1953–54 in English football

The 1953–54 season was the 74th season of competitive football in England.

Football in England

Season	1953–54
Men's football
First Division	Wolverhampton Wanderers
Second Division	Leicester City
FA Cup	West Bromwich Albion
← 1952–53 1954–55 →

Overview

To celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Football Association, on 21 October 1953, England played a Rest of the World side picked by a FIFA Select Committee. After being 3-1 down following goals by László Kubala and Giampiero Boniperti, Alf Ramsey scored a last minute penalty to draw the game 4-4.^[1][2] On 25 November 1953, the Marvellous Magyars Hungary national football team, led by prolific forward Ferenc Puskás, shocked football by defeating England 6–3 at Wembley Stadium. On 25 May 1954, England lost to Hungary again, in Budapest, suffering their heaviest defeat, 7-1.^[1]

On the domestic scene, Wolverhampton Wanderers, managed by former player Stan Cullis, won the league title for the first time, while their local rivals West Bromwich Albion lifted the FA Cup for the fourth time. Albion had also finished second in the league behind Wolves, while defending champions Arsenal slipped to 12th this season. Liverpool, the first postwar champions of the English league, were relegated to the Second Division in bottom place. Everton were promoted to the First Division after three seasons in the Second Division and have not been relegated since.^[3] Twenty-one years after winning the Third Division South, Brentford are relegated to the Third Division South for the first time and do not return to the second tier until 1992.^[3] In addition to the success of Midlands teams in the top division, Port Vale won Third Division North by 11 points, going unbeaten at home and conceding a record low of 21 goals.^[1] They also became the first Third Division side since the war to reach the semi-final of the FA Cup, losing to West Bromwich Albion.^[1]

Sam Bartram of Charlton Athletic set a League record on 6 March 1954 becoming the first player with 500 League appearances.^[1]

Honours

Competition	Winner	Runner-up
First Division	Wolverhampton Wanderers (1)	West Bromwich Albion
Second Division	Leicester City	Everton
Third Division North	Port Vale	Barnsley
Third Division South	Ipswich Town	Brighton & Hove Albion
FA Cup	West Bromwich Albion (4)	Preston North End
Charity Shield	Arsenal	Blackpool
Home Championship	England	Scotland

Notes = Number in parentheses is the times that club has won that honour. * indicates new record for competition

FA Cup

Main article: 1953–54 FA Cup

West Bromwich Albion defeated Preston North End 3–2 in the 1954 FA Cup Final to lift the FA Cup for the fourth time.

Football League

Main article: 1953–54 Football League

First Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	25	7	10	96	56	1.714	57
2	West Bromwich Albion	42	22	9	11	86	63	1.365	53
3	Huddersfield Town	42	20	11	11	78	61	1.279	51
4	Manchester United	42	18	12	12	73	58	1.259	48
5	Bolton Wanderers	42	18	12	12	75	60	1.250	48
6	Blackpool	42	19	10	13	80	69	1.159	48
7	Burnley	42	21	4	17	78	67	1.164	46
8	Chelsea	42	16	12	14	74	68	1.088	44
9	Charlton Athletic	42	19	6	17	75	77	0.974	44
10	Cardiff City	42	18	8	16	51	71	0.718	44
11	Preston North End	42	19	5	18	87	58	1.500	43
12	Arsenal	42	15	13	14	75	73	1.027	43
13	Aston Villa	42	16	9	17	70	68	1.029	41
14	Portsmouth	42	14	11	17	81	89	0.910	39
15	Newcastle United	42	14	10	18	72	77	0.935	38
16	Tottenham Hotspur	42	16	5	21	65	76	0.855	37
17	Manchester City	42	14	9	19	62	77	0.805	37
18	Sunderland	42	14	8	20	81	89	0.910	36
19	Sheffield Wednesday	42	15	6	21	70	91	0.769	36
20	Sheffield United	42	11	11	20	69	90	0.767	33
21	Middlesbrough	42	10	10	22	60	91	0.659	30	Relegated to the Second Division
22	Liverpool	42	9	10	23	68	97	0.701	28

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Second Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Leicester City	42	23	10	9	97	60	1.617	56	Promoted to the First Division
2	Everton	42	20	16	6	92	58	1.586	56
3	Blackburn Rovers	42	23	9	10	86	50	1.720	55
4	Nottingham Forest	42	20	12	10	86	59	1.458	52
5	Rotherham United	42	21	7	14	80	67	1.194	49
6	Luton Town	42	18	12	12	64	59	1.085	48
7	Birmingham City	42	18	11	13	78	58	1.345	47
8	Fulham	42	17	10	15	98	85	1.153	44
9	Bristol Rovers	42	14	16	12	64	58	1.103	44
10	Leeds United	42	15	13	14	89	81	1.099	43
11	Stoke City	42	12	17	13	71	60	1.183	41
12	Doncaster Rovers	42	16	9	17	59	63	0.937	41
13	West Ham United	42	15	9	18	67	69	0.971	39
14	Notts County	42	13	13	16	54	74	0.730	39
15	Hull City	42	16	6	20	64	66	0.970	38
16	Lincoln City	42	14	9	19	65	83	0.783	37
17	Bury	42	11	14	17	54	72	0.750	36
18	Derby County	42	12	11	19	64	82	0.780	35
19	Plymouth Argyle	42	9	16	17	65	82	0.793	34
20	Swansea Town	42	13	8	21	58	82	0.707	34
21	Brentford	42	10	11	21	40	78	0.513	31	Relegated to the Third Division South
22	Oldham Athletic	42	8	9	25	40	89	0.449	25	Relegated to the Third Division North

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Third Division North

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Port Vale	46	26	17	3	74	21	3.524	69	Promoted to the Second Division
2	Barnsley	46	24	10	12	77	57	1.351	58
3	Scunthorpe & Lindsey United	46	21	15	10	77	56	1.375	57
4	Gateshead	46	21	13	12	74	55	1.345	55
5	Bradford City	46	22	9	15	60	55	1.091	53
6	Chesterfield	46	19	14	13	76	64	1.188	52
7	Mansfield Town	46	20	11	15	88	67	1.313	51
8	Wrexham	46	21	9	16	81	68	1.191	51
9	Bradford Park Avenue	46	18	14	14	77	68	1.132	50
10	Stockport County	46	18	11	17	77	67	1.149	47
11	Southport	46	17	12	17	63	60	1.050	46
12	Barrow	46	16	12	18	72	71	1.014	44
13	Carlisle United	46	14	15	17	83	71	1.169	43
14	Tranmere Rovers	46	18	7	21	59	70	0.843	43
15	Accrington Stanley	46	16	10	20	66	74	0.892	42
16	Crewe Alexandra	46	14	13	19	49	67	0.731	41
17	Grimsby Town	46	16	9	21	51	77	0.662	41
18	Hartlepools United	46	13	14	19	59	65	0.908	40
19	Rochdale	46	15	10	21	59	77	0.766	40
20	Workington	46	13	14	19	59	80	0.738	40
21	Darlington	46	12	14	20	50	71	0.704	38
22	York City	46	12	13	21	64	86	0.744	37
23	Halifax Town	46	12	10	24	44	73	0.603	34	Re-elected
24	Chester	46	11	10	25	48	67	0.716	32

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Third Division South

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Ipswich Town	46	27	10	9	82	51	1.608	64	Promoted to the Second Division
2	Brighton & Hove Albion	46	26	9	11	86	61	1.410	61
3	Bristol City	46	25	6	15	88	66	1.333	56
4	Watford	46	21	10	15	85	69	1.232	52
5	Northampton Town	46	20	11	15	82	55	1.491	51
6	Southampton	46	22	7	17	76	63	1.206	51
7	Norwich City	46	20	11	15	73	66	1.106	51
8	Reading	46	20	9	17	86	73	1.178	49
9	Exeter City	46	20	8	18	68	58	1.172	48
10	Gillingham	46	19	10	17	61	66	0.924	48
11	Leyton Orient	46	18	11	17	79	73	1.082	47
12	Millwall	46	19	9	18	74	77	0.961	47
13	Torquay United	46	17	12	17	81	88	0.920	46
14	Coventry City	46	18	9	19	61	56	1.089	45
15	Newport County	46	19	6	21	61	81	0.753	44
16	Southend United	46	18	7	21	69	71	0.972	43
17	Aldershot	46	17	9	20	74	86	0.860	43
18	Queens Park Rangers	46	16	10	20	60	68	0.882	42
19	Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic	46	16	8	22	67	70	0.957	40
20	Swindon Town	46	15	10	21	67	70	0.957	40
21	Shrewsbury Town	46	14	12	20	65	76	0.855	40
22	Crystal Palace	46	14	12	20	60	86	0.698	40
23	Colchester United	46	10	10	26	50	78	0.641	30	Re-elected
24	Walsall	46	9	8	29	40	87	0.460	26

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Top goalscorers

First Division

• Jimmy Glazzard (Huddersfield Town) – 29 goals^[4]

Second Division

• John Charles (Leeds United) – 42 goals^[4]

Third Division North

• Alan Ashman (Carlisle United) – 30 goals^[5]

Third Division South

• Jack English (Northampton Town) – 28 goals^[5]

References

1. Nawrat, Chris; Hutchings, Steve (1995). The Sunday Times Illustrated History of Football. Reed International Books Ltd. p. 87. ISBN 1-85613-847-X.
2. "England 4 Rest of the World 4". England Football Online. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
3. Weston, Rob (November 2019). "Season in Brief". When Saturday Comes. p. 46.
4. "English League Leading Goalscorers". RSSSF. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
5. "English League Leading Goalscorers". RSSSF. Retrieved 4 June 2017.