| Season | 1891–92 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Sunderland (1stEnglish title) |
| Relegated | Darwen |
| New Club in League | Darwen, Stoke |
| FA Cup winners | West Bromwich Albion (2ndFA Cup title) |
| Matches | 182 |
| Goals | 777 (4.27 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | John Campbell(Sunderland), 32[1] |
| Biggest home win | West Bromwich Albion –Darwen 12–0 (4 April 1892) |
| Biggest away win | Darwen –Sunderland 1–7 (23 April 1892) |
| Highest scoring | Aston Villa –Accrington 12–2 (12 March 1892) |
| Average attendance | 6,193 |
1892–93 → | |
The1891–92 Football League was the fourth season of English league football, and the last season of the football league running in a single division.Sunderland were the winners of the league which was their first league success. At the beginning of the seasonStoke had left theFootball Alliance and rejoined the Football League.Darwen also joined from the Alliance but they conceded 112 goals and finished bottom.[2]
The table below is reproduced herein the exact form that it can be found at theRec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation website[3] and inRothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79,[4] 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). 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.
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.[4]
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sunderland(C) | 26 | 21 | 0 | 5 | 93 | 36 | 2.583 | 42 | |
| 2 | Preston North End | 26 | 18 | 1 | 7 | 61 | 31 | 1.968 | 37 | |
| 3 | Bolton Wanderers | 26 | 17 | 2 | 7 | 51 | 37 | 1.378 | 36 | |
| 4 | Aston Villa | 26 | 15 | 0 | 11 | 89 | 56 | 1.589 | 30 | |
| 5 | Everton | 26 | 12 | 4 | 10 | 49 | 49 | 1.000 | 28 | |
| 6 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 26 | 11 | 4 | 11 | 59 | 46 | 1.283 | 26 | |
| 7 | Burnley | 26 | 11 | 4 | 11 | 49 | 45 | 1.089 | 26 | |
| 8 | Notts County | 26 | 11 | 4 | 11 | 55 | 51 | 1.078 | 26 | |
| 9 | Blackburn Rovers | 26 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 58 | 65 | 0.892 | 26 | |
| 10 | Derby County | 26 | 10 | 4 | 12 | 46 | 52 | 0.885 | 24 | |
| 11 | Accrington | 26 | 8 | 4 | 14 | 40 | 78 | 0.513 | 20 | Re-elected |
| 12 | West Bromwich Albion | 26 | 6 | 6 | 14 | 51 | 58 | 0.879 | 18 | Reprived from re-election[a] |
| 13 | Stoke | 26 | 5 | 4 | 17 | 38 | 61 | 0.623 | 14 | Re-elected |
| 14 | Darwen(R) | 26 | 4 | 3 | 19 | 38 | 112 | 0.339 | 11 | Failed re-election and demoted to theSecond Division |
| Home \ Away | ACC | AST | BLB | BOL | BUR | DRW | DER | EVE | NTC | PNE | STK | SUN | WBA | WOL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accrington | 3–2 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 3–0 | 3–5 | 4–2 | 3–2 | |
| Aston Villa | 12–2 | 5–1 | 1–2 | 6–1 | 7–0 | 6–0 | 3–4 | 5–1 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 5–3 | 5–1 | 3–6 | |
| Blackburn Rovers | 2–2 | 4–3 | 4–0 | 3–3 | 4–0 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 5–4 | 2–4 | 5–3 | 3–1 | 3–2 | 2–0 | |
| Bolton Wanderers | 3–4 | 1–2 | 4–2 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 4–3 | 1–1 | 3–0 | |
| Burnley | 2–1 | 4–1 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 9–0 | 2–4 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 1–2 | 3–2 | 1–1 | |
| Darwen | 5–2 | 1–5 | 3–5 | 1–2 | 2–6 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 2–3 | 0–4 | 9–3 | 1–7 | 1–1 | 1–4 | |
| Derby County | 3–1 | 4–2 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 0–1 | 7–0 | 0–3 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 3–3 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | |
| Everton | 3–0 | 5–1 | 3–1 | 2–5 | 1–1 | 5–3 | 1–2 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–4 | 4–3 | 2–1 | |
| Notts County | 9–0 | 5–2 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 5–1 | 5–0 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 2–2 | |
| Preston North End | 4–1 | 0–1 | 3–2 | 4–0 | 5–1 | 4–0 | 3–0 | 4–0 | 6–0 | 3–2 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | |
| Stoke | 3–1 | 2–3 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 5–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 1–3 | |
| Sunderland | 4–1 | 2–1 | 6–1 | 4–1 | 2–1 | 7–0 | 7–1 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 4–1 | 4–1 | 4–0 | 5–2 | |
| West Bromwich Albion | 3–1 | 0–3 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 12–0 | 4–2 | 4–0 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 2–5 | 4–3 | |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | 5–0 | 2–0 | 6–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 1–3 | 5–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 4–1 | 1–3 | 2–1 |
Two clubs were re-elected to the League in the re-election process.West Bromwich Albion, although finishing in the bottom four teams, were not required to seek re-election as they were the FA Cup holders. Two of the other three teams were duly re-elected. As a result, three new teams were elected to the League. The voting went as follows:[5]
| Team | Votes | Result |
|---|---|---|
| The Wednesday | 10 | Elected to the League |
| Nottingham Forest | 9 | Elected to the League |
| Accrington | 7 | Re-elected to the League |
| Stoke | 6 | Re-elected to the League |
| Newton Heath | 6 | Elected to the League |
| Sheffield United | 5 | Not elected to the League |
| Darwen | 4 | Not re-elected to the League |
| Burton Swifts | 1 | Not elected to the League |
| Newcastle East End | 1 | Not elected to the League |
| Middlesbrough /Middlesbrough Ironopolis (combined) | 1 | Not elected to the League |
| Liverpool Caledonian | 0 | Not elected to the League |
| Key | |
|---|---|
| Re-elected to the League | |
| Elected to the League | |
| Not (re-)elected to the League; later invited to participate in theSecond Division | |
| Not elected to the League |
When the Second Division was added to the league the following year,Darwen were elected to participate, effectively becoming the first club to be relegated from the First Division to the Second Division. The other teams to participate in the Second Division were drawn from theFootball Alliance except forBirmingham St. George's, who left and was replaced withSheffield United of theNorthern League.