John Russell recalls a time when Villa had to seek re-election.
These days you have to finish bottom of the fourth division, or whatever they now like to call it, to get thrown out of the Football League but it is not generally realised how close Villa came to being thrown out right at the very beginning. Probably the one thing that saved us at the time was that our man, William McGregor, had devised the whole shooting match and no-one had the courage to tell him he had got it wrong.
From the very beginning he had doubts as to which clubs should constitute his vision of a biblical-like twelve. Nottingham Forest had a better claim than Notts County but distance from the city railway station was the deciding factor. Should a Sheffield club be included and, what about Sunderland? What indeed about Sunderland? As usual, money decided.
Possibly to help solve the long-term dilemma it was stipulated that the clubs finishing ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelve each season should have to be re-elected by the eight clubs finishing above them. The idea of the league was an instant success and even before it got started properly soon there was an imitator in the shape of the Football Alliance and others already falling over themselves backwards to get in the big league.
Despite finishing a distant second behind champions in season one, Preston North End, there is no way that McGregor could have imagined the fate that was to befall Villa in season two. We could only finish level on points with Bolton Wanderers. It had already been decided that goal average should be the final arbiter. Bolton were deemed slightly better (it would still be the narrowest of all time) so were placed eighth, leaving Villa to be tossed aside to the mercy of the lions in the top eight. Surely you can’t throw us out, screamed our man, and after much soul-searching Villa and Bolton were deemed joint ninth and only the bottom three had to be re-elected.
The true irony of this situation is that it was then discovered that the committee had been using unreliable results from newspapers and not the referees’ reports so that actually Villa had the better goal average which is why we are always shown as finishing eighth.
When it came to the vote Stoke (not yet City) were made the fall guys and Sunderland, top of the rival league were elected in their place. Except that Sunderland were required to pay the additional travelling expenses caused by the extra distances every club would now have to face. Unfortunately the secretary of the Football League, Lockett, came from Stoke and it took a further bit of jiggery-pokery behind the scenes to not only save him from instant redundancy but to award him a bonus. So nothing new there then.
Having survived by the skin of our teeth in season two things got worse in season three and finishing ninth left no doubt that we were at the mercy of the top eight. Everton, Preston North End, Notts County, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Bolton Wanderers, Blackburn Rovers, Sunderland and Burnley.
After the fiasco over the secretary obviously nobody was going to want to tell league chairman McGregor that he and his club were now persona non grata and all eight voted for us to remain. Except the voting became somewhat irrelevant as in the face of continued competition from the Alliance it was decided to extend the league to fourteen clubs.
By way of apology to Stoke and the League secretary they got the nod. So too did Darwen. Even today it is impossible to make out a reason why they chose Darwen. After their one season at the circus they fufiled all expectations by being awarded the mythical wooden spoon on the way out of the tent.
At the same time it was voted on to extend the league to sixteen teams. Enter Newton Heath (Manchester United) and welcome back Accrington. Meanwhile Sunderland had justified their inclusion by winning the league three seasons out of four. Interrupted by our first triumph and followed by our second and third in successive seasons so we actually equalled their achievement and the rest as they say, is history.
