The 1990–91 season was the 92nd completed season of The Football League.

Final league tables and results

The tables and results below are reproduced here in the exact form that they can be found at The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation,^[1] with home and away statistics separated.

First Division

The First Division title was won for the second time in three seasons by Arsenal, who lost just one league game all season and managed to overcome disappointments including having two points deducted for a player brawl in a league match in October, a 6-2 home defeat to Manchester United in a League Cup tie in November, and missing captain Tony Adams for two months of the season while he served a prison sentence for a motoring offence. Their only major rivals in the title race were Liverpool, who had looked set to retain the title after winning their opening eight games and remaining unbeaten in the league until December, only for their form to suffer and for manager Kenny Dalglish to suddenly announce his resignation as manager before the end of February. Long-serving coach Ronnie Moran was placed in temporary charge, with former captain Graeme Souness returning to Anfield as manager just before the Reds surrendered their defence of the league title to Arsenal. The Reds were readmitted to European competitions after a six-year ban and qualified for the 1991-92 UEFA Cup.

Crystal Palace finished third in the league to record their highest ever final position, although they were denied the chance to compete in Europe due to UEFA's decision to award only one place in the UEFA Cup to England for 1991-92. Newly promoted Leeds United finished fourth, Manchester City achieved their highest final position for more than a decade by finishing fifth, and Manchester United progressed seven places on their 1990 finish by occupying sixth place in the table, reserving their best form for the cup competitions, where they won the European Cup Winners' Cup and were runners-up in the Football League Cup. Tottenham Hotspur, who were unbeaten in the league until November before a shortage of wins for the rest of the season dragged them down to 10th, finished the season as FA Cup winners for a record eighth time. The season was followed by a dramatic takeover deal by computer tycoon Alan Sugar, who took control of the club, cleared debts exceeding £20million, and installed manager Terry Venables as chief executive, although a fresh shadow hung over the club after star midfielder Paul Gascoigne was left facing a long spell on the sidelines after suffering a serious knee injury in the FA Cup final, following weeks of speculation that he was on the verge of a multi-million pound transfer to Lazio in Italy.

The season saw several managerial changes as well as the changeover at Liverpool. Everton sacked manager Colin Harvey at the end of October and brought Howard Kendall back to Goodison Park from Manchester City, who replaced him with 34-year-old midfielder Peter Reid as player-manager. On the same day that Reid took charge at Maine Road, Coventry City completed a £350,000 move which took England defender Terry Butcher to the midlands club as successor to John Sillett, with 31-year-old Butcher being the youngest manager in the Football League. Aston Villa had lost manager Graham Taylor to the England team before the season began, and appointed Czech coach Jozef Venglos as his successor. Venglos, the first foreign manager in the First Division, inherited a side which had just finished runners-up in the First Division, but saw them slump to finish 17th and then resigned to be succeeded by Ron Atkinson. The end of the season saw QPR sack manager Don Howe after 18 months in charge and bring former player Gerry Francis back to Loftus Road as manager. Despite keeping Luton Town up on the final day of the season, Luton Town manager Jimmy Ryan was sacked by the Kenilworth Road board of directors, who appointed David Pleat as manager for the second time. Chris Nicholl's six-year spell as Southampton manager ended in dismissal and he was replaced by Ian Branfoot. Chelsea manager Bobby Campbell stood down to take on a new role as personal assistant to chairman Ken Bates, and Ian Porterfield was named as his successor.

The expansion of the First Division to 22 clubs for the 1991-92 season meant that just two teams went down to the Second Division. Derby County, who made a satisfactory start to the season but endued a disastrous second half of the campaign, went down in bottom place having won just five games all season. Sunderland went down on the final day of the season just one season after reaching the top flight, with Luton Town managing to escape relegation on the final day of the season for the third year running. Both Derby and Sunderland were relegated after losing at Maine Road.

First Division results