FA at 150: a brief history of English football since 1863

The rise of the pyramid

The early game was based around dribbling – or at least head-down charging – and that meant an abundance of forwards, writes Jonathan Wilson. The first game in which we have some idea of the formations used was the first international, the 0-0 draw between Scotland and England in Partick in 1872. England seem to have used a 1-2-7, with Scotland, adopting a radical passing approach, using a 2-2-6 to keep the ball from the physically more imposing English.

As passing spread, so did the recognition that additional midfielders might be of use rather than playing two central forwards who often got in each other’s way. It appears Cambridge University and Nottingham Forest were the first to experiment with a 2-3-5, then Wrexham employed it in their victory over Druids in the 1878 Welsh cup final, but it was its use by Preston North End in 1888-89 that spread its popularity and made it the default for almost all British sides.

The arrival of a host of Scottish players – professionals in all but name – transformed Preston and, by 1883, team-sheets were for the first time showing Preston lining up in a 2-3-5. Exactly whose idea that was is unclear, but it is known that James Gledhill, a teacher and doctor from Glasgow, gave a series of lectures “showing by blackboard what might be done by a team of selected experts”, as David Hunt put it in his history of the club.

The W-M

With minor variations, the 2-3-5 remained the standard formation until the mid-1920s when, alarmed by the increasing use of the offside trap and the declining number of goals, the Football Association changed the offside law so that only two defensive players, rather than three as had previously been the case, were required to play a forward onside.

A number of sides, deprived of the crutch of the offside trap, began to deploy their centre-half deeper, as a third back.

As teams sought to come to terms with the new regulation, the opening weeks of the 1925-26 season saw a series of unpredictable results. Arsenal, for instance, beat Leeds 4-1 on 26 September but then were hammered 7-0 by Newcastle a week later. A number of sides, deprived of the crutch of the offside trap, began to deploy their centre-half deeper, as a third back. That, though, could leave teams short in midfield, and so one of the wing-halves began to play deeper – a 3-3-4.

Under Herbert Chapman, Arsenal began to evolve further, pulling back the other inside-forward as well until the shape was 3-2-2-3 – the W-M. That helped Arsenal to the league title in 1931 and, although Chapman died during the following season, the shape, and the swift forward passing of Alex James, carried them to a hat-trick of titles.

Winglessness

By the start of the second world war, the W-M was all but universal in England and it remained so until around 1960, with wingers idolised for their ability to beat a full-back. After Brazil won the 1958 World Cup with a 4-2-4, though, the realisation dawned that there were other ways to play, while the use of full-backs in a modern sense decreased the effectiveness of wingers. It gradually began to be accepted that if one of the wide forwards dropped back to become an extra midfielder who shuttled forward, a team was less likely to be swamped in the middle.

Alf Ramsey pioneered the withdrawn winger in England at Ipswich, whom he led from the third division to the league title in 1962. He was appointed as England manager the following year and there his experimentation went further. He withdrew not just one but both wingers, playing what was effectively a 4-4-2, or 4-1-3-2, to win the World Cup in 1966 thanks to his side’s domination of midfield. That soon became the template for the vast majority of English teams.

The modern age

4-4-2, or a hybrid 4-4-2/4-3-3 with one wide player used almost as a playmaker and the other tucked in to provide cover (as, for example, Nottingham Forest played, with John Robertson high up on the left and Martin O’Neill much narrower and deeper on the right) predominated through the seventies and eighties. The eighties also saw the golden age of the long-ball, with Watford and then, even more radically, Wimbledon enjoying a measure of success.

The outlawing of the tackle from behind and the back pass, and the liberalisation of the offside law, has led to the effective playing area being lengthened.

The advent of the Premier League and the influx of foreign players and coaches has changed the English game beyond recognition. The outlawing of the tackle from behind and the back pass, and the liberalisation of the offside law, which has led to the effective playing area being lengthened as teams can’t push up as they once did, has heightened the emphasis on skill.

As football has become increasingly globalised, the distinctions between different national styles have become less pronounced. It may still be the English way to whack it long under pressure, but our league football has never been so varied, either in formation or style.

Jonathan Wilson is the author of Inverting the Pyramid: A History of Football Tactics, and editor of The Blizzard