2008–09 Football League Two

The Football League 2008–09, known as the Coca-Cola Football League for sponsorship reasons, is 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
Season2008–09
ChampionsBrentford
PromotedBrentford
Exeter City
Wycombe Wanderers
Gillingham
RelegatedChester City
Luton Town
Matches played557
Top goalscorerGrant Holt
Simeon Jackson (20)
Longest winning run7 games

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

Relegated to Conference National

To League Two

Relegated from League One

Promoted from Conference National

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[lower-alpha 1]
13 Lincoln City 46 14 17 15 53 52 +1 59
14 Rotherham United 46 21 12 13 60 46 +14 58[lower-alpha 2]
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[lower-alpha 3]
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[lower-alpha 4]
Source: The Football League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champion; (O) Play-off winner; (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
Locations of the League Two 2008–09 teams
Team Stadium Capacity
DarlingtonThe Darlington Arena25,294*
Bradford CityValley Parade25,136
Rotherham UnitedDon Valley Stadium25,000
Port ValeVale Park22,356
Notts CountyMeadow Lane19,588
BrentfordGriffin Park12,763
BuryGigg Lane11,840
GillinghamPriestfield Stadium11,582
BournemouthDean Court10,700
Luton TownKenilworth Road10,260
RochdaleSpotland Stadium10,249
Lincoln CitySincil Bank10,127
Wycombe WanderersAdams Park10,000
Shrewsbury TownNew Meadow9,875
Grimsby TownBlundell Park9,106
Exeter CitySt James Park9,036
ChesterfieldSaltergate8,504
Aldershot TownRecreation Ground7,100
MorecambeChristie Park6,400
Macclesfield TownMoss Rose6,335
Dagenham & RedbridgeVictoria Road6,000
BarnetUnderhill Stadium5,568
Chester CityDeva Stadium5,376
Accrington StanleyCrown Ground5,057

*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
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers
PosPlayerTeamGoals
1 Simeon Jackson Gillingham 20
2 Grant Holt Shrewsbury Town 20
3 Jack Lester Chesterfield 20
4 Adam le Fondre Rochdale 17
5 John O'Flynn Barnet 17
6 Reuben Reid Rotherham United 17
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

References
  1. "Darlington in administration". The Football League. 25 February 2009. Archived from the original on 28 February 2009. Retrieved 25 February 2009.
  2. "Rotherham set to lose 17 points". BBC Sport. 6 August 2008. Retrieved 6 August 2008.
  3. "Bournemouth face 17-point penalty". BBC Sport. 7 August 2008. Retrieved 7 August 2008.
  4. "Luton to face 30-point deduction". BBC Sport. 10 July 2008. Retrieved 10 July 2008.
  5. Cook, Paul (2 May 2008). "Club nears backing for its first concert". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 10 August 2008.
  6. "Millers boss nets monthly award". BBC Sport. 2 October 2008. Retrieved 2 October 2008.
  7. "Player of the Month Awards announced". Setanta Sports. 8 September 2008. Retrieved 18 November 2008.
  8. "Bury's Knill scoops monthly award". BBC Sport. 2 October 2008. Retrieved 2 October 2008.
  9. "Gill is named Player of the Month". BBC Sport. 8 October 2008. Retrieved 18 November 2008.
  10. "Jackson wins manager of the month". BBC Sport. 6 November 2008. Retrieved 6 November 2008.
  11. "Ward wins League 2 award". The Football League. Archived from the original on 24 March 2009. Retrieved 18 November 2008.
  12. "November honour for Wycombe boss". BBC Sport. 4 December 2008. Retrieved 4 December 2008.
  13. "Team success won my award – Holt". BBC Sport. 9 December 2008. Retrieved 16 December 2008.
  14. "Reading boss scoops monthly award". BBC Sport. 1 January 2009. Retrieved 2 January 2009.
  15. "Reading's Hunt wins monthly award". BBC Sport. 13 January 2009. Retrieved 13 January 2009.
  16. "Bury boss earns League Two honour". BBC Sport. 5 February 2009. Retrieved 5 February 2009.
  17. "N'Guessan is player of the month". BBC Sport. 10 February 2009. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  18. "Coventry boss wins monthly award". BBC Sport. 5 March 2009. Retrieved 7 March 2009.
  19. "MacDonald the pick of League 2". Football League. 9 March 2009. Archived from the original on 27 April 2009. Retrieved 3 April 2010.
  20. "WINNERS ANNOUNCED". The Football League. 2 April 2009. Retrieved 22 April 2009.
  21. "Powerade Player-of-the-Month awards". darlington-fc.net. 7 April 2009. Archived from the original on 4 July 2010. Retrieved 22 May 2009.
  22. "League Two – Bees boss Scott wins April award". Yahoo! Eurosport UK. 7 May 2009. Retrieved 22 May 2009.
  23. "Powerade winners announced". Football League. 4 May 2009. Archived from the original on 26 May 2009. Retrieved 22 May 2009.
  24. "Bond sacked as Bournemouth boss". BBC Sport. 1 September 2008. Retrieved 3 September 2008.
  25. "Bournemouth name Quinn as manager". BBC Sport. 2 September 2008. Retrieved 3 September 2008.
  26. "GTFC Statement". Grimsby Town official website. 15 September 2008. Archived from the original on 18 September 2008. Retrieved 15 September 2008.
  27. "Newell takes over as Grimsby boss". BBC Sport. 6 October 2008. Retrieved 7 October 2008.
  28. "Sinnott parts company with Vale". BBC Sport. 22 September 2008. Retrieved 23 September 2008.
  29. "Glover named new Port Vale boss". BBC Sport. 6 October 2008. Retrieved 30 October 2008.
  30. "Chester part company with Davies". BBC Sport. 11 November 2008. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
  31. "Chester reappoint Wright as boss". BBC Sport. 14 November 2008. Retrieved 15 November 2008.
  32. "Fairclough stands down at Barnet". BBC Sport. 27 December 2008. Retrieved 27 December 2008.
  33. "Barnet appoint Hendon as manager". BBC Sport. 22 April 2009. Retrieved 22 April 2009.
  34. "Quinn parts company with Cherries". BBC Sport. 1 January 2009. Retrieved 1 January 2009.
  35. "Cherries appoint Howe for season". BBC Sport. 19 January 2009. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
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