| Season: | 1888–89 |
| League Result: | 11th (12 Points) |
| Cup1 Result: | Round 2 |
| League Topscorer: | Harry Daft & Bob Jardine (9) |
| Pattern La1: | _claretborder |
| Pattern B1: | _notts1888 |
| Leftarm1: | 00aef0 |
| Body1: | 00aef0 |
| Rightarm1: | 7a4b31 |
| Socks1: | 000000 |
| Nextseason: | 1889–90 |
The 1888–89 season was Notts County's first season in the Football League which had just been founded. Because of this Notts County became one of the founder members of the Football League. They finished in 11th position level on points with bottom of the table Stoke and were re-elected.
| Pos | Club | P | W | D | L | F | A | GA | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Preston North End | 22 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 74 | 15 | 4.933 | 40 | |
| 2 | Aston Villa | 22 | 12 | 5 | 5 | 61 | 43 | 1.419 | 29 | |
| 3 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 22 | 12 | 4 | 6 | 50 | 37 | 1.351 | 28 | |
| 4 | Blackburn Rovers | 22 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 66 | 45 | 1.467 | 26 | |
| 5 | Bolton Wanderers | 22 | 10 | 2 | 10 | 63 | 59 | 1.068 | 22 | |
| 6 | West Bromwich Albion | 22 | 10 | 2 | 10 | 40 | 46 | 0.870 | 22 | |
| 7 | Accrington | 22 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 48 | 48 | 1.000 | 20 | |
| 8 | Everton | 22 | 9 | 2 | 11 | 35 | 46 | 0.761 | 20 | |
| 9 | Burnley | 22 | 7 | 3 | 12 | 42 | 62 | 0.677 | 17 | |
| 10 | Derby County | 22 | 7 | 2 | 13 | 41 | 61 | 0.672 | 16 | |
| 11 | Notts County | 22 | 5 | 2 | 15 | 40 | 73 | 0.548 | 12 | |
| 12 | Stoke | 22 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 26 | 51 | 0.510 | 12 |
Notts County's score comes first
| Win | Draw | Loss |
See main article: 1888–89 Football League.
| Match | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 September 1888 | Everton | A | 1–2 | 7,000 | Moore | |
| 2 | 22 September 1888 | Stoke | A | 0–3 | 3,000 | ||
| 3 | 29 September 1888 | Aston Villa | A | 1–9 | 4,000 | Coulton (o.g.) | |
| 4 | 6 October 1888 | Blackburn Rovers | H | 3–3 | 4,000 | Daft, Jardine, Moore | |
| 5 | 13 October 1888 | Everton | H | 3–1 | 3,000 | Daft, Jardine, Moore | |
| 6 | 20 October 1888 | West Bromwich Albion | A | 2–4 | 2,000 | Allin (2) | |
| 7 | 27 October 1888 | Burnley | H | 6–1 | 4,000 | Jardine (5), Daft | |
| 8 | 3 November 1888 | Preston North End | H | 0–7 | 4,000 | ||
| 9 | 10 November 1888 | Accrington | H | 3–3 | 8,000 | Daft, Jardine, C Shelton | |
| 10 | 24 November 1888 | Stoke | H | 0–3 | 2,000 | ||
| 11 | 8 December 1888 | Aston Villa | H | 2–4 | 2,000 | Jardine, Weightman | |
| 12 | 15 December 1888 | Blackburn Rovers | A | 2–5 | 4,000 | Brown, Hodder | |
| 13 | 22 December 1888 | Derby County | A | 2–3 | 2,500 | Daft, Hodder | |
| 14 | 29 December 1888 | Burnley | A | 0–1 | 2,000 | ||
| 15 | 5 January 1889 | Preston North End | A | 1–4 | 4,000 | Daft | |
| 16 | 12 January 1889 | West Bromwich Albion | H | 2–1 | 2,000 | Cursham, Hodder | |
| 17 | 19 January 1889 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | H | 3–0 | 2,000 | Cursham, E May (2) | |
| 18 | 26 January 1889 | Accrington | H | 2–1 | 5,000 | Daft, McLellan (o.g.) | |
| 19 | 23 February 1889 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | A | 1–2 | 4,000 | Jackson | |
| 20 | 5 March 1889 | Bolton Wanderers | H | 0–4 | 3,000 | ||
| 21 | 9 March 1889 | Bolton Wanderers | A | 3–7 | 3,000 | Jackson, E May, Unknown | |
| 22 | 16 March 1889 | Derby County | H | 3–5 | 5,000 | Bailey, Daft, Jackson |
See main article: 1888–89 FA Cup.
| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1QR | 6 October 1888 | Eckington | H | 4–1 | 2,000 | Jackson, Emmitt, Marshall (2) | |
| 2QR | 27 October 1888 | Beeston St. John's | H | 4–2 | 2,000 | Harker, HH Brown (2), Marshall | |
| 3QR | 17 November 1888 | Derby Midland | H | 2–1 | 1,500 | Daft, Harker | |
| 4QR | 8 December 1888 | Staveley | A | 3–1 | 2,000 | Cursham, Daft, Wardle | |
| R1 | 2 February 1889 | Old Brightonians | H | 2–0 | 3,000 | C Shelton, Moore | |
| R2 | 16 February 1889 | The Wednesday | A | 2–3 | 3,000 | A Shelton, Snook |
| Pos. | Name | League | FA Cup | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| FW | Thomas Allin | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 |
| FW | L.F. Bailey | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| HB | George Brown | 19 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 22 | 1 |
| FW | H.H. Brown | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| FW | John Brown | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| FB | John Clements | 12 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 0 |
| FB | Henry Cursham | 8 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 3 |
| FW | Harry Daft | 19 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 23 | 9 |
| HB | Charles Dobson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| HB | Herbert Emmitt | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 1 |
| FW | Galbraith | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| FW | William Gunn | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| FB | Frank Guttridge | 17 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 0 |
| FW | Ted Harker | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 2 |
| FW | Bill Hodder | 20 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 22 | 3 |
| GK | Jack Holland | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| FW | Harry Jackson | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 4 |
| FW | Bob Jardine | 18 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 9 |
| FW | J.T. Marshall | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| HB | Billy May | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| FW | Edward May | 11 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 3 |
| FB | Tom McLean | 12 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 0 |
| FW | Albert Moore | 10 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 4 |
| FB | Haydn Morley | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| GK | Hugh Owen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| FW | Albert Shaw | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| HB | Alf Shelton | 21 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 25 | 1 |
| HB | Charlie Shelton | 15 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 18 | 2 |
| GK | Mordecai Sherwin | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| FB | Herbert Snook | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
| FW | H. Stevens | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| HB | Ben Warburton | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| HB | Edwin Wardle | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| FW | Fred Weightman | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| GK | Tom Widdowson | 12 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 0 |
Book: Brown, Tony. The Football League Match by Match 1888–89 to 1892–93. 2010. SoccerData. 978-1-899468-44-7.