1898–99 Stoke F.C. season

Stoke
1898–99 season
ChairmanMr J Fenton
ManagerHorace Austerberry
StadiumVictoria Ground
Football League First Division12th (33 Points)
FA CupSemi-final
Top goalscorerLeague: William Maxwell
(16)
All: William Maxwell
(19)
Highest home attendance14,000 vs Aston Villa
(1 September 1898)
Lowest home attendance3,000 vs Bury
(22 April 1899)
Average home league attendance7,600

The 1898–99 season was Stoke's tenth season in the Football League.

With automatic promotion and relegation now introduced thanks to Stoke and Burnley's antics last season, Stoke improved marginally as they took 12th place with 33 points. Stoke form was erratic throughout the season and with neither any hopes of mounting a title challenge or any relegation fears Stoke went on to enjoy their best performance so far in the FA Cup. They reached the semi-final of the competition for the first time losing 3–1 to eventual runners-up Derby County.[1]

Season review

League

The 1898–99 season saw the introduction of automatic promotion and relegation between the First and Second Divisions of the Football League, and Stoke's fortunes improved marginally as they finished in 12th position.[1] The season hardly started well when three players were suspended for a breach of club rules during pre-season training for drinking champagne.[1] In August 1898 club secretary, former manager and goalkeeper Bill Rowley transferred himself to Leicester Fosse and even agreed his own signing on fee. This transaction caused uproar by the FA who suspended Rowley.[1]

Stoke's form-rate in 1898–99 was erratic with only three wins coming in their opening 12 matches, five in the middle 12 and five in the last 10.[1] The highlight was undoubtedly a convincing 3–0 victory over champions-to-be Aston Villa on New Year's Eve, while Burnley and Sheffield United were both beaten 4–1.[1] At the end of the season club legend Joe Schofield decided to retire from playing after spending eight years with Stoke.[1]

FA Cup

Stoke reached the semi-finals of the competition for the first time after seeing off Sheffield Wednesday, Small Heath and Tottenham Hotspur.[1] They succumbed to a 3–1 defeat to Derby County at neutral Molineux with Steve Bloomer scoring a fine hat-trick for the "Rams".[1]

The Evening Sentinel commented: "Derby had their halves to thank for victory, Stoke were decidedly the better side in the first half and it was Derby's luck to get on level terms by means of a scrimmage which was produced by full-back Tom Robertson's miss kick. Stoke did most of the attacking again in the second half until Derby got the lead in an unexpected manner. Of course this put new life into Derby and very little seemed to go wrong with them afterwards although Stoke played up strongly. The weakness in their attack was the centre-forward Fred Molyneux. The Derby players were very vigorous and did not spare the Stoke team in bumping them about. Derby scored a third goal to put the contest beyond the brave Stoke players much to the disappointment of the Stoke spectators."[1]

The Stoke players received a £5 bonus for their cup exploits and it would be another 72 years before the club reached the semi-final stage again.[1]

Final league table

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GAv Pts
10 Bury 34 14 7 13 48 49 0.980 35
11 Nottingham Forest 34 11 11 12 42 42 1.000 33
12 Stoke 34 13 7 14 47 52 0.904 33
13 Newcastle United 34 11 8 15 49 48 1.021 30
14 West Bromwich Albion 34 12 6 16 42 57 0.737 30
Source: World Football
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal average; 3) Goals scored

Results

Stoke's score comes first

Legend

Win Draw Loss

Football League First Division

Main article: 1898–99 Football League
Match Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
1 1 September 1898 Derby County H 0–0 14,000
2 3 September 1898 Aston Villa A 1–3 30,000 Farrell
3 10 September 1898 Burnley H 4–1 7,000 Farrell, Mellor, Schofield, Kennedy
4 17 September 1898 Sheffield United A 1–1 8,000 Maxwell
5 24 September 1898 Newcastle United H 0–0 7,500
6 1 October 1898 Preston North End A 2–4 6,000 Maxwell (2)
7 8 October 1898 Liverpool H 2–1 12,000 Murphy, Turner
8 15 October 1898 Nottingham Forest A 1–2 5,000 Farrell
9 22 October 1898 Bolton Wanderers H 2–3 5,000 Maxwell (2)
10 29 October 1898 Derby County A 1–1 8,000 Maxwell
11 5 November 1898 West Bromwich Albion H 2–1 7,750 Maxwell, Kennedy
12 12 November 1898 Blackburn Rovers A 1–4 7,000 Turner
13 14 November 1898 Preston North End H 2–1 6,500 Turner, Schofield
14 19 November 1898 The Wednesday H 1–0 6,000 Schofield
15 26 November 1898 Sunderland A 0–2 5,000
16 3 December 1898 Wolverhampton Wanderers H 2–4 7,000 Schofield, Johnson
17 10 December 1898 Everton A 0–2 10,000
18 17 December 1898 Notts County H 1–1 5,000 Maxwell
19 24 December 1898 Bury A 2–5 8,000 Schofield, Molyneux
20 26 December 1898 Nottingham Forest H 2–1 10,000 Maxwell, Kennedy
21 31 December 1898 Aston Villa H 3–0 10,000 Maxwell, Kennedy, Turner
22 14 January 1899 Sheffield United H 4–1 9,000 Maxwell (2), Schofield (2)
23 21 January 1899 Newcastle United A 0–3 4,000
24 4 February 1899 Liverpool A 0–1 8,000
25 18 February 1899 Bolton Wanderers A 2–0 4,000 Turner (2)
26 4 March 1899 West Bromwich Albion A 1–0 1,714 Kennedy
27 11 March 1899 Blackburn Rovers H 0–1 6,000
28 25 March 1899 Sunderland H 1–0 4,000 Maxwell
29 27 March 1899 The Wednesday A 3–1 12,000 Turner, Farrell, Johnson
30 1 April 1899 Wolverhampton Wanderers A 2–3 2,000 Maxwell, Schofield
31 8 April 1899 Everton H 2–1 3,000 Johnson, Tooth
32 15 April 1899 Notts County A 0–2 5,000
33 17 April 1899 Burnley A 1–1 4,000 Maxwell
34 22 April 1899 Bury H 1–1 3,000 Maxwell

FA Cup

Main article: 1898–99 FA Cup
Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
R1 28 January 1899 The Wednesday A 2–2 16,000 Farrell, Kennedy
R1 Replay 2 February 1899 The Wednesday H 2–0 15,000 Maxwell, Schofield
R2 11 February 1899 Small Heath H 2–2 12,000 Maxwell, Schofield
R2 Replay 15 February 1899 Small Heath A 2–1 15,000 Kennedy, Molyneux
R3 25 February 1899 Tottenham Hotspur H 4–1 22,000 Kennedy, Molyneux, Schofield, Johnson
Semi-final 18 March 1899 Derby County N 1–3 29,000 Maxwell

Squad statistics

Pos. Name League FA Cup Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
GK England George Clawley 34 0 6 0 40 0
FB England Jack Eccles 21 0 6 0 27 0
FB Scotland Tom Robertson 31 0 6 0 37 0
FB England Arthur Rowley 14 0 0 0 14 0
HB England James Bradley 26 0 6 0 32 0
HB England Jack Deakin 2 0 0 0 2 0
HB England Tom Holford 5 0 0 0 5 0
HB England Joe Murphy 19 1 0 0 19 1
HB England Edward Parsons 13 0 6 0 19 0
HB England Alf Wood 27 0 6 0 33 0
FW England Ephraim Colclough 2 0 0 0 2 0
FW England Jack Farrell 22 4 3 1 25 5
FW England Len Hales 1 0 0 0 1 0
FW Scotland Tommy Hyslop 12 0 0 0 12 0
FW Scotland Jack Kennedy 27 5 6 3 33 8
FW England Freddie Johnson 26 3 6 1 32 4
FW Scotland William Maxwell 31 16 6 3 37 19
FW England Harry Mellor 6 1 0 0 6 1
FW England Fred Molyneux 6 1 3 2 9 3
FW England Joe Schofield 14 8 5 3 19 11
FW England George Tooth 1 1 0 0 1 1
FW England Jimmy Turner 7 0 0 0 7 0
FW England Joe Turner 27 7 1 0 28 7

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.