The 1890–1891 Football Alliance was the second season of the Football Alliance, an association football league which was set up in England as a rival to The Football League, which had begun in the 1888-89 season.
Stoke joined the Alliance in this season after dropping out of the Football League at the end of the previous season and were crowned champions after the penultimate round of fixtures on 4 April. Last season's champions The Wednesday finished bottom after losing thirteen games in a dreadful season. Even a 4–2 win (3–0 at half time) at home to runners up Sunderland Albion on the last day of the season failed to lift Wednesday off the foot of the table.[1]
At the end of the season Stoke were elected back to the Football League along with 6th placed Darwen, whilst Sunderland Albion left in order to join the Northern League.[1]
Contents |
| Season | 1890–91 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Stoke |
| Matches played | 132 |
| Goals scored | 630 (4.77 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | ? |
| Biggest home win | ? |
| Biggest away win | ? |
| Highest scoring | ? |
| Longest winning run | ? |
| Longest unbeaten run | ? |
| Longest losing run | ? |
| Highest attendance | ? |
| Lowest attendance | ? |
| Average attendance | ? |
|
← 1889–90
1891–92 →
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| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stoke[2] | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 57 | 39 | + 18 | 33 | ||
| 2 | Sunderland Albion[3] | 22 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 69 | 28 | + 41 | 30 | ||
| 3 | Grimsby Town | 22 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 43 | 27 | + 16 | 27 | ||
| 4 | Birmingham St George's | 22 | 12 | 2 | 8 | 64 | 62 | + 2 | 26 | ||
| 5 | Nottingham Forest | 22 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 66 | 39 | + 27 | 25 | ||
| 6 | Darwen[2] | 22 | 10 | 3 | 9 | 64 | 59 | + 5 | 23 | ||
| 7 | Walsall Town Swifts | 22 | 9 | 3 | 10 | 34 | 61 | – 17 | 21 | ||
| 8 | Crewe Alexandra | 22 | 8 | 4 | 10 | 59 | 67 | – 8 | 20 | ||
| 9 | Newton Heath | 22 | 7 | 3 | 12 | 37 | 55 | – 18 | 17 | ||
| 10 | Small Heath | 22 | 7 | 2 | 13 | 58 | 66 | – 8 | 16 | ||
| 11 | Bootle | 22 | 3 | 7 | 12 | 40 | 61 | – 21 | 13 | ||
| 12 | The Wednesday | 22 | 4 | 5 | 13 | 39 | 66 | – 27 | 13 |
Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against;
GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points[1]
| Key | |
|---|---|
| Football Alliance Champions, elected to Football League | |
| Elected to Football League (see Stoke and Darwen) | |
| New club in the Alliance (see Stoke) | |
| Disbanded (none) or left the league |
The results shown here are those of only The Wednesday,[1] Newton Heath,[4] Small Heath,[5] and Stoke City.
These results have been checked against the table, and no discrepancies were found. More results might be added as they emerge.
| Home \ Away1 | BSG | BOO | CRE | DRW | GRI | NWH | NOT | SMH | STO | SUA | WAL | WED |
| Birmingham St George's | 6–1 | 5–4 | 5–2 | 5–3 | ||||||||
| Bootle | 5–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 5–0 | ||||||||
| Crewe Alexandra | 0–1 | 6–2 | 2–4 | 2–0 | ||||||||
| Darwen | 2–1 | 5–3 | 3–3 | 7–1 | ||||||||
| Grimsby Town | 3–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | ||||||||
| Newton Heath | 1–3 | 2–1 | 6–3 | 4–2 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 1–5 | 3–3 | 1–1 | |
| Nottingham Forest | 8–2 | 4–5 | 2–2 | 0–0 | ||||||||
| Small Heath | 1–4 | 7–1 | 4–3 | 3–4 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 4–2 | 5–1 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 7–1 | |
| Stoke | 6–3 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 6–2 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 4–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 5–1 | |
| Sunderland Albion | 2–1 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 | ||||||||
| Walsall Town Swifts | 2–1 | 5–2 | 1–3 | 2–1 | ||||||||
| The Wednesday | 4–0 | 1–1 | 4–6 | 7–3 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 3–3 | 2–4 | 4–2 | 2–2 |
Source: [1]
1The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
The number of clubs in the Football League was to be increased by two for the 1891–92 season. In addition to the four League sides seeking re-election, six non-league clubs (five of them from the Football Alliance) also sought League membership. The voting went as follows:[6]
| Team | Votes | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Accrington | 8 | Re-elected to the League |
| Aston Villa | 8 | Re-elected to the League |
| Darwen | 7 | Elected to the League |
| Stoke | 7 | Elected to the League |
| Derby County | 6 | Re-elected to the League |
| West Bromwich Albion | 6 | Re-elected to the League |
| Ardwick | 4 | Not elected to the League |
| Nottingham Forest | 1 | Not elected to the League |
| Sunderland Albion | 1 | Not elected to the League |
| Newton Heath | 0 | Not elected to the League |
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