Final League Table -
Division I
Teams in
italics were
relegated to the second division for the following season
(1919-20) |
|
Team |
P |
Home |
Away |
₧
|
|
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
|
Everton |
38 |
8 |
5 |
6 |
44 |
29 |
11 |
3 |
5 |
32 |
18 |
46 |
|
Oldham Athletic |
38 |
11 |
5 |
3 |
46 |
25 |
6 |
6 |
7 |
24 |
31 |
45 |
|
Blackburn Rovers |
38 |
11 |
4 |
4 |
51 |
27 |
7 |
3 |
9 |
32 |
34 |
43 |
|
Burnley |
38 |
12 |
1 |
6 |
38 |
18 |
6 |
6 |
7 |
23 |
29 |
43 |
|
Manchester City |
38 |
9 |
7 |
3 |
29 |
15 |
6 |
6 |
7 |
20 |
24 |
43 |
|
Sheffield
United |
38 |
11 |
5 |
3 |
28 |
13 |
4 |
8 |
7 |
21 |
28 |
43 |
|
The Wednesday |
38 |
10 |
7 |
2 |
43 |
23 |
5 |
6 |
8 |
18 |
31 |
43 |
|
Sunderland |
38 |
11 |
3 |
5 |
46 |
30 |
7 |
2 |
10 |
35 |
42 |
41 |
|
Bradford |
38 |
11 |
4 |
4 |
40 |
20 |
6 |
3 |
10 |
29 |
45 |
41 |
|
West Bromwich Albion |
38 |
11 |
5 |
3 |
31 |
9 |
4 |
5 |
10 |
18 |
34 |
40 |
|
Bradford City |
38 |
11 |
7 |
1 |
40 |
18 |
2 |
7 |
10 |
15 |
31 |
40 |
|
Middlesbrough |
38 |
10 |
6 |
3 |
42 |
24 |
3 |
6 |
10 |
20 |
50 |
38 |
|
Liverpool |
38 |
11 |
5 |
3 |
45 |
34 |
3 |
4 |
12 |
20 |
41 |
37 |
|
Aston Villa |
38 |
10 |
5 |
4 |
39 |
32 |
3 |
6 |
10 |
23 |
40 |
37 |
|
Newcastle United |
38 |
8 |
4 |
7 |
29 |
23 |
3 |
6 |
10 |
17 |
25 |
32 |
|
Notts County |
38 |
8 |
7 |
4 |
28 |
18 |
1 |
6 |
12 |
13 |
39 |
31 |
|
Bolton Wanderers |
38 |
8 |
5 |
6 |
35 |
27 |
3 |
3 |
13 |
33 |
57 |
30 |
|
Manchester United |
38 |
8 |
6 |
5 |
27 |
19 |
1 |
6 |
12 |
19 |
43 |
30 |
|
Chelsea |
38 |
8 |
6 |
5 |
32 |
25 |
0 |
7 |
12 |
19 |
40 |
29 |
|
Tottenham Hotspur |
38 |
7 |
7 |
5 |
30 |
29 |
1 |
5 |
13 |
27 |
61 |
28 |
|
Bradford recorded a six-match winning run from
14 November 1914:
Newcastle (h) 1-0, Middlesbrough (a) 3-1,
Sheffield U. (h) 2-0, Aston V. (a) 2-1, Liverpool (h) 1-0, Manchester C. (a)
3-2, before drawing 1-1 at home to Oldham on 25 December 1914. Everton's biggest
winning sequence was of four matches. |
|
How The League Was Won 1914-15 Season |
|
Timeline |
34 Saturdays from 5 September 1914 to 24 April 1915, plus
Christmas Day (Friday, 25th December 1914), New Year's Day (Friday, 1st January 1915), Good Friday,
2 April 1915 and Easter Monday,
5 April 1915
With no
games allowed in August, there
were two opening games on Tuesday, 1 September 1914, plus
six on the following day, four on Mondays and two on
later Wednesdays, in September.
There was one game played on a Wednesday in October, and one on a
Wednesday in November. In December, there were two games played on
the last Monday of the year (Boxing Day was a Saturday). One game
was played on a Monday in January, three were played on Mondays, and
two on Wednesdays, in February,
and games were played on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays in March
and April.
The
FA Cup took precedence on six weekends from the first round on 9 January 1915 to the
final on 24 April 1915.
There were three weeks between each round,
apart from two weeks before the fourth round and four before the
final. Last
first division games were on Wednesday, 28 April 1915, and the
following day saw the final league game (in the second division)
before the major competitions were suspended until after the war,
four years later.
|
Saturday,
24 April 1915 |
Oldham Athletic 0 Liverpool 2
Boundary
Park, Oldham
(5,720)
Pagnam (2)
With two games left, both at home, Oldham were looking
good to win their first title. Everton were ahead of them on
goal average, but had only one game remaining. Oldham lost the
first of their games, 2-1 to Burnley and then threw away their
last chance against Liverpool, leaving Everton needing only to
avoid defeat at home to relegation strugglers, Chelsea by an
unrealistic twelve goals. Manchester City had also been in
contention, but ended their campaign without a win in their last
five games, and three consecutive defeats, the last being by 3-1
at Bradford. |
|
Monday,
26 April 1915 |
Everton 2 Chelsea 2
Goodison
Park, Liverpool
(10,000)
Fleetwood
70, Parker 79 ~
Brittan 9, Logan (pen) 78
A low-key end to a season where events in Europe were
overshadowing sport. Chelsea had already beaten Everton twice,
including in the FA Cup semi-finals. Two days earlier, they had
been well beaten in the final by Sheffield United and now faced
their last two league games on consecutive days. A point from
each would have been enough to keep them safe, but whilst
Everton were happy to share the points as they took the
championship by a point, Notts County were not so obliging and
condemned Chelsea to a 2-0 defeat that relegated them, 24 hours
later. They were to win a reprieve, however, as the first
division was extended to 22 clubs after the war. |
|
|
The Elite League 1914-15 Season
(games between the top four) |
Burnley and Everton replaced Aston Villa and Middlesbrough from the
previous season's top four.
Though they won the championship, Everton only picked up one point
against the other teams in the top four.
Games played between the top two:-
|
Saturday, 17 October 1914 |
Oldham Athletic 1 Everton 1
Boundary
Park,
Oldham
(13,400)
Gee ~
Jefferis |
|
Wednesday, 17 March 1915 |
Everton
3 Oldham Athletic 4
Goodison
Park, Liverpool
(11,995)
Parker
(2), Kirsopp
~
Tummon (2), Gee (2) |
The top five in the Football League were all Lancashire
clubs. In the games between them, champions, Everton were only
sixth, whilst the best team in the top-four games, Blackburn, could
only finish fifth when it came to local derbies.
|
|
The Continuous League
1888-1915
(first 27 seasons) |
|
Everton reduced
Aston Villa's lead to 55 points, but their six league-title wins had
obviously kept them out in front. This was the
tenth, and final, season
of 38 games each, following three of 22, one of 26, six of thirty,
and seven of 34 games each. It would be another four years before
the Football League programme would resume. If we were to continue
adding on the points each season, Sunderland would move ahead of
Everton into second place after the 1923-24 season, even though they
had still played two seasons fewer and, after the 1925-26 season,
they would, once more, achieve the highest average of points per
game. In 1929-30, Everton were relegated to the second division, but
they were promoted straight back and maintained third place, as
Aston Villa regained the highest average points per game from
Sunderland. In 1935-36, both Aston Villa and Blackburn Rovers were
relegated, the last two clubs that had remained in the top flight
throughout its 44 seasons. Two seasons later, Sunderland, at last,
rose above Villa's total, as Villa won promotion and still
maintained the highest points average, though Everton, still in
third, had played a season more than both of the teams above them.
At the outbreak of World War II, Blackburn had returned to the top
flight and were still fourth, despite three seasons in the second
division. Changes are few as more seasons progress and it is
debatable whether there is much value in continuing this exercise.
Villa regained the top spot after Sunderland were relegated for the
first time, in 1957-58. Everton took over after the 1968-69 season.
Multiple titles brought Liverpool into second place, but Everton had
played twelve more seasons than their neighbours and were still top
when the rules were changed at the beginning of the 1981-82 season
to award three points for a win. Notwithstanding the different
numbers of seasons played by each club, the different numbers of
teams in the top flight in different seasons and the bias resulting
from teams motivated to win more points for winning more recent
games, it was now, surely, a pointless exercise to compare all-time
points totals. If we did (and without retrospectively awarding three
points for all wins), then Everton would still be top when the
Premier League was formed in 1992, and if we include Premier League
results as a continuation of the top flight, Liverpool eventually
overhaul them after the 2001-02 season.
Aston Villa increased their lead to 19 points.
Blackburn go top for the first time. |
Manager:
Will
Cuff
1914-15
Most Appearances
by England Players |
|
Name |
Played |
Goals |
|
Sam Chedgzoy |
30 |
2 |
|
George Harrison |
26 |
4 |
|
Harry Makepeace |
23 |
1 |
|
England did not play any fixtures in the 1914-15 season, Sam Chedgzoy did
not play for England until 1920 and George Harrison did not play for England
until 1921. |
|
1914-15
Most Goals
by England Players |
|
Name |
Played |
Goals |
|
George Harrison |
26 |
4 |
Everton's Bobby Parker, a Scotsman, was
top scorer with 36 goals.
Second on the list was
Bolton's Joe Smith, with 29, whilst Scotsman, Jimmy Bauchop of
Bradford scored 28.
|
|
England
Football Online