The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Following the creation of the Premier League, the fourth tier of English football was renamed the Football League Third Division , before being rebranded as Football League Two in 2004.
17-399: The Fourth Division was created in 1958 alongside a new national Third Division by merging the regionalised Third Division North and Third Division South . The original economic reasons for having the two regional leagues had become less apparent and thus it was decided to create two national leagues at levels three and four. The twelve best teams of each regional league in 1957–58 went into
34-483: A place for the inaugural season of the competition. Borough's first match as a league club came against Arsenal in a friendly, which they won 2–1. Their first league match saw them fight back from 1–0 down to win 2–1 against Nelson, but they would go on to finish only 17th of 20 in their début season. They spent ten years at this level before resigning from the league during the 1931–32 season. Boro's most successful season came in 1928–29 when they finished fourth in
51-666: The Conference was introduced for the 1986–87 season. See List of winners of English Football League Two and predecessors . See Football League Two Play-offs . Football League Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to
68-694: The Southern League . It was decided that this gave the Football League overall too much of a southern bias, so the Third Division North was created in 1921–22 to redress the balance. Stockport County had finished bottom of the Second Division at the end of the 1920–21 season, and they were relegated into this new division, where they joined Grimsby Town who had spent a season in the Third Division after relegation from
85-499: The Lancashire FA as they were found guilty of paying their players for "lost time", which contravened rules of the time. A new club, Wigan Association , was formed on 6 November 1920, taking over the fixtures of Wigan United for four games (P4 D1 L3). After this short period the F.A. agreed that all their demands had been met with the exception that the club would have to change their name again to avoid confusion with Wigan FC ,
102-622: The League or relegated from a higher division allocated to one or the other according to geographical position. Some clubs in the English Midlands shuttled between the Third Division North and the Third Division South according to the composition of the two leagues in any one season. The Third Division South had been created in 1921 from the Third Division formed the previous year made up of 22 teams drawn mostly from
119-983: The Second Division in 1919–20. As there was no northern equivalent of the Southern League , the remaining 18 teams came from several regional leagues: the Midland League , the Central League , the North Eastern League , the Lancashire Combination and the Birmingham & District League . The original 20 teams were: Stockport County, Darlington , Grimsby Town, Hartlepools United , Accrington Stanley , Crewe Alexandra , Stalybridge Celtic , Walsall , Southport , Ashington , Durham City , Wrexham , Chesterfield , Lincoln City , Barrow , Nelson , Wigan Borough , Tranmere Rovers , Halifax Town and Rochdale . The division
136-676: The Third Division North League; however at the time only the regional champions were promoted. Also that season they reached the Third Round of the FA Cup, the furthest Borough would ever progress in the competition. Though they lost the match against Sheffield Wednesday 3–1, a Springfield Park record 30,443 crowd saw the game. In 1931, the effects of the Great Depression proved too much and, unable to pay
153-537: The Third Division, and the rest became founder members of the Fourth Division. Founder members of Fourth Division were: Before 1987, the top four teams were promoted to the Third Division and the bottom four teams were subject to a re-election vote by other league clubs to determine whether they would remain in the league. Automatic relegation to the Conference was introduced in 1987, the same year
170-696: The division for the 30 years of its existence. Of the teams that played in Third Division North, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Derby County were later English football champions . Its final season was 1957–58, after which the North and South sections were merged to form a single Third Division and the Fourth Division . The top 12 clubs in Division Three North, except for the Champions Scunthorpe United , went into
187-472: The fourth promotion place began to be decided through a play-off . The highest average league attendance in the Fourth Division was 19,092, achieved by Crystal Palace in the 1960/61 season. The highest attendance at an individual match was recorded the same season: 37,774 for the Good Friday game at Selhurst Park between Crystal Palace and Millwall. Automatic relegation between the Fourth Division and
SECTION 10
#1732776660975204-437: The new Third Division, and the bottom 12 clubs went into the Fourth Division. From 1934 to the outbreak of World War II there was a short-lived knockout competition Football League Third Division North Cup . From the 1954–55 season until the 1957–58 season, there was a series of games between teams representing the Third Division North and the Third Division South. Wigan Borough F.C. Wigan Borough Football Club
221-408: The players' wages any longer, Wigan Borough went out of business on 26 October 1931 with liabilities of £30,000. In truth the club had only made a profit for one year since they had been in the Football League. The last four players Doran, Russell, Hartley and Hallam were given free transfers in mid-December. The following year, Wigan's Mayor chaired a public meeting at Queens Hall which resulted in
238-649: The previous September. It is also possible that United were a continuation of the club who played at Springfield Park some 20 years earlier. United played 18 games in the 1919–20 season as members of the West Lancashire League and also entered the Richardson Cup. The club applied to join the Lancashire Combination for the 1920–21 season and continued as Wigan United for a further nine games (P9 L9) before being forced to close by
255-421: The town's rugby league team, allowing Wigan Association to become officially known as Wigan Borough Football Club on 11 December 1920. The newly named Wigan Borough applied for entrance to the football league's Third Division North for the 1921–22 season, despite only finishing 17th of 18 clubs in the Lancashire Combination league. Astonishingly, they were, along with Barrow and Accrington Stanley , granted
272-527: Was an English football club from the town of Wigan , Lancashire . their forerunners were Wigan A.F.C., Wigan County , Wigan United and Wigan Town , County and Town having folded. According to the Wigan Observer of 21 June 1920, Wigan Borough was originally formed as the amateur side Wigan United in November 1919, although the club predates this by at least two months as records exist from
289-572: Was extended by a further two teams in 1923 to take the total to 22, and for the 1950–51 season the division was expanded to 24 clubs, with Scunthorpe & Lindsey United and Shrewsbury Town joining. Only one promotion place was available each season from the Third Division North to the Second Division , which made it very difficult to win promotion. Eight teams, Accrington Stanley, Barrow, Crewe Alexandra, Halifax Town, Hartlepools United, Rochdale, Southport and Wrexham, were ever-present in
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