The English Football League began in September 1888 with twelve clubs and a simple scoring system: 2 points for a win and 1 point for a draw. There were no playoffs, no finals, no ceremony built into the structure. Supremacy would be determined entirely by accumulation. Preston North End were ready for this format in a way no other club was.
The team was managed by William Sudell, a man who understood logistics before he understood sentiment. Preston trained regularly, travelled together, and—crucially—paid their players in an era when many clubs still clung to amateur ideals. Professionalism had been legalised in 1885, but legality and adoption were not the same thing. Preston adopted it fully.
Squad Composition
Their squad was unusually stable. Key players included:
- John Goodall — centre-forward and captain; joint top scorer with 21 league goals.
“That team was the best combination of players I have ever seen.” - Fred Dewhurst — inside forward with pace and finishing.
- Jimmy Ross — Scottish winger known for direct running.
- Nick Ross — full-back and tactical anchor.
- David Russell and Bob Holmes — defensive pairing that conceded fewer goals than any other team.
League Performance
The league season consisted of 22 matches. Preston’s record:
- Played: 22
- Won: 18
- Drawn: 4
- Lost: 0
- Goals For: 74
- Goals Against: 15
- Points: 40
No other club came close. Aston Villa finished second with 29 points, eleven behind. Goal difference was not yet an official tiebreaker, but Preston’s superiority was already overwhelming by raw totals.
They opened their league campaign on 8 September 1888 with a 5–2 win over Burnley. By October, they had already beaten:
- Wolverhampton Wanderers — 4–0
- Notts County — 7–0 (away)
These were early seasons consolidations. Dominance appeared immediately. All four draws came against mid-table opposition, not title challengers. There was no moment when the championship hung in balance. By January 1889, Preston were functionally uncatchable.
The FA Cup Run
Parallel to the league ran the FA Cup, still regarded as the more prestigious competition. Preston played five matches to win it:
- 1st Round: Preston 3–0 Bootle
- 2nd Round: Preston 2–0 Grimsby Town
- Quarter-final: Preston 2–0 Birmingham St George’s
- Semi-final: Preston 1–0 West Bromwich Albion
- Final (30 March 1889): Preston 3–0 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Across all five FA Cup matches, Preston conceded zero goals. This was total football in the modern sense. Preston scored 13 goals in the competition. They did not trade attack for caution; they simply removed errors.
As John Goodall later explained:
“We never bothered about who got the goals. They belonged to the side, not to the man.”
The Complete Record
Taken together, league and cup, Preston played 27 competitive matches:
- Wins: 23
- Draws: 4
- Losses: 0
- Goals For: 87
- Goals Against: 15
They were unbeaten across every official competition. The perfect attacking and defensive display. No English club had done this before. None would repeat it in the league-and-cup double format for over a century.
Interpretation and Legacy
Contemporary reaction was mixed. Preston were admired, but not universally liked. Southern clubs—particularly Corinthians-aligned teams—criticised their professionalism. Newspapers occasionally framed their success as mechanical rather than heroic.
Yet the league table was immune to rhetoric.
What distinguished Preston was not tactical innovation—the 2–3–5 formation was universal—but execution within a new system. The league rewarded:
- Consistency
- Travel discipline
- Squad depth
- Recovery
As Goodall summarised:
“Every man in the team was master of his craft. What is more, every man was a partner.”
There was no defining match that “won” them the league. Which is representative of a season well strategised and well executed. The title was decided by December, confirmed by February, and formalised by spring.
Football had, briefly, become predictable.
Later generations would call them “The Invincibles.” The term is accurate but misleading. Invincibility suggests survival against threat. Preston’s 1889 season contained very little threat.
That is why the season still stands untouched — as a worthy precedent.