Football League
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1898-99

Football League 1899-1900

1900-01
  
Final League Table - Division I
Teams in a silver box denotes a player representing England in 1899-1900
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 12 4 1 45 18 10 2 5 32 17 50
Sheffield United 34 11 5 1 40 11 7 7 3 23 22 48
Sunderland 34 12 2 3 27 9 7 1 9 23 26 41
Wolverhampton Wanderers 34 8 4 5 28 16 7 5 5 20 21 39
Newcastle United 34 10 5 2 34 15 3 5 9 19 28 36
Derby County 34 11 2 4 32 15 3 6 8 13 28 36
Manchester City 34 10 3 4 33 15 3 5 9 17 29 34
Nottingham Forest 34 12 3 2 42 16 1 5 11 14 39 34
Stoke 34 9 5 3 24 15 4 3 10 13 30 34
Liverpool 34 9 4 4 31 19 5 1 11 18 26 33
Everton 34 11 1 5 30 15 2 6 9 17 34 33
Bury 34 12 2 3 29 14 1 4 12 11 30 32
West Bromwich Albion 34 8 6 3 27 11 3 2 12 16 40 30
Blackburn Rovers 34 12 2 3 38 22 1 2 14 11 39 30
Notts County 34 5 7 5 29 22 4 4 9 17 38 29
Preston North End 34 9 3 5 28 20 3 1 13 10 28 28
Burnley▼ 34 10 2 5 28 17 1 3 13 6 37 27
Glossop▼ 34 4 6 7 19 22 0 4 13 12 52 18

Sheffield United won their first five games:
Everton (a) 2-1, Blackburn (h) 3-0, Derby (a) 1-0, Bury (h) 4-0, Notts C. (a) 2-1, before drawing 2-2 at home to Sunderland on 2 October 1899. Aston Villa's biggest winning sequence was of four matches.


 
How The League Was Won 1899-1900 Season
Timeline
35 Saturdays from 2 September 1899 to 28 April 1900, plus Christmas Day (Monday, 25th December 1899), Boxing Day (Tuesday, 26th December 1899), New Year's Day (Monday, 1 January 1900), Good Friday, 13 April 1900 and Easter Monday, 16 April 1900
Two additional games were played on Mondays in September, plus one on the Monday, and one on the Thursday, of the first week in October, two on Mondays in November and one on the day after Boxing Day. One game was played on the last Tuesday in February, five on Mondays and three on Wednesdays in March, and games were played on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays in April. The FA Cup took precedence on five weekends from the first round on 27 January 1900 to the final on 21 April 1900 (a week later than the previous season, to avoid Easter). There were two weeks between each round and four weeks each before the semi-finals and final. Last league game was Preston 2-0 Blackburn on Monday, 30 April 1900.
 

Tuesday, 17 April 1900
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 Sheffield United 2
  
Molineux, Wolverhampton (6,000)

Colley
~ Bennett, Hedley

Villa completed their fixtures the day before, on Easter Monday, with a 1-0 win at Molineux, leaving Sheffield United with two away games to play and four points behind. This meant that they would have to win both games by a minimum total aggregate of eight goals to better Villa's goal average. It was unlikely, and when Wolves managed to score against them, it increased their target to nine goals in their last game.

Top Two 17 April 1900
Team P
Aston Villa 34 50
Sheffield United 33 48

Monday, 23 April 1900
Burnley 1 Sheffield United 0
  
Turf Moor, Burnley (6,000)

Davidson
Burnley were fighting an, ultimately, unsuccessful battle against relegation, but they hammered the final nail in United's coffin with a last-minute winner and Villa had won their fifth title in seven years, by two points. Strangely, it was the third time that a result at Burnley had decided the final destiny of the championship in Villa's favour.

 
The Elite League 1899-1900 Season (games between the top four)
Team P Home Away
W D L F A W D L F A
Sheffield United 6 2 1 0 9 5 1 2 0 4 3 9
Aston Villa 6 1 2 0 5 3 2 0 1 3 2 8
Wolverhampton Wanderers 6 1 0 2 2 3 1 1 1 4 6 5
Sunderland 6 0 1 2 2 4 0 1 2 4 7 2
Only Aston Villa retained their top-four placing from the previous season. Burnley, Everton and Liverpool all dropped out of the top four.

Games played between the top two:-
 
Saturday, 28 October 1899
 Sheffield United 2 Aston Villa 1
  
Bramall Lane, Sheffield (28,500)

Beer
(2)
~ Wheldon
Saturday, 3 March 1900
Aston Villa 1 Sheffield United 1
   Aston Lower Grounds, Birmingham (50,000)

Garraty
~ Bennett

 
The Continuous League 1888-1900 (first twelve seasons)
Team P Wins
Aston Villa 340 189 434
Everton 340 169 395
Preston North End 340 157 375
Sunderland 296 163 374
Aston Villa increased their lead at the top to 39 points. This was the second season of 34 games each, following three of 22, one of 26 and six of thirty games each. Sunderland no longer had the highest average points per game from their ten seasons, with Villa now claiming the best record.
The Continuous '34 Games' League
1898-1900 (last two seasons)
Team P Wins
Aston Villa 68 41 95
Sunderland 68 34 77
Sheffield United 68 27 77
Liverpool 68 33 76
 
The 'Rolling Five-Season' League
1895-1900
Team P Wins
Aston Villa 158 96 220
Sheffield United 158 67 181
Everton 158 71 176
Sunderland 158 72 174
The first three seasons were of thirty games each. Sheffield United jumped two places into second, but Aston Villa increased their lead to 39 points for a period in which they won the league championship four times.

 
Champions: Aston Villa
Manager: George Ramsay
1899-1900 Most Appearances
by England Players
Name Played Goals
Billy George 34 0
Fred Wheldon 34 11
Billy Garraty 33 27
Steve Smith 31 7
Howard Spencer 28 0
Jack Devey 25 13
Charlie Athersmith 24 4
Albert Wilkes 21 1
Jimmy Crabtree 17 0
Devey, Smith and Wheldon did not play for England in 1899-1900, Garraty did not make his England debut until 1901 and George did not make his England debut until 1902.
1899-1900 Most Goals
by England Players
Name Played Goals
Billy Garraty 33 27
Jack Devey 25 13
Fred Wheldon 34 11
Derby's Steve Bloomer was second on the list with 19.
Jack Calvey of Nottingham Forest scored 17.


England and the Football League 1899-1900 Season
England's impact on the Football League
Of the 33 playing positions used during the active 1899-1900 season, Football League players provided 16 of them, and of the four goals scored, League players scored two of them (one was an own goal).
Five of the 18 first division clubs were represented.
Six Football League games had a direct impact on all three of England's games.
As a result, on 17 March, England took Bury's Charlie Sagar and, on 26 March, Sheffield United's Harry Johnson. On 7 April, Aston Villa were without Charlie Athersmith and Jimmy Crabtree, and England took Bury's Jack Plant, Derby's Steve Bloomer, and Sheffield United's Johnson (again) and Ernest Needham.
 
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