1980–81 Huddersfield Town A.F.C. season

Huddersfield Town

1980–81 season
Chairman	Keith Longbottom
Manager	Mick Buxton
Division Three	4th
FA Cup	Third Round
Football League Cup	First Round
Top goalscorer	League: Steve Kindon (18) All: Steve Kindon (19)
Highest home attendance	28,901 vs Barnsley (7 February 1981)
Lowest home attendance	6,965 vs Fulham (2 May 1981)

Huddersfield Town's 1980–81 campaign was very successful following on from the previous season's brilliant promotion from the Fourth Division. The team just missed out on earning back-to-back promotions, by finishing in 4th place, just 3 points behind 3rd-placed Charlton Athletic.

Squad at the start of the season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player -- GK Andy Rankin -- DF Malcolm Brown -- DF Keith Hanvey -- DF Fred Robinson -- DF Dave Sutton -- DF Chris Topping -- MF David Cowling -- MF Bobby Davison

No. Position Player -- MF Mick Kennedy -- MF Mick Laverick -- MF Bernard Purdie -- MF Brian Stanton -- FW Peter Fletcher -- FW Steve Kindon -- FW Mark Lillis -- FW Ian Robins

Review

Following the successful promotion campaign from Division Four, many fans were hoping for a quick return to Division Two. After a shaky start, in which it took Town 5 games to win a match, but they started a charge up the Division 3 table, with a run of 5 straight wins between 30 September and mid-October. Then followed a mid-period of mediocrity, which led onto a run of 12 matches unbeaten including a win against Barnsley, watched by nearly 30,000 people.

After losing two games on the trot to Reading and Swindon Town, they went on a run of 6 matches unbeaten which included a 5–0 win against Exeter City. They then lost against Millwall, Burnley and Hull City ended Town's promotion hopes, despite beating both Portsmouth and Fulham at the end of the season to finish in 4th place.

Squad at the end of the season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player -- GK Neil Freeman (on loan from Birmingham City) -- GK Andy Rankin -- DF Malcolm Brown -- DF Keith Hanvey -- DF Fred Robinson -- DF Dave Sutton -- DF Chris Topping -- MF David Cowling -- MF Bobby Davison

No. Position Player -- MF Mick Kennedy -- MF Mick Laverick -- MF Bernard Purdie -- MF Brian Stanton -- FW Terry Austin -- FW Peter Fletcher -- FW Steve Kindon -- FW Mark Lillis -- FW Ian Robins

Results

Division Three

Date	Opponents	Home/ Away	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Position
16 August 1980	Chesterfield	A	1–2	Kindon	7,819	17th
19 August 1980	Carlisle United	H	1–1	Robinson	7,674	17th
23 August 1980	Blackpool	H	1–1	Laverick	9,490	15th
30 August 1980	Rotherham United	A	0–0		6,961	16th
6 September 1980	Reading	H	4–1	Death (og), Kennedy (pen), Laverick, Stanton	7,312	12th
13 September 1980	Barnsley	A	0–1		13,819	16th
16 September 1980	Gillingham	A	0–0		5,092	16th
20 September 1980	Sheffield United	H	1–0	Stanton	14,721	13th
27 September 1980	Swindon Town	A	0–1		5,856	13th
30 September 1980	Gillingham	H	1–0	Kindon	7,716	11th
4 October 1980	Colchester United	H	2–0	Kindon (pen), Brown	8,400	8th
8 October 1980	Oxford United	A	2–0	Robins, Cowling	3,373	6th
11 October 1980	Exeter City	A	4–1	Kindon (3), Stanton	4,769	4th
18 October 1980	Plymouth Argyle	H	2–0	Robins, Kennedy	11,655	2nd
21 October 1980	Burnley	A	0–0		15,741	3rd
25 October 1980	Newport County	A	2–3	Kindon (2, 1 pen)	6,403	6th
29 October 1980	Chester	A	2–0	Kindon, Robins	4,331	3rd
1 November 1980	Charlton Athletic	H	0–1		11,329	5th
4 November 1980	Oxford United	H	2–0	Kindon, Robins	7,543	4th
8 November 1980	Millwall	A	1–2	Robins	3,529	6th
11 November 1980	Carlisle United	A	1–1	Kindon	3,998	6th
15 November 1980	Chesterfield	H	2–0	Kindon, Brown	12,828	5th
29 November 1980	Brentford	H	3–0	Robins, Kindon (pen), Stanton	8,871	4th
6 December 1980	Fulham	A	2–2	Lillis, Stanton	4,513	5th
20 December 1980	Portsmouth	H	0–0		10,869	6th
26 December 1980	Walsall	A	2–2	Austin (2)	5,906	6th
27 December 1980	Hull City	H	5–0	Stanton, Austin, Cowling, Lillis, Robins	13,240	5th
10 January 1981	Newport County	H	4–1	Stanton (2), Austin, Cowling	9,063	4th
17 January 1981	Brentford	A	0–0		5,830	4th
24 January 1981	Rotherham United	H	1–0	Stanton	16,687	4th
31 January 1981	Blackpool	A	2–1	Austin (2)	9,431	4th
7 February 1981	Barnsley	H	1–0	Cowling	28,901	3rd
14 February 1981	Reading	A	1–2	Lillis	5,290	3rd
21 February 1981	Swindon Town	H	0–2		10,655	3rd
28 February 1981	Sheffield United	A	2–2	Kindon (2)	14,426	3rd
7 March 1981	Colchester United	A	2–1	Robins, Lillis	3,644	3rd
17 March 1981	Plymouth Argyle	A	0–0		5,433	2nd
28 March 1981	Chester	H	0–0		11,117	3rd
4 April 1981	Charlton Athletic	A	2–1	Brown, Kindon	8,878	3rd
7 April 1981	Exeter City	H	5–0	Hanvey, Lillis (2), Stanton (2)	12,009	3rd
11 April 1981	Millwall	H	0–1		13,353	4th
14 April 1981	Burnley	A	2–4	Kindon, Stanton	11,075	4th
18 April 1981	Hull City	A	1–2	Robins	6,328	4th
21 April 1981	Walsall	H	1–1	Lillis	9,463	4th
25 April 1981	Portsmouth	A	2–1	Austin (2)	10,238	4th
2 May 1981	Fulham	H	4–2	Robins (2), Kindon, Sutton	6,965	4th

FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	Home/ Away	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
22 November 1980	Round 1	Northwich Victoria	A	1–1	Stanton	6,685
25 November 1980	Round 1 Replay	Northwich Victoria	H	6–0	Stanton (2), Robins (2), Hanvey, Laverick	9,849
13 December 1980	Round 2	Tranmere Rovers	A	3–0	Stanton, Robins (2)	6,763
3 January 1981	Round 3	Shrewsbury Town	H	0–3		14,712

Football League Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	Home/ Away	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
9 August 1980	Round 1 1st Leg	Blackburn Rovers	A	0–0		8,670
12 August 1980	Round 1 2nd Leg	Blackburn Rovers	H	1 – 1 (aet: 90 mins: 1 – 1)	Kindon	9,500 1–1 on aggregate. Huddersfield lost on away goals rule.

Appearances and goals

Name	Nation	Position	League Apps	League Goals	FA Cup Apps	FA Cup Goals	League Cup Apps	League Cup Goals	Total Apps	Total Goals
Terry Austin	England	FW	16 (2)	8	1	0	0	0	17 (2)	8
Malcolm Brown	England	DF	46	3	4	0	2	0	52	3
David Cowling	England	MF	43	4	4	0	2	0	49	4
Bobby Davison	England	MF	1 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	1 (1)	0
Neil Freeman (1st Spell)	England	GK	10	0	0	0	0	0	10	0
Neil Freeman (2nd Spell)	England	GK	8	0	0	0	0	0	8	0
Keith Hanvey	England	DF	45	1	3	1	2	0	50	2
Mick Kennedy	England	MF	41 (1)	2	4	0	0 (2)	0	45 (3)	2
Steve Kindon	England	FW	37 (3)	18	4	0	2	1	43 (3)	19
Mick Laverick	England	MF	25	2	1 (1)	1	2	0	28 (1)	3
Mark Lillis	England	MF	29 (5)	7	3 (1)	0	0	0	32 (6)	7
Bernard Purdie	Wales	DF	8 (1)	0	0	0	2	0	10 (1)	0
Andy Rankin	England	GK	28	0	4	0	2	0	34	0
Ian Robins	England	FW	37 (4)	11	3 (1)	4	2	0	42 (5)	15
Fred Robinson	England	DF	42	1	4	0	2	0	48	1
Brian Stanton	England	MF	44	12	4	4	2	0	50	16
Dave Sutton	England	DF	39	1	4	0	2	0	45	1
Chris Topping	England	DF	7	0	1	0	0	0	8	0