1890–91 Football League


The 1890–91 Football League was the third Football league season. After dominating and being crowned champions for the first two football league seasons Preston North End slipped to second and Everton won the league with a two-point gap. Meanwhile, there had been changes in the league since the last football league season, Stoke had not been re-elected to the football league, so joined the rival Football Alliance. They were replaced with Sunderland, who were nicknamed "the team of all talents" at the time.

Final league table

The table below is reproduced here in the exact form that it can be found at the website and in Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79, with home and away statistics separated.
Beginning with the season 1894–95, clubs finishing level on points were separated according to goal average. 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.
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.

The re-election process

The number of clubs in the Football League was to be increased by two for the 1891–92 season. In addition to the four League sides seeking re-election, six non-league clubs also sought League membership. The voting went as follows:
TeamVotesResult
Accrington8Re-elected to the League
Aston Villa8Re-elected to the League
Darwen7Elected to the League
Stoke7Elected to the League
Derby County6Re-elected to the League
West Bromwich Albion6Re-elected to the League
Ardwick4Not elected to the League
Nottingham Forest1Not elected to the League
Sunderland Albion1Not elected to the League
Newton Heath0Not elected to the League

Attendances

Source:
No.ClubAverage
1Everton FC11,375
2Blackburn Rovers FC7,805
3Burnley FC7,580
4Notts County FC7,580
5Preston North End FC7,225
6Bolton Wanderers FC7,190
7Aston Villa FC6,240
8Sunderland AFC5,950
9Wolverhampton Wanderers FC5,845
10West Bromwich Albion FC3,920
11Derby County FC3,270
12Accrington FC2,980