Final League Table -
Division I
Teams in a silver box denotes a player
representing England in 1898-99
Teams denoted with ▼ were
relegated to the second division for the following season |
|
Team |
P |
Home |
Away |
₧
|
|
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
|
Aston Villa |
34 |
15 |
2 |
0 |
58 |
13 |
4 |
5 |
8 |
18 |
27 |
45 |
|
Liverpool |
34 |
12 |
3 |
2 |
29 |
10 |
7 |
2 |
8 |
20 |
23 |
43 |
|
Burnley |
34 |
11 |
5 |
1 |
32 |
15 |
4 |
4 |
9 |
13 |
32 |
39 |
|
Everton |
34 |
10 |
2 |
5 |
25 |
13 |
5 |
6 |
6 |
23 |
28 |
38 |
|
Notts County |
34 |
9 |
6 |
2 |
33 |
20 |
3 |
7 |
7 |
14 |
31 |
37 |
|
Blackburn Rovers |
34 |
9 |
5 |
3 |
41 |
23 |
5 |
3 |
9 |
19 |
29 |
36 |
|
Sunderland |
34 |
11 |
3 |
3 |
26 |
10 |
4 |
3 |
10 |
15 |
31 |
36 |
|
Wolverhampton Wanderers |
34 |
9 |
5 |
3 |
30 |
13 |
5 |
2 |
10 |
24 |
35 |
35 |
|
Derby
County |
34 |
11 |
5 |
1 |
46 |
19 |
1 |
6 |
10 |
16 |
38 |
35 |
|
Bury |
34 |
9 |
5 |
3 |
31 |
18 |
5 |
2 |
10 |
17 |
31 |
35 |
|
Nottingham Forest |
34 |
6 |
6 |
5 |
22 |
18 |
5 |
5 |
7 |
20 |
24 |
33 |
|
Stoke |
34 |
10 |
4 |
3 |
29 |
17 |
3 |
3 |
11 |
18 |
35 |
33 |
|
Newcastle United |
34 |
9 |
3 |
5 |
33 |
18 |
2 |
5 |
10 |
16 |
30 |
30 |
|
West Bromwich Albion |
34 |
11 |
1 |
5 |
28 |
9 |
1 |
5 |
11 |
14 |
48 |
30 |
|
Preston North End |
34 |
10 |
4 |
3 |
29 |
14 |
0 |
5 |
12 |
15 |
33 |
29 |
|
Sheffield
United |
34 |
7 |
8 |
2 |
31 |
20 |
2 |
3 |
12 |
14 |
31 |
29 |
|
Bolton Wanderers▼ |
34 |
6 |
5 |
6 |
24 |
21 |
3 |
2 |
12 |
13 |
30 |
25 |
|
The Wednesday▼ |
34 |
8 |
2 |
7 |
26 |
24 |
0 |
6 |
11 |
6 |
37 |
24 |
|
Aston Villa
recorded an eight-match winning run from 8 October 1898:
Preston (h) 4-2, Liverpool (a) 3-0,
Nottingham F. (h) 3-0, Bolton (h) 2-1, Derby (h) 7-1, West Brom (a) 1-0,
Blackburn (h) 3-1, Sunderland (h) 2-0, before drawing 1-1 at home to Wolves on
10 December 1898. |
|
How The League Was Won 1898-99 Season |
|
Timeline |
35 Saturdays from 3 September 1898 to 29 April 1899, plus
Boxing Day (Monday, 26th December 1898), Monday, 2 January 1899, Good Friday,
31 March 1899 and Easter Monday, 3 April 1899
With no
games allowed in August, there were two
opening games on Thursday, 1 September 1898 and a game on each of the
next five Mondays. There was also a game on the first Thursday in
October, one on each of the first two Mondays in
November, two on the day after Boxing Day and one on the first
Tuesday of the new year. Two were
played on a Tuesday in February, one on each Monday in March (plus
one each on a Tuesday and a Thursday), one on the day after Easter
Monday, three on later
Mondays in April and two on a Thursday. The
FA Cup took precedence on five weekends from the first round on 28
January 1899 to the
final on 15 April 1899. There were two weeks between each
round, three weeks before the semi-finals and four before the final. The last
four league games were on the final Saturday in April.
|
Monday,
24
April 1899 |
Aston Villa 7 West Bromwich
Albion 1
Aston Lower Grounds, Birmingham
(10,000)
Bowman, Wheldon
(2), Garraty (3), Cowan
~ Perry |
With Villa having put six past Notts County, two days
earlier, they now put themselves top, with one game left to
play, and, crucially, the seventh goal gave them a goal average
that was a fortieth of a goal (0.025) better than Liverpool's,
meaning that in their final head-to-head championship decider,
they only needed a point, whereas Liverpool had to win. |
|
Saturday,
29 April 1899 |
Aston Villa 5 Liverpool
0
Aston Lower Grounds, Birmingham
(41,357)
Devey (2), Wheldon (2),
Crabtree |
Villa clinched their fourth title in six years in style
with five first-half goals, bringing their tally up to 18 in
eight days. They won the championship by two points from
Liverpool. |
|
|
The Elite League 1898-99 Season
(games between the top four) |
|
Team |
P |
Home |
Away |
₧
|
|
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
|
Aston Villa |
6 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
12 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
8 |
3 |
11 |
|
Liverpool |
6 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
8 |
6 |
|
Everton |
6 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
5 |
4 |
|
Burnley |
6 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
10 |
3 |
Only Everton retained their top-four placing from the previous season.
Sheffield United, Sunderland and Wolverhampton Wanderers all dropped
out of the top four.
Games played between the top two:-
|
Saturday, 15 October 1898 |
Liverpool 0 Aston Villa 3
Anfield, Liverpool
(20,000)
Johnson, Devey, Wheldon |
|
Saturday, 29 April 1899 |
Aston Villa 5 Liverpool
0
Aston Lower
Grounds,
Birmingham
(41,357)
Devey (2),
Wheldon (2), Crabtree |
|
|
The Continuous League
1888-99
(first eleven seasons) |
Aston Villa increased their lead at the top to 22 points. This was the
first
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 nine seasons.
The first four seasons were of thirty games each. Everton moved
into second place and reduced
Aston Villa's lead to 24 points. |
|
Champions:
Aston Villa |
|
Manager: George
Ramsay |
|
|
Derby's Steve Bloomer was top scorer
for the second time with 24 goals.
Scotsman, Jack
Peddie of Newcastle was
third on the list with 18.
|
|
England and the Football
League 1898-99 Season |
|
England's impact on the Football League |
Of the 33 playing positions used
during the active 1898-99 season, Football League players provided
28 of them, and of the 19 goals scored, League players scored
14 of them.
Nine of the 18 first division clubs were
represented.
Eight Football League games had a direct impact on
two of England's games, on 18 February and 8 April.
As a
result, on 18 February, England took Aston Villa's Charlie Athersmith
and Jimmy Crabtree, Burnley's Jack Hillman, Bury's Jimmy Settle,
Derby's Steve Bloomer,
Nottingham Forest's Frank and Fred Forman, and
Sheffield United's Ernest Needham. On 8 April, Bloomer, Settle and
the Forman brothers were again absent from their clubs, as was
Liverpool's Rab Howell. |
|
