Football League
1919-39
England Football Online
Contact Us Page Last Updated 13 November 2022
 
 
1937-38

Football League 1938-39
1946-47
  
Final League Table - Division I
 Teams in a silver box denotes a player representing England in 1938-39
 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
Everton 42 17 3 1 60 18 10 2 9 28 34 59
Wolverhampton Wanderers 42 14 6 1 55 12 8 5 8 33 27 55
Charlton Athletic 42 16 3 2 49 24 6 3 12 26 35 50
Middlesbrough 42 13 6 2 64 27 7 3 11 29 47 49
Arsenal 42 14 3 4 34 14 5 6 10 21 27 47
Derby County 42 12 3 6 39 22 7 5 9 27 33 46
Stoke City 42 13 6 2 50 25 4 6 11 21 43 46
Bolton Wanderers 42 10 6 5 39 25 5 9 7 28 33 45
Preston North End 42 13 7 1 44 19 3 5 13 19 40 44
Grimsby Town 42 11 6 4 38 26 5 5 11 23 43 43
Liverpool 42 12 6 3 40 24 2 8 11 22 39 42
Aston Villa 42 11 3 7 44 25 5 6 10 27 35 41
Leeds United 42 11 5 5 40 27 5 4 12 19 40 41
Manchester United 42 7 9 5 30 20 4 7 10 27 45 38
Blackpool 42 9 8 4 37 26 3 6 12 19 42 38
Sunderland 42 7 7 7 30 29 6 5 10 24 38 38
Portsmouth 42 10 7 4 25 15 2 6 13 22 55 37
Brentford 42 11 2 8 30 27 3 6 12 23 47 36
Huddersfield Town 42 11 4 6 38 18 1 7 13 20 46 35
Chelsea 42 10 5 6 43 29 2 4 15 21 51 33
Birmingham 42 10 5 6 40 27 2 3 16 22 57 32
Leicester City 42 7 6 8 35 35 2 5 14 13 47 29

Everton won their first six matches:
Blackpool (a) 2-0, Grimsby (h) 3-0, Brentford (h) 2-1, Aston Villa (a) 3-0, Arsenal (a) 2-1, Portsmouth (h) 5-1, before losing 3-0 at Huddersfield on 24 September 1938. Wolves also recorded a six-match winning sequence from 5 November 1938, before drawing at home to Bolton on 17 December 1938.

Millwall, Sheffield Wednesday, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United, from the second division, also had players representing England.

How The League Was Won 1938-39 Season
Timeline
37 Saturdays from 27 August 1938 to 6 May 1939, plus the first two midweeks of the season (Monday to Thursday), Boxing Day (Monday, 26th December 1938), Tuesday, 27 December 1938, Good Friday, 7 April 1939 and Easter Monday, 10 April 1939
 There were two other games played on Mondays in September and three on a Wednesday, and then two on the first Monday of January and three on the last Wednesday (Christmas Day and New Year's Day were Sundays). Games were played on Wednesdays in February and March, with one on a Tuesday and one on a Thursday in February, and one on a Tuesday in March. In April, three games were played on the day after Easter Monday, and two on Wednesdays, with the last midweek fixture on the first Thursday in May. The FA Cup took precedence on six weekends from the third round on 7 January 1939 to the final on 29 April 1939. There were two weeks between the third and fourth rounds, three weeks before each of the next three rounds, and five weeks before the final. Last league games were on Saturday, 6 May 1939.
Saturday, 15 April 1939
Everton 0 Preston North End 0
   Goodison Park, Liverpool (31,987)		 Whilst 19-year-old Tommy Lawton was scoring England's late winner against Scotland at Hampden, Everton were proving how important he was to them. One goal would have been enough to crown them champions. Wolves moved a point nearer, but although they had the better goal average, they were now reliant on Everton losing each of their last three games, and Wolves winning each of theirs, to beat them to the title.
Wolverhampton Wanderers 3 Charlton Athletic 1
   Molineux, Wolverhampton (18,420)
 Dorsett (2), Westcott ~ Welsh (pen)
Top Two 15 April 1939
Team P ₧
Everton 39 57
Wolverhampton Wanderers 39 51
  
Saturday, 22 April 1939
3.15pm BST Bolton Wanderers 0 Wolverhampton Wanderers 0
   Burnden Park, Bolton (23,976)		 Everton's defeat did not matter, as with Wolves only seven days away from a Cup Final date with Portsmouth, they were unable to break down Bolton's defence, so once again, they had to settle for the runners-up place. Though they eventually reduced Everton's lead to four points, Wolves were soundly thrashed 4-1 at Wembley, a week later.
3.30pm BST Charlton Athletic 2 Everton 1
   The Valley, London (26,338)
 Hobbis 1, Robinson 41 ~ Gillick 60
 
The Elite League 1938-39 Season (games between the top four)
Team P Home Away ₧
W D L F A W D L F A
Wolverhampton Wanderers 6 3 0 0 16 2 1 0 2 4 2 8
Charlton Athletic 6 2 0 1 5 5 1 0 2 5 8 6
Everton 6 2 0 1 6 4 0 1 2 5 13 5
Middlesbrough 6 2 1 0 9 4 0 0 3 1 13 5
Everton and Middlesbrough replaced Arsenal and Preston North End from the previous season's top four.
Games played between the top two:-
Saturday, 8 October 1938
 Everton 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers 0
    Goodison Park, Liverpool (36,681)
Lawton
Wednesday, 22 February 1939
 Wolverhampton Wanderers 7 Everton 0
    Molineux, Wolverhampton (39,774)
Westcott (2), Dorsett (4), McIntosh
Wolves also beat Everton 2-0 at Molineux in the FA Cup sixth round.

The Continuous Post-War League 1919-39 (twenty seasons)
Team P Wins ₧
Arsenal 840 376 944
Sunderland 840 364 911
Huddersfield Town 798 339 885
Liverpool 840 333 884
Arsenal increased their lead to 33 points, and also moved ahead of Huddersfield with the highest average points per game since the war. If we include the three games played at the beginning of the following season, before World War II brought a seven-year halt to the competition, Liverpool would move ahead of Huddersfield.
The 'Rolling Five-Season' League
 1934-39
Team P Wins ₧
Arsenal 210 96 254
Sunderland 210 90 236
Wolverhampton Wanderers 210 93 231
Derby County 210 91 228
Sunderland reduced Arsenal's lead to 18 points.


Champions: Everton
Manager: Theo Kelly
1938-39 Most Appearances
by England Players
Name Played Goals
Joe Mercer 41  
Ted Sagar 41  
Tommy Lawton 38 34
Wally Boyes 36 4
Ted Sagar did not play for England in the 1938-39 season.
1938-39 Most Goals
by England Players
Name Played Goals
Tommy Lawton 38 34
Micky Fenton, of Middlesbrough, was joint-top scorer, with 34 goals. Dennis Westcott, of Wolves, was third on the list with 32.

England and the Football League 1938-39 Season
England's impact on the Football League
Including the tour at the end of the 1938-39 season, ten of the 22 first division clubs were represented, plus Millwall, Sheffield Wednesday, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United, from the second division.
19 Football League games had a direct impact on two of England's games, on 22 October 1938 and 15 April 1939.
As a result, on 22 October, England took Arsenal's Wilf Copping and Eddie Hapgood, Aston Villa's Frank Broome, Charlton's Don Welsh, Chelsea's Vic Woodley, Everton's Wally Boyes and Tommy Lawton, Huddersfield's Ken Willingham and Alf Young, Sheffield Wednesday's Jackie Robinson, Stoke's Stan Matthews, Tottenham's Bert Sproston, and Len Goulden of West Ham. On 15 April, Broome, Copping (now at Leeds), Goulden, Hapgood, Lawton, Matthews, Willingham and Woodley were again missing from their clubs, as were Everton's Joe Mercer, Huddersfield's Pat Beasley, Tottenham's Willie Hall, and Stan Cullis and Billy Morris of Wolves.
 
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