The

1908–09 Football League The 1908– 09 season was the 21st season of The Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football leagu ...

season was Birmingham Football Club's 17th in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

and their 9th in the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

, to which they were

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

at the end of the 1907–08 season. They began the season well, not dropping out of the top two until December, but gradually fell away until finishing in 11th position in the 20-team division. They also took part in the

1909–10 FA Cup The 1909–10 FA Cup was the 39th season of the world's oldest association football competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (more usually known as the FA Cup). Newcastle United won the competition for the first time, beating Barnsley ...

, entering at the first round proper and losing in that round to

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

. Alex Watson succeeded Alf Jones as secretary-manager at the start of the season. Jones began acting as unpaid secretary for Small Heath Alliance in 1885, the year the club turned professional, became their first paid secretary with responsibility for team matters in 1892, when the club first joined the Football League, and had held the post of secretary-manager ever since. Twenty-nine players made at least one appearance in nationally organised first-team competition, and there were fifteen different goalscorers. Goalkeeper Jack Dorrington played in 35 of the 39 matches over the season; full-back

Billy Beer Billy Beer is a brand of beer first made in the United States in July 1977, by the Falls City Brewing Company. It was promoted by Billy Carter, whose older brother Jimmy Carter, Jimmy was then the president of the United States. In October 1978, ...

played one fewer. Beer and Frederick Chapple were joint leading scorers with 8 goals; all of Beer's goals were scored in the league. In September, a 19-year-old called

Frank Womack Francis Womack (16 September 1888 – 8 October 1968) was an English association football player and manager born in Stannington, Sheffield, Yorkshire. He still holds the league appearances record for Birmingham City playing 491 games and hol ...

made his Football League debut. He went on to play 515 times for Birmingham in senior competition, 491 in the league, but never scored a goal. In October, Walter Corbett, who had made his debut for the England senior team earlier in the year, was a member of the gold medal-winning

Great Britain Olympic football team The Great Britain Olympic football team is the men's football team that represents the United Kingdom at the Summer Olympic Games (where it competed as Great Britain, branded Team GB). The team is organised by the Football Association as the me ...

at the

London Olympics London Olympics or London Games may refer to: * 1908 Summer Olympics, Games of the IV Olympiad * 1944 Summer Olympics, Games of the XIII Olympiad, cancelled due to World War II * 1948 Summer Olympics, Games of the XIV Olympiad * 2012 Summer Olympi ...

Football League Second Division

Note that not all clubs finished their playing season on the same date. Birmingham were in 10th place in the division after their final game, on 24 April, but by the time the fixtures were all complete, on 30 April, they had been overtaken by

Gainsborough Trinity Gainsborough Trinity Football Club is a Association football, football club based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Established in 1873, the club became members of the English Football League, Football League i ...

and finished 11th."Birmingham City 1908–1909: English Division Two (old) Table 24.04.1909"
. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 21 May 2012.

League table (part)

FA Cup

Appearances and goals

: This table includes appearances and goals in nationally organised competitive matchesthe Football League and FA Cuponly. : For a description of the playing positions, see Formation (association football)#2–3–5 (Pyramid). : Players marked left the club during the playing season.

References

General * Matthews, Tony (1995). ''Birmingham City: A Complete Record''. Breedon Books (Derby). . * Matthews, Tony (2010). ''Birmingham City: The Complete Record''. DB Publishing (Derby). . * Source for match dates and results
"Birmingham City 1908–1909: Results"
Statto Organisation. Retrieved 21 May 2012. * Source for lineups, appearances, goalscorers and attendances: Matthews (2010), ''Complete Record'', pp. 262–63. Note that attendance figures are estimated. * Source for kit

''Historical Football Kits''. Retrieved 22 May 2018. Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:1908-09 Birmingham F.C. season Birmingham City F.C. seasons

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

Football League Second Division

League table (part)

FA Cup

Appearances and goals

See also

References