1898–99 Football League

Football League
Second Division
Season	1898–99
Champions	Manchester City (1st title)
Promoted	Manchester City; Glossop North End
Failed re-election	Blackpool; Darwen
Matches played	306
Goals scored	1,103 (3.6 per match)
Top goalscorer	Walter Abbott (Small Heath), 33
Biggest home win	Loughborough –Darwen 10–0 (1 Apr 1899); Walsall –Darwen 10–0 (4 Mar 1899)
Biggest away win	Lincoln City –Grimsby Town 1–6 (8 Apr 1899); Luton Town –Leicester Fosse 1–6 (14 Jan 1899)
Highest scoring	Grimsby Town –Darwen 9–2 (15 Apr 1899)
Longest winning run	7 matches; Glossop North End (25 Feb 1899 – 8 Apr 1899); New Brighton Tower (26 Nov 1898 – 7 Jan 1899)
Longest unbeaten run	13 matches; Manchester City F.C. (1 Oct 1898 – 27 Dec 1898)
Longest losing run	18 matches; Darwen (12 Nov 1898 – 21 Mar 1899)
	← 1897–98 1899–1900 →

Football League
First Division
Season	1898–99
Champions	Aston Villa; (4th English title)
Relegated	Bolton Wanderers; The Wednesday
FA Cup winners	Sheffield United (1st FA Cup title)
Matches played	306
Goals scored	868 (2.84 per match)
Top goalscorer	Steve Bloomer (Derby County), 23
Biggest home win	Derby County – The Wednesday 9–0 (21 Jan 1899)
Biggest away win	Liverpool – Aston Villa 0–3 (15 Oct 1898); Nottingham Forest – Liverpool 0–3 (26 Nov 1898); The Wednesday – Liverpool 0–3 (31 Dec 1898)
Highest scoring	Derby County – Everton 5–5 (15 Oct 1898)
Longest winning run	8 matches; Aston Villa (8 Oct 1898 – 10 Dec 1898)
Longest unbeaten run	13 matches; Aston Villa (17 Sep 1898 – 24 Dec 1898)
Longest losing run	4 matches; Everton (18 Mar 1899 – 15 Apr 1899); Sheffield United (31 Mar 1899 – 29 Apr 1899); The Wednesday (21 Jan 1899 – 25 Feb 1899); Sunderland (3 Dec 1898 – 31 Dec 1898); Wolverhampton Wanderers (12 Sep 1898 – 8 Oct 1898
Highest attendance	41,000; Aston Villa - Liverpool F.C. (29 Apr 1899)
Lowest attendance	1,000; Bury -Newcastle (22 Oct 1898); West Bromwich Albion - Nottingham Forest (24 Dec 1898); West Bromwich Albion - Blackburn Rovers (21 Jan 1899)
Average attendance	10,004
	← 1897–98 1899–1900 →

The Football League
Season	1898–99
Champions	Aston Villa
Relegated	Blackpool; Darwen
	← 1897–98 1899–1900 →

The 1898–1899 season was the eleventh season of The Football League. The race for the First Division title was one of the most exciting yet. Second-placed Liverpool travelled to Villa Park to face league leaders Aston Villa, needing a win to overhaul Villa and take the title on the last day of the season. Villa won 5-0 to take the title in emphatic style.

Final league tables

The tables below are reproduced here in the exact form that they can be found at 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.

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

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GA	GD	Pts
1	Aston Villa	34	15	2	0	58	13	4	5	8	18	27	76	40	1.900	+36	45
2	Liverpool	34	12	3	2	29	10	7	2	8	20	23	49	33	1.485	+16	43
3	Burnley	34	11	5	1	32	15	4	4	9	13	32	45	47	0.957	–2	39
4	Everton	34	10	2	5	25	13	5	6	6	23	28	48	41	1.171	+7	38
5	Notts County	34	9	6	2	33	20	3	7	7	14	31	47	51	0.922	–4	37
6	Blackburn Rovers	34	9	5	3	41	23	5	3	9	19	29	60	52	1.154	+8	36
7	Sunderland	34	11	3	3	26	10	4	3	10	15	31	41	41	1.000	±0	36
8	Wolverhampton Wanderers	34	9	5	3	30	13	5	2	10	24	35	54	48	1.125	+6	35
9	Derby County	34	11	5	1	46	19	1	6	10	16	38	62	57	1.088	+5	35
10	Bury	34	9	5	3	31	18	5	2	10	17	31	48	49	0.980	–1	35
11	Nottingham Forest	34	6	6	5	22	18	5	5	7	20	24	42	42	1.000	±0	33
12	Stoke	34	10	4	3	29	17	3	3	11	18	35	47	52	0.904	–5	33
13	Newcastle United	34	9	3	5	33	18	2	5	10	16	30	49	48	1.021	+1	30
14	West Bromwich Albion	34	11	1	5	28	9	1	5	11	14	48	42	57	0.737	–15	30
15	Preston North End	34	10	4	3	29	14	0	5	12	15	33	44	47	0.936	–3	29
16	Sheffield United	34	7	8	2	31	20	2	3	12	14	31	45	51	0.882	–6	29
17	Bolton Wanderers	34	6	5	6	24	21	3	2	12	13	30	37	51	0.725	–14	25
18	The Wednesday	34	8	2	7	26	24	0	6	11	6	37	32	61	0.525	–29	24

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

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GA	GD	Pts
1	Manchester City	34	15	1	1	64	10	8	5	4	28	25	92	35	2.629	+47	52
2	Glossop North End	34	12	1	4	48	13	8	5	4	28	25	76	38	2.000	+38	46
3	Leicester Fosse	34	12	5	0	35	12	6	4	7	29	30	64	42	1.524	+22	45
4	Newton Heath	34	12	4	1	51	14	7	1	9	16	29	67	43	1.558	+24	43
5	New Brighton Tower	34	13	2	2	48	13	5	5	7	23	39	71	52	1.365	+9	43
6	Walsall	34	12	5	0	64	11	3	7	7	15	25	79	36	2.194	+43	42
7	Woolwich Arsenal	34	14	2	1	55	10	4	3	10	17	31	72	41	1.756	+31	41
8	Small Heath	34	14	1	2	66	17	3	6	8	19	33	85	50	1.700	+35	41
9	Burslem Port Vale	34	12	2	3	35	12	5	3	9	21	22	56	34	1.647	+22	39
10	Grimsby Town	34	10	3	4	39	17	5	2	10	32	43	71	60	1.183	+11	35
11	Barnsley	34	11	4	2	44	18	1	3	13	8	38	52	56	0.929	–4	31
12	Lincoln City	34	10	5	2	31	16	2	2	13	20	40	51	56	0.911	–5	31
13	Burton Swifts	34	7	5	5	35	25	3	3	11	16	45	51	70	0.729	–19	28
14	Gainsborough Trinity	34	8	4	5	40	22	2	1	14	16	50	56	72	0.778	–16	25
15	Luton Town	34	8	1	8	37	31	2	2	13	14	64	51	95	0.537	–44	23
16	Blackpool	34	6	3	8	35	30	2	1	14	14	60	49	90	0.544	–31	20
17	Loughborough	34	5	4	8	31	26	1	2	14	7	66	38	92	0.413	–54	18
18	Darwen	34	2	4	11	16	32	0	1	16	6	109	22	141	0.156	–119	9

v t e 1898–99 in European football
« 1897–98 1899–1900 »
Domestic leagues	Belgium Denmark England Ireland Italy Netherlands Scotland Switzerland
Domestic cups	England Ireland Netherlands Scotland Wales

Final league tables

First Division

Results

Maps

Second Division

Results

Maps

See also

References