1887-88
The following year was not as successful. With competitive football at a premium, William McGregor (Villa's President) sought to create a competition involving regular matches and wrote to the leading clubs of the time (all based in the North of England and the Midlands).
After some discussion the clubs agreed to set up a twelve team league. Each club would play the other home and away, for a total of twenty-two matches each. Villa were to be joined in the inaugural competition by Stoke, Wolves, West Brom, Notts County, Burnley, Blackburn Rovers, Derby County, Bolton Wanderers, Everton, Accrington (no relation to the present-day Accrington Stanley) and Preston North End. Interestingly, the league was never styled 'the English League' as McGregor invisioned that Scottish clubs would one day wish to join.
Meanwhile, in Villa's last pre-league FA Cup campaign, they reached the Fifth Round, beating Small Heath 4-0 on the way. This was their first meeting with modern rivals Birmingham City. Preston were a fine side and the match was billed as a clash between England's best teams. This prompted a then-record crowd of 27,000, which the police had some difficulty keeping off the pitch. With Preston leading 3–1 and chaos in the stadium, the clubs tried to calm things down by declaring the match a 'friendly'. However, the FA overruled the decision and decided that the result would stand. Villa, the holders, were out.
Read more about this topic: Aston Villa F.C. In The 1880s