Final League Table -
Division One
Teams in a silver box denotes a player
representing England in 1893-94
Teams denoted with ▼ were relegated to the second division for the
following season after losing a test match |
Team |
P |
Home |
Away |
₧
|
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
Aston Villa |
30 |
12 |
2 |
1 |
49 |
13 |
7 |
4 |
4 |
35 |
29 |
44 |
Sunderland |
30 |
11 |
3 |
1 |
46 |
14 |
6 |
1 |
8 |
26 |
30 |
38 |
Derby
County |
30 |
9 |
2 |
4 |
47 |
32 |
7 |
2 |
6 |
26 |
30 |
36 |
Blackburn Rovers |
30 |
13 |
0 |
2 |
48 |
15 |
3 |
2 |
10 |
21 |
38 |
34 |
Burnley |
30 |
13 |
0 |
2 |
43 |
17 |
2 |
4 |
9 |
18 |
34 |
34 |
Everton |
30 |
11 |
1 |
3 |
63 |
23 |
4 |
2 |
9 |
27 |
34 |
33 |
Nottingham Forest |
30 |
10 |
2 |
3 |
38 |
16 |
4 |
2 |
9 |
19 |
32 |
32 |
West Bromwich Albion |
30 |
8 |
4 |
3 |
35 |
23 |
6 |
0 |
9 |
31 |
36 |
32 |
Wolverhampton Wanderers |
30 |
11 |
1 |
3 |
35 |
24 |
3 |
2 |
10 |
18 |
39 |
31 |
Sheffield
United |
30 |
8 |
3 |
4 |
26 |
22 |
5 |
2 |
8 |
21 |
39 |
31 |
Stoke |
30 |
13 |
1 |
1 |
45 |
17 |
0 |
2 |
13 |
20 |
63 |
29 |
Wednesday |
30 |
7 |
3 |
5 |
32 |
21 |
2 |
5 |
8 |
16 |
36 |
26 |
Bolton Wanderers |
30 |
7 |
3 |
5 |
18 |
14 |
3 |
1 |
11 |
20 |
38 |
24 |
Preston North End |
30 |
7 |
1 |
7 |
25 |
24 |
3 |
2 |
10 |
19 |
32 |
23 |
Darwen▼ |
30 |
6 |
4 |
5 |
25 |
28 |
1 |
1 |
13 |
12 |
55 |
19 |
Newton Heath▼ |
30 |
5 |
2 |
8 |
29 |
33 |
1 |
0 |
14 |
7 |
39 |
14 |
Aston
Villa
recorded a six-match winning run from 11 November 1893:
Sunderland (h) 2-1, Bolton
(a) 1-0, Preston (h) 2-0, Derby (a) 3-0, Wednesday (h) 3-0, Newton Heath (a)
3-1, before losing
3-0 at Wolves on 23 December 1893. Sunderland also had a six-match winning
sequence from 13 January 1894, before losing at Stoke on 24 March 1894. A
third team, Sheffield United, also won six games in succession, from 9
September 1893, before drawing at home to The Wednesday on 16 October 1893. |
How The League Was Won 1893-94 Season |
Timeline |
21
consecutive Saturdays from 2 September 1893 to 20 January 1894
(ending a week later than the previous season), plus Boxing Day
(Tuesday, 26 December 1893), Good Friday, 23 March 1894 and Easter Monday,
26 March 1894
Additional
games were
played on 13 of the first 15 Mondays of the season,
plus one on a Thursday in October (again, Nottingham Forest's
preferred day for home games during the week). There were
also games played on Mondays, Wednesdays and a Thursday in December,
plus four games each on Christmas Day and New Year's Day (both
Mondays) and, later in January, two on a Monday and two on a
Thursday. All remaining games were played
on
Saturdays, apart from three on a Tuesday in February, every day of
the week in March (apart from Sundays), and three on Mondays in April. The FA Cup took
precedence on Saturdays from the first round on 27 January 1894 (a
week later than the previous season) to the final on 31 March 1894. Rounds were played each fortnight with
replays on the Saturday in-between* and a spare third (Easter) week before the final. The last league game was
played on Monday, 23 April 1894
(Bolton 2-0 Sunderland), with test matches to decide promotion and
relegation on the following Saturday.
*One replay was postponed and rearranged for the following Wednesday.
Tuesday, 27 March 1894 |
Sunderland 4 Darwen 0
Newcastle Road, Sunderland
(3,000)
Wilson, Dunlop, Gibson, Gillespie |
With two games left, Sunderland could only catch Aston Villa on
goal average, but they moved a little closer with four goals
against the first-division strugglers. Their goal average was
now 1.64, compared to Villa's 1.97. |
Saturday,
7 April 1894 |
Burnley 3 Aston Villa 6
Turf Moor, Burnley
(6,000)
Turnbull,
Buchanan, Place
~ Groves (2), Hodgetts (2), Devey (2) |
Sunderland put another three goals past Darwen to
increase their goal average to 1.7, but it was all in vain as
Villa produced a commanding second-half performance to clinch
their first title in style, and all whilst their talented
half-back, Jack Reynolds was busy scoring England's late
equaliser against Scotland at Celtic Park. Villa increased their
winning margin to six points in their final game. |
|
The Elite League 1893-94 Season
(games between the top four) |
Blackburn Rovers and Derby County replaced Everton and Preston North
End from the previous season's top four.
Games played between the top two:-
Saturday, 9 September 1893 |
Sunderland 1 Aston Villa 1
Newcastle Road, Sunderland
(10,000)
Millar
~ Hodgetts |
Saturday, 11 November 1893 |
Aston Villa 2
Sunderland
1
Wellington
Road, Handsworth
(14,100)
Devey, Reynolds
~ Millar |
Aston Villa also beat Sunderland 3-1 at
Wellington Road in an FA Cup second round replay, following a 2-2
draw after extra time at Newcastle Road. |
The Continuous League
1888-94
(first six seasons) |
Everton reduced
Preston's lead to twenty points, but this was the
second
season
of thirty games each, following three of 22 and one of 26 games each, so comparisons with
other seasons have little
relevance. Sunderland still had the highest average points per game
from their four seasons and had won seventy games, but with 153 points
and still in seventh place overall.
|
Champions:
Aston Villa |
Manager:
George Ramsey |
|
Jack Southworth (now with Everton)
was again top scorer, with 27.
Third on the list were Steve Bloomer of
Derby and Sunderland's Jimmy Millar (who went on to represent Scotland), with
19.
|
England and the Football
League 1893-94 Season |
England's impact on the Football League |
Of the 33 playing positions used
during the active 1893-94 season, Football League players provided
twenty of them, and of the nine goals scored, League players scored
four of them. Ten of the 16 first division clubs were
represented. Nine Football League games had a direct impact on
two of England's games, on 3 March and 7 April. As a
result, on 3 March, England took Aston Villa's Jack Devey, Dennis
Hodgetts and Jack Reynolds, Blackburn's Harry Chippendale and Jimmy
Whitehead, Burnley's Jimmy Crabtree, Everton's Johnny Holt and Bob
Howarth, Preston's Bob Holmes and West Brom's Joe Reader. On 7 April,
Villa were again without Reynolds, Everton were again without Holt
and also Edgar Chadwick, and England also took Sheffield United's
Ernest Needham, Stoke's Tommy Clare and West Brom's Billy Bassett. |
|