The Central League

Countries	England
Founded	1911
Divisions	3
Number of teams	28
Promotion to	Premier Reserve League
Levels on pyramid	Level 2
Current champions	No outright winner (2008–09)

The Central League (currently known as The Totesport.com League for sponsorship reasons), is a football league in England for reserve teams of Football League clubs in the Midlands and North of England.

The league was formed in 1911 and in its early years consisted of a mix of first teams and reserve teams. However, when the Football League Third Division North was created in 1921, all the first teams in the Central League became founder members.

Since then, the league has been for reserve teams only, and eventually expanded to include virtually every professional team in the Midlands and North of England (teams in the South play in the Football Combination). In recent years, the FA Premier Reserve League was created for reserve sides of FA Premier League teams, and so the Central League's membership was reduced.

From the 2006-07 season the FA Premier Reserve League was restricted to the reserve sides of FA Premier League clubs. This meant that the reserve sides of Championship clubs rejoined the Central League.

Teams are not promoted to the Premier Reserve League based on their final league position, but on the league position of their respective clubs' senior teams. If the senior team is promoted to the Premier League, then the reserve team is promoted to the Premier Reserve League and replaced by the reserve teams of the relegated teams.

Contents 1 Participating teams 1.1 Division One Central 1.2 Division One West 1.3 Division One East 2 Champions 2.1 1911–2005 2.2 2005–present 2.3 Championships by club 3 Central League Cup 3.1 Participating teams 3.2 Winners 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Participating teams

• See The Totesport.com League Newsletter 08-09 for 2008-09 season league tables.

The League is split into three parallel divisions, the Central, West, and East Divisions. Winners of each division and the best runners-up will qualify for the play-off. The participating teams for 2008-09 are:

[edit] Division One Central Lincoln City Macclesfield Town Mansfield Town Nottingham Forest Port Vale Sheffield United Sheffield Wednesday Shrewsbury Town Walsall

[edit] Division One West Accrington Stanley Blackpool Burnley Bury Carlisle United Morecambe Preston North End Rochdale Tranmere Rovers

[edit] Division One East Barnsley Bradford City Grimsby Town Hartlepool United Huddersfield Town Leeds United Rotherham United Scunthorpe United York City

[edit] Champions

[edit] 1911–2005

1911-12 Lincoln City 1912-13 Manchester United 1913-14 Everton 1914-15 Huddersfield Town 1919-20 Blackpool 1920-21 Manchester United 1921-22 Sheffield United 1922-23 West Bromwich Albion 1923-24 West Bromwich Albion 1924-25 Huddersfield Town 1925-26 Huddersfield Town 1926-27 West Bromwich Albion 1927-28 Stoke City 1928-29 Sheffield Wednesday 1929-30 Aston Villa 1930-31 Huddersfield Town 1931-32 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1932-33 West Bromwich Albion 1933-34 West Bromwich Albion 1934-35 West Bromwich Albion 1935-36 Derby County 1936-37 Leeds United 1937-38 Everton 1938-39 Manchester United 1945-46 Sheffield Wednesday 1946-47 Manchester United 1947-48 Newcastle United 1948-49 Burnley

1949-50 Blackpool 1950-51 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1951-52 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1952-53 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1953-54 Everton 1954-55 Bolton Wanderers 1955-56 Manchester United 1956-57 Liverpool 1957-58 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1958-59 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1959-60 Manchester United 1960-61 Sheffield Wednesday 1961-62 Burnley 1962-63 Burnley 1963-64 Aston Villa 1964-65 Blackburn Rovers 1965-66 Sheffield United 1966-67 Blackburn Rovers 1967-68 Everton 1968-69 Liverpool 1969-70 Liverpool 1970-71 Liverpool 1971-72 Derby County 1972-73 Liverpool 1973-74 Liverpool 1974-75 Liverpool 1975-76 Liverpool 1976-77 Liverpool

1977-78 Manchester City 1978-79 Liverpool 1979-80 Liverpool 1980-81 Liverpool 1981-82 Liverpool 1982-83 West Bromwich Albion 1983-84 Liverpool 1984-85 Liverpool 1985-86 Derby County 1986-87 Manchester City 1987-88 Nottingham Forest 1988-89 Nottingham Forest 1989-90 Liverpool 1990-91 Sheffield Wednesday 1991-92 Nottingham Forest 1992-93 Aston Villa 1993-94 Manchester United 1994-95 Bolton Wanderers 1995-96 Manchester United 1996-97 Manchester United 1997-98 Leeds United 1998-99 Sunderland 1999-00 Manchester City 2000-01 Tranmere Rovers 2001-02 Preston North End 2002-03 Sheffield United 2003-04 Stoke City 2004-05 Hull City

[edit] 2005–present

In 2005, the league re-organised into three geographic divisions, with the overall champions being decided after a series of play-offs

	Play-off Final	Division One Central	Division One East	Division One West
2005-06	Doncaster Rovers	Sheffield Wednesday	Doncaster Rovers	Carlisle United
2006-07	Nottingham Forest	West Bromwich Albion	Rotherham United	Oldham Athletic
2007-08[1]	Manchester City[2]	Nottingham Forest	Hartlepool United	Morecambe
2008-09[3]		Shrewsbury Town	Leeds United	Burnley

[edit] Championships by club

P	Club	Number of Wins
1	Liverpool	16
2	Manchester United	9
3	West Bromwich Albion	7
4	Wolverhampton Wanderers	6
5	Manchester City	4
	Everton	4
	Sheffield Wednesday	4
	Huddersfield Town	4
	Nottingham Forest	4
10	Aston Villa	3
	Burnley	3
	Derby County	3
	Sheffield United	3
14	Blackburn Rovers	2
	Blackpool	2
	Bolton Wanderers	2
	Leeds United	2
	Stoke City	2
19	Doncaster Rovers	1
	Hull City	1
	Lincoln City	1
	Newcastle United	1
	Preston North End	1
	Sunderland	1
	Tranmere Rovers	1

[edit] Central League Cup

The league also operates a cup competition - The Central League Cup (officially known as The Totesportcasino.com League Cup for sponsorship reasons).

[edit] Participating teams

The competition is split into 4 groups currently, winners and runners-up of each group will qualify for quarter-finals. The participating teams for 2008–09 are:

Group 1 Carlisle United Hartlepool United Newcastle United Sheffield United Sunderland

Group 2 Bradford City Grimsby Town Middlesbrough Sheffield Wednesday

Group 3 Derby County Mansfield Town Oldham Athletic Walsall

Group 4 Accrington Stanley Macclesfield Morecambe Rochdale Tranmere Rovers

[edit] Winners

Season	Winners
2003-04	Sheffield Wednesday
2004-05	Manchester United
2005-06	Shrewsbury Town
2006-07	Lincoln City
2007-08	Morecambe
2008-09	Sunderland[4]

[edit] See also

• The Football Combination
• Premier Reserve League
• Football League Youth Alliance
• The Football League

[edit] References

1. ^ "Pontin's Holidays League Honours". http://www.football-league.co.uk/staticFiles/62/ed/0,,10794~126306,00.pdf. 
2. ^ "City crowned Pontin's Holidays League champions". http://www.mcfc.co.uk/default.sps?pageid=115&pagegid=%7BDBD12D53%2D8346%2D431D%2DA04F%2D5D0F8664DE80%7D&newsid=6615415&siteid=&pageno=&newscategory=1051&frommonth=6&fromyear=2008&tomonth=8&toyear=2008. 
3. ^ "totesport.com League Honours 2008/09 Season". http://www.football-league.co.uk/staticFiles/87/36/0,,10794~145031,00.pdf. 
4. ^ http://www.safc.com/news/derby-reserves-v-sunderland-reserves.html

[edit] External links

• Official page on the Football League website

v • d • e Reserve and youth football in England National teams England U-21 · U-20 · U-19 · U-18 · U-17 · U-16 League competitions Premier Reserve League · Premier Academy League · Central League · Football Combination · Football League Youth Alliance Cup competitions FA Youth Cup · Central League Cup · Combination Challenge Cup · Youth Alliance Cup · County Cup competitions