# 1907–08 in English football

The 1907–08 season was the 37th season of competitive football in England. Manchester United were Football League champions for the first time, while Bradford City won the Second Division and Wolverhampton Wanderers won the FA Cup. The Home Championship was shared between England and Scotland.

## FA Cup

Wolverhampton Wanderers won the FA Cup for the second time, beating Newcastle United 3–1 in the final.

## Football League

Fulham and Oldham Athletic replaced Burslem Port Vale and Burton United in the Football League.

### First Division

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts | Relegation |
| 1 | Manchester United (C) | 38 | 23 | 6 | 9 | 81 | 48 | 1.688 | 52 | |
| 2 | Aston Villa | 38 | 17 | 9 | 12 | 77 | 59 | 1.305 | 43 | |
| 3 | Manchester City | 38 | 16 | 11 | 11 | 62 | 54 | 1.148 | 43 | |
| 4 | Newcastle United | 38 | 15 | 12 | 11 | 65 | 54 | 1.204 | 42 | |
| 5 | The Wednesday | 38 | 19 | 4 | 15 | 73 | 64 | 1.141 | 42 | |
| 6 | Middlesbrough | 38 | 17 | 7 | 14 | 54 | 45 | 1.200 | 41 | |
| 7 | Bury | 38 | 14 | 11 | 13 | 58 | 61 | 0.951 | 39 | |
| 8 | Liverpool | 38 | 16 | 6 | 16 | 68 | 61 | 1.115 | 38 | |
| 9 | Nottingham Forest | 38 | 13 | 11 | 14 | 59 | 62 | 0.952 | 37 | |
| 10 | Bristol City | 38 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 58 | 61 | 0.951 | 36 | |
| 11 | Everton | 38 | 15 | 6 | 17 | 58 | 64 | 0.906 | 36 | |
| 12 | Preston North End | 38 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 47 | 53 | 0.887 | 36 | |
| 13 | Chelsea | 38 | 14 | 8 | 16 | 53 | 62 | 0.855 | 36 | |
| 14 | Blackburn Rovers | 38 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 51 | 63 | 0.810 | 36 | |
| 15 | Woolwich Arsenal | 38 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 51 | 63 | 0.810 | 36 | |
| 16 | Sunderland | 38 | 16 | 3 | 19 | 78 | 75 | 1.040 | 35 | |
| 17 | Sheffield United | 38 | 12 | 11 | 15 | 52 | 58 | 0.897 | 35 | |
| 18 | Notts County | 38 | 13 | 8 | 17 | 39 | 51 | 0.765 | 34 | |
| 19 | Bolton Wanderers (R) | 38 | 14 | 5 | 19 | 52 | 58 | 0.897 | 33 | Relegation to the Second Division |
| 20 | Birmingham (R) | 38 | 9 | 12 | 17 | 40 | 60 | 0.667 | 30 | Relegation to the Second Division |

### Second Division

| Pos | Team v t e | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Bradford City | 38 | 24 | 6 | 8 | 90 | 42 | 2.143 | 54 | Division champions |
| 2 | Leicester Fosse | 38 | 21 | 10 | 7 | 72 | 47 | 1.532 | 52 | Promoted |
| 3 | Oldham Athletic | 38 | 22 | 6 | 10 | 76 | 42 | 1.810 | 50 | |
| 4 | Fulham | 38 | 22 | 5 | 11 | 82 | 49 | 1.673 | 49 | |
| 5 | West Bromwich Albion | 38 | 19 | 9 | 10 | 61 | 39 | 1.564 | 47 | |
| 6 | Derby County | 38 | 21 | 4 | 13 | 77 | 45 | 1.711 | 46 | |
| 7 | Burnley | 38 | 20 | 6 | 12 | 67 | 50 | 1.340 | 46 | |
| 8 | Hull City | 38 | 21 | 4 | 13 | 73 | 62 | 1.177 | 46 | |
| 9 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 38 | 15 | 7 | 16 | 50 | 45 | 1.111 | 37 | FA Cup Winners |
| 10 | Stoke | 38 | 16 | 5 | 17 | 57 | 52 | 1.096 | 37 | Resigned |
| 11 | Gainsborough Trinity | 38 | 14 | 7 | 17 | 47 | 71 | 0.662 | 35 | |
| 12 | Leeds City | 38 | 12 | 8 | 18 | 53 | 65 | 0.815 | 32 | |
| 13 | Stockport County | 38 | 12 | 8 | 18 | 48 | 67 | 0.716 | 32 | |
| 14 | Clapton Orient | 38 | 11 | 10 | 17 | 40 | 65 | 0.615 | 32 | |
| 15 | Blackpool | 38 | 11 | 9 | 18 | 51 | 58 | 0.879 | 31 | |
| 16 | Barnsley | 38 | 12 | 6 | 20 | 54 | 68 | 0.794 | 30 | |
| 17 | Glossop | 38 | 11 | 8 | 19 | 54 | 74 | 0.730 | 30 | |
| 18 | Grimsby Town | 38 | 11 | 8 | 19 | 43 | 71 | 0.606 | 30 | Re-elected |
| 19 | Chesterfield Town | 38 | 6 | 11 | 21 | 46 | 92 | 0.500 | 23 | Re-elected |
| 20 | Lincoln City | 38 | 9 | 3 | 26 | 46 | 83 | 0.554 | 21 | Failed re-election |
* 1 2 New club in the league
* ↑ Stoke resigned from the Football League due to financial difficulties. Bradford Park Avenue and Tottenham Hotspur took the available places in the league the following season.

## National team

The England national football team were joint winners in the 1908 British Home Championship. England and Scotland shared the trophy, having each beaten Wales and Ireland in their opening matches before drawing 1–1 with each other in the final game.
England began the strongest side, although all four teams played well in their opening games, both Ireland and Wales running their opponents close. In the second matches however, England and Scotland's quality told, as England beat Wales 7–1 in Wrexham and Ireland succumbed 5–0 in Dublin.
England followed this tournament by becoming the first Home Nation to play a non-British nation with a tour of Central Europe, playing against Austria twice Hungary and Bohemia. In October the England amateur team followed this by winning gold in the football tournament at the 1908 Olympics, held in London.

### European tour

England undertook their first matches against opposition outside the Home Nations, with a summer tour of four games against Central European opposition.

#### Players

The players chosen for the tour were:
| Name | Position | Club | Appearances | Goals |
| Horace Bailey | GK | Leicester Fosse | 4 | 0 |
| Frank Bradshaw | CF | Sheffield Wednesday | 1 | 3 |
| Arthur Bridgett | LW | Sunderland | 4 | 2 |
| Walter Corbett | CB | Birmingham City | 3 | 0 |
| Bob Crompton | RB | Blackburn Rovers | 4 | 0 |
| Robert Hawkes | LH | Luton Town | 4 | 0 |
| George Hilsdon | CF | Chelsea | 3 | 8 |
| Jesse Pennington | LB | West Bromwich Albion | 1 | 0 |
| Jock Rutherford | RW | Newcastle United | 4 | 3 |
| Ben Warren | RH | Derby County | 4 | 1 |
| Billy Wedlock | CH | Bristol City | 4 | 0 |
| Jimmy Windridge | FW | Chelsea | 4 | 5 |
| Vivian Woodward | FW | Tottenham Hotspur | 4 | 6 |
Key
* GK — Goalkeeper
* RB — Right back
* LB — Left back
* CB — Centre back
* CH — Centre half
* LH — Left half
* RH — Right half
* RW — Right winger
* LW — Left winger
* FW — Forward
* CF — Centre forward

#### Match details
## Footnotes

* ↑ New world record attendance.
* ↑ Captain