Football League
1888-1915
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1900-01

Football League 1901-02

1902-03
  
Final League Table - Division I
Teams in a silver box denotes a player representing England in 1901-02
Teams in italics were relegated to the second division for the following season
Team P Home Away
W D L F A W D L F A
Sunderland 34 12 3 2 32 14 7 3 7 18 21 44
Everton 34 11 2 4 31 11 6 5 6 22 24 41
Newcastle United 34 11 3 3 41 14 3 6 8 7 20 37
Blackburn Rovers 34 12 2 3 36 16 3 4 10 16 32 36
Nottingham Forest 34 11 4 2 32 13 2 5 10 11 30 35
Derby County 34 11 5 1 26 10 2 4 11 13 31 35
Bury 34 11 5 1 31 9 2 3 12 13 29 34
Aston Villa 34 9 5 3 27 13 4 3 10 15 27 34
The Wednesday 34 9 5 3 30 14 4 3 10 18 38 34
Sheffield United 34 10 5 2 38 13 3 2 12 15 35 33
Liverpool 34 8 3 6 28 16 2 9 6 14 22 32
Bolton Wanderers 34 10 6 1 38 17 2 2 13 13 39 32
Notts County 34 12 2 3 44 19 2 2 13 7 38 32
Wolverhampton Wanderers 34 12 3 2 32 13 1 3 13 14 44 32
Grimsby Town 34 11 3 3 33 16 2 3 12 11 44 32
Stoke 34 10 4 3 31 12 1 5 11 14 43 31
Small Heath 34 8 5 4 31 14 3 3 11 16 31 30
Manchester City 34 10 3 4 28 17 1 3 13 14 41 28

Nottingham Forest recorded a five-match winning run from 18 January 1902:
Bury (h) 2-1, Stoke (h) 2-0, Sunderland (h) 2-1, Derby (h) 3-1, Wednesday (a) 2-0, before losing 2-0 at home to Newcastle on 19 March 1902. Sunderland
's biggest winning sequence was of four matches.


 
How The League Was Won 1901-02 Season
Timeline
34 Saturdays from 7 September 1901 (beginning a week later than the previous season, due to it being the first Saturday in September) to 26 April 1902, plus Christmas Day (Wednesday, 25th December 1901), Boxing Day (Thursday, 26th December 1901), New Year's Day (Wednesday, 1 January 1902), Good Friday, 28 March 1902 and Easter Monday, 31 March 1902
Five
opening games were played on Monday, 2 September 1901 and a sixth on the following day. An additional game was played on each of the next two Mondays, plus one on the first Thursday in October, one on a Monday in November, one on the first Thursday of the new year and one on a Monday in January. Two games were played on Mondays and one on a Tuesday in February, three on Mondays (not including Easter) and one on a Wednesday in March, and games were played on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays in April. The FA Cup was scheduled to take precedence on five weekends from the first round on 25 January 1902 to the final on 19 April 1902. There were two weeks between each round, three weeks before the semi-finals and five before the final which went to a replay played seven days later, on Saturday, 26 April 1902. One first round tie was re-scheduled for the following Saturday (1 February 1902). Last league game was Derby 3-1 Sheffield United on Monday, 28 April 1902.
Saturday, 12 April 1902
Everton 0 Notts County 1
  
Goodison Park, Liverpool (10,000)

Humphreys
Everton missed their last chance to get ahead of Sunderland and remained a point behind with only one match to play, whilst Sunderland had three remaining fixtures. Newcastle's hopes ended with their defeat at Sheffield United.
Sunderland 1 The Wednesday 2
 
  Roker Park, Sunderland (9,300)

Murray
~ Chapman, Simpson
Top Two 12 April 1902
Team P
Sunderland 31 40
Everton 33 39

 
Wednesday, 16 April 1902
Sunderland 3 Bury 0
  
Roker Park, Sunderland (10,000)

Millar 3

Jimmy Millar's hat-trick gave Sunderland a three-point lead over Everton and a fourth title.

 
The Elite League 1901-02 Season (games between the top four)
Team P Home Away
W D L F A W D L F A
Blackburn Rovers 6 1 1 1 3 2 2 0 1 7 3 7
Sunderland 6 1 1 1 5 6 2 0 1 2 2 7
Everton 6 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 6 6 6
Newcastle United 6 0 1 2 1 5 0 3 0 0 0 4
As in the previous season, only Sunderland retained their top-four placing from the season prior to that. Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and Notts County all dropped out of the top four.
Games played between the top two:-
Saturday, 16 November 1901
 Sunderland 2 Everton 4
  
Roker Park, Sunderland (13,200)
Gemmell, McLatchie
~ Settle 2, Abbott, Sharp
Saturday, 15 March 1902
 Everton 2 Sunderland 0
   Goodison Park, Liverpool (20,000)

Taylor, Young

 
The Continuous League 1888-1902 (first 14 seasons)
Team P Wins
Aston Villa 408 212 498
Everton 408 202 473
Sunderland 364 197 461
Blackburn Rovers 408 162 411
Everton reduced Aston Villa's lead to 25 points. This was the fourth season of 34 games each, following three of 22, one of 26 and six of thirty games each. Sunderland still had the highest average points per game from their twelve seasons.
The Continuous '34 Games' League
1898-1902 (last four seasons)
Team P Wins
Sunderland 136 68 164
Aston Villa 136 64 159
Liverpool 136 62 153
Everton 136 61 149
Sunderland moved up from third to the top.
The 'Rolling Five-Season' League
1897-1902
Team P Wins
Sunderland 166 84 201
Aston Villa 166 78 193
Everton 166 74 184
Sheffield United 166 69 183
The first season was of thirty games each. Sunderland climbed from fourth to the top.

 
Champions: Sunderland
Manager: Alex Mackie
1901-02 Most Appearances
by England Players
Name Played Goals
Billy Hogg 28 10
1901-02 Most Goals
by England Players
Name Played Goals
Billy Hogg 28 10
Scotsman, Jimmy Gemmell also scored ten for Sunderland.
Everton's Jimmy Settle was top scorer with 18.
Second on the list were Villa's Jasper McLuckie, a Scotsman, and Fred Priest of Sheffield United with 17.

 
England and the Football League 1901-02 Season
England's impact on the Football League
Of the 33 playing positions used during the active 1901-02 season, Football League players provided 31 of them, and of the three goals scored, League players scored all of them.
Eleven of the 18 first division clubs were represented.
Eleven Football League games had a direct impact on two of England's games, on 22 March and 5 April (though declared void because of the Ibrox disaster).
As a result, on 22 March, England took Aston Villa's Billy George and Albert Wilkes, Blackburn's Fred Blackburn and Jack Crompton,
Derby's Steve Bloomer, Everton's Jimmy Settle and Sunderland's Billy Hogg. On 5 April, Bloomer, Crompton, George and Hogg were again absent from their clubs, as were Blackburn's Kelly Houlker, Liverpool's Jack Cox and Frank Forman of Nottingham Forest.
 
GI