1890–91 Football Alliance

The 1890–91 Football Alliance was the second season of the Football Alliance, an association football league which was set up in England as an alternative to the Football League, which had begun in the 1888–89 season.

Football Alliance
Season1890–91
ChampionsStoke
Matches played132
Goals scored630 (4.77 per match)
Top goalscorer?
Biggest home winSunderland Albion – Walsall Town Swifts 11–1
Biggest away winCrewe Alexandra – Nottingham Forest 0–7
Highest scoringSunderland Albion – Walsall Town Swifts 11–1

Stoke joined the Alliance in this season after dropping out of the Football League at the end of the previous season and were crowned champions after the penultimate round of fixtures on 4 April. Last season's champions The Wednesday finished bottom after losing thirteen games in a dreadful season. Even a 4–2 win (3–0 at half time) at home to runners up Sunderland Albion on the last day of the season failed to lift Wednesday off the foot of the table.[1]

At the end of the season, Stoke were elected back to the Football League along with sixth-placed Darwen, while Sunderland Albion left to join the Northern League.[2]

Final league table
Locations of the 1890–91 Football Alliance teams
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GAv Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Stoke[lower-alpha 1] (E) 22 13 7 2 57 39 1.462 33 Football Alliance Champions, elected to Football League
2 Sunderland Albion[lower-alpha 2] 22 12 6 4 69 28 2.464 30
3 Grimsby Town 22 11 5 6 43 27 1.593 27
4 Birmingham St George's 22 12 2 8 64 62 1.032 26
5 Nottingham Forest 22 9 7 6 66 39 1.692 23[lower-alpha 3]
6 Darwen (E) 22 10 3 9 64 59 1.085 23 Elected to Football League
7 Walsall Town Swifts 22 9 3 10 34 61 0.557 21
8 Crewe Alexandra 22 8 4 10 59 67 0.881 20
9 Newton Heath 22 7 3 12 37 55 0.673 17
10 Small Heath 22 7 2 13 58 66 0.879 16
11 Bootle 22 3 7 12 40 61 0.656 13
12 The Wednesday 22 4 5 13 39 66 0.591 13
Source: [3]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal average.
(E) Elected to the Football League
Notes:
  1. New club in the Alliance
  2. Left to join the Northern League
  3. Two points deducted for fielding an unregistered player

Results
Home \ Away BSG BOO CRE DRW GRI NWH NOT SMH STK SUA WAL WED
Birmingham St George's 5–1 4–2 1–0 2–0 6–1 6–3 5–4 5–2 1–4 1–2 5–3
Bootle 4–4 1–1 0–1 0–0 5–0 1–5 1–1 2–2 3–3 6–1 5–0
Crewe Alexandra 1–4 8–3 2–1 4–3 0–1 0–7 6–2 2–4 2–2 1–2 2–0
Darwen 5–2 3–1 1–3 1–1 2–1 4–4 5–3 3–3 5–1 9–0 7–1
Grimsby Town 5–2 1–0 3–3 4–1 3–1 3–0 3–1 1–1 2–0 3–0 3–0
Newton Heath 1–3 2–1 6–3 4–2 3–1 1–1 3–1 0–1 1–5 3–3 1–1
Nottingham Forest 4–0 7–0 5–2 5–2 1–1 8–2 4–5 2–2 1–1 2–0 0–0
Small Heath 1–4 7–1 4–3 3–4 1–2 2–1 4–2 5–1 0–3 0–1 7–1
Stoke 6–3 2–1 2–2 6–2 2–1 2–1 2–1 4–2 1–1 1–0 5–1
Sunderland Albion 8–0 4–1 7–0 5–0 2–1 2–1 0–0 4–0 1–1 11–1 3–1
Walsall Town Swifts 1–1 3–2 1–6 2–3 0–1 2–1 3–2 5–2 1–3 2–0 2–1
The Wednesday 4–0 1–1 4–6 7–3 2–1 1–2 0–2 3–3 2–4 4–2 2–2
Source: [3]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Election to the Football League

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 (five of them from the Football Alliance) also sought League membership. The voting went as follows:[2]

Team Votes Result
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

See also

References
  1. "1890–91". The Owl Football Historian. Andrew Drake. Archived from the original on 22 October 2012.
  2. "Football Alliance 1890/91". footballsite.co.uk. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  3. Blakeman, Mick; Brown, Tony; Warsop, Keith, eds. (2009). The Football Alliance Match by Match: 1889/90 to 1891/92. Nottingham: SoccerData. pp. 28–40. ISBN 978-1-905891-19-1.
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