Tom Parker continues his look at the history of English football

AS with the end of the First World War, at the end of the Second World War the nation turned to football for entertainment because it was cheap and the people felt that things were getting back to normal again after six long years of conflict.

Almost a million people turned up to the matches on the opening day of the new season.

Preston North End finished seventh in the First Division in each of the first two post-war seasons as first Liverpool and then Arsenal won the championship.

There was however, in March 1946 one of the most terrible disasters. The second round second leg FA Cup match between Bolton and Stoke saw some 85,000 people try to get into Burnden Park and as a result part of the terracing collapsed leaving 33 people dead and hundreds injured.

Manchester United were badly in debt and they were forced to share Manchester City's Maine Road ground.

Len Shackleton, the "clown prince of soccer" as he was to be later called because of his juggling ability with the ball scored six goals on his debut for Newcastle against Newport County.

1947 saw Charlton Athletic beat Burnley 1-0 in the FA Cup Final as Chris Duffy netted from the penalty spot in what was only the second ever penalty in Wembley Cup Finals.

Jack Fairbrother the Preston North End goalkeeper was transferred to Newcastle United for £7,000 which was, at the time, a record for a goalkeeper.

The transfer market was going mad and Johnny Morris moved from Manchester United to Derby County for £24,500 in 1949. Portsmouth were getting together a very strong side and they won the championship two seasons on the run.

As we moved into the 1950's, Newcastle United were dominating the FA Cup winning the trophy three times in five years. Sandwiched inbetween those cup successes was one of the most exciting finals ever.

In 1953 came the "The Matthews" final as Blackpool came from 3-1 down to beat Bolton 4-3 and Stanley Matthews at last got his winners medal. Matthews would later pay tribute to Stan Mortensen who scored a hat-trick telling me in an interview years later on radio "It should have been called the Mortensen final."

In Manchester City's FA Cup win in 1956, goalkeeper Bert Trantmann played most of the second half against Birmingham City not knowing his neck was broken. Then came footballing nightmare at Munich airport in 1958 when the plane carrying the Manchester United team crashed on take off leaving eight players dead as the nation went into mourning. Across the world the name of Manchester United was on every newspaper headline and on every radio and television station.

Burnley won the league championship in 1960 chased home by Wolves and Tottenham.

Tottenham Hotspur, captained by Danny Blanchflower won an amazing League and FA Cup double in 1961 as they beat Leicester City at Wembley.

The following season however, unfashionable Ipswich Town, managed by Alf Ramsey shook the world of football by winning the championship narrowly from Burnley.

Accrington Stanley's long battle for survival failed and they played their last match against Crewe in March 1962 before resigning from the Football League. Everton "bought" the championship in 1963 as Harry Catterick spend £200,000 on new players which was a fortune in those days and Merseyside was singing in more ways than one as The Beatles arrived on the scene.

Portsmouth's Jimmy Dickinson finally called it a day at the age of 39 after playing 764 League appearances. He never played for any other club than Portsmouth. He also made 48 appearances for England.

The mid sixties saw Liverpool, managed by Bill Shankly win the FA Cup for the first time as they beat Leeds United 2-1. Manchester United won the Championship on goal average from Leeds United and so it was a second disappointment for Leeds.

Next week we shall look from the mid sixties to the eighties, a tumiltuos time for English football.