The 1919–20 season was the 28th season of The Football League, and the first season after football was suspended after outbreak of World War I In 1919, the First Division was extended from 20 to 22 clubs. During previous expansions, the relegated clubs from the previous season were re-elected, while the top Second Division sides were promoted as usual. Therefore, Derby and Preston, the two top Second Division sides in 1915 did move on up. Chelsea, who had finished 19th that season, were, as expected, re-elected. Discussion of how the expansion should be handled began on 13 January 1919 when James Catton published an article in Athletic News raising the issue of match fixing which had dogged the 1914/15 League season and been left unresolved because of the cessation of the League for the duration of the war. In the article Catton argued one of the two teams that ought to be returned to the first division, should be Chelsea as they had been relegated due to the match fixing. Catton then considered the argument that Tottenham, who had also been relegated with Chelsea should likewise be reinstated, although he noted there was nothing to link Tottenham’s relegation with anything amiss in the final season before the cessation of the League for the duration. In 1915, Manchester United had, to avoid relegation, fixed their last game against Liverpool. They won 2–0 and sent Chelsea into the relegation places instead, but the new league president and former Liverpool chairman John McKenna must have felt some guilt, because at the League's AGM in 1919 he gave a speech insisting on the continued presence in the top flight of the Stamford Bridge club. More controversially though, Tottenham Hotspur - who came 20th in 1915 - were not re-elected and arch-rivals Arsenal, who had finished fifth in the Second Division had their promotion engineered by Sir Henry Norris. It has been alleged that Norris bribed or in some way unduly influenced the voting members of the Football League, in particular McKenna at the League's AGM. McKenna made a speech recommending Arsenal's promotion ahead of Spurs thanks to the former's longer spell in the League, although Barnsley and Wolves, who both finished ahead of Arsenal, had been members of the league longer than Arsenal; Wolves since its inception in 1888. Arsenal have never been relegated from the top flight of the English game since. In the Second Division, Port Vale took over from Leeds City after 4 October 1919, when Leeds were disbanded by F.A. order following alleged irregular practices. Port Vale then inherited Leeds’ record up to that date. After the season, Grimsby Town were relegated to the newly formed Third Division. Lincoln City was not re-elected to Second Division and Leeds United was elected to replace it. Cardiff City were elected to take the second available place in Second Division.
The tables and results below are reproduced here in the exact form that they can be found at website and in Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79, with home and away statistics separated. Beginning with the season 1894–95, clubs finishing level on points were separated according to goal average, or more properly put, goal ratio. In case one or more teams had the same goal difference, this system favoured those teams who had scored fewer goals. The goal average system was eventually scrapped beginning with the 1976–77 season. Since the goal average was used for this purpose for such a long time, it is presented in the tables below even for the seasons prior to 1894–95, and since the goal difference is a more informative piece of information for a modern reader than the goal average, the goal difference is added in this presentation after the goal average. During the first five seasons of the league, that is, until the season 1893–94, re-election process concerned the clubs which finished in the bottom four of the league. From the 1894–95 season and until the 1920–21 season the re-election process was required of the clubs which finished in the bottom three of the league.
