Manager Terry Venables was axed towards the end of March after eight months in charge, with Peter Reid taking over for the final weeks of the season to secure survival and earn himself a permanent contract.

Sunderland's season started badly and got worse as they finished with a record Premiership low of 4 wins, 19 points and 21 goals, losing their final 15 league games in the process.

They were joined by West Bromwich Albion, who attained just 26 points in their first top flight season for nearly 20 years and won just three times in the league after September.

Leading goalscorer: Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester United), 25 Portsmouth won the Division One title by some distance, passing manager Harry Redknapp's old club, West Ham, on the way down and ending their own 15-year exile from the top flight.

Gillingham enjoyed their most successful season to date, finishing a club record eleventh place in the division, the highest in their history.

Despite having some of the lowest attendances in senior football after the relocation to Milton Keynes was announced, Wimbledon managed a 10th-place finish in the league, but then went into administration – putting the future of the club under yet more doubt.

Leading goalscorer: Robert Earnshaw (Cardiff City), 31 Rushden & Diamonds continued their meteoric rise, winning the divisional title.

They were helped in no small part by runners-up Hartlepool suffering a shocking late-season collapse, which cost them the title and manager Mike Newell his job.

Wrexham took the last automatic promotion spot and bounced back from the previous season's relegation, as did play-off winners AFC Bournemouth, who beat Lincoln City in the final.

The first Conference playoffs were won by Doncaster Rovers, who returned to the league after a five-year exile with the financial backing of John Ryan, who now had a new all-seater stadium in the pipeline.