The Football League expanded to fourteen clubs by electing two from the 1890–91 Football Alliance, which lost one more by the defection of Sunderland Albion to the Northern League. The Alliance remained at 12 members by adding three new clubs: Ardwick (later Manchester City), Burton Swifts and Lincoln City.[citation needed]
Everton left Anfield on 15 March 1892 after a dispute with the stadium's landlord, John Houlding. Everton moved into a new stadium at nearby Goodison Park, while Houlding formed a new football club—Liverpool F.C.—on 30 March 1892, to play at Anfield.[1]
Preston North End set a new league record by winning 13 consecutive matches up to March 1892. A month later Sunderland equalled the record when they won their 13th successive game.[2] The record of 13 consecutive wins in a single season stood for 125 years until broken by Manchester City in 2017.[3]
Aston Villa recorded their biggest ever victory, defeating Accrington 12-2 on 12 March 1892.[4]
Against Ireland, England issued a further five new caps. The most prominent débutante was Charlie Athersmith of Aston Villa at outside-right, who would continue to appear for England over the next eight years, making twelve appearances in all. He was accompanied by his club team-mate, Jack Devey. The other new caps were John Cox of Derby County, Michael Whitham of Sheffield United and John Pearson of Crewe Alexandra for each of whom this was their solitary England appearance. Pearson went on to have a successful career as a Football League referee, including the 1911 FA Cup Final. Harry Daft of Notts County was awarded the captaincy for his last of five England appearances and marked the occasion by scoring twice, either side of half-time.
Scotland
Scotland also beat both Wales and Ireland and, as a result, the outcome of the British Home Championship rested on the final game of the season (for the third consecutive year). England selected a much more experienced team than for the Wales and Ireland games, and only included four players who had featured in those games, including only one of the debutantes, George Toone in goal. Jack Reynolds, the West Bromwich Albion full-back, was selected to play for England for the first time, even though he had previously played five international games for Ireland, having scored against England on 15 March 1890. It had wrongly been assumed that Reynolds was born in Ireland; however, his birth certificate had proved that he was in fact born in Blackburn, thereby enabling him to make eight appearances for England. England rattled in four goals in the first 21 minutes, and although Scotland scored a late consolation goal, England were able to continue their excellent run of results against the Scots and claim the championship again.
^Blakeman, Mick; Brown, Tony; Warsop, Keith, eds. (2009). The Football Alliance Match by Match: 1889/90 to 1891/92. Nottingham: SoccerData. pp. 41–53. ISBN978-1-905891-19-1.
