1919–20 Football League

The Football League

Season	1919–20
Champions	West Bromwich Albion
Relegated	Lincoln City
← 1914–15 1920–21 →

The 1919–1920 season was the 28th season of The Football League.

In 1919, the First Division was extended from 20 to 22 clubs. During previous expansions, the relegated clubs from the previous season were re-elected, while the top Second Division sides were promoted as usual.

Therefore Derby and Preston, the two top Second Division sides in 1915 (there had been a break for the war) did move on up. Chelsea, who had finished 19th that season, were, as expected, re-elected.

But the reason for Chelsea's escape were somewhat arbitrary. In 1915, Manchester United had, to avoid relegation, fixed their last game against Liverpool. They won 2–0 and sent Chelsea into the relegation places instead, but Liverpool chairman John McKenna must have felt some guilt, because at the League's AGM in 1919 he gave a speech insisting on the continued presence in the top flight of the Stamford Bridge club.

For some reason however, he also suggested that lowly Arsenal, who had finished fifth in the Second, should be rewarded for their long service to the League. They should replace the team which came 20th in 1915, he argued. Arsenal has never been relegated from the top flight of the English game ever since. The relegated club were Tottenham Hotspur.

In 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.^[1]

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

The tables and results below are reproduced here in the exact form that they can be found at The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation website^[2] and in Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79,^[1] with home and away statistics separated.

Beginning with the season 1894–95, clubs finishing level on points were separated according to goal average (goals scored divided by goals conceded), or more properly put, goal ratio. 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.

Since the goal average was used for this purpose for such a long time, it is presented in the tables below even for the seasons prior to 1894–95, and since the goal difference is a more informative piece of information for a modern reader than the goal average, the goal difference is added in this presentation after the goal average.

During the first five seasons of the league, that is, until the season 1893–94, 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

Football League
First Division

Season	1919–20
Champions	West Bromwich Albion (1st English title)
Relegated	Notts County, The Wednesday
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1332 (2.88 per match)
Top goalscorer	Fred Morris (West Bromwich Albion), 37 [3]
Biggest home win	West Brom – Notts County 8–0 (25 Oct 1919)
Biggest away win	Burnley – Bradford Park Avenue 2–6 (22 Nov 1919) Preston North End –Bradford City 1–5 (1 Sep 1919) Bradford Park Avenue – West Brom 0–4 (3 Apr 1920) Derby County – West Brom 0–4 (20 Dec 1919)
Highest scoring	Manchester City –Blackburn 8–2 (8 Nov 1919)
← 1914–15 1920–21 →

Pos	Team	Pld		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		F	A	GA	GD		Pts
1	West Bromwich Albion	42		17	1	3	65	21		11	3	7	39	26		104	47	2.213	+57		60
2	Burnley	42		13	5	3	43	27		8	4	9	22	32		65	59	1.102	+16		51
3	Chelsea	42		15	3	3	33	10		7	2	12	23	41		56	51	1.098	+5		49
4	Liverpool	42		12	5	4	35	18		7	5	9	24	26		59	44	1.341	+15		48
5	Sunderland	42		17	2	2	45	16		5	2	14	27	43		72	59	1.220	+13		48
6	Bolton Wanderers	42		11	3	7	35	29		8	6	7	37	36		72	65	1.108	+7		47
7	Manchester City	42		14	5	2	52	27		4	4	13	19	35		71	62	1.145	+9		45
8	Newcastle United	42		11	5	5	31	13		6	4	11	13	26		44	39	1.128	+5		43
9	Aston Villa	42		11	3	7	49	36		7	3	11	26	37		75	73	1.027	+2		42
10	Arsenal	42		11	5	5	32	21		4	7	10	24	37		56	58	0.966	–2		42
11	Bradford Park Avenue	42		8	6	7	31	26		7	6	8	29	37		60	63	0.952	–3		42
12	Manchester United	42		6	8	7	20	17		7	6	8	34	33		54	50	1.080	+4		40
13	Middlesbrough	42		10	5	6	35	23		5	5	11	26	42		61	65	0.938	–4		40
14	Sheffield United	42		14	5	2	43	20		2	3	16	16	49		59	69	0.855	–10		40
15	Bradford City	42		10	6	5	36	25		4	5	12	18	38		54	63	0.857	–9		39
16	Everton	42		8	6	7	42	29		4	8	9	27	39		69	68	1.015	+1		38
17	Oldham Athletic	42		12	4	5	33	19		3	4	14	16	33		49	52	0.942	–3		38
18	Derby County	42		12	5	4	36	18		1	7	13	11	39		47	57	0.825	–10		38
19	Preston North End	42		9	6	6	35	27		5	4	12	22	46		57	73	0.781	–16		38
20	Blackburn Rovers	42		11	4	6	48	30		2	7	12	16	47		64	77	0.831	–13		37
21	Notts County	42		9	8	4	39	25		3	4	14	17	49		56	74	0.757	–18		36
22	The Wednesday	42		6	4	11	14	23		1	5	15	14	41		28	64	0.438	–36		23

Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against;
GA = Goal average; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

Key
	League Champions
	FA Cup Winners
	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

Source:
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Maps

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

Locations of the Football League First Division teams

Arsenal

Chelsea

Locations of the Football League First Division London 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	1285 (2.78 per match)
Top goalscorer	Sammy Taylor (Huddersfield Town), 35 [3]
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 – Wolverhampton 10–3 (27 Dec 1919)
← 1914–15 1920–21 →

Pos	Team	Pld		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		F	A	GA	GD		Pts
1	Tottenham Hotspur	42		19	2	0	60	11		13	4	4	42	21		102	32	3.188	+70		70
2	Huddersfield Town	42		16	4	1	58	13		12	4	5	39	25		97	38	2.553	+59		64
3	Birmingham	42		14	3	4	54	16		10	5	6	31	18		85	34	2.500	+51		56
4	Blackpool	42		13	4	4	40	18		8	6	7	25	29		65	47	1.383	+18		52
5	Bury	42		14	4	3	35	15		6	4	11	25	29		60	44	1.364	+16		48
6	Fulham	42		11	6	4	36	18		8	3	10	25	32		61	50	1.220	+11		47
7	West Ham United	42		14	3	4	34	14		5	6	10	13	26		47	40	1.175	+7		47
8	Bristol City	42		9	9	3	30	18		4	8	9	16	25		46	43	1.070	+3		43
9	South Shields	42		13	5	3	47	18		2	7	12	11	30		58	48	1.208	+10		42
10	Stoke	42		13	3	5	37	15		5	3	13	23	39		60	54	1.111	+6		42
11	Hull City	42		13	4	4	53	23		5	2	14	25	49		78	72	1.083	+6		42
12	Barnsley	42		9	5	7	41	28		6	5	10	20	27		61	55	1.109	+6		40
13	Port Vale[4]	42		11	3	7	35	27		5	5	11	24	35		59	62	0.952	–3		40
14	Leicester City	42		8	6	7	26	29		7	4	10	15	32		41	61	0.672	–20		40
15	Clapton Orient	42		14	3	4	34	17		2	3	16	17	42		51	59	0.864	–8		38
16	Stockport County	42		11	4	6	34	24		3	5	13	18	37		52	61	0.852	–9		37
17	Rotherham County	42		10	4	7	32	27		3	4	14	19	56		51	83	0.614	–32		34
18	Nottingham Forest	42		9	4	8	23	22		2	5	14	20	51		43	73	0.589	–30		31
19	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42		8	4	9	41	32		2	6	13	14	48		55	80	0.688	–25		30
20	Coventry City	42		7	7	7	20	26		2	4	15	15	47		35	73	0.479	–38		29
21	Lincoln City[5]	42		8	6	7	27	30		1	3	17	17	71		44	101	0.436	–57		27
22	Grimsby Town[6]	42		8	4	9	23	24		2	1	18	11	51		34	75	0.453	–41		25

1. Ian Laschke: Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79. Macdonald and Jane’s, London & Sydney, 1980.
2. "England 1919-20". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Archived from the original on 5 February 2010. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
3. "English League Leading Goalscorers". RSSSF. Retrieved 2010-10-31.
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. 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.
6. Grimsby Town participated in the Football League Third Division during the following season.

Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against;
GA = Goal average; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

Key
	Division Champions, promoted
	Promoted
	New club in the league (see also Coventry City)
	Re-elected
	Relegated
	Failed re-election

Results

Note: Port Vale takes over from Leeds City and then inherits the latter’s record up to that date.

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 City

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

Source: Ian Laschke: Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79. Macdonald and Jane’s, London & Sydney, 1980.
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Maps

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

Locations of the Football League Second Division teams

Clapton Orient

Fulham

Tottenham

West Ham

Locations of the Football League Second Division London teams

See also

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

References

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