The Football League has been with us since 1888.  It is arguably the most brilliant, yet simple, invention to shape the way the game is played.  Unlike cups, every team competes from start to finish.  Each team plays each other, home and away, every season.  Their matches provide league tables, wondrous things of order and beauty.

So many matches.  So many goals.  How best to condense this rich and complex history - from 1888 to the present - into accessible form?  How best to provide as much information as possible in the least possible space?   The author has wrestled with these problems for years.   Here is his answer.

ABOUT THE 1^ST BOOK

 

The fascinating history of the Football League, part of our nation's heritage, is well worth preserving. That is a key part of the reason why this particular interpretation has been written. I became hooked on the game in the late 1950s, thanks to my late father, who one day brought home a copy of '60 seasons of League Football' by R. C. Churchill. Loving the book, I was disappointed only by what it missed out - something which that excellent work has in common with subsequent publications.  I have never discovered a single volume, no matter how packed with information, that covered everything I hoped to find.  The specific gap I noted, and now hope to fill, is how and when titles have been won and other issues settled.  That omission provides the other major reason for this book.

 

All pages in this history have two columns - to maximise data. For seasons 1888-1915 and 1919-1929, the focus is on champions clubs, named at the head of the pages. Short paragraphs outline how the campaign progressed in two halves, up to the point when the title was decided in each division. All the champions' results are provided, with opponents' names in capitals when the champions played at home. Halfway league tables and final league tables are also presented in abbreviated form, giving games played, goals for and against, and points. The bottom figure in each column is the computerised tally of the column in question, to minimise errors.

 

Coverage of seasons 1929-1939 focuses on both the top and bottom of each division (in which the interim tables are not tabulated). Once again descriptions are given to cover 'how' and 'when' issues were settled. Champions' results are provided, together with a tabulated final table, plus a summary of outcomes for each section. Clubs elected, re-elected or losing League status are displayed in italics for Division 3.

 

At intervals throughout the book I provide pages of 'other information', including things like the F.A. Cup, crowds, goal-scoring, club colours, grounds, nicknames and rule changes. These pages also include a variety of miscellaneous items.  This history also offers short sections on wartime football, 1915-1919 and 1939-1946, when the Football League was suspended. Outcomes of regional competitions are shown, together with brief explanations of how soccer in this country was organised in wartime. Tabulated final tables are included within this.

 

ABOUT THE 2^ND BOOK

 

The aims of the second volume in this series are to preserve the history of our national game, to set down in one book a wealth of Football League data, and to explain how and when key issues were settled in the seasons 1946-1966.

 

Twenty seasons are covered, with use of a two-column layout to maximise the amount of information included.   Final Tables for all four divisions are given, with end-of-season outcomes noted and statistics provided.   The tables show games played, goals for, goals against, points earned, and have been tabulated to improve accuracy.   It is important to remember that only two points were awarded for a win and one for a draw, with teams finishing level on points separated by goal-average.

 

The battles at the top and bottom of each division are highlighted using 'part-tables', before rounding off with paragraphs on 'final phases', showing how and when promotions and relegations were determined. The 'title race' section for Seasons 1958-1961 is presented in paragraph form - a personal choice, as this was when I first started following Football League matters in earnest.   Statistics for 'divisional' crowds and goals are provided for all seasons.