...we had been deservedly promoted to the old First Division in 1919? For those unfamiliar with the story, the Second Division in 1914-15 ended like this: The old leagues used 2 points for a win. Adjusted for the modern 3 points for a win system BFC would have finished with 79 points and Arsenal 71. The league was abandoned after the 1914-15 season due to WW1 and resumed for the 1919-20 season with the above being the last official league table. There was an expansion of the league and so 3 teams were to be promoted from the Second Division to the First. Back then it wasn't automatic/play-offs and promoted teams were chosen by secret ballot with each member club voting. As a general rule the chosen clubs were whoever finished highest in the previous season, but on occasion other factors were taken into account such as gates, wealth/marketability of the area and general 'favourability'. At this point the Arsenal chairman, the very well-connected Sir Henry Norris had not long since finished pouring a fortune into moving Arsenal to North London and building Highbury, and desperately needed First Division football to start turning a profit sharpish. He uncovered a match-fixing scandal in the last season of the old First Division and used tactics of blackmail, bribery, and generally being a well-connected London aristocrat to secure the votes he needed. As a result the top two, Derby and Preston were indeed promoted but 3rd placed Barnsley lost out to 6th placed Arsenal. Arsenal have never been relegated since. We don't have the population of North London or the wealth, nor did we ever have knights running the club, but I wonder where we might be today if that vote had gone a little bit differently. Would we be a bigger club than we are now? Or would we likely have come back down a hundred years ago and had much the same history?
Your answer is in what happened to the two teams who finished above us. As you say, Arsenal had the wealth, and so were able to capitalise on their robbery. We would likely have had a similar history to what ultimately transpired.
Even though we wouldn't probably change a thing of our underdog history, imagine the Arsenal players we could have had if it had been the other way around. Not just Mannone and Frimpong.
The other half of the story, that we miss as an aggrieved party, is that one of the teams relegated that season was Tottenham Hotspur. They finished in the highest relegation spot, and alternatively could have been reinstated in the higher division. It is one of the sources of the animosity between the two north London sides. As the poster above said. We'd have struggled after a few years in the top flight and would probably have been up and down like Derby and Preston.
Arsenal had or were preparing to move from their ground in SE London (Manor Ground in Plumstead) to Highbury. I think there was pressure on the League to promote them to raise their attendances to pay for their new Art Deco ground.
Thanks Gravy chips, I never knew this. I suspect the same thing would happen today as the money monster of football needs revenue shovelling in its inceasingly greedy mouth. Skryptic makes a good point, possibly along the lines of population catchment etc. However, possibly as now, a Yorkshire club beyond the big city confines would possibly have some appeal to the hinterland between Leeds and Sheffield, eg Pontefract and Wakefield where we already have some traction. Had we been promoted we would have made the top flight ahead of Huddersfield Town (who none of their fans waste time in telling me, won three league titkles in the 20's - I live in an hudds postcode) and Leeds City
Touché, before my time! To clarify, I'm not suggesting we'd be nearly as big as Arsenal, but I wonder if we might have had a bit more fortune and be a slightly more known club with a bit more pedigree these days if our fan base had been given such a large boost so early on
This is only half the story as you've missed the most scandalous part of the whole fiasco. Heres a part of a piece I wrote in the Chron a couple of years ago. The history books record that it was decided to hold a vote amongst the member clubs and Arsenal FC who finished in 6th place in 1915 were elected to the top flight much to the displeasure of the Barnsley officials. These facts are true but the journey to the decision to hold an election is a lot more sinister. Arsenal never originally wanted an election, they proposed that the teams finishing 3rd, 4th ,5th and 6th should move up with the bottom two of 1915 coming down along with Manchester United and Liverpool. This was not the outrageous plan it first seems for the Reds of Manchester and Liverpool had admitted fixing the score of a match in the final weeks of the 1914-15 season to secure points for a relegation threaten United and for financial gain. When the scandal broke in the weeks after the match it led to one of the longest enquires ever held in British football and the banning for life of seven individuals. The results of the enquiry spawned two subsequent court cases which exposed in more detail than previously known, the actions of the individuals involved and the financial benefits they reaped. Despite this new information coming to light, the original ruling that the clubs were blameless and no points should be deducted was allowed to stand. Chelsea were also strong proponents of the demotion of Liverpool and Manchester United, they had finished in the relegation places just a point behind the cheating United and felt aggrieved that they should be taking their place in Division Two. In direct opposition to the pressure being applied by Chelsea and Arsenal was the President of the Football League Mr John McKenna, who just happened to be Liverpool Chairman. Still to this day nothing has been proved as far as the negotiations that took place prior to the meeting but rumours of the Arsenal Chairman’s financial inducements to other clubs are abound. A deal was struck to leave Liverpool and Manchester United in their places and that Chelsea should be sparred any involvement in the restructuring, which of course bought their silence. Finally it was proposed that the remaining place should be subject to a closed ballot involving “any” club that wished to be considered. The other relegated club Tottenham threw their hat in the ring but not before trying to make the vote an open ballot. If skulduggery was about to take place they wanted to see for themselves the individuals involved. Their motion was defeated. They were joined in the vote by Barnsley, Birmingham, Hull, Arsenal and bizarrely Nottingham Forest who had finished 18th. The declared result of the vote was an overwhelming victory for the Gunners and the Barnsley official‘s incensed at the injustice, stormed out of the meeting and made their way home. A great deal of animosity continued to exist between Barnsley and Arsenal for many years but by the time of their subsequent visit to Oakwell in the week following the Munich air crash, a community grieving the loss of Tommy Taylor and Mark Jones were in no mood for trivial squabbles.
