Final League Table
Teams in a silver box denotes a player
representing England in 1888-89 |
|
Team |
P |
Home |
Away |
₧
|
|
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
|
Preston North End |
22 |
10 |
1 |
0 |
39 |
7 |
8 |
3 |
0 |
35 |
8 |
40 |
|
Aston Villa |
22 |
10 |
0 |
1 |
44 |
16 |
2 |
5 |
4 |
17 |
27 |
29 |
|
Wolverhampton Wanderers |
22 |
8 |
2 |
1 |
30 |
14 |
4 |
2 |
5 |
20 |
23 |
28 |
|
Blackburn Rovers |
22 |
7 |
4 |
0 |
44 |
22 |
3 |
2 |
6 |
22 |
23 |
26 |
|
Bolton Wanderers |
22 |
6 |
0 |
5 |
35 |
30 |
4 |
2 |
5 |
28 |
29 |
22 |
|
West Bromwich Albion |
22 |
6 |
2 |
3 |
25 |
24 |
4 |
0 |
7 |
15 |
22 |
22 |
|
Accrington |
22 |
5 |
3 |
3 |
26 |
17 |
1 |
5 |
5 |
22 |
31 |
20 |
|
Everton |
22 |
8 |
0 |
3 |
24 |
17 |
1 |
2 |
8 |
11 |
29 |
20 |
|
Burnley |
22 |
6 |
3 |
2 |
21 |
19 |
1 |
0 |
10 |
21 |
43 |
17 |
|
Derby County |
22 |
5 |
1 |
5 |
22 |
20 |
2 |
1 |
8 |
19 |
41 |
16 |
|
Notts County |
22 |
4 |
2 |
5 |
25 |
32 |
1 |
0 |
10 |
15 |
41 |
12 |
|
Stoke |
22 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
15 |
18 |
1 |
0 |
10 |
11 |
33 |
12 |
|
In
addition to going through the entire season of 22 games undefeated, Preston
won their first six games:
Burnley (h) 5-2, Wolves (a) 4-0, Bolton (h) 3-1, Derby (a) 3-2, Stoke (h)
7-0, West Brom. (h) 3-0, before drawing 0-0 at Accrington on 20 October
1888. |
|
How The League Was Won 1888-89 Season |
|
Timeline |
21
consecutive Saturdays from 8 September 1888 to 26 January 1889, plus
Boxing Day (Wednesday, 26 December 1888)
Two
rearranged games were played on consecutive Mondays in November 1888
and the rest were played in February, March and April 1889, though
two were played on Mondays and one on a Tuesday, as the FA Cup took
precedence each Saturday from the first round on 2 February 1889 to
the final on 30 March 1889 (rounds were played each fortnight with
replays on the Saturday in-between and a second replay on a
Thursday). The last league game was played on Easter Saturday, 20 April 1889
(Accrington 2-0 Stoke).
|
Saturday, 29 December 1888 |
Preston North End 1 Blackburn
Rovers 0
Deepdale, Preston
(9,000)
Goodall |
Preston maintain a nine-point lead over Aston Villa.
Preston's win ended Blackburn's chance of winning the League,
whilst Wolves' defeat at Bolton put them out of contention,
leaving only Villa able to catch Preston, with six games left, as
opposed to Preston's four. |
Aston Villa 4 Derby County 2
Wellington Road, Handsworth
(4,000)
Green
(2), Allen, Goodall
~ Spilsbury, Bakewell |
|
Saturday, 5 January 1889 |
2.30pm GMT
Preston North End 4
Notts County 1
Deepdale, Preston
(4,000)
Goodall (2),
Edwards (2) ~ Daft |
Preston won the League Championship by opening up an
eleven-point gap between them and Villa, who now had five games
left. They stayed unbeaten for the entire season, with forty
points, to Villa's 29. |
3.05pm GMT
Burnley 4 Aston Villa 0
Turf Moor, Burnley
(6,000)
Yates (2),
Gallocher, A.Brady
The game kicked off 35 minutes late
as three Villa players had missed a train connection. They thus
started with eight players, with two of them arriving after ten
minutes' play. The third latecomer arrived at half-time, but the
referee would not allow him to take part. |
|
|
The Elite League 1888-89 Season
(games between the top four) |
Games played between the top two:-
|
Saturday, 10 November 1888 |
Preston North End 1 Aston Villa 1
Deepdale, Preston
(2,000)
Goodall ~
Green |
|
Saturday, 9 February 1889 |
Aston Villa 0 Preston North End 2
Wellington Road, Handsworth
(12,000)
Dewhurst (2) |
|
|
Champions:
Preston North End |
|
Manager: William
Sudell |
|
|
Other significant scorers this
season included Preston's Jimmy Ross, a Scottish international, scoring 19 in 21
matches.
Third on the list was Villa's Albert
Allen (18).
Jack Southworth of Blackburn scored 17.
|
|
England and the Football
League 1888-89 Season |
|
England's impact on the Football League |
Of the 22 playing positions used
during the active 1888-89 season, Football League players provided
fifteen of them, and of the ten goals scored, League players scored
them all.
Nine of the twelve Football League clubs were
represented.
Three Football League games had a direct impact on
two of England's games, on 23 February and 2 March.
As a result,
on 23 February, England took West Brom's Billy Bassett and
Wolves
were without Jack Brodie, Albert Fletcher and Arthur Lowder. On 2 March, Burnley were
without Jack Yates.
|
|
The Football League's impact on England |
|
On 23 February, Alf Shelton played for
Notts County after withdrawing from the England team.
|
|
