1958–59 in English football

The 1958–59 season was the 79th season of competitive football in England.

Diary of the season

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August 1958: The Football League season begins with the new national Third and Fourth divisions that have been created from the old Third Division North and Third Division South.

30 August 1958: The Football Association snub Manchester United's wish to participate in the 1958–59 European Cup.^[1]

September 1958: Manchester United pay a national record fee of £45,000 for Sheffield Wednesday inside-forward Albert Quixall.^[2]

12 November 1958: Wolverhampton Wanderers play their first European Cup game, drawing 2–2 at home to Schalke 04 in the first round first leg.

18 November 1958: Wolverhampton Wanderers lose 2–1 to Schalke 04 in the European Cup first round second leg in West Germany, ending their hopes of being the first team other than Real Madrid (winners of the first three competitions) to win the European Cup.

15 January 1959: Second Division Liverpool suffer a shock FA Cup third round exit when they lose 2-1 to non league Worcester City.^[3]

2 May 1959: Nottingham Forest defeat Luton Town 2–1 in the FA Cup final.

Notable debutants

8 September 1958: Bobby Moore, 17-year-old centre-half, makes his debut for West Ham United against Manchester United in the First Division.^[4]

Notable retirements

May 1959: Billy Wright, 35, Wolverhampton Wanderers and England captain, after more than 500 appearances for his club and a record 105 for his country.^[5]

June 1959: Jackie Blanchflower, 26, Manchester United and Northern Ireland centre-half, who announced his retirement as a player after failing to recover sufficiently from injuries sustained in the Munich air disaster 16 months earlier.^[6]

Awards

Football Writers' Association

Footballer of the Year – Syd Owen (Luton Town)

Top goalscorer

Jimmy Greaves, (Chelsea), 33

Honours

Competition	Winner	Runner-up
First Division	Wolverhampton Wanderers (3)	Manchester United
Second Division	Sheffield Wednesday	Fulham
Third Division	Plymouth Argyle	Hull City
Fourth Division	Port Vale	Coventry City
FA Cup	Nottingham Forest (2)	Luton Town
Charity Shield	Bolton Wanderers	Wolverhampton Wanderers
Home Championship	Shared by England & Northern Ireland

Notes = Number in parentheses is the times that club has won that honour. * indicates new record for competition

League table

First Division

In the last season of captain Billy Wright's playing career, Wolves retained their First Division title - the third time they had been league champions in six seasons. There was every reason to hope for continued success in the post-Wright era, though, with younger players like Barry Stobart and Peter Broadbent excelling in the team. Manchester United enjoyed a good return in the season following the Munich tragedy, as new signings and younger players integrated with crash survivors to achieve runners-up spot in the league. Arsenal, Bolton Wanderers and West Bromwich Albion completed the top five, while newly promoted West Ham United recorded their highest league finish yet by finishing sixth.

Portsmouth and Aston Villa finished the season relegated.

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	28	5	9	110	49	2.244	61
2	Manchester United	42	24	7	11	103	66	1.560	55
3	Arsenal	42	21	8	13	88	68	1.294	50
4	Bolton Wanderers	42	20	10	12	79	66	1.197	50
5	West Bromwich Albion	42	18	13	11	88	68	1.294	49
6	West Ham United	42	21	6	15	85	70	1.214	48
7	Burnley	42	19	10	13	81	70	1.157	48
8	Blackpool	42	18	11	13	66	49	1.347	47
9	Birmingham City	42	20	6	16	84	68	1.235	46
10	Blackburn Rovers	42	17	10	15	76	70	1.086	44
11	Newcastle United	42	17	7	18	80	80	1.000	41
12	Preston North End	42	17	7	18	70	77	0.909	41
13	Nottingham Forest	42	17	6	19	71	74	0.959	40
14	Chelsea	42	18	4	20	77	98	0.786	40
15	Leeds United	42	15	9	18	57	74	0.770	39
16	Everton	42	17	4	21	71	87	0.816	38
17	Luton Town	42	12	13	17	68	71	0.958	37
18	Tottenham Hotspur	42	13	10	19	85	95	0.895	36
19	Leicester City	42	11	10	21	67	98	0.684	32
20	Manchester City	42	11	9	22	64	95	0.674	31
21	Aston Villa	42	11	8	23	58	87	0.667	30
22	Portsmouth	42	6	9	27	64	112	0.571	21

Second Division

Sheffield Wednesday sealed an immediate return to the First Division as Second Division champions, being joined by runners-up Fulham.

Barnsley and Grimsby Town slipped into the Third Division.

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Sheffield Wednesday	42	28	6	8	106	48	2.208	62
2	Fulham	42	27	6	9	96	61	1.574	60
3	Sheffield United	42	23	7	12	82	48	1.708	53
4	Liverpool	42	24	5	13	87	62	1.403	53
5	Stoke City	42	21	7	14	72	58	1.241	49
6	Bristol Rovers	42	18	12	12	80	64	1.250	48
7	Derby County	42	20	8	14	74	71	1.042	48
8	Charlton Athletic	42	18	7	17	92	90	1.022	43
9	Cardiff City	42	18	7	17	65	65	1.000	43
10	Bristol City	42	17	7	18	74	70	1.057	41
11	Swansea Town	42	16	9	17	79	81	0.975	41
12	Brighton & Hove Albion	42	15	11	16	74	90	0.822	41
13	Middlesbrough	42	15	10	17	87	71	1.225	40
14	Huddersfield Town	42	16	8	18	62	55	1.127	40
15	Sunderland	42	16	8	18	64	75	0.853	40
16	Ipswich Town	42	17	6	19	62	77	0.805	40
17	Leyton Orient	42	14	8	20	71	78	0.910	36
18	Scunthorpe United	42	12	9	21	55	84	0.655	33
19	Lincoln City	42	11	7	24	63	93	0.677	29
20	Rotherham United	42	10	9	23	42	82	0.512	29
21	Grimsby Town	42	9	10	23	62	90	0.689	28
22	Barnsley	42	10	7	25	55	91	0.604	27

Third Division

Plymouth Argyle won the first championship of the new national Third Division, with Hull City finishing one point behind them in second place. Norwich City made the headlines with their run to the semi-finals of the FA Cup, but the cup run distracted them from the league as fourth place in the final table wasn't enough for promotion.

Rochdale, Notts County, Doncaster Rovers and Stockport County were relegated to the Fourth Division.

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Plymouth Argyle	46	23	16	7	89	59	1.508	62
2	Hull City	46	26	9	11	90	55	1.636	61
3	Brentford	46	21	15	10	76	49	1.551	57
4	Norwich City	46	22	13	11	89	62	1.435	57
5	Colchester United	46	21	10	15	71	67	1.060	52
6	Reading	46	21	8	17	78	63	1.238	50
7	Tranmere Rovers	46	21	8	17	82	67	1.224	50
8	Southend United	46	21	8	17	85	80	1.063	50
9	Halifax Town	46	21	8	17	80	77	1.039	50
10	Bury	46	17	14	15	69	58	1.190	48
11	Bradford City	46	18	11	17	84	76	1.105	47
12	Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic	46	17	12	17	69	69	1.000	46
13	Queens Park Rangers	46	19	8	19	74	77	0.961	46
14	Southampton	46	17	11	18	88	80	1.100	45
15	Swindon Town	46	16	13	17	59	57	1.035	45
16	Chesterfield	46	17	10	19	67	64	1.047	44
17	Newport County	46	17	9	20	69	68	1.015	43
18	Wrexham	46	14	14	18	63	77	0.818	42
19	Accrington Stanley	46	15	12	19	71	87	0.816	42
20	Mansfield Town	46	14	13	19	73	98	0.745	41
21	Stockport County	46	13	10	23	65	78	0.833	36
22	Doncaster Rovers	46	14	5	27	50	90	0.556	33
23	Notts County	46	8	13	25	55	96	0.573	29
24	Rochdale	46	8	12	26	37	79	0.468	28

Fourth Division

Port Vale were champions of the new Fourth Division, and were joined in promotion by Coventry City, York City and Shrewsbury Town.

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Port Vale	46	26	12	8	110	58	1.897	64
2	Coventry City	46	24	12	10	84	47	1.787	60
3	York City	46	21	18	7	73	52	1.404	60
4	Shrewsbury Town	46	24	10	12	101	63	1.603	58
5	Exeter City	46	23	11	12	87	61	1.426	57
6	Walsall	46	21	10	15	95	64	1.484	52
7	Crystal Palace	46	20	12	14	90	71	1.268	52
8	Northampton Town	46	21	9	16	85	78	1.090	51
9	Millwall	46	20	10	16	76	69	1.101	50
10	Carlisle United	46	19	12	15	62	65	0.954	50
11	Gillingham	46	20	9	17	82	77	1.065	49
12	Torquay United	46	16	12	18	78	77	1.013	44
13	Chester	46	16	12	18	72	84	0.857	44
14	Bradford Park Avenue	46	18	7	21	75	77	0.974	43
15	Watford	46	16	10	20	81	79	1.025	42
16	Darlington	46	13	16	17	66	68	0.971	42
17	Workington	46	12	17	17	63	78	0.808	41
18	Crewe Alexandra	46	15	10	21	70	82	0.854	40
19	Hartlepools United	46	15	10	21	74	88	0.841	40
20	Gateshead	46	16	8	22	56	85	0.659	40
21	Oldham Athletic	46	16	4	26	59	84	0.702	36
22	Aldershot	46	14	7	25	63	97	0.649	35
23	Barrow	46	9	10	27	51	104	0.490	28
24	Southport	46	7	12	27	41	86	0.477	26

P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points

National team

Although the England national football team eventually shared victory in the 1959 British Home Championship with Northern Ireland, it was a tough year without so many of the squad's key players lost in the Munich air disaster the year before. The season concluded with a disastrous tour of the Americas, in which the team lost three successive games before restoring some pride in the final match against the USA. The final game against the USA was also the last match for veteran defender and captain Billy Wright after a then record 105 caps. The match was played in front of just 13,000 fans on a gravel pitch in Los Angeles.