In my previous articles I have been buildng up the case that Arsenal’s greatest achievement was to survive in Plumstead, south London, for the simple reason that there were no other clubs around them.
This didn’t mean that Woolwich Arsenal couldn’t play local derbies – although that was a fact in terms of playing legue clubs – but it was the case that for every away match, Arsenal were invovled in a really long and difficult journey across the nation, including at least one change of train each way – sometimes more. There were no London derbies – all away games meant long and complex train journies to the midlands or the north.
1895/6
Now in the previious seasons I have covered (see the links at the top) we noted that Arsenal established themselves as a solid mid-table club in the second divsiion, and this was something particularly to note, since each year clubs joined the second division, and each year clubs vanished into nothingness or at least into a local league. Yet Arsenal, who in terms of distance from the rest of the league had everything against them, continued year on year.
Indeed it was not unknown for the bottom three clubs all resigned from the league at the end, something that seemed to be a regular feature of this league. So regular in fact that it seems incredible now, over a century later, that the league managed to continue at all. All one can concliude was that the owners of the club thought local fans would find it fascinating to see clubs from a far away distant part of the kingdom. But that never really seemed to be the case.
But still, I thought it would be interesting to see just how many of the clubs in 1895/6 were doing what Arsenal were doing – carrying on in their regular league – the second division. Here is the second divsion table for 1895/6
Team
Pld
W
D
L
F
A
Pts
1894/5
1
Liverpool
30
22
2
6
106
32
46
Relegated
2
Manchester City
30
21
4
5
63
38
46
9th
3
Grimsby Town
30
20
2
8
82
38
42
5th
4
Burton Wanderers
30
19
4
7
69
40
42
10th D1
5
Newcastle United
30
16
2
12
73
50
34
10th
6
Newton Heath
30
15
3
12
66
57
33
3rd
7
Woolwich Arsenal
30
14
4
12
58
42
32
8th
8
Leicester Fosse
30
14
4
12
57
44
32
4th
9
Darwen
30
12
6
12
72
67
30
6th
10
Notts County
30
12
2
16
57
54
26
2nd
11
Burton Swifts
30
10
4
16
39
69
24
7th
12
Loughborough
30
9
5
16
40
66
23
NEW
13
Lincoln City
30
9
4
17
53
75
22
13th R
14
Burslem Port Vale (R)
30
7
4
19
43
78
18
15th
15
Rotherham Town
30
7
3
20
34
97
17
12th
16
Crewe Alexandra (R)
30
5
3
22
30
95
13
16th
R = applied for re-electin and were re-elected.
During the first five seasons of the league the re-election process had concerned the clubs which finished in the bottom four of the league, but as of the 1894–95 season the re-election requirement was reduced to the last three clubs in Division Two.
However, as Lincoln City (fourth from last) and Walsall Town Swifts (third from last) both finished with 20 points, they were both subjected to the re-election process, and Walsall eventually resigned from the league.
Looking behind the scenes it would appear that a number of clubs were struggling to make ends meet financially in the second division. And we might also note that thus far, Woolwich Arsenal had not done anythnig in the second divsion which might suggest that ultimately the league might think them suitable candidates to be given a place in an expanded 1st divsion after the first world war..