2008–09 Football League Two

The Football League 2008–09, known as the Coca-Cola Football League for sponsorship reasons, was the 17th season under its current league division format. It began in August 2008 and concluded in May 2009, with the promotion play-off finals.

Football League Two

Season	2008–09
Champions	Brentford
Promoted	Brentford Exeter City Wycombe Wanderers Gillingham
Relegated	Chester City Luton Town
Matches played	557
Top goalscorer	Grant Holt Simeon Jackson (20)
Longest winning run	7 games
← 2007–08 2009–10 →

The Football League is contested through three Divisions. The third division of these is League Two. The winner, runner up and third-placed team of League Two will be automatically promoted to Football League One and they will be joined by the winner of the League Two playoff. The bottom two teams in the league will be relegated from the Football League to the Conference National for the 2009–10 season.

Before the season started, Luton Town, Rotherham United and AFC Bournemouth were all docked points for the League Two season for, in all cases, financial problems and additionally, in the case of Luton, for criminal matters regarding transfers of players. Bournemouth and Rotherham both started on −17 points while Luton had to begin on −30 points. On 25 January, Darlington were docked ten points after going into administration.

Changes from last season

From League Two

Promoted to League One

• Milton Keynes Dons
• Peterborough United
• Hereford United
• Stockport County

Relegated to Conference National

• Wrexham
• Mansfield Town

To League Two

Relegated from League One

• Bournemouth
• Gillingham
• Port Vale
• Luton Town

Promoted from Conference National

• Aldershot Town
• Exeter City

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Brentford (C, P)	46	23	16	7	65	36	+29	85	Promotion to Football League One
2	Exeter City (P)	46	22	13	11	65	50	+15	79
3	Wycombe Wanderers (P)	46	20	18	8	54	33	+21	78
4	Bury	46	21	15	10	63	43	+20	78	Qualification for League Two play-offs
5	Gillingham (O, P)	46	21	12	13	58	55	+3	75
6	Rochdale	46	19	13	14	70	59	+11	70
7	Shrewsbury Town	46	17	18	11	61	44	+17	69
8	Dagenham & Redbridge	46	19	11	16	77	53	+24	68
9	Bradford City	46	18	13	15	66	55	+11	67
10	Chesterfield	46	16	15	15	62	57	+5	63
11	Morecambe	46	15	18	13	53	56	−3	63
12	Darlington	46	20	12	14	61	44	+17	62[a]
13	Lincoln City	46	14	17	15	53	52	+1	59
14	Rotherham United	46	21	12	13	60	46	+14	58[b]
15	Aldershot Town	46	14	12	20	59	80	−21	54
16	Accrington Stanley	46	13	11	22	42	59	−17	50
17	Barnet	46	11	15	20	56	74	−18	48
18	Port Vale	46	13	9	24	44	66	−22	48
19	Notts County	46	11	14	21	49	69	−20	47
20	Macclesfield Town	46	13	8	25	45	77	−32	47
21	Bournemouth	46	17	12	17	59	51	+8	46[c]
22	Grimsby Town	46	9	14	23	51	69	−18	41
23	Chester City (R)	46	8	13	25	43	81	−38	37	Relegated to Conference National
24	Luton Town (R)	46	13	17	16	58	65	−7	26[d]

Source: The Football League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Darlington deducted 10 points for entering administration.^[1]
2. Rotherham United deducted 17 points for leaving administration without a Company Voluntary Agreement.^[2]
3. Bournemouth deducted 17 points for leaving administration without a Company Voluntary Agreement.^[3]
4. Luton Town deducted 30 points; 20 points for leaving administration without a Company Voluntary Agreement, and 10 points for making illegal payments to agents.^[4]

Play-offs

	Semifinals							Final at Wembley
	7	Shrewsbury Town	0	1 (4)	1
	4	Bury	1	0 (3)	1
								Shrewsbury Town		0
								Gillingham		1
	6	Rochdale	0	1	1
	5	Gillingham	0	2	2

Stadia and locations

Accrington

Aldershot

Barnet

Bournemouth

Bradford

Brentford

Bury

Chester

Chesterfield

Dag & Red

Darlington

Exeter

Gillingham

Grimsby

Lincoln

Luton

Macclesfield

Morecambe

Notts County

Port Vale

Rochdale

Rotherham

Shrewsbury

Wycombe

Locations of the League Two 2008–09 teams

Team	Stadium	Capacity
Darlington	The Darlington Arena	25,294*
Bradford City	Valley Parade	25,136
Rotherham United	Don Valley Stadium	25,000
Port Vale	Vale Park	22,356
Notts County	Meadow Lane	19,588
Brentford	Griffin Park	12,763
Bury	Gigg Lane	11,840
Gillingham	Priestfield Stadium	11,582
Bournemouth	Dean Court	10,700
Luton Town	Kenilworth Road	10,260
Rochdale	Spotland Stadium	10,249
Lincoln City	Sincil Bank	10,127
Wycombe Wanderers	Adams Park	10,000
Shrewsbury Town	New Meadow	9,875
Grimsby Town	Blundell Park	9,106
Exeter City	St James Park	9,036
Chesterfield	Saltergate	8,504
Aldershot Town	Recreation Ground	7,100
Morecambe	Christie Park	6,400
Macclesfield Town	Moss Rose	6,335
Dagenham & Redbridge	Victoria Road	6,000
Barnet	Underhill Stadium	5,568
Chester City	Deva Stadium	5,376
Accrington Stanley	Crown Ground	5,057

*Capacity limited to 6,000 because of planning regulations^[5]

Results

Home \ Away	ACC	ALD	BAR	BOU	BRA	BRE	BRY	CHE	CHF	D&R	DAR	EXE	GIL	GRI	LIN	LUT	MAC	MOR	NTC	PTV	ROC	ROT	SHR	WYC
Accrington Stanley		0–1	1–1	3–0	2–3	1–1	1–2	0–1	1–0	0–0	1–0	2–1	0–2	3–1	0–2	0–0	2–0	1–0	1–1	2–0	1–3	1–3	2–1	0–1
Aldershot Town	3–1		1–1	1–1	3–2	1–1	3–3	2–2	1–1	1–2	2–1	1–0	2–1	2–2	2–0	2–1	1–1	0–2	2–2	1–0	2–4	0–1	0–0	3–2
Barnet	2–1	0–3		1–0	4–1	0–1	1–2	3–1	1–3	1–1	0–1	0–1	2–2	3–3	3–2	1–1	1–3	1–1	0–4	1–2	2–1	2–0	0–0	1–1
Bournemouth	1–0	2–0	0–2		4–1	0–1	2–0	1–0	1–1	2–1	3–1	0–1	1–1	2–1	0–1	1–1	0–1	0–0	0–1	0–0	4–0	0–0	1–0	3–1
Bradford City	1–1	5–0	3–3	1–3		1–1	1–0	0–0	3–2	1–1	0–0	4–1	2–2	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	4–0	2–1	0–1	2–0	3–0	0–0	1–0
Brentford	3–0	3–0	1–0	2–0	2–1		1–0	3–0	0–1	2–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	4–0	1–1	2–0	1–0	3–1	1–1	2–0	1–2	0–0	1–1	3–3
Bury	1–0	2–1	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–0		1–1	1–2	2–2	2–2	0–1	4–0	0–2	3–1	1–2	3–0	2–1	2–0	3–0	2–1	1–2	2–1	0–0
Chester City	2–0	0–1	5–1	0–2	0–0	3–0	1–1		1–3	2–2	1–2	0–0	0–1	1–1	0–2	2–2	0–2	1–2	2–0	1–2	0–2	1–5	1–1	0–2
Chesterfield	1–1	5–1	1–1	1–0	0–2	0–1	1–3	1–1		1–1	0–0	2–1	0–1	2–1	1–1	2–2	2–4	1–2	3–1	2–1	3–0	1–0	2–2	0–1
Dagenham & Redbridge	0–0	3–1	2–0	0–1	3–0	3–1	1–3	6–0	3–0		0–1	1–2	2–0	4–0	0–3	2–1	2–1	0–2	6–1	1–1	3–2	1–1	1–2	0–1
Darlington	3–0	2–0	2–2	2–1	2–1	1–3	2–2	1–2	0–0	3–0		1–1	1–2	1–0	2–0	5–1	1–2	0–0	1–0	2–1	1–2	1–0	1–1	1–2
Exeter City	2–1	3–2	2–1	1–3	1–0	0–2	0–0	2–0	1–6	2–1	2–0		3–0	0–0	2–1	0–1	4–0	2–2	2–2	1–0	4–1	1–1	0–1	1–0
Gillingham	1–0	4–4	0–2	1–0	0–2	1–1	0–0	2–0	2–1	2–1	1–0	1–0		3–0	1–2	0–1	3–1	5–0	2–2	1–0	1–1	4–0	2–2	1–1
Grimsby Town	0–1	1–0	0–1	3–3	1–3	0–1	1–2	1–3	0–1	1–1	1–2	2–2	3–0		5–1	2–2	0–0	2–3	0–1	3–0	0–0	3–0	1–0	1–1
Lincoln City	5–1	0–2	2–0	3–3	0–0	2–2	1–1	1–1	3–1	1–3	0–1	0–1	2–0	1–1		0–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	0–1	1–1	0–1	0–0	1–0
Luton Town	1–2	3–1	3–1	3–3	3–3	0–1	1–2	1–1	0–0	2–1	1–2	1–2	0–0	2–1	3–2		1–0	1–1	1–1	1–3	1–1	2–4	3–1	0–1
Macclesfield Town	0–2	4–2	2–1	0–2	0–2	2–0	1–1	3–1	1–1	0–4	0–6	1–4	0–1	1–0	1–2	2–1		0–1	1–1	0–2	0–1	1–2	3–0	0–0
Morecambe	1–1	2–0	2–1	0–4	2–1	2–0	0–0	3–1	2–2	1–2	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–1	1–1	1–2	4–1		1–0	1–1	1–1	1–3	1–0	0–0
Notts County	1–1	2–1	2–0	1–1	3–1	1–1	0–1	1–2	0–1	0–3	0–0	2–1	0–1	0–2	0–1	0–2	1–1	1–0		4–2	1–2	0–3	2–2	0–2
Port Vale	0–2	0–0	0–0	3–1	0–2	0–3	1–1	3–0	0–1	0–1	3–1	1–3	1–3	2–1	0–1	1–3	1–4	2–1	1–2		2–1	0–0	1–1	1–1
Rochdale	3–1	3–1	3–1	1–1	3–0	1–2	1–1	6–1	2–1	0–2	0–2	2–2	0–1	2–0	2–2	2–0	1–1	1–1	3–0	1–0		1–2	2–1	0–1
Rotherham United	0–0	1–2	3–4	1–0	0–2	0–0	1–1	3–1	3–0	1–1	0–1	0–1	2–0	4–1	1–0	1–0	2–0	3–2	2–1	1–0	2–2		1–2	0–0
Shrewsbury Town	2–0	1–0	2–2	4–1	2–0	1–3	1–0	1–0	2–1	2–1	1–0	1–1	7–0	1–1	0–0	3–0	4–0	0–0	3–2	1–2	1–1	1–0		0–1
Wycombe Wanderers	2–1	3–0	1–1	3–1	1–0	0–0	2–1	2–0	1–1	2–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–1	1–0	0–0	4–0	1–1	1–2	4–2	0–1	0–0	1–1

Source: The Football League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

Pos	Player	Team	Goals
1	Simeon Jackson	Gillingham	20
	Grant Holt	Shrewsbury Town
	Jack Lester	Chesterfield
4	Adam Le Fondre	Rochdale	17
	John O'Flynn	Barnet
	Reuben Reid	Rotherham United
7	Charlie MacDonald	Brentford	16
8	Andy Bishop	Bury	15
	Peter Thorne	Bradford City
10	Paul Benson	Dagenham & Redbridge	14
	Ryan Lowe	Chester City
	Brett Pitman	Bournemouth
	Jamie Ward	Chesterfield

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month		Notes
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
August	Mark Robins	Rotherham United	Solomon Taiwo	Dagenham & Redbridge	[6][7]
September	Alan Knill	Bury	Matthew Gill	Exeter City	[8][9]
October	Peter Jackson	Lincoln City	Jamie Ward	Chesterfield	[10][11]
November	Peter Taylor	Wycombe Wanderers	Grant Holt	Shrewsbury Town	[12][13]
December	John Still	Dagenham & Redbridge	Marcus Bean	Brentford	[14][15]
January	Alan Knill	Bury	Dany N'Guessan	Lincoln City	[16][17]
February	Sammy McIlroy	Morecambe	Charlie MacDonald	Brentford	[18][19]
March	Lee Richardson	Chesterfield	Reuben Reid	Rotherham United	[20][21]
April	Andy Scott	Brentford	Sam Saunders	Dagenham & Redbridge	[22][23]

Key events

25 February 2009 – Darlington are docked 10 points by the FA for entering administration

2 May 2009 – Brentford crowned Champions of League 2 after 3–1 win at Darlington.

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Bournemouth	Kevin Bond	Contract terminated	1 September 2008[24]	Jimmy Quinn	2 September 2008[25]	23rd
Grimsby Town	Alan Buckley	Contract terminated	15 September 2008[26]	Mike Newell	6 October 2008[27]	20th
Port Vale	Lee Sinnott	Mutual consent	22 September 2008[28]	Dean Glover	6 October 2008[29]	16th
Chester City	Simon Davies	Contract terminated	11 November 2008[30]	Mark Wright	14 November 2008[31]	19th
Barnet	Paul Fairclough	Resigned	28 December 2008[32]	Ian Hendon	21 April 2009[33]	16th
Bournemouth	Jimmy Quinn	Contract terminated	31 December 2008[34]	Eddie Howe	31 December 2008[35]	23rd

See also

• 2008–09 Football League
• 2008–09 in English football
• 2008–09 Aldershot Town F.C. season
• 2008–09 Bradford City A.F.C. season
• 2008–09 Grimsby Town F.C. season
• 2008–09 Luton Town F.C. season