LMAAAAAAAAO….

Bit confused by this line “Norris said that this was inappropriate and that as a recruiting officer he could say that very few players were in that category.”

Not sure how that ties up with the Footballers Batallion fighting (and many dying) in some of the worst fighting of the war, not to mention winning a couple of VC’s and some DSO’s. Indeed the guy at the centre of the manc/scouse bribery scandal, Jackie Sheldon, served with some distinction himself and was one of the players to have his lifetime ban lifted after the war.

Here’s a quick summary…

Liverpool and Man U were involved in match fixing in the 1914/15 season.
Norris of Arsenal, raised the issue at the AGM of the League prior to the 1919 restart of the league after the war, and demanded that both clubs be removed from the league.
The League said that it would be wrong to start punishing players who had laid down their lives for their country during the war, and so nothing should be done.
Norris said that this was inappropriate and that as a recruiting officer he could say that very few players were in that category. He argued for

a) the bottom two to be relegated (including that is Tottenham who came bottom)
b) Liverpool and Man U to be relegated for match fixing
c) Six clubs to come up, to replace the bottom two, plus the two ejected, plus the two extra teams to expand the league.

The League would not back down, and Norris said that in that case he did not want Arsenal playing in a league so heavily associated with corruption. He would remove Arsenal, and take them into a new Midlands and South League, and would invite other League teams and Southern League teams to join.

This was not an impossible vision since the Southern League was exceptionally strong at that time.

Liverpool interceded and said that they could help swing things so that Arsenal would be voted in if Arsenal would drop their attack on Liverpool and Man U. Norris agreed – hence the voting.

If Norris is to blame in this affair it is through his backing down and agreeing to have Arsenal in the first division if Liverpool could rustle up the votes.

But the corruption entirely was to do with Liverpool and Man U – not Arsenal and not Tottenham.

The League followed the normal procedure of having all League clubs vote for the issue of who should be in the expanded league, as they had done each time before, and Tottenham lost out in that vote, not surprisingly having come bottom the season before. Chelsea got enough votes to stay in.

A similarly odd pattern of voting can often be seen when clubs voted in or out the teams that came in the bottom two to four in the bottom division – those who had to apply for re-election.

Tony