On this day, on the invitation of Aston Villa director, William MacGregor, representatives from five prominent football clubs met at Anderton’s Hotel in Fleet Street, London to discuss the creation of a football league that would provide a number of guaranteed fixtures for its member clubs each season. The acceptance of professionalism in football in 1885 had created serious financial difficulties for clubs everywhere and MacGregor’s brainchild was quickly seen as a valid solution. The Football League was officially born at a meeting at the Royal Hotel in central Manchester less then a month later and 11 of the 12 founding clubs still survive today. In 1992 financial considerations led to a major shake-up and the leading members of the Football League broke away to form their own competition, the FA Premier League, which was renamed the Premier League in 2007.
