Football Alliance

Football Alliance
Founded	1889
Folded	1892
Country	England
Number of teams	12

The Football Alliance was an association football league in England which ran for three seasons, from 1889–90 to 1891–92.

History[]

In 1888, the same year the Football League was founded, The Combination was established by clubs who had been excluded from the Football League, initiated by Crewe Alexandra secretary J. G. Hall, and announced at the Royal Hotel in Crewe. However, while the Football League quickly proved a success, the Combination lacked central organisation, with poor planning and unfulfilled fixtures, and failed to complete its first season, finishing in April 1889 without a winner.^[1]^[2]

Several of The Combination founders, with others, then established the 12-strong Football Alliance, to begin in the 1889–90 season. The Alliance covered a similar area to the League, stretching from the English Midlands to the North West, but also further east in Sheffield, Grimsby and Sunderland. The president of the Football Alliance was John Holmes, also the president of The Wednesday who were the first champions winning fifteen games out of twenty-two.

At the end of the Alliance's first season, when Stoke dropped out of the Football League to be replaced by Sunderland, the Alliance accepted them as a new member. The following year, Stoke and Darwen, another Alliance club, were accepted into the Football League, taking its membership to 14 clubs.

In 1892 it was decided to merge the two leagues, and so the Football League Second Division was formed, consisting mostly of Football Alliance clubs. The existing League clubs, plus three of the strongest Alliance clubs, comprised the Football League First Division.

Member clubs[]

Club	Admitted	Resigned
Ardwick	1891	1892²
Birmingham St George's	1889	1892
Bootle	1889	1892²
Burton Swifts	1891	1892²
Crewe Alexandra	1889	1892²
Darwen	1889	1891¹
Grimsby Town	1889	1892²
Lincoln City	1891	1892²
Long Eaton Rangers	1889	1890
Newton Heath	1889	1892¹
Nottingham Forest	1889	1892¹
Small Heath	1889	1892²
Stoke	1890	1891¹
Sunderland Albion	1889	1891
The Wednesday	1889	1892¹
Walsall Town Swifts	1889	1892²

Notes

¹ Elected to Football League First Division
² Elected to Football League Second Division

Football Alliance champions[]

Season	Winners
1889–90	The Wednesday
1890–91	Stoke
1891–92	Nottingham Forest

References[]

^ Whittle, Paul (4 April 2020). "The Football Alliance: Teams Who Didn't Make the League". THE 1888 LETTER: Football Then And Now. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
^ Shury, Alan; Brian Landamore (2005) [2002]. "History of Newton Heath F.C.". The Definitive Newton Heath F.C. 'Definitive' Club Histories. with Allen Kristensen and Tony Brown (2nd ed.). Nottingham: SoccerData. p. 11. ISBN 1-899468-16-1.

[Whittle-1] Whittle, Paul (4 April 2020). "The Football Alliance: Teams Who Didn't Make the League". THE 1888 LETTER: Football Then And Now. Retrieved 30 November 2021.

[2] Shury, Alan; Brian Landamore (2005) [2002]. "History of Newton Heath F.C.". The Definitive Newton Heath F.C. 'Definitive' Club Histories. with Allen Kristensen and Tony Brown (2nd ed.). Nottingham: SoccerData. p. 11. ISBN 1-899468-16-1.

[1]

[2]

v t Second level English football league seasons
Football League Second Division	1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92
Football League First Division	1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04
Football League Championship	2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16
EFL Championship	2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22
See also	Football Alliance
List of champions