1896–97 Football League

The 1896–1897 season was the ninth season of The Football League.

Contents

Final league tables

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

Note: 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.[2]

First Division

First Division
Season 1896–97
Champions Aston Villa
(3rd English title)
Relegated Burnley
FA Cup winners Aston Villa (3rd FA Cup title)
Matches played 240
Goals scored 751 (3.13 per match)
Top goalscorer Steve Bloomer (Derby County), 24
Biggest home win Derby County – West Brom 8–1 (25 Dec 1896)
Sheffield United – Blackburn 7–0 (9 Jan 1897)
Biggest away win Blackburn – Aston Villa 1–5 (28 Nov 1896)
Highest scoring Derby County – West Brom 8–1 (25 Dec 1896)
Derby County – Bury 7–2 (26 Sept 1896)
Everton – West Brom 6–3 (17 Apr 1897)
Longest winning run ?
Longest unbeaten run ?
Longest losing run ?
Highest attendance ?
Lowest attendance ?
Average attendance ?
The Wednesday (Sheffield)
Locations of the Football League First Division 1896–97 teams
Pos Team Pld W D L F A W D L F A F A GA GD Pts
1 Aston Villa 30 10 3 2 36 16 11 2 2 37 22 73 38 1.921 + 45 47
2 Sheffield United 30 6 4 5 22 16 7 6 2 20 13 42 29 1.448 + 13 36
3 Derby County 30 10 2 3 45 22 6 2 7 25 28 70 50 1.400 + 20 36
4 Preston North End 30 8 4 3 35 21 3 8 4 20 19 55 40 1.375 + 15 34
5 Liverpool 30 7 6 2 25 10 5 3 7 21 28 46 38 1.211 + 14 33
6 The Wednesday 30 9 4 2 29 11 1 7 7 13 26 42 37 1.135 + 5 31
7 Everton 30 8 1 6 42 29 6 2 7 20 28 62 57 1.088 + 5 31
8 Bolton Wanderers 30 7 3 5 22 18 5 3 7 18 25 40 43 0.930 – 3 30
9 Bury 30 7 5 3 25 15 3 5 7 14 29 39 44 0.886 – 5 30
10 Wolverhampton Wanderers 30 6 4 5 26 14 5 2 8 19 27 45 41 1.098 + 4 28
11 Nottingham Forest 30 8 3 4 30 16 1 5 9 14 33 44 49 0.898 – 5 26
12 West Bromwich Albion 30 7 2 6 18 16 3 4 8 15 40 33 56 0.589 – 23 26
13 Stoke 30 8 3 4 30 18 3 0 12 18 41 48 59 0.814 – 11 25
14 Blackburn Rovers 30 8 1 6 27 25 3 2 10 8 37 35 62 0.565 – 27 25
15 Sunderland 30 4 6 5 21 21 3 3 9 13 26 34 47 0.723 – 13 23
16 Burnley[3] 30 4 5 6 25 25 2 2 11 18 36 43 61 0.705 – 18 19

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, see Aston Villa
Into test matches

First Division Results

Home \ Away1 AST BLB BOL BUR BRY DER EVE LIV NOT PRE SHE STO SUN WED WBA WOL
Aston Villa 3–0 6–2 0–3 1–1 2–1 1–2 0–0 3–2 3–1 2–2 2–1 2–1 4–0 2–0 5–0
Blackburn Rovers 1–5 1–0 3–2 1–2 5–2 4–2 1–0 0–0 0–4 1–3 2–1 1–2 4–0 1–2 2–0
Bolton Wanderers 1–2 0–0 2–1 2–0 1–3 2–0 1–4 0–0 3–1 0–2 4–0 1–0 2–1 2–2 1–2
Burnley 3–4 0–1 0–2 1–0 2–3 2–1 4–1 2–2 2–2 1–1 1–3 1–1 1–1 5–0 0–3
Bury 0–2 3–0 2–2 1–1 1–0 3–1 1–2 2–0 0–0 0–1 4–2 1–1 1–1 3–0 3–2
Derby County 1–3 6–0 1–0 3–2 7–2 0–1 3–2 1–1 2–2 1–3 5–1 1–0 2–1 8–1 4–3
Everton 2–3 0–3 2–3 6–0 1–2 5–2 2–1 3–1 3–4 1–2 4–2 5–2 2–1 6–3 0–0
Liverpool 3–3 4–0 0–2 1–2 3–1 2–0 0–0 3–0 0–0 0–0 1–0 3–0 2–2 0–0 3–0
Nottingham Forest 2–4 2–1 2–0 4–1 3–0 1–2 3–0 2–0 0–0 2–2 4–0 2–1 2–2 0–1 1–2
Preston North End 0–1 3–1 2–3 5–3 2–2 0–2 4–1 1–1 3–2 1–0 3–0 5–3 2–2 0–0 4–0
Sheffield United 0–0 7–0 1–0 1–0 2–2 2–2 1–2 1–1 0–3 0–2 1–0 3–0 2–0 0–1 1–3
Stoke City 0–2 1–0 2–3 3–2 3–0 2–2 2–3 6–1 3–0 2–1 2–0 0–1 0–0 2–2 2–1
Sunderland 4–2 0–1 1–1 1–1 0–1 1–2 1–1 4–3 2–2 1–1 0–1 4–1 0–0 2–1 0–3
The Wednesday 1–3 6–0 0–0 1–0 2–0 2–0 4–1 1–2 3–0 1–0 1–1 4–3 0–0 3–1 0–0
West Bromwich Albion 3–1 1–0 1–0 3–0 0–0 1–4 1–4 0–1 4–0 1–1 0–1 1–2 1–0 0–2 1–0
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1–2 1–1 4–0 2–0 1–1 1–0 0–1 1–2 4–1 1–1 1–1 1–2 0–1 2–0 6–1

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

Test Matches 1897

The test matches were a kind of play-offs, in which the bottom 1st Division teams faced the top 2nd Division teams. The 1st Division teams, if coming out as winners, would retain their places in the division. If a 2nd Division team won, it would be considered for 1st Division membership through an election process. Losing 2nd Division teams would stay in the 2nd Division.

First round

Team 1   Agg.   Team 2   1st leg     2nd leg  
(2nd Div. Champions) Notts County 1–0 Sunderland (1st Div. 16th) 1–0
Sat 17 Apr		 0–0
Mon 19 Apr
(1st Div. 16th) Burnley 2–2 Newton Heath (2nd Div. 2nd) 2–0
Mon 19 Apr		 0–2
Wed 21 Apr

Final

Team 1   Agg.   Team 2   1st leg     2nd leg  
(1st Div. 16th) Burnley 1–2 Notts County (2nd Div. Champions) 0–1
Sat 24 Apr		 1–1
Mon 26 Apr

Third Place

Team 1   Agg.   Team 2   1st leg     2nd leg  
(2nd Div. 2nd) Newton Heath 1–3 Sunderland (1st Div. 15th) 1–1
Sat 24 Apr		 0–2
Mon 26 Apr

Test Match Summary

Reference works, such Encyclopedia of British Football[4] and Association Football[5], present the following table with the heading given above.

Pos Team Pld W D L F A GD Pts
1 Notts County 4 2 2 0 3 1 + 2 6
2 Sunderland 4 1 2 1 3 2 + 1 4
3 Burnley 4 1 1 2 3 4 – 1 3
4 Newton Heath 4 1 1 2 3 5 – 2 3
Key
Elected to play in First Division
Invited to play in Second Division

Test Match Consequences

It is likely that the league decided on re-election to the First Division and on promotion and relegation on the basis of the summary table above. It is not clear why all the four teams did not play each other, since it would only have required two more matches for each of them.

Second Division

Second Division
Season 1896–97
Champions Notts County (1st title)
Promoted Notts County
Failed re-election Burton Wanderers
Matches played 240
Goals scored 907 (3.78 per match)
Top goalscorer Tom Boucher (Notts County), 22
J. Murphy (Notts County), 22 [6]
Biggest home win Darwen – Walsall 12–0 (26 Dec 1896)
Biggest away win Walsall – Small Heath 1–6 (24 Oct 1896)
Highest scoring Darwen – Walsall 12–0 (26 Dec 1896)
Longest winning run ?
Longest unbeaten run ?
Longest losing run ?
Highest attendance ?
Lowest attendance ?
Average attendance ?
Newton Heath (Manchester)
Small Heath (Birmingham)
Locations of the Football League Second Division 1896–97 teams
Pos Team Pld W D L F A W D L F A F A GA GD Pts
1 Notts County[7] 30 12 1 2 60 18 7 3 5 32 25 92 43 2.140 + 49 42
2 Newton Heath 30 11 4 0 37 10 6 1 8 19 24 56 34 1.647 + 22 39
3 Grimsby Town 30 12 2 1 44 15 5 2 8 22 30 66 45 1.467 + 21 38
4 Small Heath 30 8 3 4 36 23 8 2 5 33 24 69 47 1.468 + 22 37
5 Newcastle United 30 13 1 1 42 13 4 0 11 14 39 56 52 1.077 + 4 35
6 Manchester City 30 10 3 2 39 15 2 5 8 19 35 58 50 1.160 + 8 32
7 Gainsborough Trinity 30 10 2 3 35 16 2 5 8 15 31 50 47 1.064 + 3 31
8 Blackpool 30 11 3 1 39 16 2 2 11 20 40 59 56 1.054 + 3 31
9 Leicester Fosse 30 11 2 2 44 19 2 2 11 15 37 59 56 1.054 + 3 30
10 Woolwich Arsenal 30 10 1 4 42 20 3 3 9 26 50 68 70 0.971 – 2 30
11 Darwen 30 13 0 2 54 16 1 0 14 13 45 67 61 1.098 + 6 28
12 Walsall 30 8 2 5 37 25 3 2 10 16 44 53 69 0.768 – 16 26
13 Loughborough 30 10 0 5 37 14 2 1 12 13 50 50 64 0.781 – 14 25
14 Burton Swifts 30 7 4 4 33 20 2 2 11 13 41 46 61 0.754 – 15 24
15 Burton Wanderers 30 8 1 6 22 22 1 1 13 9 45 31 67 0.463 – 36 20
16 Lincoln City 30 4 2 9 17 27 1 0 14 10 58 27 85 0.318 – 58 12

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, into test matches
Into test matches
New club in the league
Re-elected
Failed re-election or resigned

Second Division Results

Home \ Away1 BLP BRS BRW DRW GAI GRI LEI LIN LOU MNC NEW NWH NTC SMH WAL WOO
Blackpool 3–0 5–0 1–0 1–1 1–0 3–0 3–1 4–1 2–2 4–1 4–2 3–2 1–3 3–2 1–1
Burton Swifts 2–0 1–1 2–0 4–0 0–0 2–1 4–0 3–1 5–0 3–0 3–5 1–4 1–1 1–3 1–2
Burton Wanderers 3–1 1–0 1–0 3–2 5–1 2–1 2–0 0–1 1–1 0–1 1–2 0–3 2–6 1–0 0–3
Darwen 2–3 5–1 3–0 3–2 3–1 4–1 4–1 5–1 3–1 2–1 0–2 2–1 2–0 12–0 4–1
Gainsborough Trinity 2–0 4–1 2–1 2–4 1–1 0–2 7–0 2–0 1–1 2–0 2–0 3–2 1–3 2–0 4–1
Grimsby Town 2–2 3–0 3–0 4–2 1–1 4–1 3–1 8–1 3–1 3–2 2–0 3–1 2–1 0–1 3–1
Leicester Fosse 2–1 3–0 2–1 4–1 0–0 4–2 4–1 4–2 3–3 5–0 1–0 2–3 0–1 4–1 6–3
Lincoln City 3–1 1–1 2–3 1–0 0–2 0–3 2–1 0–2 0–1 1–2 1–3 1–1 1–3 2–1 2–3
Loughborough 4–1 0–2 6–0 4–2 1–0 1–4 0–2 3–0 2–0 3–0 2–0 0–1 2–0 1–2 8–0
Manchester City 4–2 3–1 2–1 4–1 4–1 3–1 4–0 3–0 1–1 1–2 0–0 1–4 3–0 5–0 1–1
Newcastle United 4–1 2–1 3–0 5–1 1–2 3–0 3–1 2–1 4–1 3–0 2–0 2–2 4–3 2–0 2–0
Newton Heath 2–0 1–1 3–0 3–1 2–0 4–2 2–1 3–1 6–0 2–1 4–0 1–1 1–1 2–0 1–1
Notts County 3–1 6–1 5–0 4–0 2–0 1–3 6–0 8–0 3–1 3–3 3–1 3–0 1–2 5–2 7–4
Small Heath 1–3 1–2 3–2 5–1 2–2 0–1 2–2 1–2 3–0 3–1 3–1 1–0 3–1 3–3 5–2
Walsall 2–2 5–2 2–0 4–0 1–1 0–1 1–1 5–0 5–1 3–2 0–2 2–3 1–3 1–6 5–3
Woolwich Arsenal 4–2 3–0 3–0 1–0 6–1 4–2 2–1 6–2 2–0 1–2 5–1 0–2 2–3 2–3 1–1

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

See also

References

  1. ^ "England 1896–97". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. http://www.rsssf.com/engpaul/FLA/1896-97.html. Retrieved 2010-02-24. 
  2. ^ a b Ian Laschke: Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79. Macdonald and Jane’s, London & Sydney, 1980.
  3. ^ Not re-elected due to test match results. Invited to join Second Division.
  4. ^ Soar, Phil & Tyler, Martin: Encyclopedia of British Football, Willow Books, London. Fourth, updated and revised edition, 1984, p. 168.
  5. ^ A. H. Fabian & Green, Geoffrey: Association Football, Volume Two, p. 236. The Caxton Publishing Company Ltd., London, 1960.
  6. ^ "English League Leading Goalscorers". RSSSF. http://www.rsssf.com/tablese/engtops.html#1947-1. Retrieved 2010-09-22. 
  7. ^ Elected to First Division on the basis of test match results.

External links

1888–89 · 1889–90 · 1890–91 · 1891–92 · 1892–93 · 1893–94 · 1894–95 · 1895–96 · 1896–97 · 1897–98 · 1898–99 · 1899–1900 · 1900–01 · 1901–02 · 1902–03 · 1903–04 · 1904–05 · 1905–06 · 1906–07 · 1907–08 · 1908–09 · 1909–10 · 1910–11 · 1911–12 · 1912–13 · 1913–14 · 1914–15 · 1915–16 · 1916–17 · 1917–18 · 1918–19 · 1919–20 · 1920–21 · 1921–22 · 1922–23 · 1923–24 · 1924–25 · 1925–26 · 1926–27 · 1927–28 · 1928–29 · 1929–30 · 1930–31 · 1931–32 · 1932–33 · 1933–34 · 1934–35 · 1935–36 · 1936–37 · 1937–38 · 1938–39 · 1939–40 · 1940–41 · 1941–42 · 1942–43 · 1943–44 · 1944–45 · 1945–46 · 1946–47 · 1947–48 · 1948–49 · 1949–50 · 1950–51 · 1951–52 · 1952–53 · 1953–54 · 1954–55 · 1955–56 · 1956–57 · 1957–58 · 1958–59 · 1959–60 · 1960–61 · 1961–62 · 1962–63 · 1963–64 · 1964–65 · 1965–66 · 1966–67 · 1967–68 · 1968–69 · 1969–70 · 1970–71 · 1971–72 · 1972–73 · 1973–74 · 1974–75 · 1975–76 · 1976–77 · 1977–78 · 1978–79 · 1979–80 · 1980–81 · 1981–82 · 1982–83 · 1983–84 · 1984–85 · 1985–86 · 1986–87 · 1987–88 · 1988–89 · 1989–90 · 1990–91 · 1991–92
 « 1895–96
1897–98 » 
FA competitions
FA Cup (Qualifying Rounds, Final)
Football and Southern Leagues
Football League (First Division • Second Division) • Southern League
Lower leagues
Related to national team
Club seasons
First Division
Aston Villa · Blackburn Rovers · Bolton Wanderers · Burnley · Bury · Derby County · Everton · Liverpool · Nottingham Forest · Preston North End · Sheffield United · Stoke · Sunderland · The Wednesday · West Bromwich Albion · Wolverhampton Wanderers
Second Division
Blackpool · Burton Swifts · Burton Wanderers · Darwen · Gainsborough Trinity · Grimsby Town · Leicester Fosse · Lincoln City · Loughborough · Manchester City · Newcastle United · Newton Heath · Notts County · Small Heath · Walsall · Woolwich Arsenal
Southern League
Chatham Town · Gravesend United · Millwall Athletic · New Brompton · Northfleet · Reading · Royal Ordnance · Sheppey United · Southampton St Mary's · Swindon Town · Tottenham Hotspur · Wolverton L & NWR
Others
1896–97 in European football
Domestic leagues
Domestic cups
England · Republic of Ireland · Scotland · Sweden '96 '97 · Wales