1898–99 Stoke F.C. season

Stoke
1898–99 season
Chairman Mr J Fenton
Manager Horace Austerberry
Stadium Victoria Ground
Football League First Division 12th (33 Points)
FA Cup Semi-final
Top goalscorer League: William Maxwell (16)
All: William Maxwell (19)
Highest home attendance 14,000 vs Aston Villa (1 September 1898)
Lowest home attendance 3,000 vs Bury (22 April 1899)
Average home league attendance 7,600
Home colours

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

PosClubPWDLFAGAPts
1Aston Villa34197876401.90045
2Liverpool341951049331.48543
3Burnley341591045470.95739
4Everton341581148411.17138
5Notts County341213947510.92237
6Blackburn Rovers341481260521.15436
7Sunderland341561341411.00036
8Wolverhampton Wanderers341471354481.12535
9Derby County3412111162571.08835
10Bury341471348490.98035
11Nottingham Forest3411111242421.00033
12Stoke341371447520.90433
13Newcastle United341181549481.02130
14West Bromwich Albion341261642570.73730
15Preston North End341091544470.93629
16Sheffield United349111445510.88229
17Bolton Wanderers34971837510.72525
18The Wednesday34881832610.52524

Key: P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points

Results

Stoke's score comes first

Legend

Win Draw Loss

Football League First Division

MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
1 1 September 1898 Derby CountyH0–014,000
2 3 September 1898 Aston VillaA1–330,000Farrell
3 10 September 1898 BurnleyH4–17,000Farrell, Mellor, Schofield, Kennedy
4 17 September 1898 Sheffield UnitedA1–18,000Maxwell
5 24 September 1898 Newcastle UnitedH0–07,500
6 1 October 1898 Preston North EndA2–46,000Maxwell (2)
7 8 October 1898 LiverpoolH2–112,000Murphy, Turner
8 15 October 1898 Nottingham ForestA1–25,000Farrell
9 22 October 1898 Bolton WanderersH2–35,000Maxwell (2)
10 29 October 1898 Derby CountyA1–18,000Maxwell
11 5 November 1898 West Bromwich AlbionH2–17,750Maxwell, Kennedy
12 12 November 1898 Blackburn RoversA1–47,000 Turner
13 14 November 1898 Preston North EndH2–16,500 Turner, Schofield
14 19 November 1898 The WednesdayH1–06,000 Schofield
15 26 November 1898 SunderlandA0–25,000
16 3 December 1898 Wolverhampton WanderersH2–47,000Schofield, Johnson
17 10 December 1898 EvertonA0–210,000
18 17 December 1898 Notts CountyH1–15,000Maxwell
19 24 December 1898 BuryA2–58,000Schofield, Molyneux
20 26 December 1898 Nottingham ForestH2–110,000Maxwell, Kennedy
21 31 December 1898 Aston VillaH3–010,000Maxwell, Kennedy, Turner
22 14 January 1899 Sheffield UnitedH4–19,000Maxwell (2), Schofield (2)
23 21 January 1899 Newcastle UnitedA0–34,000
24 4 February 1899 LiverpoolA0–18,000
25 18 February 1899 Bolton WanderersA2–04,000Turner (2)
26 4 March 1899 West Bromwich AlbionA1–01,714Kennedy
27 11 March 1899 Blackburn RoversH0–16,000
28 25 March 1899 SunderlandH1–04,000Maxwell
29 27 March 1899 The WednesdayA3–112,000Turner, Farrell, Johnson
30 1 April 1899 Wolverhampton WanderersA2–32,000Maxwell, Schofield
31 8 April 1899 EvertonH2–13,000Johnson, Tooth
32 15 April 1899 Notts CountyA0–15,000
33 17 April 1899 BurnleyA1–14,000Maxwell
34 22 April 1899 BuryH1–13,000Maxwell

FA Cup

Main article: 1898–99 FA Cup
RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
R128 January 1899 The WednesdayA2–216,000Farrell, Kennedy
R1 Replay2 February 1899 The WednesdayH2–015,000Maxwell, Schofield
R211 February 1899 Small HeathH2–212,000Maxwell, Schofield
R2 Replay15 February 1899 Small HeathA2–115,000 Kennedy, Molyneux
R325 February 1899 Tottenham HotspurH4–122,000 Kennedy, Molyneux, Schofield, Johnson
Semi-final18 March 1899 Derby CountyN1–329,000Maxwell

Squad statistics

Pos. Name League FA Cup Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
GKEngland George Clawley 34060400
FBEngland Jack Eccles 21060270
FBScotland Tom Robertson 31060370
FBEngland Arthur Rowley 14000140
HBEngland James Bradley 26060320
HBEngland Jack Deakin 200020
HBEngland Tom Holford 500050
HBEngland Joe Murphy 19100191
HBEngland Edward Parsons 13060190
HBEngland Alf Wood 27060330
FWEngland Ephraim Colclough 200020
FWEngland Jack Farrell 22431255
FWEngland Len Hales 100010
FWScotland Tommy Hyslop 12000120
FWScotland Jack Kennedy 27563338
FWEngland Freddie Johnson 26361324
FWScotland William Maxwell 3116633719
FWEngland Harry Mellor 610061
FWEngland Fred Molyneux 613293
FWEngland Joe Schofield 148531911
FWEngland George Tooth 110011
FWEngland Jimmy Turner 700070
FWEngland Joe Turner 27710287

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.

See also

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