Football League
1919-39
England Football Online
Contact Us Page Last Updated 9 May 2023
 
 
1936-37

Football League 1937-38

1938-39
  
Final League Table - Division I
Teams in a silver box denotes a player representing England in 1937-38
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
Arsenal 42 15 4 2 52 16 6 6 9 25 28 52
Wolverhampton Wanderers 42 11 8 2 47 21 9 3 9 25 28 51
Preston North End 42 9 9 3 34 21 7 8 6 30 23 49
Charlton Athletic 42 14 5 2 43 14 2 9 10 22 37 46
Middlesbrough 42 12 4 5 40 26 7 4 10 32 39 46
Brentford 42 10 6 5 44 27 8 3 10 25 32 45
Bolton Wanderers 42 11 6 4 38 22 4 9 8 26 38 45
Sunderland 42 12 6 3 32 18 2 10 9 23 39 44
Leeds United 42 11 6 4 38 26 3 9 9 26 43 43
Chelsea 42 11 6 4 40 22 3 7 11 25 43 41
Liverpool 42 9 5 7 40 30 6 6 9 25 41 41
Blackpool 42 10 5 6 33 26 6 3 12 28 40 40
Derby County 42 10 5 6 42 36 5 5 11 24 51 40
Everton 42 11 5 5 54 34 5 2 14 25 41 39
Huddersfield Town 42 11 3 7 29 24 6 2 13 26 44 39
Leicester City 42 9 6 6 31 26 5 5 11 23 49 39
Stoke City 42 10 7 4 42 21 3 5 13 16 38 38
Birmingham 42 7 11 3 34 28 3 7 11 24 34 38
Portsmouth 42 11 6 4 41 22 2 6 13 21 46 38
Grimsby Town 42 11 5 5 29 23 2 7 12 22 45 38
Manchester City 42 12 2 7 49 33 2 6 13 31 44 36
West Bromwich Albion 42 10 5 6 46 36 4 3 14 28 55 36

Middlesbrough recorded a seven-match winning run from 29 January 1938:
Chelsea (a) 1-0, Charlton (h) 3-1, Preston (a) 2-0, Grimsby (h) 1-0, Derby (h) 4-2, Manchester City (a) 6-1, Arsenal (h) 2-1, before drawing 2-2 at Everton on 19 March 1938. Arsenal's biggest winning sequence was of four matches.

Aston Villa, Sheffield Wednesday, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United, from the second division, also each had a player representing England.


How The League Was Won 1937-38 Season
Timeline
37 Saturdays from 28 August 1937 to 7 May 1938 (a week later than the previous season), plus the first three midweeks of the season (Monday to Thursday), Boxing Day (Monday, 27th December 1937), Good Friday, 15 April 1938 and Easter Monday, 18 April 1938
There was one other game played on a Monday in September, and then no more midweek matches until six were played on the last Wednesday in January (Christmas Day and New Year's Day were Saturdays). Nine games were played on Wednesdays in both February and March, with one other game on the last Tuesday in March. In April, games were played throughout midweek, apart from Thursdays, and there were two games on the first Monday in May, with one on the first Wednesday. The FA Cup took precedence on six weekends from the third round on 8 January 1938 (a week earlier than the previous season) to the final on 30 April 1938. 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, 7 May 1938.
Monday, 2 May 1938
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 West Bromwich Albion 1
  
Molineux, Wolverhampton (43,639)
Dorsett, Westcott ~ Sandford
Victory in the Staffordshire derby took Wolves to the top with one game remaining, though they would have to win at Sunderland to be sure of their first ever title, because Arsenal had a superior goal average.
Top Two 2 May 1938
Team P
Wolverhampton Wanderers 41 51
Arsenal 41 50
  
Saturday, 7 May 1938
3.15pm BST Sunderland 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers 0
  
Roker Park, Sunderland (21,622)
Carter 7
Try as they might, Wolves could not respond to Raich Carter's early goal at Sunderland, who had a man sent off with twelve minutes left, but still held on to enable Arsenal to earn their fifth title in eight years.
3.30pm BST Arsenal 5 Bolton Wanderers 0
  
Arsenal Stadium, London (40,500)
Kirchen 4, Carr
26, 44, Bastin 60, 85
 
The Elite League 1937-38 Season (games between the top four)
Team P Home Away
W D L F A W D L F A
Arsenal 6 2 1 0 9 2 2 0 1 7 4 9
Charlton Athletic 6 1 1 1 4 4 1 2 0 4 3 7
Preston North End 6 1 0 2 3 4 0 2 1 0 2 4
Wolverhampton Wanderers 6 1 2 0 4 2 0 0 3 1 11 4
Preston North End and Wolverhampton Wanderers replaced Derby County and Manchester City from the previous season's top four. Astonishingly, defending champions, City, who were the division's top scorers, were relegated.
Games played between the top two:-
Saturday, 4 September 1937
 Arsenal 5 Wolverhampton Wanderers 0
  
Arsenal Stadium, London (67,311)
Crayston, Hulme, Bastin (pen), Drake
(2)
Saturday, 15 January 1938
 Wolverhampton Wanderers 3 Arsenal 1
  
Molineux, Wolverhampton (39,383)
Kirkham
(2), Jones ~ Drake
Arsenal returned to Molineux, seven days later, and beat Wolves 2-1 in the FA Cup fourth round. Almost 22,000 more spectators than the week before, paid to watch and set a new attendance record for the ground of 61,267.
London Derbies League
1937-38 Season
Team P
Brentford 6 7
Arsenal 6 6
Charlton Athletic 6 6
Chelsea 6 5
Although Arsenal regained the title, Brentford were kings of London for the third year in succession.

The Continuous Post-War League 1919-38 (19 seasons)
Team P Wins
Arsenal 798 357 897
Sunderland 798 351 873
Huddersfield Town 756 327 850
Liverpool 798 319 842
Arsenal increased their lead to 24 points. Huddersfield still had the highest average points per game since the war from their 18 seasons.
The 'Rolling Five-Season' League
1933-38
Team P Wins
Arsenal 210 102 266
Sunderland 210 93 242
Manchester City 210 90 228
Derby County 210 89 227
Sunderland reduced Arsenal's lead to 24 points.


Champions: Arsenal
Manager:
George Allison
1937-38 Most Appearances
by England Players
Name Played Goals
Eddie Hapgood 41  
Cliff Bastin 38 15
Wilf Copping 38  
George Male 34  
Jack Crayston 31 4
Ted Drake 27 17
Bernard Joy 26  
Bernard Joy and George Male did not play for England in the 1937-38 season.
1937-38 Most Goals
by England Players
Name Played Goals
Ted Drake 27 17
Cliff Bastin 38 15
Tommy Lawton, of Everton, was top scorer, with 28 goals. Scottish international, Dave McCulloch, of Brentford, was second on the list for the second year in succession, with 26 goals (five less than the previous season). Gordon Hodgson, of Leeds, was third with 25 goals.

England and the Football League 1937-38 Season
England's impact on the Football League
Including the tour at the end of the 1937-38 season, ten of the 22 first division clubs were represented, plus Aston Villa, Sheffield Wednesday, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United, from the second division.
15 Football League games had a direct impact on two of England's games, on 23 October 1937 and 9 April 1938.
As a result, on 23 October, England took Arsenal's Wilf Copping and Jack Crayston, Brentford's Billy Scott, Chelsea's George Mills and Vic Woodley, Everton's Albert Geldard, Leeds's Bert Sproston, Leicester's Sep Smith, Manchester City's Sam Barkas and Eric Brook, Tottenham's Willie Hall, West Ham's Len Goulden, and Stan Cullis of Wolves. On 9 April, Copping, Cullis, Hall, Smith, Sproston and Woodley were again missing from their clubs, as were Arsenal's Cliff Bastin and Eddie Hapgood, Aston Villa's Frank Broome, Huddersfield's Ken Willingham, Leeds's Eric Stephenson, Middlesbrough's Micky Fenton, and Stan Matthews of Stoke.
 
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