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Football Alliance

History

The Football Alliance was founded in 1888, shortly after the Football League, by clubs who had been excluded by the League. However the 1888-89 season proved to be so poorly organised that it was abandoned. From 1889, a reformed Football Alliance proved more successful, lasting three seasons before merging with the Football League in 1892. Nottingham Forest, Newton Heath (Manchester United) and The Wednesday (Sheffield Wednesday) were elected to Division 1 with eight further clubs joining the new Division 2. The twelfth club, Birmingham St George, folded because of financial difficulties.

Football Alliance 1889-90

PL W D L GF GA GF/A PTS
1 The Wednesday 22 15 2 5 70 39 1.795 32
2 Bootle 22 13 2 7 66 39 1.692 28
3 Sunderland Albion1 21 12 2 7 64 39 1.641 28
4 Grimsby Town 22 12 2 8 58 47 1.234 26
5 Crewe Alexandra 22 11 2 9 68 59 1.153 24
6 Darwen 22 10 2 10 70 75 0.933 22
7 Birmingham St G2 21 9 3 9 62 49 1.265 21
8 Newton Heath 22 9 2 11 40 44 0.909 20
9 Walsall Town Swifts 22 8 3 11 44 59 0.746 19
10 Small Heath 22 6 5 11 44 67 0.657 17
11 Nottingham Forest 22 6 5 11 31 62 0.500 17
12 Long Eaton Rangers3 22 4 2 16 35 73 0.479 10
1 Sunderland Albion awarded two points
2 Birmingham St George refused to replay disputed fixture
3 Long Eaton Rangers resigned

Football Alliance 1890-91

PL W D L GF GA GF/A PTS
1 Stoke1 22 13 7 2 57 39 1.462 33
2 Sunderland Albion2 22 12 6 4 69 28 2.464 30
3 Grimsby Town 22 11 5 6 43 27 1.593 27
4 Birmingham St G 22 12 2 8 64 62 1.032 26
5 Nottingham Forest3 22 9 7 6 66 39 1.692 23
6 Darwen4 22 10 3 9 64 59 1.085 23
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
1 Stoke re-elected to Football League
2 Sunderland Albion resigned
3 Nottingham Forest deducted two points
4 Darwen elected to Football League

Football Alliance 1891-92

PL W D L GF GA GF/A PTS
1 Nottingham ForestP 22 14 5 3 59 22 2.682 33
2 Newton HeathP 22 12 7 3 69 33 2.091 31
3 Small Heath 22 12 5 5 53 36 1.472 29
4 The WednesdayP 22 12 4 6 65 35 1.857 28
5 Burton Swifts 22 12 2 8 54 52 1.038 26
6 Crewe Alexandra 22 7 4 11 44 49 0.898 18
7 Ardwick 22 6 6 10 39 51 0.765 18
8 Bootle 22 8 2 12 42 64 0.656 18
9 Lincoln City 22 6 5 11 37 65 0.569 17
10 Grimsby Town1 22 6 6 10 40 39 1.026 16
11 Walsall Town Swifts 22 6 3 13 33 59 0.559 15
12 Birmingham St GR2 22 5 3 14 34 64 0.531 11
1 Grimsby deducted two points
2 Birmingham St George deducted two points