Final League Table -
Division I
Teams in a silver box denotes a player
representing England in 1903-04
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 |
|
The Wednesday |
34 |
14 |
3 |
0 |
34 |
10 |
6 |
4 |
7 |
14 |
18 |
47 |
|
Manchester City |
34 |
10 |
4 |
3 |
35 |
19 |
9 |
2 |
6 |
36 |
26 |
44 |
|
Everton |
34 |
13 |
0 |
4 |
36 |
12 |
6 |
5 |
6 |
23 |
20 |
43 |
|
Newcastle United |
34 |
12 |
3 |
2 |
31 |
13 |
6 |
3 |
8 |
27 |
32 |
42 |
|
Aston Villa |
34 |
13 |
1 |
3 |
41 |
16 |
4 |
6 |
7 |
29 |
32 |
41 |
|
Sunderland |
34 |
12 |
3 |
2 |
41 |
15 |
5 |
2 |
10 |
22 |
34 |
39 |
|
Sheffield
United |
34 |
9 |
6 |
2 |
40 |
21 |
6 |
2 |
9 |
22 |
36 |
38 |
|
Wolverhampton Wanderers |
34 |
10 |
6 |
1 |
29 |
23 |
4 |
2 |
11 |
15 |
43 |
36 |
|
Nottingham Forest |
34 |
7 |
3 |
7 |
29 |
26 |
4 |
6 |
7 |
28 |
31 |
31 |
|
Middlesbrough |
34 |
9 |
3 |
5 |
30 |
17 |
0 |
9 |
8 |
16 |
30 |
30 |
|
Small Heath |
34 |
8 |
5 |
4 |
25 |
19 |
3 |
3 |
11 |
14 |
33 |
30 |
|
Bury |
34 |
6 |
8 |
3 |
25 |
20 |
1 |
7 |
9 |
15 |
33 |
29 |
|
Notts County |
34 |
9 |
3 |
5 |
27 |
26 |
3 |
2 |
12 |
10 |
35 |
29 |
|
Derby
County |
34 |
7 |
3 |
7 |
41 |
33 |
2 |
7 |
8 |
17 |
27 |
28 |
|
Blackburn Rovers |
34 |
7 |
5 |
5 |
29 |
23 |
4 |
1 |
12 |
19 |
37 |
28 |
|
Stoke |
34 |
9 |
2 |
6 |
45 |
26 |
1 |
5 |
11 |
9 |
31 |
27 |
|
Liverpool |
34 |
7 |
5 |
5 |
24 |
20 |
2 |
3 |
12 |
25 |
42 |
26 |
|
West Bromwich Albion |
34 |
4 |
8 |
5 |
19 |
19 |
3 |
2 |
12 |
17 |
41 |
24 |
|
Sheffield
United won their first eight
games:
Small Heath (a) 3-1, Everton (h) 2-1, Stoke
(a) 4-3, Derby (h) 3-2, Manchester C. (a) 1-0, Notts C. (h) 3-1, Wolves (h)
7-2, Newcastle (a) 1-0, before losing 2-1 at home to Aston Villa on 31
October 1903. The Wednesday's biggest winning sequence was of
four matches. |
|
How The League Was Won 1903-04 Season |
|
Timeline |
35 Saturdays from 5 September 1903 to 30 April 1904, plus
Christmas Day (Friday, 25th December 1903), New Year's Day (Friday, 1 January 1904), Good Friday,
1 April 1904 and Easter Monday, 4 April 1904
With no games allowed in August, there
were four
opening games on Tuesday, 1 September 1903, plus two on the following
day and
one on the following Monday. An additional game was played on
a
Thursday
in October
and a Wednesday in November, with six played on Mondays in December
(including five in the festive week, with Boxing Day being a
Saturday). Two
games were played on a Monday in February, two on Mondays and one on a
Wednesday in March, and, in addition to Easter, there were four games
played across the last three Mondays and one on a Wednesday in April. The
FA Cup took precedence on five weekends from the first round on 6
February 1904 to the
final on 23 April 1904 (a week later than the previous season).
There were two weeks between each round and five before the final. Last
league game was Derby 0-2 The Wednesday on
Saturday, 30 April 1904.
|
Saturday,
23 April 1904 |
The Wednesday 4 Aston Villa
2
Owlerton
Stadium, Sheffield
(14,000)
Wilson,
Chapman,
Davis, Simpson
~ Matthews, Garraty
After losing three away games in April, Wednesday used their
game in hand to edge back to the top with only one game
remaining.
Meanwhile, City were winning the FA Cup for the first time,
beating Bolton Wanderers in the final at the Crystal Palace. As
they had an inferior goal average to Wednesday, they knew that
they would have to win their last game to have any chance of
winning the 'double' and their game was only two days away. |
|
Monday,
25 April 1904 |
Everton 1 Manchester City
0
Goodison Park,
Liverpool
(12,000)
Taylor
For the fifth year in succession, it was a Scotsman that decided
the league title. Winning the 'double' in their first season
after winning promotion was a step too far for City. The
Wednesday retained their title exactly a year after winning
their first and extended their winning lead
to three points with victory in their last game, at Derby, five
days later. |
|
|
The Elite League 1903-04 Season
(games between the top four) |
Only
The Wednesday retained their top-four placing from the
previous season.
Aston Villa, Sheffield United and Sunderland all dropped
out of the top four.
Games played between the top two:-
|
Saturday, 28 November 1903 |
Manchester City 1 The Wednesday 1
Hyde Road, Manchester
(8,000)
Livingstone
~ Chapman |
|
Saturday, 26 March 1904 |
The
Wednesday 1 Manchester City 0
Owlerton
Stadium, Sheffield
(18,000)
Chapman |
Manchester City beat The Wednesday 3-0 in the FA Cup semi-finals at
Goodison Park, Liverpool, seven days before their league meeting in
Sheffield. |
|
The Continuous League
1888-1904
(first 16 seasons) |
|
Everton reduced
Aston Villa's lead to 32 points. This was the
sixth
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 14
seasons.
Aston Villa reduced
Sunderland's lead to three points.
Sunderland increased their lead to twelve points. |
Manager: Arthur
Dickinson
|
|
1903-04
Most Goals
by England Players |
|
Name |
Played |
Goals |
|
Harry Davis |
32 |
5 |
Derby's Steve Bloomer
was top scorer for the fourth
time with twenty.
Second
on the list were Arthur
Brown of Sheffield United and Welsh international, Arthur Green of
Notts County, with 19.
|
|
England and the Football
League 1903-04 Season |
|
England's impact on the Football League (and FA Cup) |
Of the 33 playing positions used
during the active 1903-04 season, Football League players provided
29 of them, and of the six goals scored, League players scored
all of them.
Nine of the 18 first division clubs were
represented.
Eleven Football League games and an FA Cup tie had a direct impact on
all three of England's games, on 29 February, 12 March and 9 April.
As a
result, on 29 February, England took Derby's George Davis and Tom
Baddeley of Wolves.
On 12 March, Baddeley and Davis were again absent from their clubs,
as were Aston Villa's Joe Bache, Billy Brawn and Alex Leake,
Blackburn's Bob Crompton, Manchester City's Herbert Burgess,
Sheffield United's Alf Common and The Wednesday's Tom Crawshaw and
Harry Ruddlesdin. England again took Baddeley, Burgess, Crompton and
Leake on 9 April, along with
Blackburn's Fred Blackburn, Derby's Steve Bloomer, Everton's Sam
Wolstenholme, Newcastle's Jock Rutherford and Bernard Wilkinson of
Sheffield United. |
|
England
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