George Burley guided newly promoted Ipswich Town to fifth place in the Premiership and achieved qualification for the UEFA Cup.

Jean Tigana won the Division One title with Fulham to gain promotion to the Premiership and end their 33-year exile from the top flight of English football.

Teddy Sheringham, 35, was voted Player of the Year by both the PFA and FWA after helping Manchester United win their third successive Premiership title.

Steven Gerrard was voted PFA Young Player of the Year as well as winning three major trophies in a single season with Liverpool.

Young French striker Louis Saha was arguably the hottest prospect outside the Premiership after his goals helped Fulham win the Division One title to end their 33-year exile from the top flight.

Bobby Zamora established himself as one of the Football League's top marksmen after helping Brighton & Hove Albion win the Division Three title.

Howard Wilkinson and Peter Taylor each had one-match stints as caretaker manager before Sven-Göran Eriksson accepted The Football Association's offer to become the new national coach.

The key men in this success were money-spinning chairman Mohamed Al-Fayed, enthusiastic manager Jean Tigana and free scoring striker Louis Saha.

Most people had tipped Ipswich to go straight back down in 2000–01, but they spent most of the season in the top five and finished fifth to claim a 2001–02 UEFA Cup place – their first foray in Europe for 20 years.

[1] Torquay were 3–0 up at half-time, but Barnet, playing with five up front for periods of the second half, scored twice to keep the tension levels high until the end of the match.

Leeds United finished fourth, being left to rue a terrible first half of the season that saw them look in danger of being sucked into the relegation fight, but somewhat made up for this with much better form after Christmas and more significantly, a run to the semi-finals of the Champions League.

Joining them were Coventry City, whose luck finally ran out after 34 years in the top flight; a late upturn in form seemed to herald another of the Sky Blues' dramatic escapes from relegation, but a run of only one point from their last games proved fatal.

Leading goalscorer: Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (Chelsea) – 23 Under the management of Jean Tigana, but with only two changes to the previous season's first team, Fulham won the division easily.

Watford faltered to finish ninth after a strong start to the season suggested that they would win promotion back to the Premier League, prompting the resignation of Graham Taylor as manager and the appointment of Gianluca Vialli in his place.

Tranmere's recent cup successes failed to translate into league form, and they finished bottom, just behind Queens Park Rangers, who fell into the third tier for the first time since the 1960s.

Narrowly avoiding relegation were Crystal Palace, whose dramatic last day victory over Stockport ensured survival for a club who spent the previous two seasons struggling with a financial crisis.

Leading goalscorer: Louis Saha (Fulham) – 27 Millwall, who had failed to impress since relegation from the First Division in 1996, finally secured promotion as divisional champions.

Making perhaps bigger headlines were unfashionable Rotherham United, who instead of struggling as the pundits predicted, took the second automatic promotion spot, pushing Millwall perilously close for the title.

Leading goalscorer: Jamie Cureton (Reading) and Neil Harris (Millwall), 27 After their financial nightmares and near-relegations of the previous years, Brighton finally started making serious progress, as they won the title.

Leading goalscorer: Bobby Zamora (Brighton & Hove Albion), 28 Note: Cardiff City left administration and made arrangements before promotion as runner up and Chesterfield deducted 9 points for beginning financial irregularities.

[27] 24 January 2001: Luc Nilis, 33-year-old Belgian striker, retires on medical advice four months after suffering a badly broken leg while playing for Aston Villa against Ipswich Town.

[28] 4 May 2001: Dave Watson, 39-year-old central defender, finally retires from playing after 15 years with Everton after accepting an offer to manage Tranmere Rovers.