Following the German invasion of Poland and subsequent declaration of war by Britain against Nazi Germany on 3 September 1939, football matches were halted.
[2][3] Decisions as to whether the game should go on were connected to debates about wartime morale as football had a positive effect on the well-being of the public.
These arrangements were later revised, and clubs were allowed gates of 15,000 from tickets purchased on the day of the game through the turnstiles.
91 men joined from Wolverhampton Wanderers, 76 from Liverpool, 65 from Huddersfield Town, 63 from Leicester City, 62 from Charlton, 55 from Preston North End, 52 from Burnley, 50 from Sheffield Wednesday, 44 from Chelsea, 41 each from Brentford and Southampton, Sunderland and West Ham United, and 1 from Norwich City.
Despite this, over 40,000 fans braved the warnings and turned out at Wembley Stadium to see West Ham United lift the Football League War Cup by defeating Blackburn Rovers.
[11] During the second half of 1939-40, the London clubs rejected the official Football League fixtures and organised their own, something they would repeat the following season.
Arsenal manager George Allison and Tottenham director G. Wagstaffe Simmons both were significant figures in the breakaway movement.
[4] The West Ham chairman WJ Cearns worked to find a compromise between the London clubs and the rest of the team, but found no success.
In early August 1941, all eleven London clubs and two of their Southern allies, Aldershot and Reading, were expelled from the Football League.
The London clubs had argued that their plan was closely connected to the national war effort as it would reduce long-distance games and travel.
[11] However, they faced many of the same struggles as the Football League competitions including depleted teams, travel difficulties, and one-sided matches.
[4] At the end of the 1941-42 season, the Football League agreed to allow the London clubs back as long as they wrote a formal apology letter and paid a fine.
[11] In the summer of 1942, Bournemouth and Norwich withdrew from League competition for the rest of the war due to transportation and other difficulties.
[23] In 1945, Chelsea faced Millwall in the final of the Southern Football League War Cup at Wembley Stadium.
Despite the end of the Phoney War and the beginning of attacks on France and Britain, games continued to be played and even saw an increase in attendance and match fixtures during the Blitz.
Majority of fan-based arguments debate that a player who exceeds one's record through their wartime matches should nonetheless be seen as the club's highest goal scorer or appearance having been part of the team's squad even if only for a short time.
A notable argument relates to the goal-difference between Jackie Milburn's and Alan Shearer’s Newcastle United goal-scoring records.
When counting Jackie's wartime matches, he scored a total of 238 professional goals for Newcastle United FC.
The official website of NUFC acknowledged Milburn's war record of an additional 38 goals, but his family have publicly supported Shearer's status and have not debated his achievement.