1904–05 in English football
# 1904–05 in English football

The 1904–05 season was the 34th season of competitive football in England.

## Events

Stockport County were replaced by Doncaster Rovers in the Second Division.

At the end of the 1904–05 season, the First Division was expanded to include 20 teams; Bury and Notts County were elected back into the First Division from the Second Division.

Manchester City, the previous season's FA Cup winners, were discovered to have been paying their players up to £6 or £7 per week instead of the legal maximum of £4 per week. The club's influential winger Billy Meredith was accused of bribing Aston Villa player Alex Leake and was faced with an 18-month ban from The Football Association, who further rebuked the club by dismissing five of its directors and banning a total of 17 players from ever playing for the club again.

## Honours

| Competition | Winner |
| - | - |
| First Division | Newcastle United (1) |
| Second Division | Liverpool |
| FA Cup | Aston Villa (4) |
| Home Championship | England |

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

## League tables

### First Division

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Newcastle United (C) | 34 | 23 | 2 | 9 | 72 | 33 | 2.182 | 48 |
| 2 | Everton | 34 | 21 | 5 | 8 | 63 | 36 | 1.750 | 47 |
| 3 | Manchester City | 34 | 20 | 6 | 8 | 66 | 37 | 1.784 | 46 |
| 4 | Aston Villa | 34 | 19 | 4 | 11 | 63 | 43 | 1.465 | 42 |
| 5 | Sunderland | 34 | 16 | 8 | 10 | 60 | 44 | 1.364 | 40 |
| 6 | Sheffield United | 34 | 19 | 2 | 13 | 64 | 56 | 1.143 | 40 |
| 7 | Small Heath | 34 | 17 | 5 | 12 | 54 | 38 | 1.421 | 39 |
| 8 | Preston North End | 34 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 42 | 37 | 1.135 | 36 |
| 9 | The Wednesday | 34 | 14 | 5 | 15 | 61 | 57 | 1.070 | 33 |
| 10 | Woolwich Arsenal | 34 | 12 | 9 | 13 | 36 | 40 | 0.900 | 33 |
| 11 | Derby County | 34 | 12 | 8 | 14 | 37 | 48 | 0.771 | 32 |
| 12 | Stoke | 34 | 13 | 4 | 17 | 40 | 58 | 0.690 | 30 |
| 13 | Blackburn Rovers | 34 | 11 | 5 | 18 | 40 | 51 | 0.784 | 27 |
| 14 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 34 | 11 | 4 | 19 | 47 | 73 | 0.644 | 26 |
| 15 | Middlesbrough | 34 | 9 | 8 | 17 | 36 | 56 | 0.643 | 26 |
| 16 | Nottingham Forest | 34 | 9 | 7 | 18 | 40 | 61 | 0.656 | 25 |
| 17 | Bury | 34 | 10 | 4 | 20 | 47 | 67 | 0.701 | 24 |
| 18 | Notts County | 34 | 5 | 8 | 21 | 36 | 69 | 0.522 | 18 |

### Second Division

| Pos | Team v t e | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Liverpool | 34 | 27 | 4 | 3 | 93 | 25 | 3.720 | 58 | Division Champions |
| 2 | Bolton Wanderers | 34 | 27 | 2 | 5 | 87 | 32 | 2.719 | 56 | Promoted |
| 3 | Manchester United | 34 | 24 | 5 | 5 | 81 | 30 | 2.700 | 53 | |
| 4 | Bristol City | 34 | 19 | 4 | 11 | 66 | 45 | 1.467 | 42 | |
| 5 | Chesterfield Town | 34 | 14 | 11 | 9 | 44 | 35 | 1.257 | 39 | |
| 6 | Gainsborough Trinity | 34 | 14 | 8 | 12 | 61 | 58 | 1.052 | 36 | |
| 7 | Barnsley | 34 | 14 | 5 | 15 | 38 | 56 | 0.679 | 33 | |
| 8 | Bradford City | 34 | 12 | 8 | 14 | 45 | 49 | 0.918 | 32 | |
| 9 | Lincoln City | 34 | 12 | 7 | 15 | 42 | 40 | 1.050 | 31 | |
| 10 | West Bromwich Albion | 34 | 13 | 4 | 17 | 56 | 48 | 1.167 | 30 | |
| 11 | Burnley | 34 | 12 | 6 | 16 | 43 | 52 | 0.827 | 30 | |
| 12 | Glossop | 34 | 10 | 10 | 14 | 37 | 46 | 0.804 | 30 | |
| 13 | Grimsby Town | 34 | 11 | 8 | 15 | 33 | 46 | 0.717 | 30 | |
| 14 | Leicester Fosse | 34 | 11 | 7 | 16 | 40 | 55 | 0.727 | 29 | |
| 15 | Blackpool | 34 | 9 | 10 | 15 | 36 | 48 | 0.750 | 28 | |
| 16 | Burslem Port Vale | 34 | 10 | 7 | 17 | 47 | 72 | 0.653 | 27 | Re-elected |
| 17 | Burton United | 34 | 8 | 4 | 22 | 30 | 84 | 0.357 | 20 | Re-elected |
| 18 | Doncaster Rovers | 34 | 3 | 2 | 29 | 23 | 81 | 0.284 | 8 | Failed re-election |

* ↑ Failed to be re-elected to the Football League. Elected in expansion of Second Division to 20 teams.
* ↑ New club in the league.
