Football League
1888-1915
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Contact Us Page Last Updated 13 October 2020
 
 
 

Football League 1888-89

1889-90
  
Final League Table
Teams in a silver box denotes a player representing England in 1888-89
Team P Home Away
W D L F A W D L F A
Preston North End 22 10 1 0 39 7 8 3 0 35 8 40
Aston Villa 22 10 0 1 44 16 2 5 4 17 27 29
Wolverhampton Wanderers 22 8 2 1 30 14 4 2 5 20 23 28
Blackburn Rovers 22 7 4 0 44 22 3 2 6 22 23 26
Bolton Wanderers 22 6 0 5 35 30 4 2 5 28 29 22
West Bromwich Albion 22 6 2 3 25 24 4 0 7 15 22 22
Accrington 22 5 3 3 26 17 1 5 5 22 31 20
Everton 22 8 0 3 24 17 1 2 8 11 29 20
Burnley 22 6 3 2 21 19 1 0 10 21 43 17
Derby County 22 5 1 5 22 20 2 1 8 19 41 16
Notts County 22 4 2 5 25 32 1 0 10 15 41 12
Stoke 22 3 4 4 15 18 1 0 10 11 33 12

In addition to going through the entire season of 22 games undefeated, Preston won their first six games:
Burnley (h) 5-2, Wolves (a) 4-0, Bolton (h) 3-1, Derby (a) 3-2, Stoke (h) 7-0, West Brom. (h) 3-0, before drawing 0-0 at Accrington on 20 October 1888.


 
How The League Was Won 1888-89 Season
Timeline
21 consecutive Saturdays from 8 September 1888 to 26 January 1889, plus Boxing Day (Wednesday, 26 December 1888)
Two rearranged games were played on consecutive Mondays in November 1888 and the rest were played in February, March and April 1889, though two were played on Mondays and one on a Tuesday, as the FA Cup took precedence each Saturday from the first round on 2 February 1889 to the final on 30 March 1889 (rounds were played each fortnight with replays on the Saturday in-between and a second replay on a Thursday). The last league game was played on Easter Saturday, 20 April 1889 (Accrington 2-0 Stoke).
 

Saturday, 29 December 1888
Preston North End 1 Blackburn Rovers 0
   Deepdale, Preston (9,000)
Goodall
Preston maintain a nine-point lead over Aston Villa. Preston's win ended Blackburn's chance of winning the League, whilst Wolves' defeat at Bolton put them out of contention, leaving only Villa able to catch Preston, with six games left, as opposed to Preston's four.
Aston Villa 4 Derby County 2
   Wellington Road, Handsworth (4,000)
Green (2), Allen, Goodall ~ Spilsbury, Bakewell
 
Top Two 29 December 1888
Team P
Preston North End 18 33
Aston Villa 16 24

  
Saturday, 5 January 1889
2.30pm GMT Preston North End 4 Notts County 1
   Deepdale, Preston (4,000)
Goodall (2), Edwards (2) ~ Daft
Preston won the League Championship by opening up an eleven-point gap between them and Villa, who now had five games left. They stayed unbeaten for the entire season, with forty points, to Villa's 29.
3.05pm GMT Burnley 4 Aston Villa 0
   Turf Moor, Burnley (6,000)
Yates (2), Gallocher, A.Brady
The game kicked off 35 minutes late as three Villa players had missed a train connection. They thus started with eight players, with two of them arriving after ten minutes' play. The third latecomer arrived at half-time, but the referee would not allow him to take part.

 
The Elite League 1888-89 Season (games between the top four)
Team P Home Away
W D L F A W D L F A
Preston North End 6 2 1 0 7 3 2 1 0 8 2 10
Aston Villa 6 2 0 1 8 4 0 2 1 3 7 6
Blackburn Rovers 6 1 2 0 9 5 0 1 2 3 9 5
Wolverhampton Wanderers 6 0 2 1 3 7 0 1 2 5 9 3

Games played between the top two:-

Saturday, 10 November 1888
Preston North End 1 Aston Villa 1
   Deepdale, Preston (2,000)
Goodall
~ Green
Saturday, 9 February 1889
Aston Villa 0 Preston North End 2
   Wellington Road, Handsworth (12,000)
Dewhurst (2)
 

 
Champions: Preston North End
Manager: William Sudell
1888-89 Most Appearances
by England Players
Name Played Goals
Bob Holmes 22 0
John Goodall 21 20
Bob Howarth 18 0
Fred Dewhurst 16 12
Holmes or Howarth did not play for England this season
1888-89 Most Goals
by England Players
Name Played Goals
John Goodall 21 20
Fred Dewhurst 16 12
Other significant scorers this season included Preston's Jimmy Ross, a Scottish international, scoring 19 in 21 matches.
Third on the list was Villa's Albert Allen (18).
Jack Southworth of Blackburn scored 17.

 
England and the Football League 1888-89 Season
England's impact on the Football League
Of the 22 playing positions used during the active 1888-89 season, Football League players provided fifteen of them, and of the ten goals scored, League players scored them all.
Nine of the twelve Football League clubs were represented.
Three Football League games had a direct impact on two of England's games, on 23 February and 2 March.
As a result, on 23 February, England took West Brom's Billy Bassett and
Wolves were without Jack Brodie, Albert Fletcher and Arthur Lowder. On 2 March, Burnley were without Jack Yates.
 
The Football League's impact on England
On 23 February, Alf Shelton played for Notts County after withdrawing from the England team.
 
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