1919–20 Football League

The 1919–20 season was the 28th season of The Football League, and the first season after football was suspended after outbreak of World War I

The Football League

Season	1919–20
Champions	West Bromwich Albion
Relegated	Lincoln City
Expelled	Leeds City
New Clubs in League	Coventry City Stoke West Ham United South Shields Rotherham County Port Vale (Mid-season)
← 1914–15 1920–21 →

Compared to 1914–15, the number of Football League member clubs increased from 40 to 44, initially with five new clubs.

Team changes

Resuming after four years, the Football League expanded its numbers by four, maintaining competition in two Divisions of equal size. During previous such expansions, 1898 and 1905, the relegated clubs from the previous season were re-elected, while the top Second Division sides were promoted as usual.

Following that precedent, the two top Second Division sides in 1915, Derby and Preston did move on up. Chelsea, who had finished 19th that First Division season, were, as expected, re-elected.

Discussion of how the expansion should be handled began on 13 January 1919 when James Catton published an article in Athletic News raising the issue of match-fixing which had dogged the 1914/15 League season and been left unresolved because of the cessation of the League for the duration of the war.

In the article, Catton argued one of the two teams that ought to be returned to the first division (if that league was to be expanded, as had already been proposed), should be Chelsea as they had been relegated due to the match-fixing. Catton then considered the argument that Tottenham, who had also been relegated with Chelsea should likewise be reinstated, although he noted there was nothing to link Tottenham's relegation with anything amiss in the final season before the cessation of the League for the duration.^[1]

In 1915, Manchester United avoided relegation by winning a game against Liverpool 2–0 on 2 April 1915 which was fixed in United's favour, with players from both sides benefiting from bets placed upon the result 1915 British football betting scandal. At the end of the season, Manchester United finished one point and one place ahead of Chelsea. Had the game against Liverpool ended in a draw Chelsea would have finished ahead of United on goal average, if Liverpool had won then Chelsea would have finished one place and one point ahead of Manchester United.

Arsenal, who had finished 6th in the Second Division in 1914-15 (later amended to 5th place in 1975 after an error in the calculation of goal average was discovered) were also elected to the First Division.

It has been alleged that Arsenal Chairman Sir Henry Norris bribed or in some way unduly influenced the voting members of the Football League, in particular, Football League President John McKenna at the League's AGM and that McKenna made a speech recommending Arsenal's promotion ahead of Spurs thanks to the formers' longer spell in the League (Arsenal joined in 1893, Spurs in 1908), although Barnsley and Wolves, who both finished ahead of Arsenal, had been members of the league longer than Arsenal; Wolves since its inception in 1888.^[2] However, detailed reports of the meeting in The Sportsman, Athletic News, Daily Mirror and The Times the following day made no mention of this. They did report that Football League Management Committee member C.E. Sutcliffe made a speech stating that the expansion would give them an opportunity to do right by Chelsea. It would seem strange if such a speech were made by the League President and somehow all the media failed to report it. Arsenal have not been relegated from the top flight of the English game since, the only club in continuous membership since 1919.

In the Second Division, Port Vale took over from Leeds City after 4 October 1919, when Leeds were disbanded by F.A. order following alleged irregular practices. Port Vale then inherited Leeds' record up to that date.^[3]

After the season, Grimsby Town were relegated to the newly formed Third Division. Lincoln City was not re-elected to Second Division and Leeds United was elected to replace it. Cardiff City were elected to take the second available place in Second Division.

Final league tables

Beginning in the 1894–95 season, clubs finishing level on points were separated according to goal average (goals scored divided by goals conceded). In case one or more teams had the same goal difference, this system favoured those teams who had scored fewer goals. The goal average system was eventually scrapped beginning with the 1976–77 season.

During the first six seasons of the league, (up to the 1893–94 season), re-election process concerned the clubs which finished in the bottom four of the league. From the 1894–95 season and until the 1920–21 season the re-election process was required of the clubs which finished in the bottom three of the league.

First Division

First Division

Season	1919–20
Champions	West Bromwich Albion 1st English title
Relegated	Notts County The Wednesday
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,332 (2.88 per match)
Top goalscorer	Fred Morris (37 goals)^[4]
Biggest home win	West Bromwich Albion 8–0 Notts County (25 October 1919)
Biggest away win	Preston North End 1–5 Bradford City (1 September 1919) Burnley 2–6 Bradford Park Avenue (22 November 1919) Derby County 0–4 West Bromwich Albion (20 December 1919) Bradford Park Avenue 0–4 West Bromwich Albion (3 April 1920)
Highest scoring	Manchester City 8–2 Blackburn Rovers (8 November 1919)
← 1914–15 1920–21 →

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts	Relegation
1	West Bromwich Albion (C)	42	28	4	10	104	47	2.213	60
2	Burnley	42	21	9	12	65	59	1.102	51
3	Chelsea	42	22	5	15	56	51	1.098	49
4	Liverpool	42	19	10	13	59	44	1.341	48
5	Sunderland	42	22	4	16	72	59	1.220	48
6	Bolton Wanderers	42	19	9	14	72	65	1.108	47
7	Manchester City	42	18	9	15	71	62	1.145	45
8	Newcastle United	42	17	9	16	44	39	1.128	43
9	Aston Villa	42	18	6	18	75	73	1.027	42
10	Arsenal	42	15	12	15	56	58	0.966	42
11	Bradford Park Avenue	42	15	12	15	60	63	0.952	42
12	Manchester United	42	13	14	15	54	50	1.080	40
13	Middlesbrough	42	15	10	17	61	65	0.938	40
14	Sheffield United	42	16	8	18	59	69	0.855	40
15	Bradford City	42	14	11	17	54	63	0.857	39
16	Everton	42	12	14	16	69	68	1.015	38
17	Oldham Athletic	42	15	8	19	49	52	0.942	38
18	Derby County	42	13	12	17	47	57	0.825	38
19	Preston North End	42	14	10	18	57	73	0.781	38
20	Blackburn Rovers	42	13	11	18	64	77	0.831	37
21	Notts County (R)	42	12	12	18	56	74	0.757	36	Relegation to the Second Division
22	The Wednesday (R)	42	7	9	26	28	64	0.438	23

Source: World Football
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal average; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champion; (R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away	ARS	AST	BLB	BOL	BRA	BPA	BUR	CHE	DER	EVE	LIV	MCI	MUN	MID	NEW	NTC	OLD	PNE	SHU	SUN	WED	WBA
Arsenal		0–1	0–1	2–2	1–2	3–0	2–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	2–2	0–3	2–1	0–1	3–1	3–2	0–0	3–0	3–2	3–1	1–0
Aston Villa	2–1		1–2	3–6	3–1	1–0	2–2	5–2	2–2	2–2	0–1	0–1	2–0	5–3	4–0	3–1	3–0	2–4	4–0	0–3	3–1	2–4
Blackburn Rovers	2–2	5–1		2–2	4–1	3–3	2–3	3–1	2–0	3–2	0–2	1–4	5–0	0–2	2–0	1–1	0–1	4–0	4–0	3–0	1–0	1–5
Bolton Wanderers	2–2	2–1	2–1		1–1	1–2	1–1	1–2	3–0	0–2	0–3	6–2	3–5	2–1	0–3	1–0	1–0	4–1	1–0	1–0	2–0	1–2
Bradford City	1–1	3–1	3–1	0–1		0–0	2–1	3–1	3–1	3–3	1–3	1–0	2–1	0–1	1–0	3–4	1–1	2–2	1–2	2–0	1–1	3–0
Bradford Park Avenue	0–0	6–1	5–2	2–0	0–0		0–1	1–0	1–1	0–2	1–2	2–1	1–4	1–1	0–1	0–1	2–0	3–3	1–0	2–2	3–0	0–4
Burnley	2–1	0–0	3–1	2–1	1–1	2–6		2–3	2–0	5–0	1–2	2–0	2–1	5–3	1–0	2–1	2–1	1–1	2–2	2–1	2–0	2–2
Chelsea	3–1	2–1	2–1	2–3	1–0	4–0	0–1		0–0	0–1	1–0	1–0	1–0	3–1	0–0	2–0	1–0	4–0	1–0	2–0	1–1	2–0
Derby County	2–1	1–0	0–0	1–2	3–0	0–0	0–2	5–0		2–1	3–0	0–0	1–1	1–2	1–0	3–1	1–1	2–0	5–1	3–1	2–1	0–4
Everton	2–3	1–1	3–0	3–3	4–1	2–0	2–2	2–3	4–0		0–0	2–0	0–0	5–2	4–0	1–2	0–2	0–1	3–0	1–3	1–1	2–5
Liverpool	2–3	2–1	3–0	2–0	2–1	3–3	0–1	0–1	3–0	3–1		1–0	0–0	1–0	1–1	3–0	2–2	1–2	2–0	3–2	1–0	0–0
Manchester City	4–1	2–2	8–2	1–4	1–0	4–1	3–1	1–0	3–1	1–1	2–1		3–3	1–0	0–0	4–1	3–1	1–0	3–3	1–0	4–2	2–3
Manchester United	0–1	1–2	1–1	1–1	0–0	0–1	0–1	0–2	0–2	1–0	0–0	1–0		1–1	2–1	0–0	1–1	5–1	3–0	2–0	0–0	1–2
Middlesbrough	1–0	1–4	2–2	1–3	4–0	1–2	4–0	0–0	2–0	1–1	3–2	0–2	1–1		0–1	5–2	1–0	4–1	1–0	0–2	3–0	0–0
Newcastle United	3–1	2–0	0–0	0–1	0–1	4–0	0–0	3–0	0–0	3–0	3–0	3–0	2–1	0–0		2–1	0–1	1–0	2–1	2–3	1–1	0–2
Notts County	2–2	2–1	5–0	2–2	5–2	0–2	2–0	0–1	2–2	1–1	1–0	4–1	0–2	1–1	0–0		2–1	1–2	2–2	2–2	3–1	2–0
Oldham Athletic	3–0	0–3	0–0	2–0	0–1	2–2	1–0	1–0	3–0	4–1	1–1	1–3	0–3	1–2	1–0	0–0		4–1	4–0	2–1	1–0	2–1
Preston North End	1–1	3–0	0–0	1–1	1–5	0–3	0–1	3–1	1–1	1–1	2–1	1–1	2–3	3–1	2–3	2–0	2–1		2–0	5–2	3–0	0–1
Sheffield United	2–0	1–2	2–0	3–2	0–0	2–2	1–3	3–1	0–0	1–1	3–2	3–1	2–2	5–1	2–1	3–0	1–0	2–1		3–1	3–0	1–0
Sunderland	1–1	2–1	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	3–0	3–2	2–1	2–3	0–1	2–1	3–0	1–1	2–0	3–1	3–0	1–0	3–2		2–1	4–1
The Wednesday	1–2	0–1	0–0	0–2	1–0	0–1	3–1	0–2	2–0	1–0	2–2	0–0	1–3	0–1	0–1	0–0	1–0	0–1	2–1	0–2		0–3
West Bromwich Albion	1–0	1–2	5–2	4–1	4–1	3–1	4–1	4–0	3–0	4–3	1–1	2–0	2–1	4–1	3–0	8–0	3–1	4–1	0–2	4–0	1–3

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: [1]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Maps

 

 

 

Arsenal

Chelsea

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Locations of the Football League First Division London teams

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arsenal

Aston Villa

Blackburn Rovers

Bolton

Bradford City

Bradford Park Avenue

Burnley

Chelsea

Derby County

Everton

Liverpool

Manchester City

Manchester United

Middlesbrough

Newcastle

Notts County

Oldham

Preston North End

Sheffield United

Sunderland

The Wednesday (Sheffield)

West Bromwich Albion

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Locations of the Football League First Division teams

Second Division

Football League
Second Division

Season	1919–20
Champions	Tottenham Hotspur (1st title)
Relegated	Grimsby Town
Failed re-election	Lincoln City
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,285 (2.78 per match)
Top goalscorer	Sammy Taylor (Huddersfield Town), 35^[4]
Biggest home win	Birmingham – Nottingham Forest 8–0 (10 Mar 1920)
Biggest away win	Barnsley – Birmingham 0–5 (14 Feb 1920) Leicester City – Bury 0–5 (10 Apr 1920)
Highest scoring	Hull City – Wolverhampton Wanderers 10–3 (27 Dec 1919)
← 1914–15 1920–21 →

Pos	Team	Pld	HW	HD	HL	HGF	HGA	AW	AD	AL	AGF	AGA	GAv	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Tottenham Hotspur	42	19	2	0	60	11	13	4	4	42	21	3.188	70	Division Champions, promoted
2	Huddersfield Town	42	16	4	1	58	13	12	4	5	39	25	2.553	64	Promoted
3	Birmingham	42	14	3	4	54	16	10	5	6	31	18	2.500	56
4	Blackpool	42	13	4	4	40	18	8	6	7	25	29	1.383	52
5	Bury	42	14	4	3	35	15	6	4	11	25	29	1.364	48
6	Fulham	42	11	6	4	36	18	8	3	10	25	32	1.220	47
7	West Ham United^[a]	42	14	3	4	34	14	5	6	10	13	26	1.175	47
8	Bristol City	42	9	9	3	30	18	4	8	9	16	25	1.070	43
9	South Shields^[b]	42	13	5	3	47	18	2	7	12	11	30	1.208	42
10	Stoke^[a]	42	13	3	5	37	15	5	3	13	23	39	1.111	42
11	Hull City	42	13	4	4	53	23	5	2	14	25	49	1.083	42
12	Barnsley	42	9	5	7	41	28	6	5	10	20	27	1.109	40
13	Port Vale^[c]	42	11	3	7	35	27	5	5	11	24	35	0.952	40^[d]
14	Leicester City	42	8	6	7	26	29	7	4	10	15	32	0.672	40
15	Clapton Orient	42	14	3	4	34	17	2	3	16	17	42	0.864	38
16	Stockport County	42	11	4	6	34	24	3	5	13	18	37	0.852	37
17	Rotherham County^[e]	42	10	4	7	32	27	3	4	14	19	56	0.614	34
18	Nottingham Forest	42	9	4	8	23	22	2	5	14	20	51	0.589	31
19	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	8	4	9	41	32	2	6	13	14	48	0.688	30
20	Coventry City^[a]	42	7	7	7	20	26	2	4	15	15	47	0.479	29	Re-elected
21	Lincoln City	42	8	6	7	27	30	1	3	17	17	71	0.436	27	Failed re-election^[f]
22	Grimsby Town	42	8	4	9	23	24	2	1	18	11	51	0.453	25	Relegated^[g]

Source:^{[citation needed]}
Notes:

1. New club in the league; elected from Southern League
2. New club in the league; elected from North Eastern League
3. New club in the league; elected from Central League
4. Leeds City were expelled from the league after 8 games; Port Vale, formerly Burslem Port Vale, took their place and inherited their record.
5. New club in the league; elected from Midland League
6. Lincoln City were not re-elected, but they returned to the league later, for the season 1921–22, surfacing this time in 3rd Division North, after having been absent only for one season.
7. Grimsby Town participated in the Football League Third Division during the following season.

Results

Home \ Away	BAR	BIR	BLP	BRI	BRY	CLA	COV	FUL	GRI	HUD	HUL	LEE	LEI	LIN	NOT	PTV	ROT	SSH	STP	STK	TOT	WHU	WOL
Barnsley		0–5	1–1	0–0	1–3	2–1	1–0	4–1	0–1	3–3	2–3		0–1	5–3	2–2	1–0	4–0	0–1	0–0	1–2	3–0	7–0	4–1
Birmingham	0–0		4–2	1–0	0–2	2–1	4–1	2–0	4–0	4–2	4–1		0–1	7–0	8–0	3–0	2–2	4–0	1–1	2–1	0–1	0–1	2–0
Blackpool	0–2	3–0		0–0	1–0	3–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	0–3	2–1	4–2	3–0	6–0	3–2		5–1	0–3	1–0	3–1	0–1	0–0	1–1
Bristol City	3–1	1–1	0–0		1–0	1–1	1–0	0–3	3–1	2–1	2–2		0–0	6–0	0–0	1–1	2–1	3–1	1–0	1–2	1–2	0–0	1–1
Bury	2–0	1–0	1–2	0–1		3–0	2–2	2–2	1–1	2–0	2–0		1–0	3–0	1–1	2–1	4–1	2–1	0–2	1–0	2–1	1–0	2–0
Clapton Orient	2–0	2–1	3–0	1–0	2–1		2–2	0–1	3–0	0–1	2–2		3–0	1–0	1–0	2–1	1–2	4–0	2–1	2–1	0–4	1–0	0–0
Coventry City	1–0	1–3	0–0	0–0	2–1	0–0		0–1	2–0	0–2	0–1	0–4	1–2	2–0	4–2		1–1	1–1	1–1	3–2	0–5	0–0	1–0
Fulham	1–1	1–2	1–2	1–1	1–0	2–1	0–0		2–1	2–2	1–0		5–0	3–0	1–0	4–0	3–0	1–0	4–1	0–0	1–4	1–2	1–1
Grimsby Town	1–1	0–3	1–1	2–2	1–2	2–0	0–1	0–2		1–0	2–1		1–2	2–2	1–0	2–0	0–1	3–1	0–3	2–0	2–0	0–1	0–1
Huddersfield Town	4–1	0–0	1–3	1–0	5–0	2–1	5–0	3–0	3–0		2–0		0–0	4–2	2–1	4–1	7–1	2–2	5–0	3–0	1–1	2–0	2–0
Hull City	3–1	0–0	0–1	0–0	4–2	3–1	0–1	2–0	4–1	1–4		1–1	5–1	5–2	2–0		1–0	3–0	4–1	3–0	1–3	1–1	10–3
Leeds City			1–0				3–0				1–2												1–1
Leicester City	0–0	1–0	2–3	2–1	0–5	1–1	1–0	3–2	2–0	0–4	3–2			4–0	0–0	0–1	1–1	0–0	0–2	3–1	2–4	0–0	1–2
Lincoln City	0–4	2–2	0–3	0–0	2–1	2–1	4–1	0–1	2–0	1–3	2–0		0–3		1–4	0–0	0–0	1–1	2–0	2–1	1–1	1–4	4–0
Nottingham Forest	0–1	1–2	2–0	1–2	1–0	2–1	2–1	0–3	2–0	1–2	0–2		0–0	2–1		0–1	4–1	0–0	1–1	0–2	1–1	2–1	1–0
Port Vale	0–2	1–3		3–1	2–2	4–2		3–4	2–1	0–0			1–2	1–0	4–1		4–2	1–0	2–0	0–3	0–1	1–0
Rotherham County	1–0	0–3	1–2	2–2	1–2	3–1	4–3	1–1	3–1	1–3	1–2		1–0	3–0	2–0	2–2		1–0	1–0	1–3	1–1	0–1	2–0
South Shields	0–0	1–0	6–0	0–2	0–0	2–0	1–0	2–0	2–0	1–2	7–1		2–0	2–2	5–2	2–0	6–2		3–2	2–2	0–3	3–0	0–0
Stockport County	1–0	2–1	0–0	2–3	1–1	3–1	1–1	2–1	1–2	1–2	3–1		0–2	3–0	0–0	0–4	4–1	1–0		3–1	1–2	1–0	4–1
Stoke	2–0	0–1	2–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	6–1	1–0	3–0	0–1	3–1		3–0	1–3	0–2	0–0	3–0	0–0	2–1		1–3	2–1	3–0
Tottenham Hotspur	4–0	0–0	2–2	2–0	2–1	2–1	4–1	4–0	3–1	2–0	4–0		4–0	6–1	5–2	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–0		2–0	4–2
West Ham United	0–2	1–2	1–0	2–0	1–0	0–1	2–0	0–1	1–0	1–1	2–1		1–0	1–1	5–1	3–1	2–1	1–0	3–0	1–1	2–1		4–0
Wolverhampton Wanderers	2–4	0–2	0–3	3–1	0–1	1–2	2–0	2–1	6–1	2–3	4–2	2–4	1–1	4–0	4–0		0–1	0–0	2–2	4–0	1–3	1–1

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Ian Laschke: Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79. Macdonald and Jane’s, London & Sydney, 1980.
Note: Port Vale takes over from Leeds City and then inherits the latter’s record up to that date.
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Maps

 

 

 

 

 

Clapton Orient

Fulham

Tottenham

West Ham

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Locations of the Football League Second Division London teams

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Barnsley

Birmingham

Blackpool

Bristol City

Bury

Coventry

Fulham

Grimsby Town

Clapton Orient

Huddersfield

Hull

Leeds C

Leicester City

Lincoln City

Nottingham Forest

Port Vale

Rotherham

South Shields

Stockport County

Stoke

Tottenham

West Ham

Wolverhampton Wanderers

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Locations of the Football League Second Division teams

See also

• 1919–20 in English football
• 1919 in association football
• 1920 in association football

References

1. "Norris at the Arsenal: The first suggestion that Arsenal could be elected to the 1st division. | the History of Arsenal". 21 December 2017.
2. Spurling (2004). Rebels for the Cause. p. 40.
3. Ian Laschke: Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79. Macdonald and Jane’s, London & Sydney, 1980.
4. "English League Leading Goalscorers". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 31 October 2010.

Sources

• Ian Laschke: Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79. Macdonald and Jane's, London & Sydney, 1980.