Huddersfield Town

Huddersfield Town dominated English domestic football in the mid 1920s, winning 3 League Championships in a row.
Pictured here are Tommy Wilson, Bertie Smith, Clem Stephenson, Charlie Wilson, Billy Watson and Sam Wadsworth.

United avoid the drop

United keeper Jack Hacking catches a cross

Modern day audiences might find it hard to believe that once upon a time Manchester United had to beat Millwall in the last game of the season in order to stay in Division 2.
As the end of the 1934-35 season approached with 41 out of 42 rounds of matches completed Lincoln City were already down with 25 points.
Notts County, in 18th, were safe on 35 points.
In between were Swansea Town (33), Millwall (33) and Manchester United (32).
United had conceded 85 goals, 10 more than any other team in the Division, and had lost 22 of 41 matches played.  Their average home attendance was just 18,500. Manchester City were drawing crowds of 30,000 plus. And so to 05.05.1934. Swansea Town would have been relieved that their crucial match was at home, they hadn't won an away game all season. They duly defeated Plymouth Argyle 2-1 at the Vetch Field with goals from Jack Firth and Wilf Milne.
Meanwhile at the Den Jackie Cape and Tom Manley gave United a 2-0 win in front of a crowd of 35,000. The Sheffield Independent described the result as one of the most remarkable successes of the day.
Manley (left) opened the scoring in the 9th minute and Cape (below) added the second in the 48th. Some controversy surrounded Cape's goal as there were suspicions of offside.

Leagues

Nottingham Evening Post 24.09.89

In the same way in which the FA Cup spawned many imitators, the foundation of the Football League gave rise to the establishment of any number of similar organizations. 

As the above cutting shows, these developments didn't take long to trickle down to 'grass roots' level. 

Major trophy wins by region

London was the dominant region in football until the advent of professionalism.
The North and the Midlands then dominated the game.
After Blackburn Olympic's triumph in 1883 no southern team would win the  FA Cup  until 1901.
It was 54 years before a southern team won the First Division championship.
For the purpose of this post I have divided England into 5 broad areas:

The South
Lancashire
North East
Yorkshire
Midlands

And the period under consideration, from the introduction of competitive football in 1872 up until 1937, I have divided into the pre Football League era and the Football League era.

Pre Football League era 1872-1888

FA Cup winners:
The South- 11*
Lancashire-  4
Midlands-  2

* From 1872-1883 the FA Cup was won exclusively by southern teams. 

The Football League Era 1888-1937

FA Cup Winners:
Lancashire- 15
Yorkshire -10
Midlands-10
North East -4**
The South -4
Wales -1

Football League Champions:
Lancashire-16
North East -9**
Yorkshire-8
Midlands- 7
The South -4*

*Exclusively Arsenal- it was 54 years before a southern team won the First Division championship
** Although the North east is traditionally a football heartland, only Newcastle United and Sunderland have won major honours.


FA Cup winners
Football League Champions

Season	Lancashire	Midlands	North East	Yorkshire	The South
72					Wanderers
73					Wanderers
74					Oxford University
75					Royal Engineers
76					Wanderers
77					Wanderers
78					Wanderers
79					Old Etonians
80					Clapham Rovers
81					Old Carthusians
82					Old Etonians
83	Blackburn Olympic
84	Blackburn Rovers
85	Blackburn Rovers
86	Blackburn Rovers
87		Aston Villa
88		West Bromwich Albion
88-89	Preston North End Preston North End
89-90	Preston North End Blackburn Rovers
90-91	Everton Blackburn Rovers
91-92		West Bromwich Albion	Sunderland
92-93		Wolverhampton Wanderers	Sunderland
93-94		Aston Villa Notts County
94-95		Aston Villa	Sunderland
95-96		Aston Villa		The Wednesday
96-97		Aston Villa Aston Villa
97-98		Nottingham Forest		Sheffield United
98-99		Aston Villa		Sheffield United
1899-1900	Bury	Aston Villa
1900-01	Liverpool				Tottenham Hotspur
01-02			Sunderland	Sheffield United
02-03	Bury			The Wednesday
03-04	Manchester City			The Wednesday
04-05		Aston Villa	Newcastle United
05-06	Liverpool Everton
06-07			Newcastle United	The Wednesday
07-08	Manchester United	Wolverhampton Wanderers
08-09	Manchester United		Newcastle United
09-10		Aston Villa	Newcastle United
10-11	Manchester United			Bradford City
11-12	Blackburn Rovers			Barnsley
12-13		Aston Villa	Sunderland
13-14	Blackburn Rovers Burnley
14-15	Everton			Sheffield United
19-20		West Bromwich Albion Aston Villa
20-21	Burnley				Tottenham Hotspur
21-22	Liverpool			Huddersfield Town
22-23	Liverpool Bolton Wanderers
23-24			Newcastle United	Huddersfield Town
24-25				Huddersfield Town
25-26	Bolton Wanderers			Huddersfield Town
26-27			Newcastle United		Cardiff City*
27-28	Everton Blackburn Rovers
28-29	Bolton Wanderers			The Wednesday
29-30				Sheffield Wednesday	Arsenal
30-31		West Bromwich Albion			Arsenal
31-32	Everton		Newcastle United
32-33	Everton				Arsenal
33-34	Manchester City				Arsenal
34-35				Sheffield Wednesday	Arsenal
35-36			Sunderland		Arsenal
36-37	Manchester City		Sunderland

* Wales