1889–90 in English football

The 1889–90 season was the 19th season of competitive football in England. Preston North End were Football League champions for the second successive season while The Wednesday finished top of the newly formed Football Alliance. Blackburn Rovers won the FA Cup.

Football League

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Preston North End	22	15	3	4	71	30	2.367	33
2	Everton	22	14	3	5	65	40	1.625	31
3	Blackburn Rovers	22	12	3	7	78	41	1.902	27
4	Wolverhampton Wanderers	22	10	5	7	51	38	1.342	25
5	West Bromwich Albion	22	11	3	8	47	50	0.940	25
6	Accrington	22	9	6	7	53	56	0.946	24
7	Derby County	22	9	3	10	43	55	0.782	21
8	Aston Villa[1]	22	7	5	10	43	51	0.843	19
9	Bolton Wanderers[1]	22	9	1	12	54	65	0.831	19
10	Notts County[2]	22	6	5	11	43	51	0.843	17
11	Burnley[2]	22	4	5	13	36	65	0.554	13
12	Stoke[3]	22	3	4	15	27	69	0.391	10

Football Alliance

A new competition, the Football Alliance, started this season. It was formed by 12 clubs as a rival to The Football League, which had begun in the 1888–89 season, also with 12 member clubs. The Alliance covered a similar area to the League, stretching from the Midlands to the North West, but also further east in Sheffield, Grimsby and Sunderland.

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	The Wednesday	22	15	2	5	70	39	32
2	Bootle	22	13	2	7	66	39	28
3	Sunderland Albion	21	12	2	7	64	39	28[4]
4	Grimsby Town	22	12	2	8	58	47	26
5	Crewe Alexandra	22	11	2	9	68	59	24
6	Darwen	22	10	2	10	70	75	22
7	Birmingham St George's	21	9	3	9	62	49	21[4]
8	Newton Heath	22	9	2	11	40	45	20
9	Walsall Town Swifts	22	8	3	11	44	59	19
10	Small Heath	22	6	5	11	44	67	17
11	Nottingham Forest	22	6	5	11	31	62	17
12	Long Eaton Rangers[5]	22	4	2	16	35	73	10

P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points

FA Cup

The FA Cup was won by Blackburn Rovers, who beat The Wednesday 6–1 in the 1890 FA Cup Final to lift the trophy for the fourth time.

National team

In the 1890 British Home Championship, England played matches against Wales and Ireland on the same day, 15 March 1890, winning both comfortably. The team for the Wales match were mainly amateur players, whereas the team against Ireland were all professional players. The Irish goal was scored by Jack Reynolds, who later played for England.

In the deciding match against Scotland, the teams drew 1–1 and shared the trophy.

Date	Venue	Opponents	Score*	Competition	England scorers	Goals and times
15 March 1890	Racecourse Ground, Wrexham (A)	Wales	3–1	BHC	Edmund Currey (Oxford University) Tinsley Lindley (Nottingham Forest)
15 March 1890	Ballynafeigh Park, Belfast (A)	Ireland	9–1	BHC	Fred Geary (Everton) William Townley (Blackburn Rovers) Joe Lofthouse (Blackburn Rovers) Kenny Davenport (Bolton Wanderers) John Barton (Blackburn Rovers)	15'  60'  80'  16'  84'  40'  46'  75'  88'
5 April 1890	(Second) Hampden Park, Glasgow (A)	Scotland	1–1	BHC	Harry Wood (Wolverhampton Wanderers)	17'

* England score given first

Key

• A = Away match
• BHC = British Home Championship

References

1. Aston Villa and Bolton Wanderers finished equal on 19 points and it was agreed that neither would need to face re-election
2. Re-elected
3. Relegated, joined Football Alliance. Sunderland elected in their place.
4. Sunderland Albion's point total includes two points awarded after Birmingham St George's refused to fulfil a fixture against them which had been ordered to be replayed by the management committee.
5. Dropped out of the Football Alliance to join the Midland League

External links

• Details of Wales v England game
• Details of Ireland v England game
• Details of Scotland v England game
• British Home Championship results on RSSF