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1893-1894

The opening season of the ‘new’ Manchester League began with 12 clubs. Ten of these completed the campaign.

Final Table

1	STRETFORD	20	15	3	2	75	22	33
2	TALBOT	20	14	4	2	70	23	32
3	HULME	20	11	3	6	50	36	25
4	RUSHOLME	20	9	6	5	45	28	24
5	HARPURHEY	20	10	0	10	50	40	20
6	OLD TRAFFORD*	20	6	7	7	25	27	19
7	FALLOWFIELD	20	7	4	9	42	47	18
8	DIDSBURY	20	6	3	11	31	69	15
9	ST. MARY’S	20	6	2	12	28	52	14
10	BURNAGE	20	5	3	12	42	56	13
11	BROADHEATH	20	2	3	15	17	75	7
		220	91	38	91	475	475	220

*Old Trafford took over the fixtures of Beswick after 5 games. Another Beswick club, ‘Rovers’ also folded during the season and its results were deleted.

1894-1895

14 clubs began the season and the same 14 sides were there at the end, each one having played all its matches.

Final Table

1	TALBOT	26	19	2	5	106	41	40
2	STRETFORD	26	17	6	4	62	27	38
3	HIGHER CRUMPSALL	26	16	3	6	84	42	37
4	MOLYNEUX	26	15	5	6	76	42	35
5	HULME	26	15	3	8	62	30	33
6	ST. MARY’S	26	12	4	10	58	54	28
7	FALLOWFIELD	26	12	3	11	68	43	27
8	RUSHOLME	26	9	7	10	66	52	25
9	BROADHEATH	26	9	4	13	35	64	22
10	MOSS SIDE	26	9	3	14	50	70	21
11	HARPURHEY	26	7	6	13	48	50	20
12	DIDSBURY	26	9	1	16	38	75	19
13	MANCHESTER AMATEURS	26	7	1	18	24	101	15
14	OLD TRAFFORD	26	1	2	23	16	102	4
		364	157	50	157	793	793	364

1895-1896

Once again the Manchester League kicked off with 14 clubs, but this time two of these failed to finish the season. Ladybarn Lads’ Club may well have found things too tough for them as they resigned early enough in the campaign for their record to be deleted. Molyneux completed 18 of their 24 games and their record was allowed to stand. This goes some way to explaining the figures in the ‘games played’ column, but it would seem that other fixtures, not involving Molyneux, were not played either.

Final Table

1	TALBOT	24	18	1	5	72	28	37
2	FALLOWFIELD	24	17	2	5	74	27	36
3	REDDISH	21	13	3	5	57	41	29
4	STRETFORD	24	13	1	10	65	39	27
5	LEVENSHULME	23	11	4	8	56	43	26
6	RUSHOLME	22	12	1	9	51	47	25
7	HARPURHEY	21	10	3	8	66	49	23
8	BROADHEATH	21	9	1	11	46	59	19
9	MOLYNEUX	18	8	3	7	35	48	19
10	HULME	23	5	3	15	43	71	13
11	LYMM	23	4	5	14	29	74	13
12	ST. MARY’S	22	5	2	15	24	58	12
13	MOSS SIDE	22	3	3	16	29	63	9
		288	128	32	128	647	647	288

The departure of Harpurhey at the end of the season meant only 7 of the League’s original members remained.

1896-1897

This is the first of a number of ‘mystery seasons’, of which records are on the incredibly thin side. Newcomers Tonge were the champions, with either Broadheath or Levenshulme thought to have finished as runners-up. The competition lost two more of its original members, with Rusholme departing during the season, towards the end of March, and St. Mary’s leaving after the campaign had ended. Rusholme’s fixtures were taken over by New Mills, who began their first, if brief, association with the Manchester League in the Spring of 1897.

1897-1898

Here we have a second in the collection of ‘mystery seasons’. Tonge were again champions, with new club Prestwich believed to have been runners-up. The League seems to have had 14 members during this season, but this number was reduced to 13 in the close season as 6 sides left, including New Mills and founder members Hulme, and only 5 joined, including Newton Heath Athletic and Urmston.

1898-1899

It is quite frustrating that for this season a league table for April 28^th has been unearthed, but no full Final Table.

A Final Table has been discovered listing the 12 clubs who completed the season in order, with Newton Heath Athletic shown as champions, with 37 points from 22 games, three points ahead of runners-up, Tonge. The table for April 28^th shows Newton Heath 7 points clear of Tonge, with 20 games played to their rivals’ 19. Also appearing in the rankings, in 13^th place, with 4 points from 15 matches, were Marple, whose record was deleted because they failed to complete their fixtures. Just when Newton Heath took the title remains a mystery. Founder members Fallowfield left at the end of the season, but the admission of Buxton from The Combination is a clear indication that the Manchester League was now a stronger competition than it was to begin with.

1899-1900

Finally, there is a Final Table for the Manchester League again – even though two of Buxton’s results are not included. It is believed by some that the High Peak club did not play its full programme of games.

Final Table

1	TONGE	26	23	2	1	110	16	48
2	NEWTON HEATH ATHLETIC	26	20	3	3	102	32	43
3	BROADHEATH	26	19	1	6	54	30	39
4	BUXTON	24	12	7	5	58	51	31
5	TALBOT	26	10	7	9	50	46	27
6	LYMM	26	9	7	10	54	61	25
7	SOUTH-WEST MANCHESTER	26	10	5	11	40	57	25
8	SALE HOLMFIELD	25	11	2	12	46	50	24
9	STRETFORD	26	7	7	12	41	51	21
10	URMSTON	26	6	7	13	25	50	19
11	PRESTWICH	26	7	2	17	32	49	16
12	OUGHTRINGHAM PARK	25	6	4	15	30	57	16
13	MOSS SIDE	26	6	4	16	32	62	16
14	ST. MARY’S PARK (WALKDEN)	26	3	4	19	21	83	10
		360	149	62	149	695	695	360

The bottom two sides left at the end of the season, as did South-West Manchester and Urmston. Five new clubs joined the Manchester League from other competitions. The names of these newcomers give clear indications of the growing reputation of the League – Hyde, Macclesfield, Middleton, Northwich Victoria and Oldham Athletic.

1900-1901

The season began with the League at its highest strength to date in numbers and highest quality to date in terms of clubs and playing standards. One match (between Broadheath and Hyde) was not completed and new club Middleton had 2 points deducted for infringing the rules, but, otherwise, this was a very successful season.

Final Table

1	TONGE	28	23	2	3	94	32	48
2	NORTHWICH VICTORIA	28	20	4	4	75	36	44
3	NEWTON HEATH ATHLETIC	28	19	2	7	78	35	40
4	SALE HOLMFIELD	28	15	5	8	66	41	35
5	HYDE	27	14	5	8	79	41	33
6	BROADHEATH	27	13	4	10	75	59	30
7	TALBOT	28	12	6	10	48	44	30
8	BUXTON	28	11	5	12	54	46	27
9	MACCLESFIELD	28	10	3	15	60	75	23
10	OUGHTRINGHAM PARK	28	8	6	14	46	64	22
11	OLDHAM ATHLETIC	28	9	4	15	40	68	22
12	LYMM	28	7	4	15	42	64	20
13	STRETFORD	28	7	6	15	36	66	20
14	MIDDLETON	28	8	5	15	47	66	19
15	PRESTWICH	28	1	1	26	18	128	3
		418	177	62	177	858	865	416

The Manchester League’s first-ever champions left at the end of the season to join a new, rival competition called the Manchester Federation. Oughtringham Park and wooden spoonists Prestwich also departed. The well-respected Berry’s Association joined from the Lancashire Combination, with Failsworth and Heywood also becoming members, which maintained the League’s strength at 15 clubs.

1901-1902

Middleton, perhaps struggling again, resigned during the season, and the club’s record was deleted. The battle for the title produced the closest contest to date, with Hyde and Newton Heath Athletic going neck-and-neck over the final stages of the season. With almost identical records by the end and level on points, the two clubs met in a championship play-off, which Hyde won.

Final Table

1	HYDE	26	17	6	3	74	27	40
2	NEWTON HEATH ATHLETIC	26	17	6	3	76	26	40
3	NORTHWICH VICTORIA	26	16	2	8	61	53	34
4	SALE HOLMFIELD	26	13	7	6	61	37	33
5	TONGE	26	13	4	9	79	47	30
6	OLDHAM ATHLETIC	26	13	4	9	59	46	30
7	BERRY’S ASSOCIATION	26	12	4	10	55	52	28
8	FAILSWORTH	26	10	4	12	64	54	24
9	TALBOT	26	11	2	13	47	50	24
10	HEYWOOD	26	8	4	14	59	66	20
11	BUXTON	26	7	6	13	43	70	20
12	BROADHEATH	26	6	6	14	40	72	18
13	MACCLESFIELD	26	8	1	17	44	68	17
14	LYMM	26	2	2	22	24	118	6
		364	153	58	153	786	786	364

Heywood and Lymm both left at the end of the season, but there were 3 ‘new entries’, meaning the League had 15 clubs once again. The newcomers were Denton, Hooley Hill and Levenshulme.

1902-1903

Manchester League Final (known) table

1	NORTHWICH VICTORIA	26	20	4	2	59	22	44
2	NEWTON HEATH ATHLETIC	26	16	3	7	72	37	35
3	FAILSWORTH	26	16	3	7	87	42	35
4	BERRY’S ASSOCIATION	26	14	3	9	68	41	31
5	OLDHAM ATHLETIC	25	12	6	7	47	31	30
6	HYDE	26	14	1	11	70	47	29
7	BUXTON	26	12	2	12	47	53	26
8	SALE HOLMFIELD	26	10	6	10	46	63	26
9	BROADHEATH	26	9	5	12	43	55	23
10	DENTON	26	9	4	13	45	54	22
11	MACCLESFIELD	25	8	3	14	35	59	19
12	TONGE	26	6	7	13	25	68	19
13	HOOLEY HILL	26	5	3	18	40	63	13
14	TALBOT	26	3	4	19	19	68	10
		362	154	54	154	703	703	362

Levenshulme started the season, but folded during its course and the club’s record was deleted. It would appear that one of the fixtures involving Macclesfield and Oldham Athletic was either not played or the result was not recorded. Broadheath became ‘Altrincham’ and Glossop United, Hollinwood and Stretford all joined the competition, which had lost Talbot at the end of the 1902-1903 season.