1907–08 in English football

The 1907–08 season was the 37th season of competitive football in England. Manchester United were Football League champions for the first time, while Bradford City won the Second Division and Wolverhampton Wanderers won the FA Cup. The Home Championship was shared between England and Scotland.

Football in England
Season1907–08
← 1906–07 England 1908–09 →

FA Cup

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Wolverhampton Wanderers won the FA Cup for the second time, beating Newcastle United 3–1 in the final.

Football League

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Fulham and Oldham Athletic replaced Burslem Port Vale and Burton United in the Football League.

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GAv Pts Relegation
1 Manchester United (C) 38 23 6 9 81 48 1.688 52
2 Aston Villa 38 17 9 12 77 59 1.305 43
3 Manchester City 38 16 11 11 62 54 1.148 43
4 Newcastle United 38 15 12 11 65 54 1.204 42
5 The Wednesday 38 19 4 15 73 64 1.141 42
6 Middlesbrough 38 17 7 14 54 45 1.200 41
7 Bury 38 14 11 13 58 61 0.951 39
8 Liverpool 38 16 6 16 68 61 1.115 38
9 Nottingham Forest 38 13 11 14 59 62 0.952 37
10 Bristol City 38 12 12 14 58 61 0.951 36
11 Everton 38 15 6 17 58 64 0.906 36
12 Preston North End 38 12 12 14 47 53 0.887 36
13 Chelsea 38 14 8 16 53 62 0.855 36
14 Blackburn Rovers 38 12 12 14 51 63 0.810 36
15 Woolwich Arsenal 38 12 12 14 51 63 0.810 36
16 Sunderland 38 16 3 19 78 75 1.040 35
17 Sheffield United 38 12 11 15 52 58 0.897 35
18 Notts County 38 13 8 17 39 51 0.765 34
19 Bolton Wanderers (R) 38 14 5 19 52 58 0.897 33 Relegation to the Second Division
20 Birmingham (R) 38 9 12 17 40 60 0.667 30
Source: World Football
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal average; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GAv Pts Promotion or relegation
1 Bradford City 38 24 6 8 90 42 2.143 54 Division champions
2 Leicester Fosse 38 21 10 7 72 47 1.532 52 Promoted
3 Oldham Athletic[a] 38 22 6 10 76 42 1.810 50
4 Fulham[a] 38 22 5 11 82 49 1.673 49
5 West Bromwich Albion 38 19 9 10 61 39 1.564 47
6 Derby County 38 21 4 13 77 45 1.711 46
7 Burnley 38 20 6 12 67 50 1.340 46
8 Hull City 38 21 4 13 73 62 1.177 46
9 Wolverhampton Wanderers 38 15 7 16 50 45 1.111 37 FA Cup Winners
10 Stoke[b] 38 16 5 17 57 52 1.096 37 Resigned
11 Gainsborough Trinity 38 14 7 17 47 71 0.662 35
12 Leeds City 38 12 8 18 53 65 0.815 32
13 Stockport County 38 12 8 18 48 67 0.716 32
14 Clapton Orient 38 11 10 17 40 65 0.615 32
15 Blackpool 38 11 9 18 51 58 0.879 31
16 Barnsley 38 12 6 20 54 68 0.794 30
17 Glossop 38 11 8 19 54 74 0.730 30
18 Grimsby Town 38 11 8 19 43 71 0.606 30 Re-elected
19 Chesterfield Town 38 6 11 21 46 92 0.500 23
20 Lincoln City 38 9 3 26 46 83 0.554 21 Failed re-election
Source: [citation needed]
Notes:
  1. ^ a b New club in the league
  2. ^ Stoke resigned from the Football League due to financial difficulties. Bradford Park Avenue and Tottenham Hotspur took the available places in the league the following season.

National team

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The England national football team were joint winners in the 1908 British Home Championship. England and Scotland shared the trophy, having each beaten Wales and Ireland in their opening matches before drawing 1–1 with each other in the final game.

England began the strongest side, although all four teams played well in their opening games, both Ireland and Wales running their opponents close. In the second matches however, England and Scotland's quality told, as England beat Wales 7–1 in Wrexham and Ireland succumbed 5–0 in Dublin.

England followed this tournament by becoming the first Home Nation to play a non-British nation with a tour of Central Europe, playing against Austria twice Hungary and Bohemia. In October the England amateur team followed this by winning gold in the football tournament at the 1908 Olympics, held in London.

Results

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Ireland  1–3  England
Denis Hannon (Summary) George Hilsdon 2, Vivian Woodward
Attendance: 22,600
Referee: Thomas Robertson (Scotland)


Scotland  1–1  England
Andrew Wilson (Summary) Jimmy Windridge
Attendance: 121,452[1]
Referee: James Mason (England)

European tour

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England undertook their first matches against opposition outside the Home Nations, with a summer tour of four games against Central European opposition.

Players

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The players chosen for the tour were:

Name Position Club Appearances Goals
Horace Bailey GK Leicester Fosse 4 0
Frank Bradshaw CF Sheffield Wednesday 1 3
Arthur Bridgett LW Sunderland 4 2
Walter Corbett CB Birmingham City 3 0
Bob Crompton RB Blackburn Rovers 4 0
Robert Hawkes LH Luton Town 4 0
George Hilsdon CF Chelsea 3 8
Jesse Pennington LB West Bromwich Albion 1 0
Jock Rutherford RW Newcastle United 4 3
Ben Warren RH Derby County 4 1
Billy Wedlock CH Bristol City 4 0
Jimmy Windridge FW Chelsea 4 5
Vivian Woodward[2] FW Tottenham Hotspur 4 6

Key

Match details

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Bohemia  0–4  England
  (Summary) George Hilsdon 2 (1P), Jock Rutherford, Jimmy Windridge
Attendance: 12,000
Referee: John Lewis (England)

Footnotes

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  1. ^ New world record attendance.
  2. ^ Captain