Football League
1946-92
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1948-49

Football League 1949-50

1950-51
  
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.
Top Five 3 May 1950
Team P
Portsmouth 41 51
Wolverhampton Wanderers 41 51
Manchester United 42 50
Sunderland 41 50
Blackpool 41 49
  
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)
Team P Home Away
W D L F A W D L F A
Sunderland 6 1 2 0 6 4 2 1 0 8 4 9
Portsmouth 6 0 3 0 3 3 1 1 1 3 2 6
Manchester United 6 1 0 2 4 5 0 3 0 3 3 5
Wolverhampton Wanderers 6 1 1 1 3 4 0 1 2 2 7 4
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)
Team P Wins
Manchester United 168 80 211
Wolverhampton Wanderers 168 81 202
Arsenal 168 76 198
Portsmouth 168 82 197
Wolves reduced United's lead to nine points.


Champions: Portsmouth
Manager: Bob Jackson
1949-50 Most Appearances
by England Players
Name Played Goals
Jimmy Dickinson 40  
Peter Harris 40 16
Jack Froggatt 39 15
Len Phillips 34 5
Len Phillips did not play for England until 1951.
1949-50 Most Goals
by England Players
Name Played Goals
Peter Harris 40 16
Jack Froggatt 39 15
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.
 
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