2005–06 Football League

The 2005–06 Football League (known as the Coca-Cola Football League for sponsorship reasons) was the 107th completed season of The Football League.

The Football League

Season	2005–06
Champions	Reading
Promoted	Reading Sheffield United Watford
Relegated	Oxford United Rushden & Diamonds
New Clubs in League	Barnet Carlisle United
← 2004–05 2006–07 →

This season saw Reading promoted to the top flight for the first time in their history, after winning the Championship with 106 points – a record for a 46-match season with three points for a win. Southend United were the champions of League One, while Carlisle United, having played in the Conference in 2004–05, completed a double promotion by winning League Two.

Promotion and Relegation

These are the changes that happened last season.

From Premier League

Relegated to Championship

• Norwich City
• Crystal Palace
• Southampton

From Championship

Promoted to Premier League

• Sunderland
• Wigan Athletic
• West Ham United

Relegated to League 1

• Gillingham
• Nottingham Forest
• Rotherham United

From Football League One

Promoted to Championship

• Luton Town
• Hull City
• Sheffield Wednesday

Relegated to League 2

• Peterborough United
• Stockport County
• Torquay United
• Wrexham

From Football League Two

Promoted to League 1

• Yeovil Town
• Scunthorpe United
• Swansea City
• Southend United

Relegated to Conference National

• Cambridge United
• Kidderminster Harriers

From Conference National

Promoted to League 2

• Barnet
• Carlisle United

Final league tables and results

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

Championship

Main article: 2005–06 Football League Championship

Football League Championship

Season	2005–06
Champions	Reading (1st second tier title)
Direct promotion to FA Premier League	Reading, Sheffield United
Promoted to FA Premier League through play-offs	Watford
Relegated	Brighton & Hove Albion, Crewe Alexandra, Millwall
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1,341 (2.43 per match)
Top goalscorer	Marlon King (Watford), 21[2]
← 2004–05 2006–07 →

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Reading (C, P)	46	31	13	2	99	32	+67	106	Promotion to the FA Premier League
2	Sheffield United (P)	46	26	12	8	76	46	+30	90
3	Watford (O, P)	46	22	15	9	77	53	+24	81	Qualification for Championship play-offs
4	Preston North End	46	20	20	6	59	30	+29	80
5	Leeds United	46	21	15	10	57	38	+19	78
6	Crystal Palace	46	21	12	13	67	48	+19	75
7	Wolverhampton Wanderers	46	16	19	11	50	42	+8	67
8	Coventry City	46	16	15	15	62	65	−3	63
9	Norwich City	46	18	8	20	56	65	−9	62
10	Luton Town	46	17	10	19	66	67	−1	61
11	Cardiff City	46	16	12	18	58	59	−1	60
12	Southampton	46	13	19	14	49	50	−1	58
13	Stoke City	46	17	7	22	54	63	−9	58
14	Plymouth Argyle	46	13	17	16	39	46	−7	56
15	Ipswich Town	46	14	14	18	53	66	−13	56
16	Leicester City	46	13	15	18	51	59	−8	54
17	Burnley	46	14	12	20	46	54	−8	54
18	Hull City	46	12	16	18	49	55	−6	52
19	Sheffield Wednesday	46	13	13	20	39	52	−13	52
20	Derby County	46	10	20	16	53	67	−14	50
21	Queens Park Rangers	46	12	14	20	50	65	−15	50
22	Crewe Alexandra (R)	46	9	15	22	57	86	−29	42	Relegation to Football League One
23	Millwall (R)	46	8	16	22	35	62	−27	40
24	Brighton & Hove Albion (R)	46	7	17	22	39	71	−32	38

Updated to match(es) played on 2 December 2011. Source: RSSSF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Brighton & Hove

Burnley

Cardiff City

Coventry

Crewe Alexandra

Crystal Palace

Derby County

Hull City

Ipswich Town

Leeds United

Leicester C.

Luton Town

Millwall

Norwich C.

Plymouth Argyle

Preston North End

QPR

Reading

Sheffield United

Sheffield Wednesday

Southampton

Stoke

Watford

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Locations of the 2005–06 Championship teams

Play-offs

Main article: Football League Championship play-offs § 2006

	Semi-finals 1st leg – 5/6 May; 2nd leg – 8/9 May 2006							Final at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff 21 May 2006
	3rd	Watford	3	0	3
	6th	Crystal Palace	0	0	0
								3rd	Watford	3
								5th	Leeds United	0
	4th	Preston North End	1	0	1
	5th	Leeds United	1	2	3

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Marlon King	Watford	21
2	Dave Kitson	Reading	18
=	Kevin Doyle	Reading	18
=	Cameron Jerome	Cardiff City	18
5	Darius Henderson	Watford	15
=	Andrew Johnson	Crystal Palace	15
=	Gary McSheffrey	Coventry	15
=	Ade Akinbiyi	Sheffield United	15
9	Ashley Young	Watford	14
=	Steve Howard	Luton Town	14

^[3]

League One

League One

Season	2005–06
Champions	Southend United
Promoted	Southend United Colchester United Barnsley
Relegated	Hartlepool United Milton Keynes Dons Swindon Town Walsall
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1,384 (2.51 per match)
Top goalscorer	Billy Sharp Freddy Eastwood (23 goals each)[2]
← 2004–05 2006–07 →

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Southend United (C, P)	46	23	13	10	72	43	+29	82	Promotion to the Championship
2	Colchester United (P)	46	22	13	11	58	40	+18	79
3	Brentford	46	20	16	10	72	52	+20	76	Qualification for the League One play-offs
4	Huddersfield Town	46	19	16	11	72	59	+13	73
5	Barnsley (O, P)	46	18	18	10	62	44	+18	72
6	Swansea City	46	18	17	11	78	55	+23	71
7	Nottingham Forest	46	19	12	15	67	52	+15	69
8	Doncaster Rovers	46	20	9	17	55	51	+4	69
9	Bristol City	46	18	11	17	66	62	+4	65
10	Oldham Athletic	46	18	11	17	58	60	−2	65
11	Bradford City	46	14	19	13	51	49	+2	61
12	Scunthorpe United	46	15	15	16	68	73	−5	60
13	Port Vale	46	16	12	18	49	54	−5	60
14	Gillingham	46	16	12	18	50	64	−14	60
15	Yeovil Town	46	15	11	20	54	62	−8	56
16	Chesterfield	46	14	14	18	63	73	−10	56
17	Bournemouth	46	12	19	15	49	53	−4	55
18	Tranmere Rovers	46	13	15	18	50	52	−2	54
19	Blackpool	46	12	17	17	56	64	−8	53
20	Rotherham United	46	12	16	18	52	62	−10	52
21	Hartlepool United (R)	46	11	17	18	44	59	−15	50	Relegation to League Two
22	Milton Keynes Dons (R)	46	12	14	20	45	66	−21	50
23	Swindon Town (R)	46	11	15	20	46	65	−19	48
24	Walsall (R)	46	11	14	21	47	70	−23	47

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

AFC Bournemouth

Barnsley

Blackpool

Bradford City

Brentford

Bristol City

Chesterfield

Colchester

Doncaster

Gillingham

Hartlepool

Huddersfield

Milton Keynes

Nottingham Forest

Oldham

Port Vale

Rotherham

Scunthorpe United

Southend

Swansea City

Swindon

Tranmere

Walsall

Yeovil Town

Locations of the 2005–06 League One teams

Play-offs

Main article: Football League One play-offs § 2006

	Semi-finals 1st leg − 13 May; 2nd leg − 17 May 2006							Final at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff 28 May 2006
	3rd	Brentford	1	0	1
	6th	Swansea City	1	2	3
								5th	Barnsley (pens.)	2 (4)
								6th	Swansea City	2 (3)
	4th	Huddersfield Town	1	1	2
	5th	Barnsley	0	3	3

^[1]

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Billy Sharp	Scunthorpe United	23
=	Freddy Eastwood	Southend United	23
3	James Hayter	AFC Bournemouth	20
=	Lee Trundle	Swansea City	20
5	Luke Beckett	Oldham Athletic	18
6	Rory Fallon	Swansea City	17
=	Izale McLeod	Milton Keynes Dons	17
=	Chris Iwelumo	Colchester United	17
9	Dean Windass	Bradford City	16
=	Steve Brooker	Bristol City	16
=	Chris Greenacre	Tranmere Rovers	16

^[4]

League Two

Football League Two

Season	2005–06
Champions	Carlisle United (2nd fourth tier title)
Direct promotion	Carlisle United, Leyton Orient, Northampton Town
Promoted through play-offs	Cheltenham Town
Relegated to Conference	Oxford United, Rushden & Diamonds
New clubs in the league	Barnet, Carlisle United
Matches played	552
Goals scored	1,392 (2.52 per match)
Top goalscorer	Karl Hawley (Carlisle United), 22 Rickie Lambert (Rochdale), 22[2]
← 2004–05 2006–07 →

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Carlisle United (C, P)	46	25	11	10	84	42	+42	86	Promotion to Football League One
2	Northampton Town (P)	46	22	17	7	63	37	+26	83
3	Leyton Orient (P)	46	22	15	9	67	51	+16	81
4	Grimsby Town	46	22	12	12	64	44	+20	78	Qualification for League Two play-offs
5	Cheltenham Town (O, P)	46	19	15	12	65	53	+12	72
6	Wycombe Wanderers	46	18	17	11	72	56	+16	71
7	Lincoln City	46	15	21	10	65	53	+12	66
8	Darlington	46	16	15	15	58	52	+6	63
9	Peterborough United	46	17	11	18	57	49	+8	62
10	Shrewsbury Town	46	16	13	17	55	55	0	61
11	Boston United	46	15	16	15	50	60	−10	61
12	Bristol Rovers	46	17	9	20	59	67	−8	60
13	Wrexham	46	15	14	17	61	54	+7	59
14	Rochdale	46	14	14	18	66	69	−3	56
15	Chester City	46	14	12	20	53	59	−6	54
16	Mansfield Town	46	13	15	18	59	66	−7	54
17	Macclesfield Town	46	12	18	16	60	71	−11	54
18	Barnet	46	12	18	16	44	57	−13	54
19	Bury	46	12	17	17	45	57	−12	52[a]
20	Torquay United	46	13	13	20	53	66	−13	52
21	Notts County	46	12	16	18	48	63	−15	52
22	Stockport County	46	11	19	16	57	78	−21	52
23	Oxford United (R)	46	11	16	19	43	57	−14	49	Relegation to Football Conference
24	Rushden & Diamonds (R)	46	11	12	23	44	76	−32	45

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: In the Football League goals scored (GF) takes precedence over goal difference (GD).
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Bury deducted one point for fielding an ineligible player.^[5]

Barnet

Boston United

Bristol Rovers

Bury

Carlisle United

Cheltenham

Chester City

Darlington

Grimsby Town

Leyton Orient

Lincoln City

Macclesfield

Mansfield

Northampton Town

Notts County

Oxford

Peterborough

Rochdale

Rushden & Diamonds

Shrewsbury

Stockport

Torquay

Wrexham

Wycombe

Locations of the 2005–06 League Two teams

Play-offs

Main article: Football League Two play-offs § 2006

	Semi-finals 1st leg − 13 May; 2nd leg – 16/18 May 2006							Final at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff 28 May 2006
	4th	Grimsby Town	1	2	3
	7th	Lincoln City	0	1	1
								4th	Grimsby Town	0
								5th	Cheltenham Town	1
	5th	Cheltenham Town	2	0	2
	6th	Wycombe Wanderers	1	0	1

^[1]

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Rickie Lambert	Rochdale	22
=	Karl Hawley	Carlisle United	22
3	Richard Walker	Bristol Rovers	20
4	Tommy Mooney	Wycombe Wanderers	18
=	Richard Barker	Mansfield Town	18
6	Scott McGleish	Northampton Town	17
7	Junior Agogo	Bristol Rovers	16
8	Danny Crow	Peterborough United	15
=	Gary Jones	Grimsby Town	15
=	Michael Bridges	Carlisle United	15

^[6]

See also

• English Football League
• 2005–06 in English football
• 2005 in association football
• 2006 in association football