1937–38 in English football

The 1937–38 season was the 63rd season of competitive football in England.

Football in England

Season	1937–38
Men's football
Football League	Arsenal
Football League Second Division	Aston Villa
FA Cup	Preston North End
← 1936–37 1938–39 →

Overview

Manchester City became the only team to have been relegated in the season after winning the league title as well as the only team to ever be relegated from the top tier of English football having scored the most goals in that particular season.^[1]

The points spread between the league champions, Arsenal, and the team that finished bottom of the league, West Bromwich Albion, was a mere 16 points.^{[citation needed]}

Arsenal won the title (the club's fifth) on the final day of the season with a mere 52 points from 42 matches after beating Bolton Wanderers 5-0 at Highbury, whilst the table leaders after the penultimate round of fixtures, Wolverhampton Wanderers, lost 1-0 to 10-man Sunderland at Roker Park to be denied what would have otherwise been their first-ever league title.^[2] Wolves, who nonetheless achieved a new club record by finishing as league runners-up for the first time in their history, would have to wait until 1953-54 to win their first English league title, although by that time they would have already experienced once again the pain of being pipped to another potential league title on the final day of a season - this time by Liverpool in 1946-47.^{[citation needed]}

Honours

Competition	Winner	Runner-up
First Division	Arsenal (5)	Wolverhampton Wanderers
Second Division	Aston Villa	Manchester United
Third Division North	Tranmere Rovers	Doncaster Rovers
Third Division South	Millwall	Bristol City
FA Cup	Preston North End (2)	Huddersfield Town
Charity Shield	Manchester City	Sunderland
Home Championship	England	Scotland

Notes = Number in parentheses is the times that club has won that honour. * indicates new record for competition

Football League

Main article: 1937–38 Football League

First Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Arsenal	42	21	10	11	77	44	1.750	52
2	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	20	11	11	72	49	1.469	51
3	Preston North End	42	16	17	9	64	44	1.455	49
4	Charlton Athletic	42	16	14	12	65	51	1.275	46
5	Middlesbrough	42	19	8	15	72	65	1.108	46
6	Brentford	42	18	9	15	69	59	1.169	45
7	Bolton Wanderers	42	15	15	12	64	60	1.067	45
8	Sunderland	42	14	16	12	55	57	0.965	44
9	Leeds United	42	14	15	13	64	69	0.928	43
10	Chelsea	42	14	13	15	65	65	1.000	41
11	Liverpool	42	15	11	16	65	71	0.915	41
12	Blackpool	42	16	8	18	61	66	0.924	40
13	Derby County	42	15	10	17	66	87	0.759	40
14	Everton	42	16	7	19	79	75	1.053	39
15	Huddersfield Town	42	17	5	20	55	68	0.809	39
16	Leicester City	42	14	11	17	54	75	0.720	39
17	Stoke City	42	13	12	17	58	59	0.983	38
18	Birmingham	42	10	18	14	58	62	0.935	38
19	Portsmouth	42	13	12	17	62	68	0.912	38
20	Grimsby Town	42	13	12	17	51	68	0.750	38
21	Manchester City	42	14	8	20	80	77	1.039	36	Relegated to the Second Division
22	West Bromwich Albion	42	14	8	20	74	91	0.813	36

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal average; 3) number of goals scored.

Second Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Aston Villa	42	25	7	10	73	35	2.086	57	Promoted to the First Division
2	Manchester United	42	22	9	11	82	50	1.640	53
3	Sheffield United	42	22	9	11	73	56	1.304	53
4	Coventry City	42	20	12	10	66	45	1.467	52
5	Tottenham Hotspur	42	19	6	17	76	54	1.407	44
6	Burnley	42	17	10	15	54	54	1.000	44
7	Bradford Park Avenue	42	17	9	16	69	56	1.232	43
8	Fulham	42	16	11	15	61	57	1.070	43
9	West Ham United	42	14	14	14	53	52	1.019	42
10	Bury	42	18	5	19	63	60	1.050	41
11	Chesterfield	42	16	9	17	63	63	1.000	41
12	Luton Town	42	15	10	17	89	86	1.035	40
13	Plymouth Argyle	42	14	12	16	57	65	0.877	40
14	Norwich City	42	14	11	17	56	75	0.747	39
15	Southampton	42	15	9	18	55	77	0.714	39
16	Blackburn Rovers	42	14	10	18	71	80	0.888	38
17	Sheffield Wednesday	42	14	10	18	49	56	0.875	38
18	Swansea Town	42	13	12	17	45	73	0.616	38
19	Newcastle United	42	14	8	20	51	58	0.879	36
20	Nottingham Forest	42	14	8	20	47	60	0.783	36
21	Barnsley	42	11	14	17	50	64	0.781	36	Relegated to the Third Division North
22	Stockport County	42	11	9	22	43	70	0.614	31

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal average; 3) number of goals scored.

Third Division North

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Tranmere Rovers	42	23	10	9	81	41	1.976	56	Promoted to the Second Division
2	Doncaster Rovers	42	21	12	9	74	49	1.510	54
3	Hull City	42	20	13	9	80	43	1.860	53
4	Oldham Athletic	42	19	13	10	67	46	1.457	51
5	Gateshead	42	20	11	11	84	59	1.424	51
6	Rotherham United	42	20	10	12	68	56	1.214	50
7	Lincoln City	42	19	8	15	66	50	1.320	46
8	Crewe Alexandra	42	18	9	15	71	53	1.340	45
9	Chester	42	16	12	14	77	72	1.069	44
10	Wrexham	42	16	11	15	58	63	0.921	43
11	York City	42	16	10	16	70	68	1.029	42
12	Carlisle United	42	15	9	18	57	67	0.851	39
13	New Brighton	42	15	8	19	60	61	0.984	38
14	Bradford City	42	14	10	18	66	69	0.957	38
15	Port Vale	42	12	14	16	65	73	0.890	38	Transferred to the Third Division South
16	Southport	42	12	14	16	53	82	0.646	38
17	Rochdale	42	13	11	18	67	78	0.859	37
18	Halifax Town	42	12	12	18	44	66	0.667	36
19	Darlington	42	11	10	21	54	79	0.684	32
20	Hartlepools United	42	10	12	20	53	80	0.663	32
21	Barrow	42	11	10	21	41	71	0.577	32	Re-elected
22	Accrington Stanley	42	11	7	24	45	75	0.600	29

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal average; 3) number of goals scored.

Third Division South

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Millwall	42	23	10	9	83	37	2.243	56	Promoted to the Second Division
2	Bristol City	42	21	13	8	68	40	1.700	55
3	Queens Park Rangers	42	22	9	11	80	47	1.702	53
4	Watford	42	21	11	10	73	43	1.698	53
5	Brighton & Hove Albion	42	21	9	12	64	44	1.455	51
6	Reading	42	20	11	11	71	63	1.127	51
7	Crystal Palace	42	18	12	12	67	47	1.426	48
8	Swindon Town	42	17	10	15	49	49	1.000	44
9	Northampton Town	42	17	9	16	51	57	0.895	43
10	Cardiff City	42	15	12	15	67	54	1.241	42
11	Notts County	42	16	9	17	50	50	1.000	41
12	Southend United	42	15	10	17	70	68	1.029	40
13	Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic	42	14	12	16	56	57	0.982	40
14	Mansfield Town	42	15	9	18	62	67	0.925	39
15	Bristol Rovers	42	13	13	16	46	61	0.754	39
16	Newport County	42	11	16	15	43	52	0.827	38
17	Exeter City	42	13	12	17	57	70	0.814	38
18	Aldershot	42	15	5	22	39	59	0.661	35
19	Clapton Orient	42	13	7	22	42	61	0.689	33
20	Torquay United	42	9	12	21	38	73	0.521	30
21	Walsall	42	11	7	24	52	88	0.591	29	Re-elected
22	Gillingham	42	10	6	26	36	77	0.468	26	Not re-elected

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal average; 3) number of goals scored.

Top goalscorers

First Division

• Tommy Lawton (Everton) – 28 goals^[3]

Second Division

• George Henson (Bradford Park Avenue) – 27 goals^[3]

Third Division North

• Jack Roberts (Port Vale) – 28 goals^[4]

Third Division South

• Harold Crawshaw (Mansfield Town) – 25 goals^[4]

National team

A tour to central Europe was successful as the England squad comprehensively beat Germany in front of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels in Berlin as well as defeating France in Paris. However, between these successes was another defeat; to Switzerland. The tour was considered very controversial as the players were instructed to give the German leaders the Nazi salute during the anthems before the kick-off of the match in Berlin.

European tour

Germany	3–6	England
Rudi Gellesch, Jupp Gauchel, Hans Pesser		Jackie Robinson 2, Cliff Bastin, Frank Broome, Stanley Matthews, Len Goulden

14 May 1938

Olympiastadion, Berlin

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Switzerland	2–1	England
André Abegglen, Georges Aeby		Cliff Bastin (P)

21 May 1938

Hardturm, Zürich

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France	2–4	England
Auguste Jordan, Jean Nicolas		Ted Drake 2, Frank Broome, Cliff Bastin (P)

26 May 1938

Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir, Paris

References

1. "Worst title defences". Talksport. Archived from the original on 31 December 2016. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
2. "The craziest season in English football – when the champions went down, and 'Lucky Arsenal' annoyed the nation". FourFourTwo. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
3. "English League Leading Goalscorers". RSSSF. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
4. "English League Leading Goalscorers". RSSSF. Retrieved 30 August 2017.