Football League
1946-92
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1955-56

Football League 1956-57
1957-58
  
Final League Table - Division I
 Teams in a silver box denotes a player representing England in 1956-57
 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
Manchester United 42 14 4 3 55 25 14 4 3 48 29 64
Tottenham Hotspur 42 15 4 2 70 24 7 8 6 34 32 56
Preston North End 42 15 4 2 50 19 8 6 7 34 37 56
Blackpool 42 14 3 4 55 26 8 6 7 38 39 53
Arsenal 42 12 5 4 45 21 9 3 9 40 48 50
Wolverhampton Wanderers 42 17 2 2 70 29 3 6 12 24 41 48
Burnley 42 14 5 2 41 21 4 5 12 15 29 46
Leeds United 42 10 8 3 42 18 5 6 10 30 45 44
Bolton Wanderers 42 13 6 2 42 23 3 6 12 23 42 44
Aston Villa 42 10 8 3 45 25 4 7 10 20 30 43
West Bromwich Albion 42 8 8 5 31 25 6 6 9 28 36 42
Birmingham City 42 12 5 4 52 25 3 4 14 17 44 39
Chelsea 42 7 8 6 43 36 6 5 10 30 37 39
Sheffield Wednesday 42 14 3 4 55 29 2 3 16 27 59 38
Everton 42 10 5 6 34 28 4 5 12 27 51 38
Luton Town 42 10 4 7 31 26 4 5 12 26 50 37
Newcastle United 42 10 5 6 43 31 4 3 14 24 56 36
Manchester City 42 10 2 9 48 42 3 7 11 30 46 35
Portsmouth 42 8 6 7 37 35 2 7 12 25 57 33
Sunderland 42 9 5 7 40 30 3 3 15 27 58 32
Cardiff City 42 7 6 8 35 34 3 3 15 18 54 29
Charlton Athletic 42 7 3 11 31 44 2 1 18 31 76 22

Blackpool recorded an eight-match winning run, from 2 February 1957:
Charlton (a) 4-0, Manchester City (h) 4-1, Manchester United (a) 2-0, Sheffield Wednesday (h) 3-1, Cardiff (a) 4-3, Birmingham (h) 3-1, Portsmouth (h) 5-0, West Brom (a) 3-1, before losing 2-1 at Newcastle on 6 April 1957. Manchester United's biggest winning sequence was of five games (on three separate occasions). The champions extended their unbeaten run of home games to 31 (plus two in the European Cup at Maine Road, Manchester) before losing, 5-2 to Everton.

Blackburn Rovers, Bristol City, Fulham and Sheffield United, from the second division, plus Brighton & Hove Albion and Coventry City, from the third division (south) also had players representing England.

How The League Was Won 1956-57 Season
Timeline

37 Saturdays from 18 August 1956 to 27 April 1957, plus the first four midweeks, Christmas Day (Tuesday, 25th December 1956), Boxing Day (Wednesday, 26th December 1956), Good Friday, 19 April 1957 and Easter Monday, 22 April 1957.
 One other game was played on a Wednesday in September, and one on a Thursday, but apart from the festive fixtures, including three on New Year's Day, a Tuesday, there were no more midweek games until February, when there were three games on Mondays, and three on Wednesdays. In March, there were midweek games on Wednesdays, plus two on Mondays and one on a Tuesday. Games were played throughout midweek (apart from Thursdays) in April, before the final two games on the first day of May, a Wednesday. The FA Cup took precedence on six weekends from the third round on 5 January 1957 to the final on 4 May 1957. There were three weeks between each round, apart from two weeks before the sixth round, and seven weeks before the final. The last Football League match was played at Southampton in the third division (south) in the evening, after the final. Last two first-division matches were on Wednesday, 1 May 1957.

Good Friday, 19 April 1957
Arsenal 1 Blackpool 1
   Arsenal Stadium, London (50,310)
 Tapscott 67 ~ Perry 30		 Billy Whelan's hat-trick at Burnley left United on the brink of retaining their title. The chances of Tottenham and Blackpool catching them were slipping away, leaving only Preston, who had played a game more, and had four points to make up on United. One more win for the champions would give them the crown, once Preston dropped another point.
Burnley 1 Manchester United 3
   Turf Moor, Burnley (37,823)
 McIlroy 36 ~ Whelan 17, 44, 65
Charlton Athletic 1 Tottenham Hotspur 1
    The Valley, London (27,793)
 Hewie ~ Brooks 42
Preston North End 1 Sheffield Wednesday 0
   Deepdale Stadium, Preston (20,069)
 Taylor
Top Four 19 April 1957
Team P ₧
Manchester United 38 57
Preston North End 39 53
Tottenham Hotspur 38 50
Blackpool 38 50
  
Easter Saturday, 20 April 1957
Manchester United 4 Sunderland 0
   Old Trafford, Manchester (58,725)
 Whelan 12, 74, Edwards 81, Taylor 89		 24 hours later, another two goals from Billy Whelan put United firmly in the driving seat. With Sunderland reduced to ten men after losing their goalkeeper to injury for most of the second half, with a striker, 'Cannonball' Fleming, taking over in goal, attentions were switched to Preston, where Tom Finney was carrying an injury. They were unable to break down their west Lancashire rivals, who also needed the points to stand any chance of winning the league. Tottenham, meanwhile, picked up a 3-0 win at relegation-threatened Cardiff, and eventually finished runners-up, pipping Preston on goal average, but United were all-conquering and finished eight points clear of the rest. 
Preston North End 0 Blackpool 0
   Deepdale Stadium, Preston (35,887)
 
European Qualification Timeline
Saturday, 20 April 1957:
 Manchester United qualified for the European Cup for the second time, when they retained the Football League Championship, five days before their first ever European match at Old Trafford, hosting Real Madrid in the semi-final second leg.
 Tuesday, 2 July 1957:
 The Football League Management Committee approved Manchester United's application to enter the European Cup for a second successive season, following an unprecedented schedule of 57 competitive matches in the 1956-57 season.
Tuesday, 23 July 1957:
 Manchester United were drawn to play League of Ireland champions, Shamrock Rovers in the preliminary round of the European Cup.

Manchester United went on to reach the semi-finals of the European Cup for the second year in succession, but on returning home from the quarter-final second leg in Belgrade, their plane crashed at Munich, and 23 people lost their lives, including eight players. Incredibly, they were back playing again in less than two weeks, but understandably, lost their semi-final to AC Milan. The first edition of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup came to its conclusion in its third season. Birmingham City lost their semi-final to the eventual winners, Barcelona, who beat the London select team on aggregate in the final.

The Elite League 1956-57 Season (games between the top four)
Team P Home Away ₧
W D L F A W D L F A
Blackpool 6 2 1 0 10 3 1 1 1 3 2 8
Manchester United 6 1 1 1 3 4 1 2 0 7 5 7
Tottenham Hotspur 6 1 2 0 5 4 1 1 1 5 5 7
Preston North End 6 0 1 2 2 7 0 1 2 3 8 2
Preston North End and Tottenham Hotspur replaced Manchester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers from the previous season's top four.
Games played between the top two:-
Saturday, 24 November 1956
 Tottenham Hotspur 2 Manchester United 2
    White Hart Lane, London (57,724)
 Harmer (pen), Robb ~ Berry, Colman
 Saturday, 6 April 1957
 Manchester United 0 Tottenham Hotspur 0
    Old Trafford, Manchester (60,583)
Blackpool fared better in local derbies than in the previous season, as United again failed to conquer their Lancashire opponents, despite their second league success.
Lancashire Derbies League Top Four
 1956-57 Season
Team P ₧
Blackpool 12 19
Bolton Wanderers 12 15
Manchester United 12 15
Preston North End 12 14

The Continuous Post-War League 1946-57 (eleven seasons)
Team P Wins ₧
Manchester United 462 236 589
Arsenal 462 208 534
Wolverhampton Wanderers 462 211 531
Blackpool 462 199 511
United increased their lead to 55 points.
The 'Rolling Five-Season' League
 1952-57
Team P Wins ₧
Manchester United 210 112 265
Wolverhampton Wanderers 210 103 253
Arsenal 210 92 236
Blackpool 210 94 235
Wolves reduced United's lead to twelve points.


Champions: Manchester United
Manager: Matt Busby
1956-57 Most Appearances
by England Players
Name Played Goals
Johnny Berry 40 8
Bill Foulkes 39  
Ray Wood 39  
David Pegg 37 6
Roger Byrne 36  
Duncan Edwards 34 5
Tommy Taylor 32 22
Dennis Viollet 27 16
Bill Foulkes won his only cap in 1954, Johnny Berry and Ray Wood won their last caps at the end of the previous season, David Pegg did not play for England until after the end of the season, and Dennis Viollet did not play for England until 1960.
1956-57 Most Goals
by England Players
Name Played Goals
Tommy Taylor 32 22
Dennis Viollet 27 16
Welshman, John Charles of Leeds, was top scorer with 38 goals. Scotsman, Jackie Mudie, of Blackpool, was second on the list, with 32, and Luton's Gordon Turner was third, with thirty. United's top scorer was Irishman, Billy Whelan, with 26.

England and the Football League 1956-57 Season
England's impact on the Football League
Including the three World Cup qualifiers at the end of the season, eleven of the 22 first division clubs were represented, plus Blackburn Rovers, Bristol City and Fulham from the second division, and Brighton & Hove Albion and Coventry City from the third division (south).
17 Football League games had a direct impact on two of England's games, on 6 October 1956 and 6 April 1957, including in the days prior to the Scotland game.
As a result, on 6 October, England took Birmingham's Jeff Hall, Blackburn's Ronnie Clayton, Blackpool's Stan Matthews, Brighton's Jim Langley, Coventry's Reg Matthews, Manchester City's Don Revie, Manchester United's Roger Byrne, Duncan Edwards and Tommy Taylor, Sheffield United's Colin Grainger, and Dennis Wilshaw and Billy Wright of Wolves. On 6 April, Byrne, Clayton, Edwards, Grainger (now with Sunderland), Hall, Stan Matthews and Wright were again absent from their clubs, as were Preston's Tom Finney and Tommy Thompson, Sheffield United's Alan Hodgkinson, and Ray Barlow and Derek Kevan of West Brom. Three days before the game, on 3 April, Barlow, Hall, Kevan and Matthews were unavailable for the first of two club fixtures, due to their England call-ups.
 
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