Final League Table -
Division I
Teams in a silver box denotes a player
representing England in 1946-47
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 |
|
Liverpool |
42 |
13 |
3 |
5 |
42 |
24 |
12 |
4 |
5 |
42 |
28 |
57 |
|
Manchester United |
42 |
17 |
3 |
1 |
61 |
19 |
5 |
9 |
7 |
34 |
35 |
56 |
|
Wolverhampton Wanderers |
42 |
15 |
1 |
5 |
66 |
31 |
10 |
5 |
6 |
32 |
25 |
56 |
|
Stoke City |
42 |
14 |
5 |
2 |
52 |
21 |
10 |
2 |
9 |
38 |
32 |
55 |
|
Blackpool |
42 |
14 |
1 |
6 |
38 |
32 |
8 |
5 |
8 |
33 |
38 |
50 |
|
Sheffield United |
42 |
12 |
4 |
5 |
51 |
32 |
9 |
3 |
9 |
38 |
43 |
49 |
|
Preston North End |
42 |
10 |
7 |
4 |
45 |
27 |
8 |
4 |
9 |
31 |
47 |
47 |
|
Aston Villa |
42 |
9 |
6 |
6 |
39 |
24 |
9 |
3 |
9 |
28 |
29 |
45 |
|
Sunderland |
42 |
11 |
3 |
7 |
33 |
27 |
7 |
5 |
9 |
32 |
39 |
44 |
|
Everton |
42 |
13 |
5 |
3 |
40 |
24 |
4 |
4 |
13 |
22 |
43 |
43 |
|
Middlesbrough |
42 |
11 |
3 |
7 |
46 |
32 |
6 |
5 |
10 |
27 |
36 |
42 |
|
Portsmouth |
42 |
11 |
3 |
7 |
42 |
27 |
5 |
6 |
10 |
24 |
33 |
41 |
|
Arsenal |
42 |
9 |
5 |
7 |
43 |
33 |
7 |
4 |
10 |
29 |
37 |
41 |
|
Derby
County |
42 |
13 |
2 |
6 |
44 |
28 |
5 |
3 |
13 |
29 |
51 |
41 |
|
Chelsea |
42 |
9 |
3 |
9 |
33 |
39 |
7 |
4 |
10 |
36 |
45 |
39 |
|
Grimsby Town |
42 |
9 |
6 |
6 |
37 |
35 |
4 |
6 |
11 |
24 |
47 |
38 |
|
Blackburn Rovers |
42 |
6 |
5 |
10 |
23 |
27 |
8 |
3 |
10 |
22 |
26 |
36 |
|
Bolton Wanderers |
42 |
8 |
5 |
8 |
30 |
28 |
5 |
3 |
13 |
27 |
41 |
34 |
|
Charlton Athletic |
42 |
6 |
6 |
9 |
34 |
32 |
5 |
6 |
10 |
23 |
39 |
34 |
|
Huddersfield Town |
42 |
11 |
4 |
6 |
34 |
24 |
2 |
3 |
16 |
19 |
55 |
33 |
|
Brentford |
42 |
5 |
5 |
11 |
19 |
35 |
4 |
2 |
15 |
26 |
53 |
25 |
|
Leeds United |
42 |
6 |
5 |
10 |
30 |
30 |
0 |
1 |
20 |
15 |
60 |
18 |
|
Wolves recorded a
seven-match winning run from 21 September 1946:
Blackburn
(a) 2-1, Grimsby (h) 2-0, Portsmouth (h) 3-1, Everton (a) 2-0,
Huddersfield (h) 6-1, Leeds (h) 1-0, Stoke (a) 3-0, before
losing 4-2 at home to Middlesbrough on 2 November 1946. Stoke also recorded a
seven-match winning sequence
from 4 April 1947, before drawing at home to Sunderland on 17 May 1947.
Liverpool's biggest winning sequence was of five matches.
Manchester
City from the second division, also
had a player representing England.
|
|
How The League Was Won 1946-47 Season |
|
Timeline |
Originally planned to be
36 Saturdays from 31 August 1946 to 3 May 1947, plus the first four
midweeks of
the season in September (Monday to Wednesday), Christmas Day
(Wednesday, 25th December 1946), Boxing Day (Thursday, 26th December 1946),
New Year's Day (Wednesday, 1st January 1947), Good Friday,
4 April 1947 and Easter Monday, 7 April 1947. However, the severe
winter caused a huge backlog of fixtures due to postponements. This
was followed by a ban on midweek games from week beginning 17 March
1947 (excluding the Easter games) so that factory productivity would
not be impacted as the country recovered from the war, and the
season was consequently extended by a further six Saturdays to 14
June 1947, plus Bank Holiday Monday, 26 May 1947.
There was
one game played on the second
Wednesday in October, three on the last Wednesday in January, one on
a Monday and three on Wednesdays in February, and three on the day
after Easter Monday.
The
FA Cup took precedence on six weekends from the
third round on 11 January 1947 to the
final on 26 April 1947.
There were two weeks between the
third and fourth, and fourth and fifth
rounds, three weeks before the sixth round,
and four weeks before both the
semi-finals and final. Because of the ban on midweek games, a
semi-final replay was played just two weeks before the final and
England's game with France was brought forward four days to a
Saturday. The extension to the season also meant that the FIFA
Celebration match at Hampden Park, Glasgow clashed with a set of
league fixtures, the second in succession, following England's game. Last
league games were on Saturday, 14 June 1947, with only two
first-division games played in June, the second of which decided the
championship title.
|
Saturday, 31 May 1947 |
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 Liverpool 2
Molineux, Wolverhampton
(50,765)
Dunn
~ Balmer, Stubbins |
|
Victory would have given Wolves their first title in captain, Stan
Cullis's last match before retirement at thirty due to head
injuries. Defeat dropped them below Manchester United on goal
average. Liverpool completed their season with six wins in seven
games to go top for the first time since December, whilst
manager George Kay was on a scouting trip to Ireland, but Stoke
could still pip them on goal average, two weeks later. |
|
Saturday, 14 June 1947 |
Sheffield United 2 Stoke City 1
Bramall Lane, Sheffield
(26,890)
Pickering
3, Rickett
49
~ Ormston 5 |
|
Although Stoke had been unbeaten in
their previous eleven games, they had lost at home to Sheffield
United in the FA Cup.
They'd had an almost three-week wait since their last game and
they'd transferred the great Stan Matthews to Blackpool, but
they were still expected to win. United fielded 38-year-old Jack
Pickering for his first match of the season. He scored the
opener and made the vital pass for the winner. Liverpool would
forever be grateful to him. The result also made Manchester
United runners-up as Stoke remained in fourth place. It was the
latest title decider ever, until the pandemic of 2020. |
|
|
The Elite League 1946-47 Season
(games between the top four) |
Wolverhampton Wanderers were the only team to retain their pre-war
top-four status, with Charlton Athletic,
Everton and Middlesbrough all dropping out.
Games played between the top two:-
|
Wednesday, 11 September 1946 |
Manchester United 5 Liverpool 0
Maine Road, Manchester
(41,657)
Pearson (3),
Rowley, Mitten |
|
Saturday, 3 May 1947 |
Liverpool 1 Manchester United 0
Anfield, Liverpool
(48,800)
Stubbins |
Although Liverpool won the league, they
were, by no means, on top when it came to local derbies, nor were
United, losing out to tenth-placed Everton.
|
Manager:
George
Kay
1946-47
Most Appearances
by England Players |
|
Name |
Played |
Goals |
|
Phil Taylor |
35 |
1 |
|
Laurie Hughes |
30 |
|
|
Bill Jones |
26 |
2 |
|
Phil Taylor did not play for England until the following
season and Laurie Hughes and Bill Jones did not play for England
until 1950. |
|
|
1946-47
Most Goals
by England Players |
|
Name |
Played |
Goals |
|
Bill Jones |
26 |
2 |
Dennis Westcott, of
Wolves, third in 1938-39, was top scorer, with 38 goals.
Joint-second on the list
with 29 were Arsenal's Reg Lewis, and Freddie Steele of Stoke, who
had been top scorer, ten years earlier.
|
|
|
England and the Football
League 1946-47 Season |
|
England's impact on the Football League |
Including the tour at the end of the 1946-47 season, 14 of the 22 first division clubs were
represented, plus Manchester City from the second division.
21 Football League games had a direct impact on
three of England's games, on 28 September 1946, 12 April 1947 and 3
May 1947.
As a
result, on 28 September, England took Arsenal's Laurie Scott,
Blackburn's Bobby Langton, Charlton's Don Welsh, Chelsea's Tommy
Lawton, Derby's Raich Carter, Manchester City's Frank Swift,
Manchester United's Henry Cockburn, Middlesbrough's George Hardwick
and Wilf Mannion, Preston's Tom Finney, Sheffield United's Eddie
Shimwell, Stoke's Neil Franklin, and Johnny Hancocks and Billy
Wright of Wolves. On
12 April, Carter, Franklin, Hardwick, Lawton, Mannion and Scott were again missing from their
clubs, as were Aston Villa's Eddie Lowe, Blackpool's Harry Johnston
and Stan Mortensen, and Stan Matthews of Stoke. Then, on 3 May,
Franklin, Hardwick, Langton, Lawton, Mannion, Swift, Taylor and
Wright were again taken from their clubs. |
|
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