If When and Probably we go out of the Football league.
It Looks Like being Bolton Wanderers Who will Inherit the Honour of calling themselves The Worlds Oldest League Club
theres just two competitors Aston Villa were formed the same year as Bolton , villa were founded on the 21st November 1874
However searching for this in the past i have yet to see printed anywhere the actual date of Boltons formation,
so unless they are very unlucky. and were formed in the last few weeks of 1874.
its going to be The Trotters. by a snout.
To qualify you had to be CONTINUOUS founder members from the year the league was formed in 1888,
NFFC across the river were formed 1865 but were not in it at its inception.
Stoke although they have on their stand 1863 thats a load of bull, as they were formed sept 26th 1868,
went bankrupt dropped out of the league 1908 and didn't get back in again until after the first world war, later becoming Stoke City when the City was bestowed the honor of City.
neither was Sheffield Wednesday 1867 Founder members.
Last edited by feeb; 14-01-2019 at 03:00 PM.
Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863 the club changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke-on-Trent was granted city status. They are the second-oldest professional football club in the world, after Notts County, and were a founding member of the Football League in 1888.
But even that says "oldest Professional football club" so god knows why we don't just go by that label and we'd therefore not lose anything by dropping into the conference.
At the moment feeling as low as i do, i really don't give a damn about who the oldest club is. I'm going to cut my wrists now
Stoke City are next in line and then Forest.
Hopefully nobody will claim to inherit this "honour", because it's meaningless.
The Football League is an English competition, so claiming to be the "World's Oldest Football League Club" is like claiming to be the "World's Tallest Englishman" - it just doesn't make sense.
I've never understood why we don't brand ourselves the "World's Oldest Professional Football Club", which really is an honour. Even "Oldest Football League Club" would make more sense than "World's Oldest Football League Club" (for the next four months at least).
Incidentally, none of the clubs you mention have played in the Football League continually since 1888, as they have all played in the Premier League, which is a completely separate competition.
Other than ourselves, the only club to have played in every Football League season is Preston North End.
Last edited by Dunkirk-Pie; 14-01-2019 at 06:47 PM.