1938–39 Football League

Football League
Second Division
Season	1938–39
Champions	Blackburn Rovers (1st title)
Relegated	Norwich City; Tranmere Rovers
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,441 (3.12 per match)
Top goalscorer	Hugh Billington (Luton Town), 28
Biggest home win	Sheffield Wednesday – Norwich City 7–0 (19 Nov 1938)
Biggest away win	Tranmere – Manchester City 3–9 (26 Dec 1938)
Highest scoring	Tranmere – Manchester City 3–9 (26 Dec 1938)
	← 1937–38 1939–40 →

Football League
First Division
Season	1938–39
Champions	Everton (5th English title)
Relegated	Birmingham; Leicester City
FA Cup winners	Portsmouth (1st FA Cup title)
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,418 (3.07 per match)
Top goalscorer	Tommy Lawton (Everton), 35
Biggest home win	Middlesbrough – Charlton 9–2 (10 Dec 1938); Wolverhampton – Everton 7–0 (22 Feb 1939)
Biggest away win	Leicester – Charlton 1–5 (9 Feb 1939); Sunderland – Aston Villa 1–5 (26 Dec 1938); Charlton – Wolverhampton 0–4 (10 Dec 1938)
Highest scoring	Middlesbrough – Blackpool 9–2 (10 Dec 1938)
	← 1937–38 1939–40 →

The Football League
Season	1938–39
Champions	Everton
	← 1937–38 1939–40 →

The 1938–1939 season was the 47th season of The Football League.

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.

Match results are drawn from The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation website^[1] and Rothmans^[2] for the First Division and from Rothmans for the Second Division and for the two Third Divisions.

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, if the teams had a positive goal difference. 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. From the 1922–23 season on it was required of the bottom two teams of both Third Division North and Third Division South.^[2]

First Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GA	GD	Pts
1	Everton	42	17	3	1	60	18	10	2	9	28	34	88	52	1.692	+36	59
2	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	14	6	1	55	12	8	5	8	33	27	88	39	2.256	+49	55
3	Charlton Athletic	42	16	3	2	49	24	6	3	12	26	35	75	59	1.271	+16	50
4	Middlesbrough	42	13	6	2	64	27	7	3	11	29	47	93	74	1.257	+19	49
5	Arsenal	42	14	3	4	34	14	5	6	10	21	27	55	41	1.341	+14	47
6	Derby County	42	12	3	6	39	22	7	5	9	27	33	66	55	1.200	+11	46
7	Stoke City	42	13	6	2	50	25	4	6	11	21	43	71	68	1.044	+3	46
8	Bolton Wanderers	42	10	6	5	39	25	5	9	7	28	33	67	58	1.155	+9	45
9	Preston North End	42	13	7	1	44	19	3	5	13	19	40	63	59	1.068	+4	44
10	Grimsby Town	42	11	6	4	38	26	5	5	11	23	43	61	69	0.884	–8	43
11	Liverpool	42	12	6	3	40	24	2	8	11	22	39	62	63	0.984	–1	42
12	Aston Villa	42	11	3	7	44	25	5	6	10	27	35	71	60	1.183	+9	41
13	Leeds United	42	11	5	5	40	27	5	4	12	19	40	59	67	0.881	–8	41
14	Manchester United	42	7	9	5	30	20	4	7	10	27	45	57	65	0.877	–8	38
15	Blackpool	42	9	8	4	37	26	3	6	12	19	42	56	68	0.824	–12	38
16	Sunderland	42	7	7	7	30	29	6	5	10	24	38	54	67	0.806	–13	38
17	Portsmouth	42	10	7	4	25	15	2	6	13	22	55	47	70	0.671	–23	37
18	Brentford	42	11	2	8	30	27	3	6	12	23	47	53	74	0.716	–21	36
19	Huddersfield Town	42	11	4	6	38	18	1	7	13	20	46	58	64	0.906	–6	35
20	Chelsea	42	10	5	6	43	29	2	4	15	21	51	64	80	0.800	–16	33
21	Birmingham	42	10	5	6	40	27	2	3	16	22	57	62	84	0.738	–22	32
22	Leicester City	42	7	6	8	35	35	2	5	14	13	47	48	82	0.585	–34	29

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	Blackburn Rovers	42	17	1	3	59	23	8	4	9	35	37	94	60	1.567	+34	55
2	Sheffield United	42	9	9	3	35	15	11	5	5	34	26	69	41	1.683	+28	54
3	Sheffield Wednesday	42	14	4	3	47	18	7	7	7	41	41	88	59	1.492	+29	53
4	Coventry City	42	13	4	4	35	13	8	4	9	27	32	62	45	1.378	+17	50
5	Manchester City	42	13	3	5	56	35	8	4	9	40	37	96	72	1.333	+24	49
6	Chesterfield	42	16	1	4	54	20	4	8	9	15	32	69	52	1.327	+17	49
7	Luton Town	42	13	4	4	47	27	9	1	11	35	39	82	66	1.242	+16	49
8	Tottenham Hotspur	42	13	6	2	48	27	6	3	12	19	35	67	62	1.081	+5	47
9	Newcastle United	42	13	3	5	44	21	5	7	9	17	27	61	48	1.271	+13	46
10	West Bromwich Albion	42	15	3	3	54	22	3	6	12	35	50	89	72	1.236	+17	45
11	West Ham United	42	10	5	6	36	21	7	5	9	34	31	70	52	1.346	+18	44
12	Fulham	42	12	5	4	35	20	5	5	11	26	35	61	55	1.109	+6	44
13	Millwall	42	12	6	3	44	18	2	8	11	20	35	64	53	1.208	+11	42
14	Burnley	42	13	3	5	32	20	2	6	13	18	36	50	56	0.893	–6	39
15	Plymouth Argyle	42	9	7	5	24	13	6	1	14	25	42	49	55	0.891	–6	38
16	Bury	42	9	5	7	48	36	3	8	10	17	38	65	74	0.878	–9	37
17	Bradford Park Avenue	42	8	6	7	33	35	4	5	12	28	47	61	82	0.744	–21	35
18	Southampton	42	9	6	6	35	34	4	3	14	21	48	56	82	0.683	–26	35
19	Swansea Town	42	8	6	7	33	30	3	6	12	17	53	50	83	0.602	–33	34
20	Nottingham Forest	42	8	6	7	33	29	2	5	14	16	53	49	82	0.598	–33	31
21	Norwich City	42	10	5	6	39	29	3	0	18	11	62	50	91	0.549	–41	31
22	Tranmere Rovers	42	6	4	11	26	38	0	1	20	13	61	39	99	0.394	–60	17

Key
	Division Champions, promoted
	Promoted
	Relegated

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GA	GD	Pts
1	Barnsley	42	18	2	1	60	12	12	5	4	34	22	94	34	2.765	+60	67
2	Doncaster Rovers	42	12	5	4	47	21	9	9	3	40	26	87	47	1.851	+40	56
3	Bradford City	42	16	2	3	59	21	6	6	9	30	35	89	56	1.589	+33	52
4	Southport	42	14	5	2	47	16	6	5	10	28	38	75	54	1.389	+21	50
5	Oldham Athletic	42	16	1	4	51	21	6	4	11	25	38	76	59	1.288	+17	49
6	Chester	42	12	5	4	54	31	8	4	9	34	39	88	70	1.257	+18	49
7	Hull City	42	13	5	3	57	25	5	5	11	26	49	83	74	1.122	+9	46
8	Crewe Alexandra	42	12	5	4	54	23	7	1	13	28	47	82	70	1.171	+12	44
9	Stockport County	42	13	6	2	57	24	4	3	14	34	53	91	77	1.182	+14	43
10	Gateshead	42	11	6	4	45	24	3	8	10	29	43	74	67	1.104	+7	42
11	Rotherham United	42	12	4	5	45	21	5	4	12	19	43	64	64	1.000	±0	42
12	Halifax Town	42	9	10	2	33	22	4	6	11	19	32	52	54	0.963	–2	42
13	Barrow	42	11	5	5	46	22	5	4	12	20	43	66	65	1.015	+1	41
14	Wrexham	42	15	2	4	46	28	2	5	14	20	51	66	79	0.835	–13	41
15	Rochdale	42	10	5	6	58	29	5	4	12	34	53	92	82	1.122	+10	39
16	New Brighton	42	11	2	8	46	32	4	7	10	22	41	68	73	0.932	–5	39
17	Lincoln City	42	9	6	6	40	33	3	3	15	26	59	66	92	0.717	–26	33
18	Darlington	42	12	2	7	43	30	1	5	15	19	62	62	92	0.674	–30	33
19	Carlisle United	42	10	5	6	44	33	3	2	16	22	78	66	111	0.595	–45	33
20	York City	42	8	5	8	37	34	4	3	14	27	58	64	92	0.696	–28	32
21	Hartlepools United	42	10	4	7	36	33	2	3	16	19	61	55	94	0.585	–39	31
22	Accrington Stanley	42	6	5	10	30	39	1	1	19	19	64	49	103	0.476	–54	20

Key
	Division Champions, promoted
	New club in the league (none)
	Re-elected
	Failed re-election (none)

Final league tables

First Division

Results

Maps

Second Division

Results

Maps

Third Division North

Results

Maps

Third Division South

Results

Maps

See also

References