Football League
1919-39
England Football Online
Contact Us Page Last Updated 29 November 2021
 
 
1922-23

Football League 1923-24

1924-25
  
Final League Table - Division I
Teams in a silver box denotes a player representing England in 1923-24
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
Huddersfield Town 42 15 5 1 35 9 8 6 7 25 24 57
Cardiff City 42 14 5 2 35 13 8 8 5 26 21 57
Sunderland 42 12 7 2 38 20 10 2 9 33 34 53
Bolton Wanderers 42 13 6 2 45 13 5 8 8 23 21 50
Sheffield United 42 12 5 4 39 16 7 7 7 30 33 50
Aston Villa 42 10 10 1 33 11 8 3 10 19 26 49
Everton 42 13 7 1 43 18 5 6 10 19 35 49
Blackburn Rovers 42 14 5 2 40 13 3 6 12 14 37 45
Newcastle United 42 13 5 3 40 21 4 5 12 20 33 44
Notts County 42 9 7 5 21 15 5 7 9 23 34 42
Manchester City 42 11 7 3 34 24 4 5 12 20 47 42
Liverpool 42 11 5 5 35 20 4 6 11 14 28 41
West Ham United 42 10 6 5 26 17 3 9 9 14 26 41
Birmingham 42 10 4 7 25 19 3 9 9 16 30 39
Tottenham Hotspur 42 9 6 6 30 22 3 8 10 20 34 38
West Bromwich Albion 42 10 6 5 43 30 2 8 11 8 32 38
Burnley 42 10 5 6 39 27 2 7 12 16 33 36
Preston North End 42 8 4 9 34 27 4 6 11 18 40 34
Arsenal 42 8 5 8 25 24 4 4 13 15 39 33
Nottingham Forest 42 7 9 5 19 15 3 3 15 23 49 32
Chelsea 42 7 9 5 23 21 2 5 14 8 32 32
Middlesbrough 42 6 4 11 23 23 1 4 16 14 37 22

Huddersfield recorded a five-match winning run from 1 March 1924:
Cardiff (h) 2-0, Sheffield U. (a) 1-0, (h) 1-0, West Ham (a) 3-2, Aston V. (h) 1-0, before drawing 1-1 at home to Manchester City on 12 April 1924. Birmingham also had a five-match winning sequence from 9 February 1924, before losing at Preston on 8 March 1924.

Derby County and The Wednesday, from the second division, also had players representing England.


How The League Was Won 1923-24 Season
Timeline
37 Saturdays from 25 August 1923 to 3 May 1924, plus Monday 27th and Wednesday 29th August 1923, Christmas Day (Tuesday, 25th December 1923), Boxing Day (Wednesday, 26th December 1923), New Year's Day (Tuesday, 1st January 1924), Good Friday, 18 April 1924 and Easter Monday, 21 April 1924
There were seven games played on Mondays, one on a Tuesday and six on Wednesdays in September, one on a Wednesday and one on a Thursday in October, and one on the day after Boxing Day. One game was played on a Monday and five on Wednesdays in February. Games were played on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in March, and on Mondays and Wednesdays in April, with two on the day after Easter Monday. The FA Cup took precedence on six weekends from the first round on 12 January 1924 to the final on 26 April 1924. There were three weeks between each round, apart from two weeks before the fourth round, and four before the final. Last league games were on Saturday, 3 May 1924.
Wednesday, 30 April 1924
Aston Villa 3 Huddersfield Town 1
  
Villa Park, Birmingham (14,000)
Walker, Capewell, Dorrell ~ Forshaw
Huddersfield's first league defeat in 16 games created the very real possibility that the Championship trophy would be heading out of England for the first time. All now hinged on the last games of the season, three days later. Cardiff had to win at Birmingham to be sure of the title, but with only a slight goal-average advantage, a goalless draw could still let Huddersfield in to snatch it from them if the Yorkshire club could beat Nottingham Forest by 3-0, but if Cardiff were involved in a score draw, then Huddersfield would just need to win. If Cardiff lost, then a point would be enough for the Yorkshire club.
Top Two 30 April 1924
Team P
Cardiff City 41 56
Huddersfield Town 41 55
  
Saturday, 3 May 1924
Birmingham 0 Cardiff City 0
  
St Andrew's, Birmingham (50,000)
A nerve-wracking afternoon ended with the closest ever finish to the League Championship. One goal for either Cardiff or Forest would have given the Welsh club the title. Agonisingly, Cardiff's Len Davies had a second-half penalty saved, and ten minutes later, George Brown scored Huddersfield's decisive third goal. They won the title for the first time, by 0.024 of a goal. Just five players had been responsible for all but one of their sixty goals (the other was an own goal).
Huddersfield Town 3 Nottingham Forest 0
  
Leeds Road, Huddersfield (19,000)
Cook
(2), Brown
 
The Elite League 1923-24 Season (games between the top four)
Team P Home Away
W D L F A W D L F A
Cardiff City 6 2 1 0 5 3 1 1 1 5 4 8
Huddersfield Town 6 3 0 0 6 2 0 1 2 2 5 7
Bolton Wanderers 6 2 1 0 6 3 0 1 2 4 6 6
Sunderland 6 1 1 1 4 6 0 0 3 3 6 3
Bolton Wanderers and Cardiff City replaced Liverpool and Newcastle United from the previous season's top four.
Games played between the top two:-
Saturday, 1 March 1924
 Huddersfield Town 2 Cardiff City 0
  
Leeds Road, Huddersfield (18,000)
Brown (2)
Monday, 14 April 1924
 Cardiff City 0 Huddersfield Town 0
  
Ninian Park, Cardiff (24,500)

The Continuous Post-War League 1919-24 (five seasons)
Team P Wins
Liverpool 210 100 257
Sunderland 210 96 236
Bolton Wanderers 210 90 236
Burnley 210 94 233
Liverpool increased their lead to 21 points.


Champions: Huddersfield Town
Manager:
Herbert
Chapman
1923-24 Most Appearances
by England Players
Name Played Goals
Tom Wilson 41  
Clem Stephenson 40 11
Billy Smith 39 13
Sam Wadsworth 37  
Ted Taylor 35  
George Brown 22 8
Billy Smith did not play for England in the 1923-24 season, George Brown did not play for England until 1926 and Tom Wilson did not play for England until 1928.
1923-24 Most Goals
by England Players
Name Played Goals
Billy Smith 39 13
Clem Stephenson 40 11
Charlie Wilson scored 18 goals from 31 games.
Wilf Chadwick of Everton was top scorer with 28 goals. Second on the list for the second season in succession was Preston's Tommy Roberts, with 26, followed by Charlie Buchan of Sunderland with 25 goals.

England and the Football League 1923-24 Season
England's impact on the Football League
Of the 44 playing positions used during the active 1923-24 season, Football League players provided 39 of them, and of the five goals scored, League players scored all of them.
15 of the 22 first division clubs were represented, plus Derby County and The Wednesday from the second division (including the game at the end of the season).
13 Football League games had a direct impact on two of England's games, on 20 October 1923 and 12 April 1924.
As a result, on 20 October, England took Birmingham's Joe Bradford, Bolton's David Jack, Burnley's Bob Kelly, Chelsea's Tommy Meehan, Huddersfield's Ted Taylor and Sam Wadsworth, Liverpool's Harry Chambers, Sheffield United's Harold Pantling and Fred Tunstall, The Wednesday's George Wilson
and West Ham's Sid Bishop. On 12 April, Jack, Taylor, Tunstall and Wadsworth were again missing from their clubs, as were Aston VIlla's George Blackburn, Frank Moss, Tommy Smart and Billy Walker, Birmingham's Percy Barton, Bolton's Billy Butler, Burnley's Bob Kelly, Newcastle's Charlie Spencer, and Charlie Buchan of Sunderland.
 
GI