Historic league table generator

Choose any day in Football League or Premier League history to see the league table as it stood at the end of that day's play.

Dates after the end of a season will return the end of season table for the most recently completed season.

League & table info

Enter year only for end of season table.

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League Two table after close of play on 11 April 2009

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
Brentford 41 19 16 6 55 32 23 73
Wycombe Wanderers 41 18 17 6 48 29 19 71
Bury 42 19 13 10 57 41 16 70
Exeter City 42 19 12 11 60 48 12 69
Rochdale 42 19 11 12 68 54 14 68
Gillingham 42 18 11 13 54 54 0 65
Chesterfield 42 16 14 12 62 53 9 62
Shrewsbury Town 42 15 16 11 56 41 15 61
Bradford City 42 16 12 14 60 51 9 60
Dagenham and Redbridge 41 16 11 14 66 48 18 59
Lincoln City 42 14 15 13 52 48 4 57
Morecambe 41 13 17 11 47 47 0 56
Darlington 42 18 11 13 54 38 16 55
Rotherham United 41 20 11 10 56 38 18 54
Aldershot Town 42 13 10 19 54 74 -20 49
Accrington Stanley 42 12 11 19 41 54 -13 47
Barnet 42 11 13 18 52 68 -16 46
Notts County 42 10 14 18 47 62 -15 44
Port Vale 42 12 7 23 41 61 -20 43
Macclesfield Town 42 12 7 23 43 72 -29 43
AFC Bournemouth 42 14 12 16 51 49 2 37
Grimsby Town 42 7 13 22 45 67 -22 34
Chester City 42 7 12 23 39 75 -36 33
Luton Town 41 13 14 14 56 60 -4 23
04 Jun 2008     Luton Town were subjected to a ten point deduction by the Football Association on 4 June 2008 having been found guilty of paying agents via a third party.
10 Jul 2008     Having already been deducted ten points by the Football Association, Luton Town were subjected to a further twenty point deduction by the Football League on 10 July 2008 having failed to satisfy insolvency rules.
06 Aug 2008     Rotherham United were subjected to a 17-point Sporting Sanction by the Football League on 6 August 2008 due to being unable to satisfy the conditions of the League's insolvency policy for exiting administration.
07 Aug 2008     AFC Bournemouth were subjected to a 17-point Sporting Sanction by the Football League on 7 August 2008 due to being unable to satisfy the conditions of the League's insolvency policy for exiting administration.
25 Feb 2009     Darlington were subjected to a ten point Sporting Sanction by the Football League on 25 February 2009 due to entering Administration.
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League table information

Historical variations in league table calculations, and treatment in the 11v11 league table generator.

Historic varations at a glance

Points for a win

Until 1981 English Football Association (FA) leagues awarded 2 points for a win.

Starting with the 1981-82 season, 3 points were awarded to encourage more competitive play.

Discriminating point ties

Teams tied on points are disciminated by goal difference or goal average (depending on FA rules in force at the time), then by goals scored.

Goal average

From seasons 1896-97 to 1995-96, FA leagues used goal average (GAve) to resolve point ties.

Goal "average" (actually a ratio, not an average) is the result of dividing goals for by goals against (GF/GA) to three decimal places.

Goal average and zeros

Where GF > 0 and GA = 0 then GAve = infinity (∞), which (perhaps anomalously) gives a team with 10 goals for and 1 against a worse GAve (10/1 = 10) than a team with 1 for and 0 against (1/0 = ∞).

When GF = 0 and GA > 0, mathematically the value of GF/GA is undefined.

When GF = 0 GA = 0, mathematically the value of GF/GA is indeterminate.

11v11 treatment of zeros in goal average calculations

It is unclear how the Football Leagues treated division of or by 0.

For pragmatic reasons, and in the absence of additional information, 11v11 assumes:

  • When GF = 0 and GA > 0, GAve = -GA (favours teams who have conceded fewer goals)
  • When GF = 0 and GA = 0, GAve = 1 (consistent with GF = n and GA = n)

Additionally:

  • When GF > 0 and GA = 0, GAve of ∞ is represented as 100 (cannot sort on ∞)

Goal difference

Goal difference (GD) is the difference between goals scored and conceded (GF-GA), and replaced goal average in FA leagues starting with the 1976-77 season.

When teams remain tied

For some leagues, if ties are not resolved according to the rules in place at the time, relative position is calculated by considering only those matches the tied teams played against each other, applying the same rules to resolve ties. Effectively these matches are treated as a sort of "mini-league".

Alternatively position may be assigned alphabetically by team name.

Playoffs

League playoffs were introduced for the 1987 season.

For the first 2 seasons they were played between teams in adjacent leagues, but from the 1989 season they were played within each league.

Additional information

Resolving points ties prior to 1896-97

There is some uncertainly regarding how points ties were resolved prior to the 1896-97 season. It may have been goal average, or possibly this situation had not previously arisen.

The 11v11 league table generator uses GAve + GF in the absence of any definitive information to the contrary. [if was never an issue, this not needed]

Calculating position before the league ends using goal average

Using goal average makes tie resolution almost impossible for early-season tables.

This is because teams are most likely to tie when only a few games have been played, but will not usually have played the teams they tie with at that stage in the season, making it impossible to use their mutual encounters to resovle the tie.

It is noteworthy that until SSSS league tables were not published until a few weeks into the season, presumably to avoid the problems of resolving early-season points + GAve + GF ties when so few points or goals had been scored.

Users should note these points so that they are able to interpret early- and mid-season tables appropriately.

Historic league details at a glance

League Seasons Win points Tie resolution Playoffs
Premier League 1993 on 3 GD + GF + team name
League Championship 2005 on 3 GD + GF + team name LC
League One 2005 on 3 GD + GF + team name L1
League Two 2005 on 3 GD + GF + team name L2
League Division 1 1993-2004 3 GD + GF + team name LD1
League Division 2 1993-2004 3 GD + GF + team name LD2
League Division 3 1993-2004 3 GD + GF + team name LD3
League Division One 1889-1976 2 GAve + GF, then mini-league
1977-1981 2 GD + GF + team name
1982-1986 3 GD + GF + team name
1987-1988 3 GD + GF + team name LDs One & Two
1989-1992 3 GD + GF + team name
League Division Two 1893-1976 2 GAve + GF, then mini-league
1977-1981 2 GD + GF + team name
1982-1986 3 GD + GF + team name
1987-1988 3 GD + GF + team name LDs One & Two
1989-1992 3 GD + GF + team name LD Two
League Division Three 1959-1976 2 GAve + GF, then mini-league
1977-1981 2 GD + GF + team name
1982-1986 3 GD + GF + team name
1987-1988 3 GD + GF + team name LDs Two & Three
1989-1992 3 GD + GF + team name LD Three
League Division Four 1959-1976 2 GAve + GF, then mini-league
1977-1981 2 GD + GF + team name
1982-1986 3 GD + GF + team name
1987-1988 3 GD + GF + team name LDs Three & Four
1989-1992 3 GD + GF + team name LD Four
Division Three (North) 1922-1958 2 GAve + GF, then mini-league
Division Three (South) 1921-1958 2 GAve + GF, then mini-league
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