Graham Taylor's second spell as manager brought instant success as Watford won the Division Two championship.
They were joined by champions Notts County, who won the title by 17 points and became the first team since World War II to secure promotion in March, third-placed Lincoln City and playoff winners Colchester United.
Ipswich Town and Sheffield United were the beaten semi-finalists, while Birmingham City missed out on the playoffs on goals scored.
In the end, the visitors triumphed 5-2 but both sides were relegated due to Portsmouth, Port Vale and QPR all winning and securing survival.
Portsmouth sacked Terry Fenwick in February after three years in charge and replaced him with Alan Ball, the manager of their most recent promotion-winning side in 1987.
Huddersfield Town's dismal start to the campaign saw Brian Horton sacked in September and replaced by Peter Jackson, who guided the Terriers to a secure mid table finish.
Grimsby had already defeated favourites Fulham in the semi-finals, meaning that Mohammed Al Fayed's revolution at Craven Cottage was on hold for a season.
Since buying the club for £30million the previous summer, Al Fayed had appointed Kevin Keegan as director of football and Ray Wilkins as head coach, as well as providing transfer funds which meant that Fulham were able to compete with the leading Division One clubs and even some Premier League sides in the transfer market, the biggest fee being the £2.25million they paid Blackburn Rovers for defender Chris Coleman.
Carlisle United's dream of rising to the top of the English leagues under the ownership of Michael Knighton was becoming a nightmare as they suffered an instant relegation back to Division Three, despite the club's ambitious chairman taking charge of the first team for most of the season after axing Mervyn Day in the autumn.
[2] In his first full season as Notts County manager, Sam Allardyce took Notts County to the Division Three title with 99 points and made them the first Football League team to win promotion before the end of March, giving the Meadow Lane supporters some much needed cause for celebration after the previous six seasons had brought three relegations and a playoff defeat.
Hull City endured one of the worst seasons in their history, finishing third from bottom and with team-strengthening prospects for new player-manager Mark Hateley being restricted by rising debts.