Final League Table -
Division I
Teams in a silver box denotes a player
representing England in 1949-50
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 |
Portsmouth |
42 |
12 |
7 |
2 |
44 |
15 |
10 |
2 |
9 |
30 |
23 |
53 |
Wolverhampton Wanderers |
42 |
11 |
8 |
2 |
47 |
21 |
9 |
5 |
7 |
29 |
28 |
53 |
Sunderland |
42 |
14 |
6 |
1 |
50 |
23 |
7 |
4 |
10 |
33 |
39 |
52 |
Manchester United |
42 |
11 |
5 |
5 |
42 |
20 |
7 |
9 |
5 |
27 |
24 |
50 |
Newcastle United |
42 |
14 |
4 |
3 |
49 |
23 |
5 |
8 |
8 |
28 |
32 |
50 |
Arsenal |
42 |
12 |
4 |
5 |
48 |
24 |
7 |
7 |
7 |
31 |
31 |
49 |
Blackpool |
42 |
10 |
8 |
3 |
29 |
14 |
7 |
7 |
7 |
17 |
21 |
49 |
Liverpool |
42 |
10 |
7 |
4 |
37 |
23 |
7 |
7 |
7 |
27 |
31 |
48 |
Middlesbrough |
42 |
14 |
2 |
5 |
37 |
18 |
6 |
5 |
10 |
22 |
30 |
47 |
Burnley |
42 |
9 |
7 |
5 |
23 |
17 |
7 |
6 |
8 |
17 |
23 |
45 |
Derby
County |
42 |
11 |
5 |
5 |
46 |
26 |
6 |
5 |
10 |
23 |
35 |
44 |
Aston Villa |
42 |
10 |
7 |
4 |
31 |
19 |
5 |
5 |
11 |
30 |
42 |
42 |
Chelsea |
42 |
7 |
7 |
7 |
31 |
30 |
5 |
9 |
7 |
27 |
35 |
40 |
West Bromwich Albion |
42 |
9 |
7 |
5 |
28 |
16 |
5 |
5 |
11 |
19 |
37 |
40 |
Huddersfield Town |
42 |
11 |
4 |
6 |
34 |
22 |
3 |
5 |
13 |
18 |
51 |
37 |
Bolton Wanderers |
42 |
10 |
5 |
6 |
34 |
22 |
0 |
9 |
12 |
11 |
37 |
34 |
Fulham |
42 |
8 |
6 |
7 |
24 |
19 |
2 |
8 |
11 |
17 |
35 |
34 |
Everton |
42 |
6 |
8 |
7 |
24 |
20 |
4 |
6 |
11 |
18 |
46 |
34 |
Stoke City |
42 |
10 |
4 |
7 |
27 |
28 |
1 |
8 |
12 |
18 |
47 |
34 |
Charlton Athletic |
42 |
7 |
5 |
9 |
33 |
35 |
6 |
1 |
14 |
20 |
30 |
32 |
Manchester City |
42 |
7 |
8 |
6 |
27 |
24 |
1 |
5 |
15 |
9 |
44 |
29 |
Birmingham City |
42 |
6 |
8 |
7 |
19 |
24 |
1 |
6 |
14 |
12 |
43 |
28 |
Wolverhampton
Wanderers won their first six games:
Fulham
(a) 2-1, Charlton (a) 3-2, Newcastle (h) 2-1, Charlton (h) 2-1,
Blackpool (a) 2-1, Middlesbrough (h) 3-1, before
a 1-1 draw at Birmingham on 14 September 1949.
Portsmouth's biggest winning sequence was of three matches.
Blackburn
Rovers, Luton Town, Preston North End and Tottenham Hotspur from the second division, also
had players representing England.
|
How The League Was Won 1949-50 Season |
Timeline |
38 Saturdays from 20 August 1949 to 6 May 1950, plus the first three
midweeks of
the season, Boxing Day (Monday, 26th December 1949),
Tuesday, 27 December 1949, Good Friday,
7 April 1950 and Easter Monday, 10 April 1950.
An additional
game was played on a Monday, and three on a Wednesday in September. Games
were also played on Wednesdays in March, and in April there were
three on the day
after Easter Monday and one on a Wednesday.
There were
two fixtures on the first Wednesday in May. The
FA Cup took precedence on six weekends from the
third round on 7 January 1950 to the
final on 29 April 1950.
There were three weeks between
each round, apart from two weeks before the fifth round and
semi-finals,
and six weeks before the
final. FA
Cup replays were no longer played on
Saturdays, and there was no extra time allowed for initial ties, but
there were still no midweek first-division games
played between 14 September 1949 and 8 March 1950, apart from the
two days after Christmas (Christmas Day was a Sunday). Last
league games were on Saturday, 6 May 1950.
Wednesday, 3 May 1950 |
Arsenal 2 Portsmouth 0
Arsenal Stadium, London
(63,124)
Goring
(2) |
Portsmouth's defeat, in their game in hand, left them vulnerable
to being caught on the last day, if they failed to beat Aston
Villa. Victory would leave Wolves needing to score at least 21
goals in their final game to beat them on goal average.
Sunderland were relying on both Portsmouth and Wolves losing
their home games, and they winning theirs, whilst Blackpool's
hopes rested on them scoring 13 goals at Newcastle, a point and
a place below them, if the top two lost by a single goal and
Sunderland failed to win. Understandably, their chances were
written off in advance. |
Saturday, 6 May 1950 |
Portsmouth 5 Aston Villa 1
Fratton Park, Portsmouth
(41,638)
Thompson
1, 71, Reid 25, 47, 79
~ Dorsett (pen) 89 |
Wolves did all that they could,
scoring 13 goals in their last three games, and they were five
goals up at half-time, but Portsmouth were ahead in the first
twenty seconds and were never going to miss their last
opportunity to retain their title.
Duggie Reid's hat-trick helped to ensure that they lifted the
trophy (for the last time to date) by 0.396 of a goal.
Sunderland also won to take third place from Manchester United,
and Blackpool lost at Newcastle. |
Wolverhampton Wanderers 6 Birmingham City 1
Molineux, Wolverhampton
(42,935)
Pye
2, 85, Mullen
9, 24, Walker 31,
Swinbourne 36 ~
Trigg 70 |
|
|
The Elite League 1949-50 Season
(games between the top four) |
Sunderland and Wolverhampton Wanderers replaced Derby County and
Newcastle United from the previous season's top
four. Games played between the top two:-
Saturday, 1 October 1949 |
Portsmouth 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1
Fratton Park, Portsmouth
(49,831)
Reid
~ Pye |
Saturday, 18 February 1950 |
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 Portsmouth 0
Molineux, Wolverhampton
(46,679)
McLean |
They also drew 1-1 in the FA
Charity Shield at Arsenal Stadium, London. |
The Continuous Post-War League
1946-50
(four seasons) |
Wolves reduced United's lead to
nine points. |
Manager:
Bob
Jackson
|
Sunderland's Dickie Davis was top scorer
with 25 goals. Joint-second on the list
were Stan Mortensen of Blackpool and Derby's Jackie Stamps, with 22.
|
|
England and the Football
League 1949-50 Season |
England's impact on the Football League |
Including the World Cup finals and the two matches that preceded it,
twelve of the 22 first division clubs were
represented, plus Blackburn Rovers, Luton Town, Preston North End
and Tottenham Hotspur from the
second division.
16 Football League games had a direct impact on
two of England's games, on 15 October 1949 and 15 April 1950. As a
result, on 15 October, England took Blackpool's Stan Mortensen,
Derby's Bert Mozley, Liverpool's Phil Taylor, Manchester United's Jack Aston,
Newcastle's Jackie Milburn, Portsmouth's Jimmy Dickinson, Preston's
Tom Finney,
Stoke's Neil Franklin,
Sunderland's Len Shackleton, and Johnny Hancocks, Bert Williams and Billy
Wright of Wolves. On
15 April, Aston, Dickinson, Finney, Franklin, Milburn, Mortensen,
Williams and Wright were again missing from their
clubs, as were Bolton's Bobby Langton, Chelsea's Roy Bentley,
Middlesbrough's Wilf Mannion, Tottenham's Alf Ramsey, and Willie
Watson of Sunderland. |
|