Eric Brook
May 7, 1938: One of the most stunning seasons in the history of English football (soccer) comes to a conclusion. As the Lancashire Evening Post put it -- I have changed neither their spelling nor their grammar -- "If it were possible to stage-manage a football season, skilfully building the actions of the play up to a tremendous climax, that which occurred on Saturday would stand as the perfect example of contrariness."
In the 1936-37 season, under manager Wilf Wild, Manchester City Football Club had won the Championship of England's Football League Division One, by 3 points over South London team Charlton Athletic, and 5 points over North London team Arsenal. (At the time, the Football League awarded a team 2 points for a win and 1 point for a draw. In 1982, to encourage playing to win, they made it 3 points for a win.)
Although this was City's 1st League title, it was not a big surprise, as they'd been a good team in recent years, finishing 5th and winning the FA (Football Association) Cup in 1934, and 4th in 1935, before dropping to 9th in 1936. Their usual starting lineup included such fine players as goalkeeper Frank Swift, inside forward Eric Brook, and centre-half Matt Busby, who would go on to manage crosstown rivals Manchester United to glory in the 1950s and '60s.
Charlton were a bit of a surprise: That 2nd place finish remains their best ever. Arsenal finishing a strong 3rd was no surprise: They had won the League in 1931, 1933, 1934 and 1935; had won the FA Cup in 1930 and 1936; and were runners-up in both in 1932. Having built on the success of manager Herbert Chapman, who died in 1934, George Allison sent out a team with an attack led by forward Ted Drake, wingers Cliff Bastin and Joe Hulme, and defenders George Male, Eddie Hapgood and Wilf Copping.
Ted Drake
As the new season began in August 1937, William "Dixie" Dean, former star forward of Liverpool-based team Everton, told one of the national newspapers, the Daily Mail, "This threatens to be the most open campaign we've ever seen. Half a dozen clubs stand a good chance of winning it, and any one of 10 clubs could go down."
Birmingham-area team Wolverhampton Wanderers were the preseason favorites, led by Stan Cullis. But on September 4, in only the 3rd game of the season, "Wolves" walked into Highbury, Arsenal's home ground, and got clobbered, 5-0. But after winning their 1st 3 games easily, Arsenal went on a tailspin, winning only 2 of their next 12.
But no team's dropoff was as shocking as Man City's. They lost 3 of their 1st 5 games, 4 straight during Christmas and New Year's week, and 5 straight in February and March. The FA Cup had given them a respite from their awful League form, but on March 3, Birmingham team Aston Villa knocked them out in the Quarterfinal.
That season's Cup, and the League schedule as well, was hit hard by a rough Winter. In the 3rd Round of the Cup alone, snow caused 261 postponements, and that Round took 66 days to complete.
Arsenal got their act together: From January 29 to April 9, they won 7 games, drew 4, and lost only 2. But 1 of those losses was in the 5th Round of the Cup, to Lancashire team Preston North End, featuring Bill Shankly, who would lift Liverpool FC to glory in the 1960s and '70s.
On April 23, on a very muddy pitch at their home of Deepdale, Preston lost to Arsenal, knocking them out of the title race and seriously boosting Arsenal's chances. But Preston reached the FA Cup Final a week later, at Wembley Stadium in West London. Their opponents would be Yorkshire team Huddersfield Town.
It was the 1st Cup Final ever televised. The 93,000-strong Wembley crowd outnumbered British TV owners 10 to 1, but that didn't stop the Daily Herald from running the headline: "The day is not far off when you may be able to watch your favourite football team from your fireside."
The game ended scoreless, and went to extra time. Just as it looked like extra time would also end scoreless, necessitating a replay, BBC commentator Thomas Woodrooffe said, "If there's a goal scored now, I'll eat my hat."
Right after he said that, Preston inside forward George Mutch was fouled in the penalty area, and referee Jimmy Jewell awarded Preston a penalty. The validity of the call has never been seriously questioned. Mutch took the penalty himself, and scored. Preston won, 1-0, and their Captain, Tom Smith, was handed the Cup by King George VI. At a banquet a few days later, Woodrooffe was served a cake in the shape of a hat, allowing him to keep his promise.
George Mutch
Just 7 days later, the League had its final slate of games for the season. Wolves led Arsenal by 1 point. All they had to do, away to North-East team Sunderland, was gain a draw, and there would be nothing that Arsenal could do: Even a win, in their last game, home to Manchester-area team Bolton Wanderers, wouldn't be enough to deny Wolves their 1st-ever League title.
But Sunderland had some pride, too: They had won the Cup the year before (but they've won it only once since, in 1973), and the League the year before that (but they haven't won it since). Although they were in 8th place, they were at home at Roker Park, and they were going to put up a fight. A rightful dismissal dropped them to 10 men, but they hung on to win, 1-0.
Wolves kicked off 15 minutes before Arsenal, but the Arsenal players didn't yet know the result until their game was over. They beat Bolton, 5-0, and had finished 1 point ahead of Wolves. Arsenal were Champions for the 5th time in 8 seasons, their 6th major trophy in 9. "Lucky Arsenal," the newspapers called them. Even then, the English media seemed to be aligned against the Gunners.
At the time, there were 22 teams in Division One, and the bottom 2 were relegated to Division Two, with the top 2 teams of Division Two promoted to Division One. Manchester City struggled hard to stay afloat, and in their next-to-last game, they beat Leeds 6-2, putting them in 16th place.
But on the last day, May 7, at Leeds Road, they lost 1-0 to Huddersfield Town. With the other teams between them and the drop positions winning, Man City finished 21st, and, along with 22nd-placed Birmingham-area team West Bromwich Albion, were relegated.
Dixie Dean turned out to be more right than even he imagined: Only 5 points separated 21st-place Man City from 10th-place Chelsea. And the 16-point gap between Champions Arsenal and relegated City is tied for the smallest one ever -- and, with the raising of a win to 3 points, it will almost certainly remain so.
Through the 2021-22 season, the 1937-38 Manchester City side still hold 2 unique distinctions: They are the only defending League Champions ever to be relegated, and they are the only side with a positive goal difference ever to be relegated. With the Premier League, replacing the old Division One in 1992, having 20 teams, the 20-places drop can never again be matched.
Stan Cullis would manage Wolves to the League title in 1954, 1958 and 1959, and the FA Cup in 1949 and 1960. Manchester City would be promoted back to Division One after World War II, but wouldn't win the League again until 1968 -- and then, not again until 2012, in dramatic circumstances, but would dominate the League for years to come.
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May 7, 1938 was a Saturday. The only sport then in season in North America was baseball, and these games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 12-8 at Yankee Stadium. Lefty Gomez outpitched Elden Auker. Lou Gehrig went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs. Joe DiMaggio went 3-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. But the big hitting star for the Yankees was left fielder Myril Hoag, with 2-for-4 with 4 RBIs. Hank Greenberg went 0-for-3.
* The New York Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-5 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Mel Ott went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Lloyd Waner went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs, but Paul Waner only went 1-for-5.
* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-4 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the St. Louis Browns, 7-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. Jimmie Foxx hit a home run.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 4-2 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.
* The Washington Senators beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-4 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. The ChiSox took a 4-3 lead in the top of the 10th inning, but back-to-back singles by John Stone and Cecil Travis got the tying and winning runs home.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Boston Bees (as the Braves were known from 1936 to 1941), 5-4 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Joe Marty singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 10th.
* And the Philadelphia Phillies and the St. Louis Cardinals were rained out at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 30. The Phils won the opener, 4-3. The Cards won the nightcap, 8-7 in 10 innings.
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