Post by Deleted on Dec 22, 2008 9:50:21 GMT
The thread about how football has changed – for better or worse – made me search out the league tables for fifty years ago, season 1958/59. This comes in three parts: the Football League (and Scottish League) followed by Non-League north and south.
The Football League
The most striking thing is the lack of structural change: four divisions, 92 clubs in total. By my reckoning 81 of the 92 clubs are still there. Naturally some are playing in rather different divisions than now.
Torquay United are there - slap in the middle of the brand new Division Four.
The biggest change, of course, is that the top division is now run separately to the other three and only has 20 clubs.
Scottish League and reserve leagues
Scotland still had a two-league system of decent-sized divisions (which continued until the 1970s). Half-a-dozen extra clubs have joined over the years but only one has left: Third Lanark, a descendant of one the 19th century regimental teams (Third Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers).
The big reserve leagues – Football Combination in the south; Central League in the north – remained pretty much unchanged until the Premier League’s reserve league was established. The old leagues still exist, for Football League clubs and a few from the BSP, buried under sponsored names.
Tables come from this little gem:
The Football League
The most striking thing is the lack of structural change: four divisions, 92 clubs in total. By my reckoning 81 of the 92 clubs are still there. Naturally some are playing in rather different divisions than now.
Torquay United are there - slap in the middle of the brand new Division Four.
The biggest change, of course, is that the top division is now run separately to the other three and only has 20 clubs.
Scottish League and reserve leagues
Scotland still had a two-league system of decent-sized divisions (which continued until the 1970s). Half-a-dozen extra clubs have joined over the years but only one has left: Third Lanark, a descendant of one the 19th century regimental teams (Third Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers).
The big reserve leagues – Football Combination in the south; Central League in the north – remained pretty much unchanged until the Premier League’s reserve league was established. The old leagues still exist, for Football League clubs and a few from the BSP, buried under sponsored names.
Tables come from this little gem:
