THE BIRTH OF LEAGUE FOOTBALL

Football was "officially" launched in 1872, with the FA Cup being the only national competition in England and Wales at the time. The original English Football League was made up from 12 founding members in 1888–89: Accrington, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Everton, Preston NE, Aston Villa, Derby County, Notts County, Stoke City, West Bromwich and Woverhampton Wanderers.

Preston won it comfortably. The lack of Southern clubs, at the time, was mainly due to them not wanting to upset the Football Association, which was "in charge" of football in the country at the time, by adopting professionalism. 

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts
1	Preston North End	22	18	4	0	74	15	4.93	40
2	Aston Villa	22	12	5	5	61	43	1.41	29
3	Wolverhampton Wanderers	22	12	4	6	50	37	1.35	28
4	Blackburn Rovers	22	10	6	6	66	45	1.46	26
5	Bolton Wanderers	22	10	2	10	63	59	1.06	22
6	West Bromwich Albion	22	10	2	10	40	46	0.87	22
7	Accrington	22	6	8	8	48	48	1.00	20
8	Everton	22	9	2	11	35	46	0.76	20
9	Burnley	22	7	3	12	42	62	0.67	17
10	Derby County	22	7	2	13	41	61	0.67	16
11	Notts County	22	5	2	15	40	73	0.54	12
12	Stoke	22	4	4	14	26	51	0.51	12

Source: World Football

Three of these "founding" teams, Blackburn Rovers, Everton and Aston Villa, also played in the first Premier League season in 1992-3, but Notts County missed out, finishing in the "first" division's relegation zone in 1991–92.

A Second Division was added four years later for the 1892–93 season, resulting in the existing Football League becoming the F.L. Division One, the top division for the next one hundred years. Later, the Southern League became Division 3 in 1920.  The following year, a Northern League was created becoming Division Three North, running parallel with Division Three South. 

In 1958 the regional divisions combined to form Divisions Three and Four. The top 12 sides from the Northern and Southern divisions formed league Division 3. The bottom 12 of each division joined to form league Division 4.

The 14th June 1947, heralded the latest ever finish to a League season, until Covid came along. On that day, in one of the seven final-day League matches, Stoke needed a win to pip Liverpool for the League title but they lost 2-1 at Sheffield United. After a tight title race involving several clubs in the First Division, Liverpool won their fifth league title, finishing one point ahead of their nearest rivals Manchester United (who won two league titles before the World War 1) and Wolverhampton Wanderers (who had yet to win a First Division title). Stoke City and Blackpool (both teams associated with legendry, Stanley Matthews), completed the top five.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts	Relegation
1	Liverpool (C)	42	25	7	10	84	52	1.615	57
2	Manchester United	42	22	12	8	95	54	1.759	56
3	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	25	6	11	98	56	1.750	56
4	Stoke City	42	24	7	11	90	53	1.698	55
5	Blackpool	42	22	6	14	71	70	1.014	50
6	Sheffield United	42	21	7	14	89	75	1.187	49
7	Preston North End	42	18	11	13	76	74	1.027	47
8	Aston Villa	42	18	9	15	67	53	1.264	45
9	Sunderland	42	18	8	16	65	66	0.985	44
10	Everton	42	17	9	16	62	67	0.925	43
11	Middlesbrough	42	17	8	17	73	68	1.074	42
12	Portsmouth	42	16	9	17	66	60	1.100	41
13	Arsenal	42	16	9	17	72	70	1.029	41
14	Derby County	42	18	5	19	73	79	0.924	41
15	Chelsea	42	16	7	19	69	84	0.821	39
16	Grimsby Town	42	13	12	17	61	82	0.744	38
17	Blackburn Rovers	42	14	8	20	45	53	0.849	36
18	Bolton Wanderers	42	13	8	21	57	69	0.826	34
19	Charlton Athletic	42	11	12	19	57	71	0.803	34
20	Huddersfield Town	42	13	7	22	53	79	0.671	33
21	Brentford (R)	42	9	7	26	45	88	0.511	25	Relegation to the Second Division
22	Leeds United (R)	42	6	6	30	45	90	0.500	18

Leeds United were easily relegated in bottom place after just six wins all season and joined, not far behind, by Brentford FC, who failed to match their promising pre-war form, and they would not return to the top flight until 2021.

(worth checking out how many Premier League clubs were in that "top division").