Regis and Brendon Batson. Wolves underlined their credentials in the 1980 League Cup final by beating Forest 1-0 with a goal by another million pound man, Andy Gray (signed from Aston Villa), yet it was Villa who emerged as the third and final Midlands club to achieve big-time success during the Star Soccer era as the Claret and blues matched Derby and Forest's league championship glory by winning the title in 1981 (manager Ron Saunders only used 14 players all season; Tony Morley, Gary Shaw and Gordon Cowans among them).
Meanwhile Notts County completed a hat-trick of promotions from the 4th division to the 1st - The ascent had begun in 1971 with the 4th Division title, the ultimate promotion to the top flight was sealed in 1981 after manager Jimmy Sirrel and club captain Don Masson had both returned to the club to finish the job, Notts then produced one of the great Star Soccer upsets by beating League champions Aston Villa at Villa Park with a goal from Iain McCulloch on the opening day of 1981/82, a season that ended with the Villa captain Dennis Mortimer (ex Coventry) lifting the European Cup after Peter Withe's goal was enough to beat Bayern Munich in the final. By this time Ron Saunders had quit the club after falling out with the Chairman and, as with Derby and Forest before them, Villa were unable to keep pace with the all conquering Liverpool machine.
The two Midlands clubs managed by Brian Clough had begun to develop a keen rivalry in the early days of ATV coverage, one which ought to have reached epic proportions after 'Cloughie' began having success with Forest, but Derby were no longer up to the challenge and were relegated in 1980. However, the Rams did record the two best remembered victories in Star Soccer 'A52' meetings, Derby had won 4-2 at the City Ground back in November 1970, then in January 1983 came the eagerly anticipated FA Cup clash between Clough and his ex-assistant Peter Taylor (now the Derby manager) following their much publicised falling out, Central TV cameras were at the Baseball ground to record Saturday night highlights of a 2-0 win for the home side.
Stoke City had already pre-empted Derby's fade from an early 1970's heyday with relegation in 1977, but unlike the Rams (who's 1980 demotion eventually led to time being spent in the 3rd tier), Stoke quickly restored their top flight status with a promotion in 1979 under Alan Durban, the Victoria Ground hosted a latter day Star Soccer classic in September 1982 with a ding-dong 4-4 draw v Luton Town (Stoke keeper Peter Fox was sent off and Luton also missed a penalty). The supporters of another, as yet unmentioned Midlands team became very used to the ups and downs of promotion and relegation whilst their neighbours seemed to be curiously immune from the process.......

Leicester & Coventry
Leicester City turned out to be the Midlands top flight/2nd tier yo-yo club of the period, swapping divisions no less than six times between '68 and '83. Frank O'Farrell, Jock Wallace and Gordon Milne oversaw the three promotion campaigns, whilst Jimmy Bloomfield was in charge for the lengthiest run in the top flight, during which Leicester arguably fielded the most charismatic and gifted player to grace the region, Frank Worthington. The last of the three promotions in 1983 was Star Soccer's final Midlands success story in which the club also produced a home grown superstar in Gary Lineker (who went on to become top scorer in the 1986 World Cup finals). By the time Star Soccer came to an end, only one local team had remained in the top flight throughout its' run; Coventry City. Managed by Noel Cantwell, then Joe Mercer, Gordon Milne and finally Dave Sexton, the sky blues came through numerous relegation battles unscathed, but they were to become embroiled in a dispute with TV companies in the early 1980's over shirt sponsorship which saw them disappear from our screens for a time*. Coventry heroes over the years included Willie Carr (later Wolves), Mick Coop, Ernie Hunt, Ian Wallace (later Forest) and Mark Hateley. No Midlands club managed to win the FA Cup during the period Star Soccer was on air, although Leicester reached the final in 1969 and Coventry were to triumph four years after the programme ended (no Midlands club has won it since!).

*Sponsorship on shirts first began to take off at the very end of the 1970's, but sponsored shirts could not be worn in front of TV cameras until the 1983/84 season.

Shrewsbury, Hereford, Walsall & Port Vale
Unlike some of the other region's highlights programmes, Star Soccer was fortunate to have such a wide choice of relatively successful teams to cover. Of the core bona-fide Midlands clubs, only Walsall and Port Vale failed to enjoy at least one season in the upper tiers, yet Walsall were still featured on the programme from time to time including a giant killing FA Cup victory over Leicester (then in the top flight) in 1978. Hereford United had been added to the Midlands roster of league clubs in 1972 making a seamless transition from non-league to life in the 4th division by winning an immediate promotion to the 3rd, which they were then crowned champions of in 1976 under John Sillett. Graham Turner's Shrewsbury Town also finished top of the 3rd in 1979 inbetween two notable efforts to reach the Quarter-finals of the FA Cup, the first of which saw them take Wolves to a replay after an ATV televised 1-1 draw at Molineux. The Shrews remained in the 2nd tier long after Star Soccer was taken off the air.

Swindon & Oxford
Among the region's fringe/overlap reception areas were Oxford and Swindon who's football clubs both attracted the attention of ATV in the early days*, Arthur Turner's Oxford United had won promotion to the 2nd tier in 1968 (only six years after first joining the Football League) whilst Swindon Town enjoyed an incredible season in 1968/69 under Danny Williams by winning the League Cup as well as promotion from the 3rd tier. Both dropped back into the lower divisions in the mid-'70s and their next notable period's of success came too late for Star Soccer.

*ATV/Central coverage of the Swindon area overlapped with that of HTV WEST who's cameras were also sent to Swindon Town's ground on numerous occasions. A proportion of viewers around Oxford were tuned to the London service. Some viewers in the Stoke area were tuned to Granada.

Other fringe Midlands clubs
Northampton Town* were paid a visit by ATV when Manchester United came into town in 1970 for what has since become perhaps the best known of all Star Soccer featured matches after George Best scored 6 times in an 8-2 FA Cup win**. In the North, Mansfield Town enjoyed a single season in the 2nd tier under Peter Morris in 1977/78 but neither Chesterfield or Lincoln City were able to climb out of the old 3rd division and Star Soccer pretty much left Yorkshire Television to showcase both them and the Stags.

*As well as Northampton Town, Peterborough United could almost be regarded as a Midlands club, especially after Central began their Central News East service, although both towns were still primarily covered by Anglia.
**ATV may have been encouraged to cover the 1970 Northampton v Man Utd cup tie because Anglia would not be colour equipped until mid-way through the following season. No other Northampton home games are known to have hosted ATV/Central cameras.

Star Soccer programme format
I first saw Star Soccer during the 1973/74 season (Derby v QPR), but didn't really start watching it properly until 1977. I recall that the programme was typically an hour in length, would start sometime between 2pm-2:30pm on Sunday afternoons and would be divided into three parts; Part one would begin with a studio introduction* into the main match which would almost always be the Midlands ground ATV cameras had been sent to regardless of the result (so if the match had ended in a goalless bore, it would still dominate the programme even though footage available from other regions might have yielded more excitement). Around 10/15 minutes of highlights of the first half would end with a wide angled shot of the pitch overlaid with a half-time score caption and a snatch of theme-tune fanfare before the first ad break (which would invariably showcase local DIY and furniture stores together with products aimed at men such as beer, cigar, car and aftershave ads). Part two would typically begin with another burst of the theme-tune and a shot of the players ready to kick off with score caption, then another 10/15 minutes worth of highlights from the 2nd half would be followed by interviews with managers/players conducted on the pitch after the spectators had left the ground. Part three would show one or two matches from other regions (preferably involving a Midlands team playing away) but these would be re-edited from the original edits to fit into a shorter time slot (the 3rd match would be little more than just the goals), there was also a round-up of local football interest read to camera by another presenter (Trevor East and then later Tony Francis, Nick Owen and Bob Hall). Occasionally there'd be a "Dancing footballers" sequence which would be a rather crude montage of action clips of just a split second or two (players falling over, fouls, players kissing eachother in celebration etc.) all shuttled rapidly backwards and forwards in time to a pop hit of the day for 'hilarious' results**. I don't remember any post match analysis on the programme until Jimmy Greaves was recruited for the start of season 1980/81 when the show was switched to a Saturday night slot for the first time.

*Prior to 1977/78 season, Hugh Johns would usually be the first voice heard on the programme - welcoming viewers to whichever ground he was at.
**I believe the "Dancing footballers" technique was first employed to fill time during ITV's coverage of the 1970 World Cup finals in Mexico.

The Star Soccer theme tunes
The classic 1970's Star Soccer theme tune was specially commissioned for the programme. Composed by Richard Hill, it was simply titled "Star Soccer" (download it here). The show originally had a different tune when the Midlands version began in 1968*, I have a hunch that the more familiar tune was not introduced until around 1971 as it sounds, to my ears, like an attempt to mimic the feel of the new Match of the Day theme over on BBC1**. A 3rd signature tune was introduced from the start of the 1981/82 season.

*If anybody can remember the original late 1960's Star Soccer theme, do please let us know. I have an mp3 of what might be it.
**Match of the Day had replaced its' original antiquated theme tune ("Drum Majorette" by Major Statham) in August 1970. Barry Stoller composed the new theme which is still used today.

Central Television
ATV was replaced by Central Television on 1st January 1982, the new station was more of a name change than a brand new company although they were now obliged to be more locally orientated. ATV had been based in Birmingham but they had held onto premises in Borehamwood (a remnant of ATV's London franchise era), Central would cease producing programmes from Borehamwood and build a new studio in Nottingham from where they would provide a separate local news service for those in the East of the region. Central retained the Star Soccer brand for their football highlights programmes but the 1982/83 season saw a change in commentator when Hugh Johns* was replaced by Peter Brackley. A typical "TV Times" entry for the show that season read as follows.... "Gary Newbon and Jimmy Greaves head Star Soccer's team, with another fast moving Saturday night's soccer show. The Central cameras bring you coverage of a top Second Division match with commentary by Peter Brackley, while there are highlights from two other top matches - both from the First Division. Nick Owen's news spot rounds up the day's main football stories. Editor - Trevor East, Producer - Sid Kilbey." Bob Hall could also now often be seen presenting the programme. Sadly this would be Star Soccer's final season.

**Hugh Johns (born 6th September 1922) continued to work for HTV Wales for whom he'd done mid-week sports presenting work whilst employed by Star Soccer, he died on 27th June 2007 at the age of 84.

What's left in the archives?
Very little pre-1981/82 season editions of Star Soccer are thought to have survived. All of the 1960's & '70's archive footage seen since appears to have been culled from tapes of LWT's The Big Match which would sometimes select Midlands footage to be shown after the main London based match (often in re-edited form). Therefore virtually all of the extended Midlands highlights, the studio based footage of Billy Wright/Gary Newbon and all the interviews with managers and players from the late 1960's and 1970's have probably been lost forever. Some special editions (Cup final highlights etc.) of early editions still exit, but the earliest known surviving typical episode (ie. highlights of Saturday league matches) is apparently the 10/Dec/1977 edition, this being one of only three such shows from the 1970's that appear to have been preserved*. Happily a fair number of programmes from 1981-83 are still in the vaults.

*Shows known to have survived are held by the BFI. The 14/Aug/1971 edition may possibly survive in complete form, there are also a few examples of raw footage from early-mid '70' matches (just the action, not of the broadcast programme) as well as an Anglo-Scottish [Texaco] Cup edition from Aug/1974. Apparently Star Soccer was sold to an Australian TV station (Channel 7) around 1973/74, so there may be some copies existing there, but by 1975 only LWT's The Big Match could be seen down under (on ABC). From the Autumn of 1969 feeds of ATV coverage was beamed to the Swedish TV channel SVT for live broadcast on Saturday afternoons and this went on for at least a couple of season's, the Swedes have a good archiving policy so something of interest might also turn up there (but if so, it would probably have a Swedish commentary).

What matches were shown
The following lists detail all the matches recorded by ATV/Central cameras as the main match for Star Soccer, the re-edits of other region's games are not included here (see the other region's pages for those). Given dates are for when the match was played (not the broadcast). Blanks* denote that we don't know what game was shown (if one was shown at all), winter postponements may have forced ATV/Central to occasionally schedule an alternate non-football programme. Known mid-week Midlands based matches (not necessarily aired under the title Star Soccer) are included in grey, networked ITV coverage of other matches of interest are in italics.

*Do please e-mail [email protected] if you are able to fill in any blanks/missing scorers. We'd also like to include each 'Midlands goal of the season' in the footnotes (so far we only have the one for 1976/77) and anything else Star Soccer related that you might consider worthy of a mention.

Season 1968/69
All "Star Soccer" programmes for this season were broadcast in 405-line black & white on VHF only.
10/Aug     West Bromwich Albion 0 Sheffield Wednesday 0
17/Aug     Leicester City 1 (Nish) Ipswich Town 3 (Crawford, O'Rourket, Hegan)
24/Aug     Abandoned Match - Nottingham Forest 1 (Hilley) Leeds United 1 (Belfitt)  *Abandoned after 45 mins due to a fire in the main stand
31/Aug     Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 (Bailey) Stoke City 1 (Elder)
07/Sep     Stoke City 1 (Conroy) Manchester City 0
14/Sep     Nottingham Forest 0 Coventry City 0 *Played at Notts County's ground
21/Sep     Birmingham City 4 (Summerhill, Greenhoff, Vincent, Vowden) Aston Villa 0
28/Sep     Leicester City 1 (Fern) Coventry City 1 (Hunt)
05/Oct     Coventry City 0 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 (Dougan)
12/Oct     Leicester City 0 West Bromwich Albion 2 (Astle, Hartford)
19/Oct     Showed LWT coverage of Chelsea 3 (Baldwin 3) Leicester City 0
26/Oct     Showed Granada coverage of Man City 3 (Bell, Young, Hindley) Nottm Forest 3 (Moore, Baker,Chapman)
02/Nov    Birmingham City 0 Oxford United 1 (G. Atkinson)
09/Nov    Wolverhampton W. 2 (Farrington, Bailey) West Ham United 0
16/Nov    Coventry City 0 Leeds United 1 (Madeley)
23/Nov    Stoke City 0 Manchester United 0
30/Nov    West Bromwich Albion 3 (Brown, Rees, Hartford) Sunderland 0
07/Dec     Leicester City 2 (Nish, Fern) Manchester United 1 (Law)
14/Dec     Coventry City 0  Arsenal 1 (Gould)
21/Dec     Stoke City 0 Everton 0
28/Dec     Showed Anglia coverage of Northampton T. 0 Luton Town 2 (Rioch 2)
04/Jan      West Bromwich 3 (Forbes, Rees, Astle) Norwich City 0 [FA Cup 3rd Round]
11/Jan      Wolverhampton W. 1 (Knowles) Nottingham Forest 0
18/Jan      Showed LWT coverage of Charlton Athletic 2 (Treacey, Tees) Derby County 0
25/Jan      Tottenham Hotpsur 2 (Johnson, Greaves) Wolves 1 (Wagstaffe) [FA Cup 4th Round] *ATV cameras venturing outside the Midlands region
01/Feb     Derby County 2 (Hector 2) Cardiff City 0
08/Feb     Bad weather *Only 4 fixtures played from all divisions
15/Feb     Wolverhampton W. 2 (Dougan, Curran) Manchester United 2 (Charlton, Best)
19/Feb     West Bromwich Albion 0 Dunfermline 1 [Cup Winners Cup QF 2nd Leg] *Dumfermline win 1-0 on agg
22/Feb     Charlton Athletic 1 (Moore) Aston Villa 1 (Simmons) *ATV cameras again venturing outside the region
01/Mar     Leicester City 0 Liverpool 0 [FA Cup Quarter Final]
08/Mar     West Bromwich Albion 0 Chelsea 3 (Boyle, Houseman, Hutchinson)
15/Mar     Networked LWT coverage of the League Cup Final - Swindon Town 3 (Smart, Rogers 2) Arsenal 1 (Gould)
22/Mar     Networked coverage of Manchester City 1 (Booth) Everton 0 [FA Cup Semi Final]
29/Mar     Swindon Town 0 Watford 1 (Endean)
05/Apr     West Bromwich Albion 1 (Astle) Everton 1 (Ball(pen))
12/Apr     Aston Villa 1 (Simmons) Birmingham City 0
19/Apr     Walsall 0 Swindon Town 2 (Rogers 2)
26/Apr     Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - Leicester City 0 Manchester City 1 (Young)

1968/69 saw West Brom finish as the highest placed Midlands club (10th in the top flight with Jeff Astle netting 21 of their league goals), the region's other top flight clubs were Wolves, Nottingham Forest, Stoke City, Coventry City and Leciester City. In the 2nd tier Derby County (managed by Brian Clough) won promotion as champions and Dave MacKay was jointly named "Footballer of the year", Birmingham City, Aston Villa and Oxford United were also competing at this level at the time. Swindon Town of the 3rd tier won promotion as well as sensationally winning the League Cup by beating Arsenal at Wembley. But there was heartbreak for Leicester City who were not only relegated from the top flight, they also suffered the pain of losing yet another 1960's FA Cup final (having already lost in both the 1961 and 1963 finals).

Season 1969/70
All "Star Soccer" programmes up to 8th November 1969 were broadcast in 405 line black & white on VHF only.
09/Aug     Leicester City 3 (Fern, Manley, Lochhead) Birmingham City 1 (Summerill)
16/Aug     Nottingham Forest 1 (Rees) Leeds United 4 (Clarke, Gray, Giles, Lorimer)
23/Aug     Wolverhampton W. 0 Manchester United 0
30/Aug     West Bromwich Albion 0 Derby County 2 (McKay, Hector)
06/Sep     Wolverhampton W. 3 (Curran 2, Dougan) Nottingham Forest 3 (Newton 2, Rees) *Peter Knowles last match for Wolves
13/Sep     Stoke City 4 (Herd, Ritchie 2, Greenhoff) Sunderland 2 (Harris, McGiven)
20/Sep     Derby County 5 (Durban 2, Hector, Carlin, O'Hare) Tottenham Hotspur 0 *YTV's Keith Macklin commentated (Hugh Johns ill?)
27/Sep     Coventry City 1 (Hunt) Leeds 2 (Clarke, Gray) *Keith Macklin commentated, at least for Yorkshire TV
04/Oct     Derby County 2 (Hector, Fitzpatrick(og)) Manchester United 0
11/Oct     Nottingham Forest 2 (Moore, Lyons) Manchester City 2 (Lee 2)
18/Oct     Aston Villa 0 Birmingham 0
25/Oct     Coventry City 0 Everton 1 (Royle)
01/Nov    Derby County 4 (McGovern, O'Hare, Hector 2) Liverpool 0 *Recorded in colour for test purposes
08/Nov    Probably showed LWT coverage of Arsenal 4 (George, Sammels 2, Armstrong) Derby 0
From 15th November 1969 ATV began broadcasting on 625 line PAL colour on UHF, "Star Soccer" was now videotaped and broadcast in colour from this point onwards.
15/Nov    Probably showed colour LWT or Granada match (ATV ob colour unit still not ready?)
22/Nov    West Bromwich Albion 3 (Hope, Astle, Suggett) Sheffield Wednesday 0
29/Nov    Walsall 3 (Taylor, Baker, Woodward) Shrewsbury Town 2 (Andrews 2) *Wolves 1 Sunderland 0 beamed to Sweden
06/Dec    Coventry City 3 (Machin, O'Rourke, Gibson) Tottenham Hotspur 2 (England, Gilzean)
13/Dec    Leicester City 1 (Fern) Cardiff City 2 (Clarke, King)
20/Dec    Nottingham Forest 4 (Hilley 2, Hindley, Moore) Wolverhampton W. 2 (McCalling, Wilson)
27/Dec    LWT coverage of QPR (Bridges 2) Birmingham City 0 may have been shown in the Midlands
03/Jan     Leicester City 1 (Roberts) Sunderland 0 [FA Cup 3rd Round]
10/Jan     Stoke City 0 Liverpool 2 (Graham, Thompson)
17/Jan     Leicester City 0 Swindon Town 2 (Horsfield 2)
24/Jan     Derby County 3 (O'Hare 2, Durbon) Sheffield Utd 0 [FA Cup 4th Round]
31/Jan     West Bromwich Albion 3 (Suggett, Astle, Hartford) Manchester City 0 *No footage of this was saved
07/Feb    Northampton Town 2 (McNeil, Large) Manchester United 8 (Best 6, Kidd 2) [FA Cup 5th Round]
14/Feb    Birmingham City 0 Leicester City 1 (Farrington)
21/Feb    Probably networked coverage of two FA Cup Quarter Finals at QPR & Middlesbrough
28/Feb    West Bromwich Albion 3 (Ashe, Suggett 2) Wolverhampton W. 3 (Curran(1pen) 2, O'Grady)
07/Mar    Networked ATV coverage of the League Cup Final - W.B.A. 1 (Astle) Man City 2 (Doyle Pardoe)
14/Mar    Networked LWT coverage of Chelsea 5 (Webb, Houseman 2, Osgood, Hutchinson) Watford 1 (Garbett) [FA Cup SF]
21/Mar    Wolverhampton W. 1 (Curran) Leeds United 2 (Clarke, Jones)
28/Mar    Swindon Town 1 (Trollope) Watford 0
04/Apr
11/Apr    Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - Chelsea 2 (Houseman, Hutchinson) Leeds United 2 (Charlton, Jones) AET
29/Apr    Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final Replay - Chelsea 2 (Osgood, Webb) Leeds United 1 (Jones) [Old Trafford] AET

Derby County had an excellent first season back in the top flight in 1969/70, finishing 4th they were the highest placed Midlands club with Coventry City and Stoke City close behind in 6th and 9th, West Brom's Jeff Astle was the top division's leading scorer with 25 goals, the Albion reached the final of the League Cup (in a battle of the two previous season's FA Cup winners) but West Brom did not leave Wembley with a trophy this time. It was another poor campaign for 2nd tier club Aston Villa who on this occasion sunk into the 3rd division for the first time in their history. Port Vale won promotion from the 4th.

Season 1970/71
08/Aug    Derby County 4 (McFarland, Hinton, Durban, Mackay) Manchester United 1 (Best) [Watney Cup final]
15/Aug    Birmingham City 2 (Summerhill, Vowdem) Queens Park Rangers 1 (Bridges)
22/Aug    Aston Villa 1 (McMahon) Plymouth Argyle 1 (Aitken)
29/Aug    Swindon Town 2 (Horsfield, Gough) Sunderland 0
05/Sep    Wolverhampton W. 1 (Curran) Stoke City 1 (Greenhoff)
12/Sep    Leicester City 1 (Brown) Luton Town 0
19/Sep    Coventry City 0 Chelsea 1 (Hollins)
26/Sep    West Bromwich Albion 2 (McVitie, Brown) Derby County 1 (O'Hare)
03/Oct    Derby County 1 (Hinton(pen)) Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Peters)
10/Oct    West Bromwich Albion 2 (Suggett, McVitie) Leeds United 2 (Jones, Clarke)
17/Oct    Coventry City 2 (Martin, Hunt) Nottingham Forest 0
24/Oct    Wolverhampton W. 3 (McCalliog(pen), Gould 2) Manchester City 0
31/Oct    Birmingham City 2 (Vincent, Robinson) Swindon Town 1 (Noble) *Recorded & broadcast in black & white due to a technicians 'colour strike'.
07/Nov   Derby County 0 Liverpool 0
14/Nov   Stoke City l (Ritchie) Everton l (Hurst) *Recorded & broadcast in black & white due to a technicians 'colour strike'.
21/Nov   Coventry City 2 (Martin, Clements) Crystal Palace l (Kember) *black & white due to a technicians 'colour strike'.
28/Nov   Nottingham Forest 2 (Chapman, Moore) Derby County 4 (Gemmill, O'Hare, Wignall, McGovern) *black & white.
05/Dec   Wolverhampton W. 1 (Alcock) Blackpool 0 *black & white.
12/Dec   West Bromwich Albion 3 (Brown 3) Tottenham Hotspur l (Chivers) *black & white.
19/Dec   Stoke City l (Burrows) Derby County 0 *black & white.
26/Dec   Wolverhampton W. 2 (Dougan 2) Everton 0 *black & white.
02/Jan    Wolverhampton W. 5 (McCalliog 2(l pen), Hibbitt, Gould 2) Norwich City l (Foggo) [FA Cup 3rd Round] *black & white.
05/Jan   Possibly showed Birmingham City 2 Huddersfield Town 0 [FA Cup 3rd Round Replay] *black & white
09/Jan    Derby County 1 (Gemmill(pen)) Wolverhampton W. 2 (Shaw, Gould) *black & white.
16/Jan    Nottingham Forest 2 (Moore 2) Newcastle United 1 (Robson) *black & white.
23/Jan    West Bromwich Albion 1 (Suggett) Ipswich Town 1 (Clarke) [FA Cup 4th Round] *black & white.
30/Jan    Oxford United 1 Sheffield United 2 *black & white, intended to show Coventry City v West Ham but the match was post-poned
06/Feb   Leicester City 0 Hull City 0 *black & white.
13/Feb   Stoke City 0 Ipswich Town 0 [FA Cup 5th Round]
20/Feb   Stoke City l (Conroy) Chelsea 2 (Hutchinson, Harris) *Technicians strike ended, now back in colour
27/Feb   Networked LWT coverage of the League Cup Final - Aston Villa 0 Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Chivers 2)
06/Mar   FA Cup QF's including YTV coverage of Hull City 2 (Wagstaff 2) Stoke City 3 (Conroy, Ritchie 2)
13/Mar   Derby County 0 Manchester City 0
20/Mar   Stoke City l (Ritchie) Manchester United 2 (Best 2)
27/Mar   Networked LWT coverage of Stoke City 2 (Smith, Ritchie) Arsenal 2 (Storey 2(1pen)) [FA Cup SF]*BBC covered the replay
03/Apr   Aston Villa 3 Swansea City 0
10/Apr   Nottingham Forest l (Moore) West Ham United 0
17/Apr   Wolverhampton W. 0 Southampton l (Channon)
24/Apr   West Bromwich Albion 2 (Hartford, Brown) Arsenal 2 (McLintock, Hartford(og))
01/May   Derby County 2 (Durban, Hinton) West Bromwich Albion 0
03/May   Possibly Wolves 0 Hearts 1 (Fleming) [Anglo-Scottish Cup Final 2nd Leg] *Wolves win 3-2 on agg
08/May   Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - Arsenal 2 (Kelly, George) Liverpool 1 (Heighway) AET

1970/71 was a good season for Wolves who took 4th spot whilst Leicester City were crowned champions of the 2nd tier and Notts County topped the 4th. For the 2nd successive season West Brom fielded the top flight's highest scorer as Ally Brown netted 28 times.

Season 1971/72
07/Aug    Leicester City 1 (Whitworth) Liverpool 0 [Charity Shield] *Played at Filbert Street, Brian Moore commentated
14/Aug    Derby County 2 (Hector, Wignall) Manchester United 2 (Law, Gowling) *Complete show may still exist
21/Aug    Walsall 1 (Manning) Aston Villa 1 (Vowden)
28/Aug    Oxford United 2 (Roberts, Cassidy) Burnley 1 (Casper)
04/Sep    West Bromwich Albion 0 Arsenal 1 (Roberts)
11/Sep    Wolverhampton W. 1 (Hegan) Everton 1 (Royle)
18/Sep    Swindon Town 4 (Noble, Rogers, Jones, Butler) Fulham 0
25/Sep    Coventry City 1 (Carr) Tottenham Hotspur 0
02/Oct
09/Oct    Wolverhampton W. 4 (Dougan 2, Parkin(pen), Daley) Southampton 2 (Kirkup, Channon)
16/Oct    Birmingham City 1 (Latchford) Sunderland 1 (Kerr)
23/Oct    West Bromwich A. 0 Leicester City 1 (Weller)
30/Oct    Nottingham Forest 0 Derby County 2 (Hinton(pen), Robson)
06/Nov   West Bromwich A. 0 Stoke City 1 (Greenhoff(pen))
13/Nov   Wolverhampton W. 2 (Richards 2) Derby County 1 (O'Hare)
20/Nov   Derby County 3 (Hector, Hinton(2pens)) Sheffield United 0
27/Nov   Nottingham Forest 0 Leeds United 2 (Lorimer, Clarke)
04/Dec    Coventry City 1 (McGuire) Leicester City 1 (Brown)
11/Dec    Stoke City 1 (Mahoney) Manchester United 1 (Law)
18/Dec    Wolverhampton W. 2 (Dougan, Bloor(og)) Stoke City 0
01/Jan     Derby County 1 (Gemmill) Chelsea 0
08/Jan     Possibly Granada coverage of Man Utd 1 (McIlroy) Wolves 3 (Dougan, Richards, McCalliog)
15/Jan     Derby County 2 (Hector 2) Shrewsbury Town 0 [FA Cup 3rd Round]
22/Jan     Stoke City 3 (Ritchie, Greenhoff 2) Southampton 1 (Byrne)
26/Jan     Stoke 3 (Bernard, Dobing, Conroy) West Ham 2 (Bonds, Brooking) [League Cup SF 2nd replay] *Granada coverage, Gerald Sinstadt commentated
29/Jan     Derby County 1 (Robson) Coventry City 0
05/Feb    Birmingham City 1 (Latchford) Ipswich Town 0 [FA Cup 4th Round] *Anglia covered Coventry v Hull
12/Feb    Wolverhampton W. 1 (Richards) West Ham United 0
19/Feb    Birmingham City 2 (Taylor, Hatton) Burnley 0
26/Feb    Birmingham City 3 (Hatton, Latchford 2) Portsmouth 1 (Reynolds) [FA Cup 5th Round] *Anglia covered Stoke v Hull
04/Mar    Networked LWT coverage of the League Cup Final - Stoke City 2 (Conroy, Eastham) Chelsea 1 (Osgood)
11/Mar    Leicester City 2 (Nish 2) West Ham United 0
18/Mar    Birmingham City 3 (Page, Latchford, Hatton) Huddersfield Town 1 (Cherry) [FA Cup QF]
25/Mar    Shrewsbury Town 1 (Wood(pen)) Notts County 1 (Bradd)
01/Apr    Coventry City 2 (Barry, Graham) Manchester United 3 (Best, Moore, Charlton)
08/Apr    Birmingham City 1 (Latchford) Millwall 0
15/Apr    Networked coverage of Stoke City 1 (Simpson(og)) Arsenal 1 (Armstrong) [FA Cup Semi-Final]
19/Apr    Networked coverage of Stoke City 1 (Greenhoff(pen)) Arsenal 2 (George(pen), Radford) [FA Cup SF Replay]
22/Apr    West Bromwich Albion 0 Leeds United 1 (Giles(pen))
29/Apr    Aston Villa 5 (Vowden 2, Lochhead, Jackson(og), Little) Torquay United 1 (Edwards)
06/May    Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - Leeds 1 (Clarke) Arsenal 0
17/May    Networked coverage of Spurs 1 (Mullery) Wolves 1 (Wagstaffe) [UEFA Cup Final 2nd Leg] *Spurs win 3-2 on aggregate, BBC had 1st leg

Derby County were crowned champions of England for 1971/72 season, they were the first Midlands club to finish top since 1959. At the other end of the table Nottingham Forest were relegated but one of the clubs taking their top flight place would be another Midlands club, Birmingham City (who's Bob Latchford was the 2nd tier's leading scorer). Aston Villa also won promotion as champions of the 3rd tier. Stoke City suffered a successive FA Cup semi final exit to Arsenal but were still able to lift silverware at Wembley by beating Chelsea in the League Cup final (though for the neutral armchair viewer the epic semi-final with West Ham was far more memorable), goalkeeper Gordon Banks was named "Footballer of the year". Wolves reached the final of the newly renamed UEFA Cup (formerly known as the Fairs Cup) knocking out Juventus along the way, but the final proved to be a big anti-climax as they met another English team over 2 legs and lost to Spurs who held on to an advantage gained in the opening leg at Molineux.

Season 1972/73
05/Aug    Aston Villa 0 Manchester City 1 (Lee(pen)) [Charity Shield] *played at Villa Park
12/Aug    Birmingham City 1 (Latchford) Sheffield United 2 (Hockey, Woodward)
19/Aug    Aston Villa 2 (Vowden, Graydon) Huddersfield Town 0
26/Aug    Nottingham Forest 2 (Lyall, O'Neill) Oxford United 1 (Skeen)
02/Sep    Notts County 1 (Nixon) Walsall 1 (Mayo)
09/Sep    Stoke City 2 (Hirst, Conroy) Leeds United 2 (Lorimer, Clarke)
16/Sep    Wolverhampton W. 2 (Dougan, Richards) Manchester United 0
23/Sep    Nottingham Forest 1 (Fraser) Aston Villa 1 (Cottam(og))
30/Sep    Coventry City 1 (Alderson) Chelsea 3 (Garner, Blockley(og), Houseman)
07/Oct    West Bromwich Albion 2 (A. Brown 2) Manchester United 2 (Best(pen), Moore)
14/Oct    Coventry City 3 (Stein, Aldeson, Carr) Manchester City 2 (Marsh, Summerbee)
21/Oct    West Bromwich Albion 1 (Gould) Wolverhampton W. 0
28/Oct    Derby County 2 (Todd, O'Hare) Sheffield United 1 (Currie)
04/Nov
11/Nov   Wolverhampton W. 1 (Richards) Arsenal 3 (Radford 2, Marinello) *Keith Macklin commentated
18/Nov
25/Nov    Derby County 5 (McGovern, Hinton, McFarland, Hector, Davies) Arsenal 0
02/Dec    Stoke City 1 (Conroy) Chelsea 1 (Osgood)
09/Dec    West Bromwich Albion 1 (T.Brown) Liverpool 1 (Boersma)
16/Dec
23/Dec    Birmingham City 1 (Bowker) Arsenal 1 (Kelly)
30/Dec    Leicester City 2 (Farrington, Worthington) West Ham United 1 (Brooking)
06/Jan     Aston Villa 0 Burnley 3 (Newton, Nulty, Ingham)
13/Jan     Wolverhampton W. 1 (Bailey) Manchester United 0 [FA Cup 3rd Round]
20/Jan     Bad weather called off Midlands home matches, may have showed Granada coverage of Liverpool 1 Derby County 1
27/Jan     Wolverhampton W. 2 (Huges(og), Richards) Liverpool 1 (Keegan)
03/Feb    Derby County 1 (Davies) Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Chivers) [FA Cup 4th Round]
10/Feb    Birmingham City 2 (Latchford, Francis) Derby County 0
17/Feb    Wolverhampton W. 1 (K.Hibbitt) Newcastle United 1 (T.Hibbitt)
24/Feb    Coventry City 3 (Alderson, Stein 2) Hull City 0 [FA Cup 5th Round]
03/Mar    Networked LWT coverage of the League Cup Final - Spurs 1 (Coates) Norwich City 0
10/Mar    Hereford United 1 (Redrobe) Exeter City 0 *David Icke was the Hereford goalkeeper
17/Mar    Wolverhampton W. 2 (Richards, Hibbitt) Coventry City 0 [FA Cup QF's]
24/Mar    Birmingham City 3 (Hatton, Latchford, Taylor) Coventry City 0
31/Mar    Aston Villa 2 (McMahon, Vowden) Oxford United 1 (Roberts)
07/Apr    Networked LWT coverage of Arsenal 1 (George) Sunderland 2 (Halom, Hughes) [FA Cup SF]
14/Apr    Stoke City 2 (Greenhoff, Ritchie) Manchester United 2 (Macari, Morgan(og))
21/Apr    West Bromwich Albion 0 Norwich City 1 (Cross)
28/Apr    Wolverhampton W. 3 (Sunderland, Richards, Powell) Coventry City 0
05/May    Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - Sunderland 1 (Porterfield) Leeds United 0

Wolves were the highest finishing Midlands side in 1972/73 (5th with John Richards netting 27 league goals) whilst Birmingham had a good first season back in the top flight (finishing 10th), but there was disaster for West Brom who finished bottom. Notts County were on the up again from the 3rd tier whilst Hereford won promotion from the 4th in their first season as members of the Football league. Derby County reached the Semi-finals of the European Cup but were unable to turn around a 3-1 1st leg defeat away to Juventus, it was later claimed that the referee in the Italian leg had been bribed.

Season 1973/74
25/Aug    Aston Villa 2 (Aitken, Hockey) Preston North End 0
01/Sep    Leicester City 1 (Birchenhall) Liverpool 1 (Toshack)
08/Sep
15/Sep     Walsall 1 (Wright) Bournemouth 2 (Boyer 2)
22/Sep     Coventry City 2 (Alderson, Stein) Newcastle United 2 (MacDonald, Tudor)
29/Sep
06/Oct     Wolverhampton W. 2 (McCalliog, Dougan) Manchester United 1 (McIlroy)
13/Oct     Leicester City 2 (Worthington, Birchenhall) Leeds United 2 (Jones, Bremner)
20/Oct     Wolverhampton W. 2 (Richards, Daley) Queens Park Rangers 4 (Leach, Francis(pen), Bowles 2)
27/Oct     Nottingham Forest 1 (McKenzie) Aston Villa 2 (Graydon, Aitken)
31/Oct     Stoke City 1 (Pejic) Middlesbrough 1 (Brine) [League Cup] *Midweek Granada coverage with Gerald Sinstadt commentating
03/Nov    Derby County 1 (Gemmill(pen)) Queens Park Rangers 2 (Francis, Bowles)
10/Nov    West Bromwich Albion 2 (T.Brown, Shaw) Notts County 1 (Randall)
17/Nov
24/Nov    Coventry City 3 (Stein, Cross 2) Sheffield United 1 (Woodward)
01/Dec     Leicester City 3 (Glover 2, Earle) Tottenham Hotspur 0
08/Dec     Derby County 1 (McFarland) Arsenal 1 (Newton(og))
15/Dec     Birmingham City 3 (Burns 2, Hatton) West Ham United 1 (Gould)
22/Dec     Aston Villa 1 (B.Rioch) Notts County 1 (Randall(pen))
29/Dec
05/Jan      Leicester City 1 (Earle) Tottenham Hotspur 0 [FA Cup 3rd Round]
12/Jan      Nottingham Forest 1 (McKenzie) West Bromwich Albion 4 (T.Brown 4)
19/Jan      Birmingham City 1 (Latchford) Manchester City 1 (Law)
26/Jan      [FA Cup 4th Round]
02/Feb
09/Feb
16/Feb     Coventry City 0 Queens Park Rangers 0 [FA Cup 5th Round]
23/Feb     Stoke City 3 (Pejic, Hudson, Smith) Leeds United 2 (Bremner, Clarke)
02/Mar     Networked LWT coverage of the League Cup Final - Wolves 2 (Hibbitt, Richards) Manchester City 1 (Bell)
09/Mar     Newcastle United 4 Nottm Forest 3 [FA Cup QF] *Later replayed (riot deemed to have influenced result), Hugh Johns on mic (at least for ATV viewers)
16/Mar     Birmingham City 1 (Gallagher) Manchester United 0
23/Mar     Wolverhampton W. 0 Liverpool 1 (Hall)
30/Mar     Possibly networked coverage of Newcastle United 2 (Macdonald 2) Burnley 0 [FA Cup SF]
06/Apr     Leicester City 3 (Glover 2, Cross) Birmingham City 3 (Burns 3)
13/Apr     West Bromwich Albion 1 (Hartford) Orient 0
20/Apr     Leicester City 3 (Worthington 2, Glover) Chelsea 0
27/Apr     Birmingham City 2 (Hatton, Burns) Norwich City 1 (Stringer)
04/May    Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - Liverpool 3 (Keegan 2, Heighway) Newcastle United 0

Derby County were this season's highest placed Midlands club finishing 3rd but they had lost manager Brian Clough in October after he fell out with the board. Stoke City finished close behind in 5th, Leicester's Frank Worthington was runner-up in the top flight scoring chart with 20 goals, but it was Wolves fans who were probably the happiest having watched their side win the League Cup. Promotion/relegation places between the 1st&2nd and 2nd&3rd tiers were increased from two to three (all automatic, there were no play offs in those days) and there was a close call for Birmingham who finished 4th bottom. 2nd tier Swindon couldn't blame the extra place for their relegation woes having finished rock bottom, whilst Shrewsbury Town were another Midlands club to suffer a demotion dropping into the 4th. The 1973/74 season may well be held up as the beginning of the end of the golden age of English football, the national team failed to qualify for a World Cup finals for the first time and more worrying for the sport was the increasing incidents of crowd trouble - An aggressive natured pitch invasions trend seemed to have begun with a televised 5th Round FA Cup 2nd replay back in 1967 (angry Sunderland fans running on when Leeds scored), but an invasion at this season's Newcastle v Forest Quarter-final was so serious that it was deemed to have influenced the result and the match had to be replayed at a neutral ground. 1974 also saw the shocking newspaper photograph of a football supporter with a dart stuck in his head being led away by policemen whilst the Daily Mirror published a league table of clubs most notorious for hooliganism (which only served to encourage the perpetrators). Overall attendance's had increased since England won the World Cup in 1966, but they would now begin to fall again.

Season 1974/75
03/Aug    West Bromwich Albion 0 Birmingham City 0 [Anglo-Scottish Cup] *Not 100% confirmed
10/Aug    Birmingham City 3 (Campbell, Hatton, Francis) Norwich City 1 (Boyer) [Anglo-Scottish Cup] *Complete show archived
17/Aug    Stoke City 3 (Mahoney, Cherry(og), Ritchie) Leeds United 0
24/Aug    Walsall 1 (Robinson) Halifax Town 1 (Shanahan(pen)) *one source says Derby 2 Sheffield United 0
31/Aug    Hereford United 2 (McNeil 2) Peterborough United 0 *one source says Birmingham 1 Wolves 1, but note that ATV had to cover 2 lower league games a season
07/Sep    Notts County 3 (Randall, Stubbs, Masson(pen)) Southampton 2 (Peach, Osgood)
14/Sep    Birmingham City 3 (Hatton, Francis 2(1pen) Derby County 2 (Rioch, Davies)
21/Sep    Northampton Town 3 (Stratford, Best, Carlton) Shrewsbury Town 3 (Durban, Kearney, Morris) *Anglia at Ipswich, Granada at Port Vale
28/Sep    Leicester City 0 Coventry City 1 (Holmes)
05/Oct    Birmingham City 1 (Francis(pen)) Coventry City 2 (Lloyd, Holmes)
12/Oct    Wolverhampton W. 2 (Withe, Parkin) Carlisle United 0
19/Oct    West Bromwich Albion 0 Nottingham Forest 1 (Richardson)
26/Oct    Derby County 2 (Hector, Hinton) Middlesbrough 3 (Hickton, Foggon, Mills)
02/Nov    Leicester City 1 (Sammels) Burnley 0
09/Nov    Wolverhampton W. 2 (Hibbitt, Munro) Ipswich Town 1 (Woods)
16/Nov    Birmingham City 4 (Kendall, Hatton 2, Burns) Manchester City 0
23/Nov    Aston Villa 2 (Hamilton, B.Little) Portsmouth 0
30/Nov    May have showed LWT's match
07/Dec    Birmingham City 0 Stoke City 3 (Greenhoff, Moores 2)
14/Dec    Derby County 0 Everton 1 (Latchford)
21/Dec    West Bromwich Albion 2 (Cumbes(og), Mayo) Aston Villa 0
28/Dec    Stoke City 2 (Salmons(pen), Hurst) West Ham United 1 (Holland)
04/Jan     Wolverhampton W 1 (Richards) Ipswich Town 2 (Viljoen, Johnson) [FA Cup 3rd Round]
08/Jan     Derby County 2 (Lee, Rioch) Orient 1 (Fairbrother) [FA Cup]
11/Jan     Coventry City 2 (Carr, Lloyd) Wolverhampton W. 1 (Kindon)
18/Jan     Leicester City 1 (Glover) Stoke City 1 (Hurst)
25/Jan     Coventry City 1 (Alderson) Arsenal 1 (Ball) [FA Cup 4th Round]
01/Feb    Stoke City 4 (Moores 2, Hudson, Hurst) Manchester City 0
08/Feb    Wolverhampton W. 1 (Hibbitt(pen)) Arsenal 0
15/Feb    Derby v Leeds FA Cup match postponed, showed other ties
18/Feb    Derby County 0 Leeds United 1 (Nish(og)) [FA Cup 5th Round] *Networked as "Midweek Match"
22/Feb    Aston Villa 2 (Grayson, Aitken) Manchester United 0
01/Mar   Networked LWT coverage of the League Cup Final - Aston Villa 1 (Graydon) Norwich City 0
08/Mar
15/Mar    Derby County 1 (Hector) Stoke City 2 (Greenhoff 2)
22/Mar    Nottingham Forest 0 Manchester United 1 (Daly)
29/Mar    Wolverhampton W. 1 (Hibbitt(pen)) Manchester City 0
05/Apr    Showed LWT coverage of Fulham 1 (Mitchell) Birmingham City 1 (Gallagher) [FA Cup SF]
12/Apr    Derby County 1 (Rioch) West Ham United 0
19/Apr    Stoke City 0 Newcastle United 0
26/Apr    Derby County 0 Carlisle United 0 *This edition of Star Soccer was alos tx'd by Tyne Tees, the only time it was shown in that region
03/May   Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - West Ham United 2 (A.Taylor 2) Fulham 0

Now managed by Dave MacKay, Derby County were crowned English league champions for the 2nd time in four seasons. Stoke City finished 5th again and it was an excellent season for Ron Saunders' Aston Villa who won the League Cup as well as promotion back into the top flight (Brian Little was the 2nd tier's leading scorer with 20 goals). Shrewsbury Town bounced back from last season's relegation by taking the runners-up spot in the 4th division.

Season 1975/76
09/Aug    Leicester City 2 (Lee 2) West Bromwich Albion 1 (Giles) [Anglo-Scottish Cup]
16/Aug    Aston Villa 1 (Phillips) Leeds United 2 (Lorimer 2(1pen))
23/Aug    Walsall 1 (Buckley) Swindon Town 1 (Eastoe)
30/Aug    Nottingham Forest 0 Notts County 1 (Bradd)
06/Sep     Derby County 3 (Lee, Gemmill, Hector) Burnley 0
13/Sep     Wolverhampton W. 2 (Carr 2) Birmingham City 0
20/Sep     Shrewsbury Town 2 (Collier(pen), Kearney) Crystal Palace 4 (Swindlehurst, Kemp, Taylor, Durban(og))
27/Sep     Aston Villa 2 (Hamilton, Little) Birmingham City 1 (Francis)
04/Oct     Coventry City 1 (Cross) Burnley 2 (Hankin, James)
11/Oct     Notts County 0 Oxford United 1 (D.Clarke)
18/Oct     Derby County 3 (Hector 2, Lee) Wolverhampton W. 2 (Kindon, Richards)
25/Oct     Stoke City 1 (Greenhoff) Newcastle United 1 (Gowling)
01/Nov    Coventry City 1 (Cross) Queens Park Rangers 1 (Givens)
08/Nov    Either Granada coverage of Blackpool 0 WBA 1 (Johnston) with Hugh Johns commentating for ATV viewers or Wolves 1 Ipswich 0
15/Nov    Derby County 2 (Rioch, George) West Ham United 1 (Brooking)
22/Nov    Leicester City 0 Ipswich Town 0
29/Nov    Wolverhampton W. 0 Manchester City 4 (Hartford 2, Barnes, Tueart)
06/Dec     Stoke City 1 (Greenhoff) Aston Villa 1 (Graydon)
13/Dec     Aston Villa 3 (Graydon, Deehan 2) Norwich City 2 (Macdougall, Peters)
20/Dec     Derby County 3 (Nish, George, Garner(og)) Sheffield United 2 (Woodward 2)
27/Dec     Birmingham City 1 (Hatton) Stoke City 1 (Moores)
03/Jan      Derby County 2 (George 2) Everton 1 (Jones) [FA Cup 3rd Round] *Leicester 3 (Garland 3) Sheffield United 0 was covered by Yorkshire TV
10/Jan      West Bromwich Albion 0 Sunderland 0
17/Jan      Birmingham City 0 Wolverhampton W. 1 (Carr(pen)) *one source says Leicester 2 Arsenal 1
24/Jan      Derby County 1 (Davies) Liverpool 0 [FA Cup 4th Round]
28/Jan      Stoke City 1 (Greenhoff) Manchester City 0 [FA Cup 4th Round]
31/Jan      Leicester City 1 (Lee) Manchester City 0
07/Feb     West Bromwich Albion 3 (Cantello, Mayo, A.Brown) Bristol Rovers 0 *one source says Stoke 1 Leicester 2
14/Feb     Leicester City 1 (Lee) Manchester United 2 (Macari, Daly) [FA Cup 5th Round] *Derby v Southend was covered by Anglia, Stoke v Sunderland by Tyne Tees
21/Feb     Stoke City 1 (Greenhoff) Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Duncan, Hoddle) *Hoddle's first goal, Johns interviewed him afterwards
28/Feb     Networked LWT coverage of the League Cup Final - Manchester City 2 (Barnes, Tueart) Newcastle United 1 (Gowling)
06/Mar     Probably showed Granada coverage of Man Utd 1 (Daly) Wolves 1 (Richards) [FA Cup QF]
13/Mar     Birmingham City 0 Liverpool 1 (Neal(pen))
20/Mar     Notts County 1 (Mann) Blackpool 2 (Smith 2)
27/Mar     Coventry City 1 (Murphy) Newcastle United 1 (Bird)
03/Apr     Birmingham City 3 (Hibbitt, Burns, Francis) Aston Villa 2 (Gray, Graydon(pen))
10/Apr     Aston Villa 0 Liverpool 0
17/Apr     West Bromwich Albion 2 (Martin, Johnston) Nottingham Forest 0
24/Apr     Hugh Johns was sent to Yugoslavia for Wales match, QPR v Leeds shown as main game on Star Soccer
01/May    Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - Southampton 1 (Stokes) Manchester United 0

Derby County were the pride of the Midlands yet again by finishing ahead of the rest in 4th, the Rams also hosted Real Madrid in the 2nd round 1st leg of the European Cup and won the match 4-1, but they then lost 5-1 in Madrid. In domestic cups Derby reached the Semi-finals of the FA Cup but lost to Man Utd. Leicester City finished a creditable 7th in the top flight but Wolves suffered a shock relegation. One of the teams who would be replacing Wolves was West Brom (now managed by Johnny Giles). Two other Midlands sides swapped leagues further down the divisions as Oxford United were relegated from the 2nd and Hereford United were champions of the 3rd (Dixie McNeil was their leading marksman with 35 goals). Notts County again finished the season ahead of neighbours Nottingham Forest despite it being Brian Clough's first full season in charge at the City Ground.

Season 1976/77
21/Aug    Wolverhampton W. 0 Burnley 0
28/Aug    Derby County 0 Manchester United 0
04/Sep    Stoke City 2 (Crooks, Conroy) West Ham United 1 (Taylor)
11/Sep    Nottingham Forest 4 (Bowyer 2, Butlin , Robertson) Hereford United 3 (McNeil 2, Spiring)
18/Sep    Aston Villa 1 (Gray) Birmingham City 2 (Burns, Connolly)
22/Sep    Aston Villa 2 (Gray 2) Norwich 1 (Suggett) [League Cup 3rd Round]*also Derby 1 (George(pen)) Notts County 1 (O'Brien)??
25/Sep    Derby County 2 (McFarland 2) West Bromwich Albion 2 (Treacey 2)
02/Oct    Stoke City 1 (Conroy) Aston Villa 0
09/Oct    Nottingham Forest 6 (Bowyer 2, Butlin, Curran, Withe, Anderson) Sheffield United 1 (Hamilton)
16/Oct    Coventry City 1 (Powell) Newcastle United 1 (Gowling)
23/Oct    Leicester City 4 (Weller 2, Earle, Worthington(pen)) Arsenal 1 (Stapleton)
30/Oct    West Bromwich Albion 3 (Martin, A.Brown 2) West Ham United 0
06/Nov   Wolverhampton W. 3 (Kitchener(og), Sunderland, Daley) Millwall 1 (Brisley)
13/Nov    Port Vale 2 (Williams, Bailey) Brighton & Hove Albion 2 (Towner, Ward)
20/Nov    Leicester City 1 (Garland) Manchester United 1 (Daly)
27/Nov    Birmingham City 0 Manchester City 0
04/Dec
11/Dec    Showed LWT coverage of Chelsea 3 (Wilkins, Britton, Finneston) Wolverhampton W. 3 (Richards 2, Gould)
18/Dec    Stoke City 0 West Bromwich Albion 2 (Statham, Trewick)
01/Jan
08/Jan     Leicester City 0 Aston Villa 1 (Gray) [FA Cup 3rd Round]
15/Jan
22/Jan     West Bromwich Albion 1 (T.Brown(pen)) Leeds United 2 (E.Gray, McQueen)
29/Jan     Birmingham City 1 (Burns) Leeds United 2 (Jordan, Clarke) [FA Cup 4th Round]
05/Feb    Showed Granada coverage of Liverpool 4 (Neal(pen), Heighway 2, Toshack) Birmingham City 1 (Burns)
12/Feb     Derby County 0 Leeds United 1 (Jordan)
16/Feb     Aston Villa 2 (Deehan 2) Queens Park Rangers 2 (G.Francis, Eastoe) [League Cup SF 2nd Leg] *2-2 on agg, replay required
19/Feb     Leicester City 1 (Earle) Ipswich Town 0
26/Feb     Aston Villa 3 (Nicholl, Little, Deehan) Port Vale 0
05/Mar    West Bromwich Albion 1 (Robson) Derby County 0
12/Mar    Networked LWT coverage of the League Cup Final - Aston Villa 0 Everton 0
19/Mar    Wolverhampton W. 0 Leeds United 1 (E.Gray) [FA Cup QF]
26/Mar    Nottingham Forest 3 (Withe 2, Woodcock) Blackpool 0
02/Apr     Derby County 2 (Daly(pen), James) Stoke City 0
09/Apr     Port Vale 1 (Harris) Mansfield Town 4 (Randall, Bird 2, Foster)
16/Apr     West Bromwich Albion 0 Manchester City 2 (Tueart, Kidd)
23/Apr     Probably networked coverage of Man Utd 2 (Greenhoff, Coppell) Leeds United 1 (Clarke(pen)) [FA Cup SF]
30/Apr     Birmingham City 1 (Kendall) Leicester City 1 (Earle)
07/May    Wolverhampton W. 1 (Richards) Chelsea 1 (Langley)
14/May    Showed Granada coverage of Bolton Wanderers 0 Wolverhampton W. 1 (Hibbitt)
21/May    Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - Manchester United 2 (Pearson, J.Greenhoff) Liverpool 1 (Case)

Aston Villa were the Midlands highest placed finishers of 1976/77 (4th with 25 goals from Andy Gray) and also won the League Cup again (but needed a 2nd replay at Old Trafford and yet more extra time to see off Everton). West Brom had an impressive first season back in the top flight finishing 7th but Stoke City, following a consistent run of seasons, suffered a surprise relegation. Two Midlands clubs won promotion from the 2nd, Sammy Chung's Wolves went up as champions whilst Nottingham Forest snatched 3rd place at the death. Hereford United made an immediate return to the 3rd tier by finishing bottom. Fringe Midlands club Mansfield Town won promotion to the 2nd tier for the first time in their history. A 30-yard screamer from Kenny Stroud of Swindon Town v Everton on 29/Jan/1977 was voted the Midlands Goal of the Season (actually captured by HTV cameras in a game shown after Birmingham v Leeds in the ATV region).

Season 1977/78
20/Aug    Birmingham City 1 (Hibbitt) Manchester United 4 (Macari 3, Hill)
27/Aug    Nottingham Forest 3 (Withe 2, Robertson) Derby County 0
03/Sep    Walsall 2 (Serella, Dennehy) Swindon Town 0
10/Sep    Leicester City 1 (Sims) Everton 5 (Latchford, Thomas, King 2, McKenzie)
17/Sep    West Bromwich Albion 2 (T.Brown(pen), Cross) Wolverhampton W. 2 (Bell, Daley)
24/Sep    Stoke City 0 Sunderland 0
01/Oct    Aston Villa 0 Birmingham City 1 (Bertschin)
08/Oct    Stoke City 0 Crystal Palace 2 (Chatterton, Perrin)
15/Oct    Wolverhampton W. 2 (Richards, Hibbitt) West Ham United 2 (Pike, Robson)
22/Oct    Coventry City 1 (Hutchison) Ipswich Town 1 (Mariner)
29/Oct    May have showed LWT coverage of Arsenal 1 (Rice) Birmingham City 1 (Bertschin)
05/Nov    Derby County 0 Everton 1 (Lyons)
12/Nov    Nottingham Forest 2 (Burns, Gemmill) Manchester United 1 (Pearson)
19/Nov    ??? West Bromwich Albion 0 Man City 0 or Birmingham 1 Leicester 1 ??? *May have showed Tyne Tees match Middlesbrough 0 Wolves 0
26/Nov    ??? Nottingham Forest 0 West Bromwich Albion 0 or Wolves 0 Ipswich 0 ??? *May have showed Granada match Everton 6 Coventry 0
03/Dec    Derby County 2 (Hughes, Ryan) Manchester City 1 (Power) *Ref disallowed City equaliser by blowing for time before ball hit net
10/Dec    Nottingham Forest 2 (O'Neill, McGovern) Coventry City 1 (Wallace) *Earliest complete edition of Star Soccer known to have been archived
17/Dec    Notts County 3 (Hooks, Thompson(og), Vinter) Burnley 0
24/Dec    No fixtures played
31/Dec    West Bromwich Albion 1 (T.Brown(pen)) Leeds United 0 *One source says Coventry City 3 Manchester United 0
07/Jan     Birmingham City 4 (Francis 2, Bertschin 2) Wigan Athletic 0
14/Jan     Mansfield Town 1 (Syrett) Southampton 2 (MacDougall 2(1pen)) *YTV said to be at Sheffield Utd
21/Jan     Wolverhampton W. 3 (Hibbitt 2, Daley) Everton 1 (Ross(pen))
28/Jan     Walsall 1 (Evans) Leicester City 0 [FA Cup 4th Round]
31/Jan     Nottingham Forest 2 (Robertson, Withe) Manchetser City 1 (Kidd)
04/Feb    Nottingham Forest 2 (Woodcock, McGovern) Wolverhampton W. 0
11/Feb    Walsall 3 (Dennehy, Buckley(pen), Serella) Shrewsbury Town 0
18/Feb    Probably showed FA Cup 5th Round matches from other regions, intended match was probably the postponed Derby v WBA
25/Feb     Stoke City 0 Bolton Wanderers 0
27/Feb     Nottingham Forest 1 (Robertson(pen)) Queens Park Rangers 1 (Shanks) [FA Cup replay]
01/Mar    Aston Villa 2 (McNaught, Deehan) Barcelona 2 (Cruyff, Zuviria) [UEFA Cup QF 1st Leg] *Villa lost the 2nd leg 2-1
04/Mar    Coventry City 4 (Ferguson 3, Beck) Birmingham City 0
11/Mar    Probably showed FA Cup QF matches from other regions
18/Mar    Networked LWT coverage of the League Cup Final - Nottingham Forest 0 Liverpool 0 AET
22/Mar    Networked LWT coverage of the League Cup Final Replay - Nottm Forest 1 (Robertson(pen)) Liverpool 0 *at Old Trafford
25/Mar    Mansfield Town 3 (Syrett 3) Tottenham Hotspur 3 (Jones, Hoddle 2(1pen)) *YTV at Rotherham
01/Apr    Aston Villa 0 Liverpool 3 (Dalglish 2, Kennedy)
08/Apr    Networked coverage of Arsenal 3 Orient 0 [FA Cup Semi Final]
15/Apr    Nottingham Forest 1 (Withe) Leeds United 1 (F.Gray(pen))
22/Apr    Notts County 2 (Vinter, Bradd) Crystal Palace 0
29/Apr    Nottingham Forest 0 Birmingham City 0
06/May   Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - Ipswich Town 1 (Osborne) Arsenal 0

Brian Clough and Nottingham Forest were the surprise package of 1977/78 by winning the league championship having only just been promoted, Forest also won the League Cup by beating Liverpool (with a little help from the referee) in a replay at Old Trafford. West Brom, Coventry and Villa finished 6th, 7th and 8th, West Brom also reached the FA Cup Semi-finals. Birmingham City's Trevor Francis was the runner-up on the top flight goal scoring charts with 25, a season in which Birmingham were briefly managed by Sir Alf Ramsey before Jim Smith took charge. It was a bad season for Leicester City though, they finished bottom of the top flight whilst Mansfield Town made an immediate return to the 3rd tier. Port Vale were demoted to the 4th as were Hereford United in a successive relegation season.

Season 1978/79
12/Aug    Networked coverage of Nottm Forest 5 (O'Neill 2, Withe, Lloyd, Robertson) Ipswich 0 [Charity Shield] *At Wembley, Brian Moore commentated
19/Aug    Aston Villa 1 (Gray) Wolverhampton W. 0
26/Aug    Leicester City 1 (Christie) Cambridge United 1 (Biley)
02/Sep    Walsall 1 (Austin) Shrewsbury Town 1 (Turner)
09/Sep    Nottingham Forest 2 (Robertson, Bowyer) Arsenal 1 (Brady)
13/Sep    Nottingham Forest 2 (Birtles, Barrett) Liverpool 0 [European Cup 1st Round 1st Leg] *networked coverage, Hugh Johns commentated, 2nd leg on BBC (0-0).
16/Sep    Derby County 3 (Duncan, Powell, Daly) West Bromwich Albion 2 (Regis, Cunningham)
23/Sep    Birmingham City 1 (Givens) Chelsea 1 (Mackenzie)
30/Sep    Stoke City 1 (Irvine) Crystal Palace 1 (Murphy)
07/Oct    ??? Forest 3 Wolves 1 ??? May have showed Anglia's match
14/Oct     Wolverhampton W. 1 (Eves) Arsenal 0
21/Oct     Birmingham City 0 Aston Villa 1 (Gray)
28/Oct     Stoke City 2 (O'Callaghan, Crooks) Sheffield United 1 (Anderson)
04/Nov    Nottingham Forest 0 Everton 0
11/Nov    Coventry City 2 (Wallace, Thompson) Middlesbrough 1 (Burns)
18/Nov    Derby County 2 (Daly, Buckley) Birmingham City 1 (Givens) *complete show archived (inc ints with Steve Buckley(Derby) & Alan Buckley(B'ham)).
25/Nov    West Bromwich Albion 1 (T.Brown) Aston Villa 1 (Evans)
02/Dec    Intended game was probably postponed, showed LWT's match
09/Dec    Derby County 1 (Daly) Manchester United 3 (Ritchie 2, Greenhoff)
16/Dec    Wolverhampton W. 0 West Bromwich Albion 3 (A.Brown 2, T.Brown)
23/Dec    Coventry City 3 (Wallace, Thompson, Hunt) Everton 2 (Lyons, Latchford)
30/Dec    Stoke City 2 (Irvine, O'Callaghan) Notts County 0 *The famous Granada match Man Utd 3 WBA 5 was shown as the 2nd game
06/Jan     Stoke City v Oldham Athletic [FA Cup 3rd Round] *abandoned at HT due to snow (Stoke led 2-0 with both goals scored by Irvine)
13/Jan     Intended match Notts County v Leicester City was postponed
17/Jan     Nottingham Forest 3 (Birtles 2, Robertson) Watford 1 (Blissett) [League Cup Semi-Final 1st Leg] *networked coverage, Hugh Johns commentated
20/Jan     Leicester City 1 (May) Blackburn Rovers 1 (Garner)
27/Jan     Nottingham Forest 3 (Lloyd, McGovern, O'Neill) York City (Wellings) 1 [FA Cup 4th Round]
03/Feb    Wolverhampton W. 1 (Daley) Everton 0
10/Feb    Birmingham City 0 Leeds United 1 (F.Gray(pen))
17/Feb    Leicester City 2 (Peake, Buchanan) Newcastle United 1 (Nattrass)
24/Feb    West Bromwich Albion 1 (T.Brown) Leeds United 2 (Graham 2)
01/Mar    West Bromwich Albion 2 (Wile, A. Brown) Leeds United 0 [FA Cup 5th Round Replay]
03/Mar    ??? Aston Villa 1 Birmingham 0 or Coventry 1 WBA 3???
10/Mar    Wolves 1 (Rafferty) Shrewsbury 1 (Atkins(pen)) [FA Cup QF]
17/Mar    Networked LWT coverage of the League Cup Final - Nottingham Forest 3 (Birtles 2, Woodcock) Southampton 2 (Peach, Holmes)
21/Mar    Grasshoppers 1 (Sulser(pen)) Nottingham Forest 1 (O'Neill) [European Cup QF 2nd Leg] *Forest win 5-2 on agg
24/Mar    Shrewsbury Town 0 Oxford United 0
31/Mar    Possibly networked coverage of Manchester United 2 Liverpool 2 [FA Cup Semi Final]
07/Apr    Leicester City 1 (Buchanan) Stoke City 1 (Busby)
11/Apr    Nottingham Forest 3 (Birtles, Bowyer, Robertson) Cologne 3 (Van Gool, Muller, Okudera) [European Cup SF 1st Leg] *networked coverage, Hugh Johns commentated, Forest won 2nd leg 1-0
14/Apr    Derby County 1 (Webb) Nottingham Forest 2 (Birtles, O'Neill)  *complete show archived
21/Apr    West Bromwich Albion 1 (Robson) Wolverhampton W. 1 (Richards)
28/Apr    Stoke City 0 Newcastle United 0
05/May    West Bromwich Albion 1 (Regis) Manchester United 0
12/May    Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - Arsenal 3 (Talbot, Stapleton, Sunderland) Man Utd 2 (McQueen, McIlroy)
30/May    Nottm Forest 1 (Francis) Malmo 0 [European Cup Final] *highlights from Munich (live on BBC1) Martin Tyler commentated 'off tube' for ITV.

Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest continued to make all the headlines and achieved the unthinkable by winning the European Cup after knocking out the holders Liverpool in the 1st Round, a run of unglamorous ties saw them through to the final where they met the equally unfancied Malmo of Sweden who were beaten 1-0 thanks to a goal by the first million pound signing Trevor Francis (bought from Midlands rivals Birmingham City). Forest also lifted the League Cup again (this time at Wembley) and finished 2nd in the league. West Brom cemented their claim to be the Midlands 2nd best team by finishing 3rd and reaching the QF's of the UEFA Cup (losing to Red Star Belgrade), Wolves reached the FA Cup Semi-finals but Derby County finished a very disappointing 19th whilst Birmingham City were relegated. Stoke City won promotion from the 2nd tier, Shrewsbury Town were champions of the 3rd, Walsall dropped into the 4th.

Season 1979/80
All ITV regions (except Channel TV) were taken off the air in early August 1979 due to a strike which lasted for ten weeks! (So we only had BBC1 and BBC2 from 6th August-10th October).
24/Oct     Nottingham Forest 2 (Woodcock, Birtles) Arges Pitesti 0 [European Cup 2nd Round 1st Leg] *Nick Owen commentated on this one, Forest won 2nd leg 2-1
27/Oct    Wolverhampton W. 1 (Gray) Aston Villa 1 (Shaw)
03/Nov    Derby County 2 (Hill, Emery) West Bromwich Albion 1 (Robson)
10/Nov    Stoke City 0 Wolverhampton W. 1 (Hibbitt)
17/Nov    Aston Villa 2 (Mortimer, Evans (pen)) Stoke City 1 (Scott)
24/Nov    Notts County 2 (Hooks, O'Brien) Chelsea 3 (Walker 2, Britton)
01/Dec    West Bromwich Albion 1 (Regis) Everton 1 (King)
08/Dec    Walsall 1 (Penn) Wigan Athletic 1 (Quinn)
15/Dec    Coventry City 1 (Ferguson) Manchester United 2 (McQueen, Macari)
22/Dec    Manchester United 3 (Jordan 2, McQueen) Nottingham Forest 0 *ATV venturing outside the region due to most games being played on Friday night
29/Dec    Leicester City 2 (Kelly, Henderson) Queens Park Rangers 0
05/Jan     Birmingham City 2 (Bertschin, Gallagher) Southampton 1 (Channon(pen)) [FA Cup 3rd Round]
12/Jan     Nottingham Forest 3 (Needham, Francis, Anderson) West Bromwich Albion 1 (Regis)
19/Jan     Notts County 0 Leicester City 1 (Strickland)
26/Jan     Swindon Town 0 Tottenham Hotspur 0 [FA Cup 4th Round]
02/Feb    Derby County 1 (B.Powell) Manchester United 3 (Thomas, McIlroy, B.Powell(og))
09/Feb    West Bromwich Albion 2 (Regis 2) Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Hoddle)
16/Feb    Showed LWT coverage of Tottenham Hotspur 3 (Armstrong, Hoddle 2(1pen)) Birmingham City 1 (Bertschin) [FA Cup 5th Round]
23/Feb    Birmingham City 2 (Dillon, Evans) Wrexham 0
01/Mar    Aston Villa 1 (Evans) Derby County 0
05/Mar    Nottingham Forest 0 Dynamo Berlin 1 (Riediger) [European Cup QF 1st Leg]*networked coverage, Hugh Johns commentated, Forest won 2nd leg 3-1
08/Mar    Probably LWT coverage of West Ham Utd 1 (Stewart(pen)) Aston Villa 0 [FA Cup QF]
15/Mar    Networked LWT coverage of the League Cup Final - Wolves 1 (Gray) Nottingham Forest 0
22/Mar    Aston Villa 1 (Morley) Ipswich Town 1 (Wark)
29/Mar    Walsall 2 (Rees, Penn) Peterborough United 3 (Kellock 2, Gynn)
05/Apr     Leicester City 1 (May) Chelsea 0
12/Apr     Leicester City 2 (Wilson, Young) Birmingham City 1 (Gemmill(pen))
19/Apr     Nottingham Forest 1 (Gray) Derby County 0
23/Apr     Networked coverage of Ajax 1 (Lerby) Nottingham Forest 0 [European Cup SF 2nd Leg] *Brian Moore commentated, Forest win 2-1 on agg
26/Apr     Leicester City 2 (Young, Smith) Charlton Athletic 1 (Gritt)
03/May    Birmingham City 3 (Birtchin, Curbishly, Dillon) Notts County 3 (Mair, Christie, Kilcline)
10/May    Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - West Ham United 1 (Brooking) Arsenal 0
28/May    Networked LIVE coverage of the European Cup Final - Nottm Forest 1 (Robertson) SV Hamburg 0 *in Madrid, Brian Moore commentated

Nottingham Forest continued to be the Midlands most successful club at the turn of the decade, incredibly they won the European Cup for the 2nd successive season and this time in much more impressive style by beating Ajax in the Semi-finals and SV Hamburg in the final (who included Kevin Keegan in their line-up). Forest were also the Midlands highest placed league club by finishing 5th ahead of Wolves in 6th who they met in the League Cup final - It was the 3rd successive season in which Forest had reached the final of this competition but it was Wolves who emerged victorious this time thanks to a goal by Andy Gray. Derby County (now managed by Colin Addison) were relegated, but two Midlands clubs won promotion to the top flight - Leicester (as champions) and Birmingham. Walsall won an immediate return to the 3rd tier (with 25 of their goals scored by Don Penn).

Season 1980/81
"Star Soccer" was moved to a Saturday night slot for this season (typically 10pm-11pm).
16/Aug    Birmingham City 3 (Curbishley, Dillon) Coventry City 1 (Blair)
23/Aug    Leicester City 2 (Peake, Henderson) Liverpool 0
30/Aug    Walsall 2 (Hill(og), Buckley) Brentford 3 (Walker, Hill, Funnell)
03/Sep    Leicester City 0 West Bromwich Albion 1 (Regis) [League Cup]
06/Sep    Derby County 2 (Biley 2) Blackburn Rovers 2 (Kendall(pen), Garner)
13/Sep    Wolverhampton W. 0 Coventry City 1 (Bodak)
20/Sep    Nottingham Forest 5 (Gray, Robertson(pen), Birtles 2, Mills) Leicester City 0
27/Sep    West Bromwich Albion 2 (A.Brown 2) Southampton 1 (George)
01/Oct    Nottingham Forest 0 CSKA Sofia 1 (Kerimov) [European Cup 1st Round 2nd Leg] *Forest lose 2-0 on agg
04/Oct    Nottingham Forest 1 (Wallace) Manchester United 2 (Macari, Coppell)
11/Oct    Birmingham City 1 (Worthington(pen)) Aston Villa 2 (Cowans(pen), Evans)
22/Oct    ATV recorded Aston Villa 4 Brighton 1 for mid-week highlights but were not able to show it as Brighton wore sponsored shirts
18/Oct    Derby County 3 (Sheridan 2, Emson) Queens Park Rangers 3 (King 2, Langley)
25/Oct    Notts County 2 (McCulloch 2) Blackburn Rovers 0
01/Nov   Aston Villa 2 (Shaw, Cowans) Leciester City 0
08/Nov   Notts County 0 Derby County 0
15/Nov   Coventry City 2 (Blair, Hunt) Birmingham City 1 (Curbishly)  *complete show archived
22/Nov   Nottingham Forest 1 (Wallace) Ipswich Town 2 (Brazil, Wark(pen))
29/Nov   Aston Villa 1 (Morley) Arsenal 1 (Talbot)
06/Dec    Stoke City 2 (Chapman, O'Callaghan) Everton 2 (McBride, Varadi)
13/Dec    Coventry City 3 (Blair, Daley, Hunt) West Bromwich Albion 0
20/Dec    Birmingham City 1 (Ainscow) Ipswich Town 3 (Brazil, Wark, Mariner)
27/Dec    Nottingham Forest 2 (Francis, O'Neill) Aston Villa 2 (Lloyd(og), Shaw)
03/Jan     Stoke City 2 (Chapman, Bracewell) Wolverhampton W. 2 (Eves, Hibbitt) [FA Cup 3rd Round]
10/Jan     Coventry City 1 (Hunt) Manchester City 1 (MacKenzie)
17/Jan     Notts County 1 (Hooks) West Ham United 1 (Holland)
24/Jan     Shrewsbury Town 0 Ipswich Town 0 [FA Cup 4th Round]
27/Jan     Coventry 3 (Thompson 2, Daly) West Ham Utd 2 (Bonds Thompson(og)) [League Cup SF 1st Leg] *"Midweek Sports Special", (City lost 2nd leg 2-0)
31/Jan     Wolverhampton W. 2 (Eves, Gray) West Bromwich Albion 0
07/Feb    West Bromwich Albion 2 (Robson, Regis) Liverpool 0
14/Feb    Nottingham Forest 2 (Robertson(pen), Wallace) Bristol City 1 (Mabbutt) [FA Cup 5th Round]
21/Feb    Derby County 1 (McFarland) Orient 1 (Margerison)
28/Feb    Wolverhampton W. 0 Aston Villa 1 (Withe)
07/Mar    Nottingham Forest 3 (Francis, Walsh, Robertson(pen)) Ipswich Town 3 (Mariner, Anderson(og), Thijssen) [FA Cup QF]
14/Mar    Aston Villa 3 (Withe 2, Shaw) Manchester United 3 (Jordan 2, McIlroy(pen))
21/Mar    West Bromwich Albion 2 (Gunn(og), Deehan) Nottingham Forest 1 (Mills)
28/Mar    Walsall 4 (Reece 2, O'Kelly, Hart) Chesterfield 3 (Moss 3)
04/Apr    Leicester City 2 (Lynex 2(1pen), Aston Villa 4 (Withe 2, Bremner, Morley)
11/Apr    Probably LWT coverage of Wolverhampton W. 2 (Hibbitt, Carr(pen)) Spurs 2 (Archibald, Hoddle) [FA Cup SF] *at Hillsborough
14/Apr    Aston Villa 1 (Shaw) Ipswich Town 2 (Brazil, Gates) *Nick Owen commentated
18/Apr    Aston Villa 2 (Cowans(pen), Withe) Nottingham Forest 0
25/Apr    Notts County 1 (Goodwin) Watford 2 (Blissett 2)
02/May   West Bromwich Albion 4 (A.Brown, Barnes, Robson, Cross) Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Falco, Smith)
09/May    Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - Spurs 1 (Hutchison(og)) Man City 1 (Hutchison) AET
14/May    Networked LIVE coverage of FA Cup Final Replay - Spurs 3 (Villa 2, Crooks) Man City 2 (MacKenzie, Reeves(pen) [Wembley]

Ron Saunders' Aston Villa emerged as the Midlands heroes of 1980/81 by winning the league (Peter Withe was the top flight's joint top scorer with 20), West Brom finished 4th whilst Forest finished 7th. Leicester struggled to make an impact after their promotion and were instantly relegated, but Notts County would be among those replacing them after winning promotion to a top flight they had last graced in 1926. Wolves were FA Cup semi-finalists but again missed out on the final. There was a notable sharp drop in overall attendance figures this season and the alarming trend would continue throughout the early 1980's, many people in football blamed the dwindling gates on TV coverage but in truth it was the continuing incidents of hooliganism that was largely responsible for driving increasing numbers of fans away.

Season 1981/82
"Star Soccer" was back on Sunday afternoon's for this season.
29/Aug    Aston Villa 0 Notts County 1 (McCulloch)
05/Sep    Birmingham City 4 (Broadhurst, Evans, Whatmore 2) Nottingham Forest 3 (Wallace 3) *complete show archived
12/Sep    *Cameras were at Derby v Chelsea but game could not be shown as a player wore a sponsored shirt, showed Anglia's match instead
19/Sep    Notts County 1 (Osman(og)) Ipswich Town 4 (Wark, Brazil 2, Muhren)
26/Sep    Nottingham Forest 2 (Burns, Wallace) Brighton & Hove Albion 1 (Smith)
03/Oct    Leicester City 1 (Lineker) Crystal Palace 1 (Hilaire) *complete show archived
10/Oct    Port Vale 0 Sheffield United 2 (Edwards, Richardson)
17/Oct    Stoke City 1 (Griffiths) Swansea City 2 (Stanley, Latchford)
24/Oct    West Bromwich Albion 1 (A.Brown) Southampton 1 (Channon)
31/Oct    Aston Villa 0 Ipswich Town 1 (Osman)
07/Nov    Nottingham Forest 0 West Ham United 0
14/Nov    Derby County 2 (Buckley, Edwards(og)) Wrexham 1 (Edwards)
21/Nov   Showed Tyne Tees coverage of Middlesbrough 3 (McAndrew(pen), Ashcroft 2) Aston Villa 3 (Withe, Cowans, Shaw) *Hugh Johns comm. for ATV
28/Nov   Wolverhampton W. 2 (Palmer(pen), Matthews) Stoke City 0  *complete show archived
05/Dec    Birmingham City 2 (Evans 2(1pen) Notts County 1 (McCulloch)
12/Dec    Leicester City 1 (Lineker) Watford 1 (Jenkins) *complete show archived
19/Dec    Intended match was probably postponed, few fixtures played this weekend
26/Dec    Coventry City 0 West Bromwich Albion 2 (Owen, Regis) *The last ATV edition of "Star Soccer"
"Star Soccer" was produced by Central Television from January 1982
02/Jan     Birmingham City 2 (Worthington, Curbishly) Ipswich Town 3 (Wark, Brazil 2) [FA Cup 3rd Round]
05/Jan     Notts County 0 Aston Villa 6 (Richards(og), Shaw, Geddis 3, Cowans(pen)) [FA Cup 3rd Round] *Nick Owen commentated
09/Jan     Nottingham Forest 2 (Ward, Wallace) Birmingham City 1 (Worthington) *complete show archived
16/Jan     Notts County 1 (Christie) Aston Villa 0  *complete show archived
23/Jan     Showed TVS coverage of Gillingham 0 WBA 1 (Statham) [FA Cup 4th round] *archived, Hereford 1 Leicester 0 was apparently recorded but not shown
30/Jan     Aston Villa 0 Liverpool 3 (Rush, McDermott 2)
06/Feb    Leicester City 2 (Lynex(pen), Lineker) Derby County 1 (Emson) *complete show archived
13/Feb    Coventry City 4 (Thompson 2, Hateley 2) Oxford United 0 [FA Cup 5th Round] *Shrewsbury v Ipswich was also covered, Martin Tyler commentated
20/Feb    Birmingham City 0 Aston Villa 1 (Withe)
27/Feb    Walsall 1 (Penn) Millwall 1 (Tagg)
03/Mar    Dynamo Kiev 0 Aston Villa 0 [European Cup QF 1st Leg] *Villa won 2nd leg 2-0
06/Mar    West Bromwich Albion 2 (Regis, Owen) Coventry City 0 [FA Cup QF] *complete show archived
13/Mar    Networked LWT coverage of the League Cup Final - Liverpool 3 (Whelan 2, Rush) Spurs 1 (Archibald) AET
20/Mar    West Bromwich Albion 1 (Robertson) Birmingham City 1 (Evans)
27/Mar    Coventry City 0 Wolverhampton W. 0  *complete show archived one source says Derby 0 Luton 0
03/Apr    Leicester City 0 Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Crooks, Wilson(og)) [FA Cup Semi-Final] *at Villa Park, Brian Moore commentary?
10/Apr    Nottingham Forest 0 Wolverhampton W. 1 (Gray)
17/Apr    Wolverhampton W. 1 (Gray) Birmingham City 1 (Harford)
21/Apr    Anderlecht 0 Aston Villa 0 [European Cup Semi-Final 2nd Leg] *Villa win 1-0 on agg, ighting between rival fans, Martin Tyler comm.
24/Apr    Birmingham City 2 (Broadhurst, Harford) Swansea City 1 (Walsh) *complete show archived
01/May   Leicester City 1 (May) Norwich City 4 (Deehan, Barham, Bertschin, Leet(og))
08/May   Stoke City 2 (Watson, Maguire) Notts County 2 (Christie(pen), Richards)
15/May    Coventry City 0 Birmingham City 1 (Harford)
22/May    Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - Spurs 1 (Hoddle) QPR (Fenwick) 1 AET
26/May    Networked LIVE coverage of the European Cup Final - Aston Villa 1 (Withe) Bayern Munich 0
27/May    Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final Replay - Spurs 1 (Hoddle(pen)) QPR 0 [Wembley]

The European Cup was brought back to England for the 6th successive season, this time it was Aston Villa who were crowned champions of Europe thanks to a 1-0 win over Bayern Munich. Villa were also the highest placed Midlands club in the league despite finishing a lowly 11th, Manager Ron Saunders had resigned in February (unhappy with the Chairman) and it was Tony Barton who oversaw the European triumph. It was a miserable campaign for Wolves who were relegated, 2nd tier Leicester reached the FA Cup semi-finals but lost to Spurs, Swindon Town dropped into the 4th division.

Season 1982/83
"Star Soccer" was on Saturday night's for what turned out to be its' final season. The Central TV commentator was now Peter Brackley.
28/Aug    Coventry City 1 (Whitton) Southampton 0
04/Sep    West Bromwich Albion 3 (Bennett, Eastoe, A.Brown) Manchester United 1 (Robson)
11/Sep    Wolverhampton W. 2 (Humphrey, Eves) Barnsley 0
18/Sep    Nottingham Forest 2 (Walsh, Birtles) Watford 0 *man dressed as a clown invaded the pitch
25/Sep    Stoke City 4 (Berry 2, Bracewell, O'Callaghan) Luton Town 4 (Stein 2, Walsh, Donaghy)
02/Oct    West Bromwich Albion 1 (Cross) Aston Villa 0  *complete show archived
09/Oct    Birmingham City 2 (Langan(pen), Brazier) Luton Town 3 (Stein, Walsh, Moss)
16/Oct    Oxford United 4 (Shotton, Whatmore, Fogg(pen), Brock) Walsall 2 (Beech, Buckley)
23/Oct    Stoke City 1 (Thomas) Liverpool 1 (Lawrenson)
30/Oct    Wolverhampton W. 2 (Palmer(pen), Gray) Derby County 1 (Wilson)
06/Nov    Birmingham City 2 (Dillon(pen), Blake) West Bromwich Albion 1 (Eastoe)
13/Nov    Derby County 0 Bolton Wanderers 0  *complete show archived
20/Nov    Aston Villa 2 (Shaw, Withe) Manchester United 1 (Stapleton)
27/Nov    Nottingham Forest 3 (Young, Birtles 2) Manchester City 0
04/Dec    Leicester City 2 (Buchanan, Lineker) Fulham 0
11/Dec    Stoke City 2 (Watson, McIlroy) Tottenham Hotspur 0
18/Dec    Aston Villa 2 (Shaw, Withe) Liverpool 4 (Hodgson, Dalglish, Kennedy, Rush)
01/Jan     Shrewsbury Town 2 (Stevens, Brown) Chelsea 0
08/Jan     Derby County 2 (Gemmill, Hill) Nottingham Forest 0 [FA Cup 3rd Round] *complete show archived
15/Jan     Birmingham City 1 (Dillon(pen)) Manchester United 2 (Whiteside, Robson)
22/Jan     Aston Villa 1 (Shaw) Manchester City 1 (Harford)
29/Jan     Showed LWT coverage of Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Crooks, Gibson) West Bromich Albion 1 (Whitehead) [FA Cup 4th Round]
05/Feb    Nottingham Forest 1 (Wilson) Aston Villa 2 (Withe 2)
12/Feb    Coventry City 4 (Melrose, Hateley, Gillespie, Hunt) Manchester City 0
19/Feb    Aston Villa 4 (Shaw, Morley, Gibson, Cowans) Watford 1 (Blissett(pen)) [FA Cup 5th Round]
26/Feb    Leicester City 5 (Lynex 2, Smith, Lineker, Daly) Wolverhampton W. 0
05/Mar    Notts County 3 (Hunt, Chiedozie 2) Tottenham Hotspur 0
12/Mar    Probably showed two FA Cup QF's
19/Mar    Lincoln City 2 (Shipley 2) Chesterfield 0
26/Mar    Nottingham Forest 1 (Hodge) Southampton 2 (Armstrong, Wallace)
02/Apr    Showed Anglia coverage of Ipswich Town 1 (McCall) Aston Villa 2 (Shaw Withe) *Peter Brackley commentated for ATV viewers
09/Apr    West Bromwich Albion 1 (Jol) Watford 3 (Barnes, Callaghan, Lohman) *complete show archived
16/Apr    Possibly Brighton 2 (Case, Robinson) Sheffield Wed. 1 (Mirocevic) [FA Cup Semi-Final] ??? Wolves 0 Bolton 0 or Coventry 0 Birmingham 1 ???
23/Apr    Nottingham Forest 2 (Swain, Proctor) Notts County 1 (Lahtinen)
30/Apr    Leciester City 0 Bolton Wanderers 0
07/May    Birmingham City 2 (Halsall, Harford) Tottenham Hotspur 0
14/May    Derby County 1 (Davison) Fulham 0 & Leicester City 0 Burnley 0 *The last ever "Star Soccer"
21/May    Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final - Man Utd 2 (Stapleton, Wilkins) Brighton 2 (Smith, Stevens) AET
26/May    Networked LIVE coverage of the FA Cup Final Replay - Man Utd 4 (Robson 2, Whiteside, Muhren(pen)) Brighton 0 [Wembley]

The final Star Soccer season saw Forest and Villa finish 5th and 6th whilst West Brom, Notts County, Birmingham and Coventry all stayed up. Joining them in the top flight next season would be Wolves and Leicester (who's emerging young striker Gary Lineker was the 2nd tier's top scorer with 26). Port Vale won promotion from the 4th. The last ever edition of Star Soccer featured a match that emphasised the problems football was now having to deal with, the closing stages of the Derby v Fulham match were played with spectators literally standing along the touchline following a pitch invasion, a nervous referee blew for time two minutes early and the result was allowed to stand despite protestations from Fulham who were hoping to snatch promotion away from Leicester City.

The end of Sunday afternoon regional highlights
ITV began showing networked live league matches from October 1983** which was partly responsible for the death of the traditional regional Sunday afternoon highlights programmes, but there was also a technicians dispute which pulled all ITV highlights off air for much of the 1983/84 season. When highlights returned, they were to appear as infrequent networked editions of The Big Match produced by London Weekend Television, local news programmes were now partly compensating by sending a single camera to selected matches for Monday tea-time goals reports. 1984/85 was an absolute nadir for English football as crowd trouble spiralled completely out of control, this apocalyptic season's hall of shame included Midlands club Leicester City who's January FA Cup tie with Burton Albion had to be replayed after the Burton keeper was knocked out by a large missile thrown from the Leicester end, whilst on 11th May (the same day of the fatal Bradford City stand fire which claimed the lives of 56 spectators) a 15 year old Birmingham City fan was killed when a wall was pushed over by rioting Leeds fans. The 1984/85 season ended with live pictures of crushed corpses being laid outside the venue of the European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus at Heysel Stadium in Belgium, 39 people were killed after a wall collapsed under the pressure of fans trying to escape from violent clashes on the terraces. English fans were inevitably blamed whilst TV football pundits back home called for the return of National Service. All English clubs were banned from European competitions for the rest of the decade.
With professional football now synonymous with hooliganism and unsafe grounds, attendance's collapsed to new lows. Unthinkable as it is today, football in England in 1985 was thought to be on it's last legs, there were even calls for the sport to be banned altogether. Luton Town, chaired by a government MP, took the drastic measure of introducing a home fans only policy with an ID card required at the turnstiles. Television companies inevitably grew weary and for the first half of 1985/86 there was no televised football whatsoever. A relatively successful and trouble free England World Cup campaign in Mexico during the summer months of 1986 had the desired effect of relaxing the furrowed brow on the face of English football and, as the game began to re-build its' reputation, occasional regional highlights specials popped up throughout the rest of the decade, mostly in mid-week slots - which is where Central Sports Special first appeared*.

*Central Sports Special normally concerned itself with football and boxing, it was first seen in either 1988 or 89 and normally went out late Tuesday/Wednesday nights (the title was also used for very rare Sunday afternoon highlights). The regular football commentator on this show was Alan Parry, Jimmy Greaves was usually involved (either co-commentating or offering his opinions in the studio) whilst the main presenter appeared to be Bob Hall (although Gary Newbon and Tony Francis may have also presented). Most other regions stuck with Midweek Sports Special networked from London and presented by Jim Rosenthal, Granada were one of the other regions who regularly opted out with Granada Soccer Night (they now had Clive Tildesley as their regular commentator) whilst Yorkshire would sometimes offer Your Match.

**ITV continued to screen live league matches from the top flight until the end of season 1991/92, the commentator was usually Brian Moore and the shows were presented by Jim Rosenthal or Elton Welsby. The live fixtures were broadcast under the title The Big Match Live until the end of season 1987/88, then from 1988/89 ITV enjoyed exclusive league rights to all four divisions and the live games now went out as The Match (although only one league match from outside the top flight was ever shown live).

Regional football in the 1990's
In spite of the April 1989 Hillsborough tragedy in which 95 fans died in a crush (unable to escape because of hooligan proof fencing), football continued to enjoy a steady resurgence in popularity, particularly after England's successful 1990 World Cup campaign in Italy which saw them reach the Semi-finals. Some ITV regions chose to re-introduce local Sunday highlights into a shorter time slot broadcast around mid-day, Yorkshire TV for example began broadcasting a half-hour programme Goals on Sunday during the 1989/90 season which would include around 10 minutes of highlights from one local match and then every goal scored in games involving the region's other teams. Sadly Central did not follow suit, preferring instead to air an inadequate 10 minute Saturday tea time round-up Central Goals Extra which was broadcast when most football fans were still returning home from a match (and the programme was often unable to include goals scored late in the games). For season 1992/93 the breakaway Premier League TV rights were snapped up by SKY and the BBC, ITV were left with Divisions 2, 3 & 4 (now to be confusingly renumbered 1, 2 & 3). In August 1992 live broadcasts of regional matches from the 2nd tier were introduced to Sunday afternoon ITV schedules, although some region's football fans were better served than others, thankfully Central (with eight local teams in the 2nd tier) were among the few who chose to show a match nearly every week* whilst other regions (who were not so well represented at this level) more often than not had to make do with a film. The Premiership clubs were soon reaping the financial rewards of their exclusive deals with SKY and were able to satisfy requirements to build all-seater stadium's in the wake of the Hillsborough disaster. Brand new seats in plush new stadia apparently justified increased ticket prices, which in turn began to attract a new class of supporter.

*The Midlands live show was called The Central Match Live, Alan Parry was the regular commentator and the programme was usually presented by Tony Francis alongside Jimmy Greaves in the studio whilst Gary Newbon could now to be seen interviewing managers and players in the tunnel, regular co-commentators included John Sillett, Trevor Francis and Ron Atkinson. The eight Central teams in the 2nd tier in 1992/93 were; Notts County, Derby County, Leicester City, Birmingham City, Wolves, Oxford United, Swindon Town and Peterborough United (the latter two being shared with HTV and Anglia respectively). Yorkshire TV offered Your Match Live presented by Ian St John with John Helm commentating, they dipped into th