Football League
1946-92
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1953-54

Football League 1954-55
1955-56
  
Final League Table - Division I
 Teams in a silver box denotes a player representing England in 1954-55
 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
Chelsea 42 11 5 5 43 29 9 7 5 38 28 52
Wolverhampton Wanderers 42 13 5 3 58 30 6 5 10 31 40 48
Portsmouth 42 13 5 3 44 21 5 7 9 30 41 48
Sunderland 42 8 11 2 39 27 7 7 7 25 27 48
Manchester United 42 12 4 5 44 30 8 3 10 40 44 47
Aston Villa 42 11 3 7 38 31 9 4 8 34 42 47
Manchester City 42 11 5 5 45 36 7 5 9 31 33 46
Newcastle United 42 12 5 4 53 27 5 4 12 36 50 43
Arsenal 42 12 3 6 44 25 5 6 10 25 38 43
Burnley 42 11 3 7 29 19 6 6 9 22 29 43
Everton 42 9 6 6 32 24 7 4 10 30 44 42
Huddersfield Town 42 10 4 7 28 23 4 9 8 35 45 41
Sheffield United 42 10 3 8 41 34 7 4 10 29 52 41
Preston North End 42 8 5 8 47 33 8 3 10 36 31 40
Charlton Athletic 42 8 6 7 43 34 7 4 10 33 41 40
Tottenham Hotspur 42 9 4 8 42 35 7 4 10 30 38 40
West Bromwich Albion 42 11 5 5 44 33 5 3 13 32 63 40
Bolton Wanderers 42 11 6 4 45 29 2 7 12 17 40 39
Blackpool 42 8 6 7 33 26 6 4 11 27 38 38
Cardiff City 42 9 4 8 41 38 4 7 10 21 38 37
Leicester City 42 9 6 6 43 32 3 5 13 31 54 35
Sheffield Wednesday 42 7 7 7 42 38 1 3 17 21 62 26

Arsenal recorded a seven-match winning run from 12 March 1955:
Aston Villa (h) 2-0, Sunderland (a) 1-0, Bolton (h) 3-0, Huddersfield (a) 1-0, Cardiff (h) 2-0, Blackpool (h) 3-0, Cardiff (a) 2-1, before losing 3-1 at Wolverhampton on 16 April 1955. Chelsea's biggest winning sequence was of four games.

Fulham, from the second division, also had a player representing England.

How The League Was Won 1954-55 Season
Timeline

37 Saturdays from 21 August 1954 to 30 April 1955 (finishing a week later than the previous season), plus the first four midweeks, Boxing Day (Monday, 27th December 1954), Good Friday, 8 April 1955 and Easter Monday, 11 April 1955.
 Two other games were played on a Monday in September, but apart from one on the last Tuesday in December (Christmas Day and New Year's Day were both Saturdays), there were no more midweek games until the last Wednesday in February, when there were three games. In March, there were midweek games on Wednesdays, plus one on a Monday and one on a Tuesday, but they were throughout midweek (apart from Thursdays) in April. Two games were played on the first Monday in May, with two on the Wednesday, and the final game on the Thursday. The FA Cup took precedence on six weekends from the third round on 8 January 1955 to the final on 7 May 1955. There were three weeks between each round, apart from two weeks before the semi-finals, and five weeks before the final. The last third-division (south) fixture, at Brighton, was played at the same time as the FA Cup Final, with the remaining third-division (north) fixture, at Southport, in the evening. Last first-division match was on Thursday, 5 May 1955 (Charlton 1-2 Tottenham).

Wednesday, 20 April 1955
Manchester City 3 Wolverhampton Wanderers 0
   Maine Road, Manchester (50,705)
 Fagan 11, Meadows 52, Williamson 75
A crushing defeat virtually ended Wolves' defence of the title, for they could now only catch Chelsea on goal average, with two games each left to play, and Wolves' both away from home. City could also catch Chelsea on goal average, though theirs was worse than Wolves', despite this victory. Both were dependent on Chelsea losing their last home match to already-relegated bottom club, Sheffield Wednesday. Portsmouth, meanwhile, had four games left, and could win it without needing a better goal average (as long as Chelsea picked up no more than a point from their two games), but stood six points behind the leaders.
Top Four 20 April 1955
Team P ₧
Chelsea 40 50
Wolverhampton Wanderers 40 46
Manchester City 40 46
Portsmouth 38 44
  
Saturday, 23 April 1955
3.15pm BST Cardiff City 1 Portsmouth 1
   Ninian Park, Cardiff (21,185)
 Williams 66 ~ Harris 3		 Wednesday were no match for Chelsea, especially as they were reduced to ten men after twelve minutes of the second half, with an outfield player deputising for the injured goalkeeper. So, for the second year in succession, there were first-time league champions. Chelsea's triumph, with a points tally that would never again be enough to win the title, and with fewer home wins than in finishing eighth in the previous season, was secured around 15 minutes after the final whistle at Stamford Bridge when news came through from Cardiff that Portsmouth had failed to take the race to the final day. Defending champions, Wolves won at Sheffield United, but to no avail, whilst Manchester City, perhaps with an eye on the FA Cup Final in two weeks' time, were thrashed 6-1 at home by Blackpool, and eventually finished seventh. Wolves finished runners-up on goal average from Portsmouth (and Sunderland).
3.00pm BST Chelsea 3 Sheffield Wednesday 0
   Stamford Bridge, London (51,421)
Parsons 23, 75, Sillett 70 (pen)
 
European Qualification Timeline
Monday 18 April 1955:
Birmingham City, who went on to win the Division 2 Championship and promotion to the first division on goal average, became the first English club to enter a European competition, when the new Coupe Internationale des Villes de Foires (Inter-Cities Fairs Cup) was founded, but it would be over a year later, on 16 May 1956, when they played their first match, against Internazionale in Milan.
Saturday, 23 April 1955:
 Chelsea became the first English club to qualify for a European competition, the new Coupe des Clubs Champions Européens (European Cup), when they won the Football League Championship for the first time.
Tuesday, 2 May 1955:
Chelsea manager, Ted Drake was placed in charge of a London select team to take part in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. He selected five Chelsea players (subsequently reduced to four) for their opening game on 4 June in Basel.
Wednesday, 22 June 1955:
Chelsea were drawn to play Swedish Allsvenskan champions, Djurgårdens in the first round of the European Cup over two legs, with the first in Stockholm on 20 September 1955 and the second provisionally arranged for Stamford Bridge on 12 October 1955.
Tuesday, 26 July 1955:
Chelsea withdrew from the European Cup because the Football League Management Committee feared that their entry may cause unnecessary fixture congestion. They were replaced by Gwardia Warszawa, who had finished fourth in the Polish Ekstraklasa.

The Elite League 1954-55 Season (games between the top four)
Team P Home Away ₧
W D L F A W D L F A
Chelsea 6 3 0 0 7 2 1 2 0 7 6 10
Wolverhampton Wanderers 6 1 1 1 7 6 0 2 1 0 1 5
Portsmouth 6 0 3 0 2 2 0 2 1 5 8 5
Sunderland 6 0 3 0 5 5 0 1 2 3 6 4
Only Wolverhampton Wanderers remained from the previous season's top four. Huddersfield Town, Manchester United and West Bromwich Albion were replaced by Chelsea, Portsmouth and Sunderland.
Games played between the top two:-
Saturday, 4 December 1954
 Wolverhampton Wanderers 3 Chelsea 4
    Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton (32,095)
Broadbent, Swinbourne, Hancocks (pen) ~ McNichol, Bentley (2), Stubbs
 Saturday, 9 April 1955
 Chelsea 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers 0
    Stamford Bridge, London (75,043)
 Sillett (pen)
Although Chelsea won the league, it was Arsenal that fared better when it came to London derbies.
London Derbies League
 1954-55 Season
Team P ₧
Arsenal 6 10
Chelsea 6 7
Charlton Athletic 6 5
Tottenham Hotspur 6 2

The Continuous Post-War League 1946-55 (nine seasons)
Team P Wins ₧
Manchester United 378 183 465
Arsenal 378 169 438
Wolverhampton Wanderers 378 171 434
Portsmouth 378 164 417
United increased their lead to 27 points.
The 'Rolling Five-Season' League
 1950-55
Team P Wins ₧
Manchester United 210 106 254
Arsenal 210 93 240
Wolverhampton Wanderers 210 90 232
Blackpool 210 90 228
United increased their lead to 14 points.


Champions: Chelsea
Manager: Ted Drake
1954-55 Most Appearances
by England Players
Name Played Goals
Roy Bentley 41 22
Ken Armstrong 39 1
Frank Blunstone 23 3
Peter Sillett 21 6
Peter Sillett did not play for England until the week after the end of the season.
1954-55 Most Goals
by England Players
Name Played Goals
Roy Bentley 41 22
West Brom's Ronnie Allen was top scorer with 27 goals. Huddersfield's Jimmy Glazzard (the previous season's top scorer) and Johnny Hancocks of Wolves, were joint-second on the list, with 26.

England and the Football League 1954-55 Season
England's impact on the Football League
Including the tour at the end of the season, 13 of the 22 first division clubs were represented, plus Fulham from the second division.
 15 Football League games had a direct impact on two of England's games, on 2 October 1954 and 2 April 1955, including in the days prior to the Scotland game.
As a result, on 2 October, England took Blackpool's Stan Matthews, Bolton's Nat Lofthouse and Johnny Wheeler, Burnley's Brian Pilkington, Fulham's Johnny Haynes, Manchester City's Don Revie, Manchester United's Roger Byrne, Bill Foulkes and Ray Wood, West Brom's Ray Barlow, and Bill Slater and Billy Wright of Wolves. On 2 April, Byrne, Lofthouse, Matthews, Revie and Wright were again missing from their clubs, as were Chelsea's Ken Armstrong and Frank Blunstone, Manchester City's Billy Meadows, Manchester United's Duncan Edwards, Sheffield United's Joe Shaw, and Bert Williams and Dennis Wilshaw of Wolves. In the days before the game, on 29 March, Armstrong and Blunstone, and on 30 March, Meadows and Revie, were unavailable for the first of two club fixtures, due to their England call-ups.
 
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