1920–21 Football League

Football League, Second Division
Season	1920–21
Champions	Birmingham (2nd title)
Relegated	Stockport County
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,061 (2.3 per match)
Top goalscorer	Sydney (Syd) Puddefoot (West Ham), 29
Biggest home win	West Ham – Coventry 7–0 (1 Jan 1921)
Biggest away win	Rotherham – Bury 0–5 (11 Dec 1921)
Highest scoring	Rotherham – South Shields 5–4 (2 Oct 1920)
	← 1919–20 1921–22 →

Football League, First Division
Season	1920–21
Champions	Burnley (1st English title)
Relegated	Derby County,; Bradford Park Avenue
FA Cup winners	Tottenham Hotspur (2nd FA Cup title)
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,276 (2.76 per match)
Top goalscorer	Joe Smith (Bolton Wanderers), 38
Biggest home win	Burnley – Aston Villa 7–1 (5 Feb 1921); Burnley – Oldham 7–1 (27 Nov 1920); Burnley – Sheffield United 6–0 (25 Dec 1920); Liverpool – Preston North End 6–0 (25 Sept 1920)
Biggest away win	Arsenal – Sheffield United 2–6 (26 Mar 1921); Aston Villa – Sunderland 1–5 (12 Feb 1921); Chelsea – Tottenham 0–4 (16 Oct 1920); Huddersfield Town – Arsenal 0–4 (20 Nov 1920)
Highest scoring	Newcastle – Manchester United 6–3 (1 Jan 1921)
	← 1919–20 1921–22 →

The Football League
Season	1920–21
Champions	Burnley
	← 1919–20 1921–22 →

The 1920–1921 season was the 29th season of The Football League.

The Football League Third Division is introduced, in effect the Third Division South of the following season, when Third Division North is introduced. This expands the League's operational radius all the way to the south coast of England.

Cardiff City are the first Welsh club to enter the League, and since they are the strongest club in Wales in the era, they are invited directly into the Second Division. Grimsby Town takes its place in the new Third Division, thereby being the first club relegated to the League's third tier. Leeds United is also elected into the Second Division to replace Leeds City after its debacle. Lincoln City is not re-elected to the Second Division and thus Port Vale's Second Division place is formalized as well.

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^[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	Burnley	42	17	3	1	56	16	6	10	5	23	20	79	36	2.194	+43	59
2	Manchester City	42	19	2	0	50	13	5	4	12	20	37	70	50	1.400	+20	54
3	Bolton Wanderers	42	15	6	0	53	17	4	8	9	24	36	77	53	1.453	+24	52
4	Liverpool	42	11	7	3	41	17	7	8	6	22	18	63	35	1.800	+28	51
5	Newcastle United	42	14	3	4	43	18	6	7	8	23	27	66	45	1.467	+21	50
6	Tottenham Hotspur	42	15	2	4	46	16	4	7	10	24	32	70	48	1.458	+22	47
7	Everton	42	9	8	4	40	26	8	5	8	26	29	66	55	1.200	+11	47
8	Middlesbrough	42	10	6	5	29	21	7	6	8	24	32	53	53	1.000	±0	46
9	Arsenal	42	9	8	4	31	25	6	6	9	28	38	59	63	0.937	–4	44
10	Aston Villa	42	11	4	6	39	21	7	3	11	24	49	63	70	0.900	–7	43
11	Blackburn Rovers	42	7	9	5	36	27	6	6	9	21	32	57	59	0.966	–2	41
12	Sunderland	42	11	4	6	34	19	3	9	9	23	41	57	60	0.950	–3	41
13	Manchester United	42	9	4	8	34	26	6	6	9	30	42	64	68	0.941	–4	40
14	West Bromwich Albion	42	8	7	6	31	23	5	7	9	23	35	54	58	0.931	–4	40
15	Bradford City	42	7	9	5	38	28	5	6	10	23	35	61	63	0.968	–2	39
16	Preston North End	42	10	4	7	38	25	5	5	11	23	40	61	65	0.938	–4	39
17	Huddersfield Town	42	11	4	6	26	16	4	5	12	16	33	42	49	0.857	–7	39
18	Chelsea	42	9	7	5	35	24	4	6	11	13	34	48	58	0.828	–10	39
19	Oldham Athletic	42	6	9	6	23	26	3	6	12	26	60	49	86	0.570	–37	33
20	Sheffield United	42	5	11	5	22	19	1	7	13	20	49	42	68	0.618	–26	30
21	Derby County	42	3	12	6	21	23	2	4	15	11	35	32	58	0.552	–26	26
22	Bradford Park Avenue	42	6	5	10	29	35	2	3	16	14	41	43	76	0.566	–33	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	Birmingham	42	16	4	1	55	13	8	6	7	24	25	79	38	2.079	+41	58
2	Cardiff City	42	13	5	3	27	9	11	5	5	32	23	59	32	1.844	+27	58
3	Bristol City	42	14	3	4	35	12	5	10	6	14	17	49	29	1.690	+20	51
4	Blackpool	42	12	3	6	32	19	8	7	6	22	23	54	42	1.286	+12	50
5	West Ham United	42	13	5	3	38	11	6	5	10	13	19	51	30	1.700	+21	48
6	Notts County	42	12	5	4	36	17	6	6	9	19	23	55	40	1.375	+15	47
7	Clapton Orient	42	13	6	2	31	9	3	7	11	12	33	43	42	1.024	+1	45
8	South Shields	42	13	4	4	41	16	4	6	11	20	30	61	46	1.326	+15	44
9	Fulham	42	14	4	3	33	12	2	6	13	10	35	43	47	0.915	–4	42
10	The Wednesday	42	9	7	5	31	14	6	4	11	17	34	48	48	1.000	±0	41
11	Bury	42	10	8	3	29	13	5	2	14	16	36	45	49	0.918	–4	40
12	Leicester City	42	10	8	3	26	11	2	8	11	13	35	39	46	0.848	–7	40
13	Hull City	42	7	10	4	24	18	3	10	8	19	35	43	53	0.811	–10	40
14	Leeds United	42	11	5	5	30	14	3	5	13	10	31	40	45	0.889	–5	38
15	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	11	4	6	34	24	5	2	14	15	42	49	66	0.742	–17	38
16	Barnsley	42	9	10	2	31	17	1	6	14	17	33	48	50	0.960	–2	36
17	Port Vale	42	7	6	8	28	19	4	8	9	15	30	43	49	0.878	–6	36
18	Nottingham Forest	42	9	6	6	37	26	3	6	12	11	29	48	55	0.873	–7	36
19	Rotherham County	42	8	9	4	23	21	4	3	14	14	32	37	53	0.698	–16	36
20	Stoke	42	9	5	7	26	16	3	6	12	20	40	46	56	0.821	–10	35
21	Coventry City	42	8	6	7	24	25	4	5	12	15	45	39	70	0.557	–31	35
22	Stockport County	42	8	6	7	30	24	1	6	14	12	51	42	75	0.560	–33	30

Football League, Third Division
Season	1920–21
Champions	Crystal Palace (1st title)
Failed re-election	None
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,133 (2.45 per match)
Top goalscorer	John Conner (Crystal Palace), 28 Ernie Simms (Luton Town), 28 George Whitworth (Northampton Town), 28 ^[3]
← 1919–20 1921–22 →

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GA	GD	Pts
1	Crystal Palace	42	15	4	2	45	17	9	7	5	25	17	70	34	2.059	+36	59
2	Southampton	42	14	5	2	46	10	5	11	5	18	18	64	28	2.286	+36	54
3	Queens Park Rangers	42	14	4	3	38	11	8	5	8	23	21	61	32	1.906	+29	53
4	Swindon Town	42	14	5	2	51	17	7	5	9	22	32	73	49	1.490	+24	52
5	Swansea Town	42	9	10	2	32	19	9	5	7	24	26	56	45	1.244	+11	51
6	Watford	42	14	4	3	40	15	6	4	11	19	29	59	44	.341	+15	48
7	Millwall	42	11	5	5	25	8	7	6	8	17	22	42	30	1.400	+12	47
8	Merthyr Town	42	13	5	3	46	20	2	10	9	14	29	60	49	1.224	+11	45
9	Luton Town	42	14	6	1	51	15	2	6	13	10	41	61	56	1.089	+5	44
10	Bristol Rovers	42	15	3	3	51	22	3	4	14	17	35	68	57	1.193	+11	43
11	Plymouth Argyle	42	10	7	4	25	13	1	14	6	10	21	35	34	1.029	+1	43
12	Portsmouth	42	10	8	3	28	14	2	7	12	18	34	46	48	0.958	–2	39
13	Grimsby Town	42	12	5	4	32	16	3	4	14	17	43	49	59	0.831	–10	39
14	Northampton Town	42	11	4	6	32	23	4	4	13	27	52	59	75	0.787	–16	38
15	Newport County	42	8	5	8	20	23	6	4	11	23	41	43	64	0.672	–21	37
16	Norwich City	42	9	10	2	31	14	1	6	14	13	39	44	53	0.830	–9	36
17	Southend United	42	13	2	6	32	20	1	6	14	12	41	44	61	0.721	–17	36
18	Brighton & Hove Albion	42	11	6	4	28	20	3	2	16	14	41	42	61	0.689	–19	36
19	Exeter City	42	9	7	5	27	15	1	8	12	12	39	39	54	0.722	–15	35
20	Reading	42	8	4	9	26	22	4	3	14	16	37	42	59	0.712	–17	31
21	Brentford	42	7	9	5	27	23	2	3	16	15	44	42	67	0.627	–25	30
22	Gillingham	42	6	9	6	19	24	2	3	16	15	50	34	74	0.459	–40	28

Key
	Division Champions, promoted
	New club in the league: all except Grimsby Town
	Re-elected
	Failed re-election (none)

Final league tables

First Division

First Division results

First Division maps

Second Division

Second Division results

Second Division maps

Third Division

Third Division results

Third Division maps

See also

References