80’s Golden Boot Winners

The 80’s won’t just be remembered for some questionable short shorts, creative hair styles and hooliganism, it was also an era of talented marksmen who found the art of hitting the back of the net look easy. We take a look at the top goal scorers in the football league during that magical decade.

1980-1981

First up we take a look at the 1980-1981 season where both Steve Archibald and Peter Withe scored a total of 20 goals apiece for Spurs and Aston Villa respectively.

Born in Glasgow, Archibald began his football playing career for local teams whilst training as a car mechanic. He was spotted in Clyde in 1974 and gained recognition playing in midfield. He moved to Aberdeen in 1978 and where he transitioned into a striker, forming a successful partnership with Joe Harper. In 1980, he joined Tottenham Hotspur, where he became the joint top scorer in his season in the first division whilst also lifting the FA cup.

Peter Withe was a formidable and a commanding centre forward known for his strength and power. Excellent in the air and good with his back to goal, his unique skills enabled him to become the joint first division top scorer in the 80-81 season for Aston Villa. Whilst Withe did have a successful career at Nottingham forest and Newcastle United, he produced his greatest moments in the claret of blue of a Villa shirt including scoring the winning goal in the 1982 European Cup Final.

1981-1982

The 81/82 season saw former Liverpool and Hamburg striker Kevin Keegan produce some of his best form of his career. He helped Southampton sit top of the first division table at the beginning of April but they eventually finished the season in 7th. Mighty Mouse bagged 30 goals for the Saints that season, earning him the prized possession of the golden boot.

1982-1983

Native to Jamaica, on leaving school Luther Blissett became an apprentice at Vicarage Road in 1974, before turning professional a year later. In Watford’s first top flight season in the First Division, Blissett acclimatised quickly to the step up and was the division’s top marksmen with an impressive 27 goals.

1983-1984

The prolific Wales and Liverpool number 9 topped the goal scoring charts at the end of the 83/84 season. Ian Rush played for Liverpool from 1980 to 1987 and 1988-1996 and during those two spells achieved the status of becoming the reds all-time leading goal scorer with a total of 346 goals in all competitions for the club which he still holds to this day. 32 of those goals came during the 1983-1984 season in which he won the golden boot.

1984-1985

Born In Luton, Kerry Dixon was an athletic striker with pace, amazing heading ability and effective use of both feet. He started out as an apprentice for Spurs but was released and found his first taste of league football at Reading. After a successful start to his career in Berkshire, he moved on to second division Chelsea which he helped gain promotion to the first division. He made his impact in his first season in the top flight as he finished up as joint top scorer with 24 goals alongside Gary Lineker.

The other leading goal scorer that season was future England top goal scorer and Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker. He joined Leicester City’s youth academy in 1976 after leaving school and during his time at Filbert Street he consistently scored goals which eventually attracted the attention of Howard Kendall at Everton after being joint top soccer for the Foxes in 1984-1985.

1985-1986

The following season, Gary Lineker went one better by winning the golden boot outright. His £800,000 transfer from Filbert Street to Goodison Park paid instant dividends as Gary Lineker scored 30 league goals in his only season with the Toffees. In his impressive debut season, he bagged 40 goals in all competitions from 57 games. Not only did he finish the season as first division’s top goal scorer but he also won golden boot at the Mexico World Cup for England which alerted Terry Venables at Barcelona. Everton made a decent profit with the striker moving to the Camp Nou in £2.8m deal.

1986-1987

With goal machine Gary Lineker plying his trade in La Liga it gave the opportunity for someone else to win the coveted Golden boot. Step forward Tottenham Hotspur’s striker Clive Allen who netted 33 goals for Spurs in the 86/87 season. Allen had a successful football career, playing for Manchester City, Queens Park Rangers and Tottenham Hotspur. However unlike Lineker, Allen couldn’t maintain the consistency the following season and he didn’t manage to convert his form onto the international stage, winning just 5 caps for England.

1987-1988

John Aldridge arrived at Anfield in 1986 and was given the unenviable job of replacing Kop legend Ian Rush who had been sold to Italian giants Juventus. In his first full season with Liverpool, the Liverpudlian hitman stepped up to the task in fine style, scoring 29 goals in all competition. The 26 league goals secured him the prestigious golden boot to go with his league champions medal. However, after just one season in Serie A, Rush returned back to Merseyside which curtailed Aldo’s career at for the Reds, in total he played 104 times for Liverpool and scored 63 goals.

1988-1989

Alan Smith joined Arsenal in 1987 from Leicester City in a £850,000 deal. The tall striker took his first season to settle into George Graham’s side scoring 11 league goals in his debut season. In his second season he thrived, being known for his hard work ethic and sniffing out goal scoring positions which helped him to 23 league goals in the 88/89 season which secured the Gunners the league title.

1989-1990

After three seasons at Barcelona, the goal machine that was Gary Lineker was back on home soil at White Hart Lane. Spurs manager Terry Venables who had originally took him to Barca now brought him back the First Division in a £1.1m deal. He repaid his managers faith and then some, scoring 24 league goals helping Tottenham Hotspur to a 3^rd place finish. During his stay at White Hart Lane the England forward scored 67 goals in 105 league games and won the FA Cup in 1991. Gary Lineker’s extraordinary performance in the 1989-1990 cemented his status as one of the most prolific goal scorers throughout the 80’s.