Final League Table -
Division I
Teams in a silver box denotes a player
representing England in 1947-48
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 |
3 |
3 |
56 |
15 |
8 |
10 |
3 |
25 |
17 |
59 |
|
Manchester United |
42 |
11 |
7 |
3 |
50 |
27 |
8 |
7 |
6 |
31 |
21 |
52 |
|
Burnley |
42 |
12 |
5 |
4 |
31 |
12 |
8 |
7 |
6 |
25 |
31 |
52 |
|
Derby
County |
42 |
11 |
6 |
4 |
38 |
24 |
8 |
6 |
7 |
39 |
33 |
50 |
|
Wolverhampton Wanderers |
42 |
12 |
4 |
5 |
45 |
29 |
7 |
5 |
9 |
38 |
41 |
47 |
|
Aston Villa |
42 |
13 |
5 |
3 |
42 |
22 |
6 |
4 |
11 |
23 |
35 |
47 |
|
Preston North End |
42 |
13 |
4 |
4 |
43 |
35 |
7 |
3 |
11 |
24 |
33 |
47 |
|
Portsmouth |
42 |
13 |
5 |
3 |
44 |
17 |
6 |
2 |
13 |
24 |
33 |
45 |
|
Blackpool |
42 |
13 |
4 |
4 |
37 |
14 |
4 |
6 |
11 |
20 |
27 |
44 |
|
Manchester City |
42 |
13 |
3 |
5 |
37 |
22 |
2 |
9 |
10 |
15 |
25 |
42 |
|
Liverpool |
42 |
9 |
8 |
4 |
39 |
23 |
7 |
2 |
12 |
26 |
28 |
42 |
|
Sheffield United |
42 |
13 |
4 |
4 |
44 |
24 |
3 |
6 |
12 |
21 |
46 |
42 |
|
Charlton Athletic |
42 |
8 |
4 |
9 |
33 |
29 |
9 |
2 |
10 |
24 |
37 |
40 |
|
Everton |
42 |
10 |
2 |
9 |
30 |
26 |
7 |
4 |
10 |
22 |
40 |
40 |
|
Stoke City |
42 |
9 |
5 |
7 |
29 |
23 |
5 |
5 |
11 |
12 |
32 |
38 |
|
Middlesbrough |
42 |
8 |
7 |
6 |
37 |
27 |
6 |
2 |
13 |
34 |
46 |
37 |
|
Bolton Wanderers |
42 |
11 |
2 |
8 |
29 |
25 |
5 |
3 |
13 |
17 |
33 |
37 |
|
Chelsea |
42 |
11 |
6 |
4 |
38 |
27 |
3 |
3 |
15 |
15 |
44 |
37 |
|
Huddersfield Town |
42 |
7 |
6 |
8 |
25 |
24 |
5 |
6 |
10 |
26 |
36 |
36 |
|
Sunderland |
42 |
11 |
4 |
6 |
33 |
18 |
2 |
6 |
13 |
23 |
49 |
36 |
|
Blackburn Rovers |
42 |
8 |
5 |
8 |
35 |
30 |
3 |
5 |
13 |
19 |
42 |
32 |
|
Grimsby Town |
42 |
5 |
5 |
11 |
20 |
35 |
3 |
1 |
17 |
25 |
76 |
22 |
|
Arsenal won their
first six games:
Sunderland
(h) 3-1, Charlton (a) 4-2, Sheffield U. (a) 2-1, Charlton (h) 6-0,
Manchester U. (h) 2-1, Bolton (h) 2-0, before
a goalless draw at home to Preston on 13 September 1947. Derby also recorded a
six-match winning sequence
from 25 December 1947, before drawing at Middlesbrough on 20 March 1948.
They also won three FA Cup ties during the period, stretching their run in
all competitions to nine successive wins.
Notts County from the
third division (south), also
had a player representing England.
|
|
How The League Was Won 1947-48 Season |
|
Timeline |
|
37 Saturdays from 23 August 1947 (a week earlier than the previous
season) to 1 May 1948, plus the first four
Mondays and Wednesdays of
the season, Christmas Day
(Thursday, 25th December 1947), Boxing Day (Friday, 26th December 1947),
New Year's Day (Thursday, 1st January 1948), Good Friday,
26 March 1948 and Easter Monday, 29 March 1948.
There was
one game played on the last Tuesday in August. In March, there was
one on a Monday, one on a Tuesday and two on Wednesdays, and games
were played on Mondays and Wednesdays in April, with one on the day
after Easter Monday.
The
FA Cup took precedence on six weekends from the
third round on 10 January 1948 to the
final on 24 April 1948.
There were two weeks between the
third and fourth, and fourth and fifth
rounds, three weeks before the sixth round,
two weeks before the semi-finals,
and six weeks before the
final. Because of the continued restrictions on midweek games due to
fears of factory production being affected, FA
Cup replays were played on
Saturdays, but extra time was introduced for initial ties to reduce
the number of replays required. There were no midweek league games
played between 2 October 1947 and 15 March 1948, apart from during
the festive season. Last
league games were on Saturday, 1 May 1948.
|
Wednesday, 7 April 1948 |
Aston Villa 2 Derby County 2
Villa Park, Birmingham
(30,736)
Vinall, Edwards
~ Stamps (pen), Harrison |
United had to contest the
Manchester derby
on their opponents' ground (which they continued to use
following wartime bomb damage to Old Trafford) and had three
players missing due to the upcoming fixture between Scotland and
England, three days later. They were only able to reduce
Arsenal's lead at the top by a point. Burnley stayed in
contention with an away win in their local derby, whilst Derby
rescued a point with a last-minute equaliser. All could still
catch the Gunners, but Arsenal only needed three more points
from their last five games. Preston, denied the services of Tom
Finney, dropped out of contention
when they let slip a 3-1 lead at home to Sheffield United to
draw, but they could only have drawn level on points with
Arsenal if they had won and the leaders had a far superior goal
average. |
Blackpool 0 Burnley 1
Bloomfield Road, Blackpool
(16,732)
Morris |
Manchester United 1 Manchester City 1
Maine Road, Manchester
(71,690)
Rowley ~ Linacre |
|
|
Saturday, 10 April 1948 |
3.00pm
BST
Derby County 0 Charlton Athletic 3
Baseball Ground, Derby
(18,009)
Fenton 65, Vaughan 69, Revell (pen)
89 |
With Derby and Manchester United again weakened by international
call-ups as England were beating Scotland at Hampden, and
Burnley on a dismal run of one win in five games, Arsenal needed
only a point to secure their first post-war championship and a
record-equalling sixth title. They left Huddersfield in a hurry
to catch their train back to London, without knowing the results from Everton
and Sunderland, and it was only when they got to Doncaster
Railway Station, where Denis Compton stepped onto the platform to pick up
an evening newspaper, that they found out that all three of their
rivals had lost and that they were champions. The Gunners then
increased their lead to seven points. United had the very
considerable consolation of winning the FA Cup, two weeks later,
and held off
Burnley's challenge
to finish league runners-up
on goal average for the
second year in succession. |
3.15pm
BST
Everton 2 Manchester United 0
Goodison Park, Liverpool
(44,098)
Dodds
50, Stevenson 82 |
3.00pm
BST
Huddersfield Town
1 Arsenal 1
Leeds Road, Huddersfield
(38,110)
Bateman 73 ~
Roper 15 |
3.15pm
BST
Sunderland 2
Burnley 0
Roker Park,
Sunderland (47,003)
Shackleton 31,
Robinson 60 |
|
|
|
The Elite League 1947-48 Season
(games between the top four) |
Manchester United were the only team from the previous season's top
four to reach that stage again, with Liverpool, Stoke City and
Wolverhampton Wanderers all dropping out.
Games played between the top two:-
|
Saturday, 6 September 1947 |
Arsenal 2 Manchester United 1
Arsenal Stadium, London
(64,905)
Lewis, Rooke
~ Morris |
|
Saturday, 17 January 1948 |
Manchester United 1 Arsenal 1
Maine Road, Manchester
(81,962)
Rowley
~ Lewis |
|
|
The Continuous Post-War League
1946-48
(two seasons) |
|
The consistency of United and
Wolves over both seasons took them ahead of the two teams that had
won the championship. |
Manager:
Tom
Whittaker
1947-48
Most Appearances
by England Players |
|
Name |
Played |
Goals |
|
Joe Mercer |
40 |
|
|
Laurie Scott |
39 |
|
|
Leslie Compton |
35 |
|
|
Joe Mercer won his last England cap in 1939 and Leslie Compton did not play for England
until 1950. |
|
|
1947-48
Most Goals
by England Players |
|
Name |
Played |
Goals |
|
No England players scored for Arsenal in the 1947-48 season |
Arsenal's Ronnie Rooke was top scorer
with 33 goals. Second on the list
with 28 was Micky Fenton of Middlesbrough, and Liverpool's Albert
Stubbins was third with 24.
|
|
|
England and the Football
League 1947-48 Season |
|
England's impact on the Football League |
Twelve of the 22 first division clubs were
represented, plus Notts County from the third division (south).
26 Football League games had a direct impact on
three of England's games, on 21 September 1947, 18 October 1947 and 10 April 1948,
including in the days prior to the first and last of the games.
As a
result, on 20 September (the day before the Belgium game), England took Arsenal's Laurie Scott,
Chelsea's Tommy
Lawton, Derby's Tim Ward, Manchester City's Frank Swift,
Middlesbrough's George Hardwick
and Wilf Mannion, Preston's Tom Finney, Stoke's Neil Franklin,
Sunderland's Willie Watson, and Billy
Wright of Wolves. On
18 October, Finney, Franklin, Hardwick, Lawton, Mannion, Scott,
Swift, Ward and Wright were again missing from their
clubs, as were Blackpool's Stan Matthews
and Stan Mortensen, and Phil Taylor of Liverpool. Then, on 10 April,
Finney,
Franklin, Hardwick, Lawton (now with Notts County), Matthews,
Mortensen, Scott, Swift and
Wright were again taken from their clubs, as were Hull's Raich
Carter, Manchester United's Henry Cockburn and Stan Pearson, and
Bill Nicholson of Tottenham. Three days before the game, on 7 April,
Cockburn, Finney and Pearson were unavailable for the first of two
club fixtures, due to their England call-ups. |
|
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