1904–05 Burslem Port Vale F.C. season

Burslem Port Vale

1904–05 season
Chairman	Robert Audley
Manager	Sam Gleaves
Stadium	Athletic Ground
Football League Second Division	16th (27 Points)
FA Cup	Sixth Qualification Round
Staffordshire Senior Cup	First Round
Birmingham Senior Cup	Semi-final
Top goalscorer	League: Dick Allman (8) All: Dick Allman (8)
Highest home attendance	5,000 vs Manchester United (3 September 1904)
Lowest home attendance	500 vs Bradford City (21 January 1905) & vs Doncaster Rovers (18 March 1905)
Average home league attendance	2,536+
Home colours
← 1903–04 1905–06 →

The 1904–05 season was Burslem Port Vale's seventh consecutive season (11th overall) of football in the Football League.^[1] A poor season, the club had to apply (successfully) for re-election. The club had to continue their policy of selling their best players to survive.

An extremely poor defence saw some embarrassing scorelines away from home, and the lack of a consistent goalscorer was also a cause for concern.

Bert Eardley, was in his sixth season with Vale.

George Price was, as ever, a vital member of the first team.

Adrian Capes failed to find the form that saw him the club's top scorer for the previous four seasons.

Right-back Ernest Mullineux was sold for £600.

Half-back Harry Croxton was an ever-present.

Albert Cook as usual made only sporadic appearances.

Overview

Second Division

A rather quiet pre-season saw no signings of note, however past player, outside-right Dick Evans re-signed from Southampton in September.^[1] This return was ended in his second game of the season – a Staffordshire Senior Cup defeat to Wolves – when he suffered a career-ending injury.^[1]

The first game of the season saw 5,000 turn up to witness a 2–2 draw with Manchester United, this positive start soon ended as despite going their first four games unbeaten, the club had to wait until their ninth match for their first victory. On 5 November 1904, the club's record 29 away games without a win streak came to an end with a 3–0 victory at Grimsby Town.^[1] The next match saw Liverpool win 2–1 thanks to a goal that never actually crossed the line – the referee had to leave the pitch under escort.^[1] Following the sale of key players in December, the form of the "Valeites" took a hit as from 4 December to the end of February they recorded just two victories – both against West Bromwich Albion.^[1] This run included heavy defeats at Manchester United and Burnley. In February the club's revival was helped by new signing Robert Carter, as six of the last seven home games were wins.^[1] Despite this they still suffered on their travels, taking an 8–1 hammering at Anfield.

The club finished in sixteenth place, though their 27 points saw them just one point off Blackpool, and six points off seventh place. Burton United and Doncaster Rovers both finished well below Vale, and at the end of the season both Vale and Burton were re-elected.^[1]

Dick Allman was top scorer with a pitiful eight goals, though scoring proved to be a team effort to give Vale a reasonable total of 47 league goals. However, in defensive terms the season was awful, their 72 conceded would always guarantee a battle against dropping into the lottery of the re-election zones.

Allman left for Reading at the season's end.^[1] Harry Croxton was an ever-present, and other regulars included goalkeeper Harry Cotton, and outfielders Sam Whittingham, Joseph Holyhead, George Price, and Adrian Capes. Manager Sam Gleaves stepped down at the end of the season, and was given the position of director, his replacement was former player Tommy Clare.^[1]

Finances

The financial outlook was as grim as ever, as directors were forced to sell Ernest Mullineux and Tom Simpson to Bury for £600 and £200 respectively.^[1] This gave the club a season profit of £140, and reduced club debt to just £33, however gate receipts had fallen by £150.^[1]

Cup competitions

The club came up against tough competition in both county cup competitions, losing 1–0 to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the First Round of the Staffordshire Senior Cup.^[1] They found rather more success in the Birmingham Senior Cup, where Vale defeated rivals Stoke with a Tom Simpson hat-trick at home, following a goalless draw at the Victoria Ground.^[1] This achievement was less significant due to a slight from Stoke, who only sent out their reserve side.^[1] Following this success the club lost in the semi-final to Second Division rivals West Bromwich Albion.^[1] The club yet again failed to qualify for the FA Cup, losing narrowly to Barnsley in the qualification stages.^[1]

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		F	A	GA	GD		Pts
1	Liverpool	34		14	3	0	60	12		13	1	3	33	13		93	25	3.720	+ 68		58
2	Bolton Wanderers	34		15	0	2	53	16		12	2	3	34	16		87	32	2.719	+ 55		56
3	Manchester United	34		16	0	1	60	10		8	5	4	21	20		81	30	2.700	+ 51		53
4	Bristol City	34		12	3	2	40	12		7	1	9	26	33		66	45	1.467	+ 21		42
5	Chesterfield Town	34		9	6	2	26	11		5	5	7	18	24		44	35	1.257	+ 9		39
6	Gainsborough Trinity	34		11	4	2	32	15		3	4	10	29	43		61	58	1.052	+ 3		36
7	Barnsley	34		11	4	2	29	13		3	1	13	9	43		38	56	0.679	– 18		33
8	Bradford City	34		8	5	4	31	20		4	3	10	14	29		45	49	0.918	– 4		32
9	Lincoln City	34		9	4	4	31	16		3	3	11	11	25		42	41	1.024	+ 1		31
10	West Bromwich Albion	34		8	2	7	29	20		5	2	10	28	28		57	48	1.188	+ 9		30
11	Burnley	34		10	1	6	31	21		2	5	10	12	31		43	52	0.827	– 9		30
12	Glossop	34		7	5	5	23	14		3	5	9	14	32		37	46	0.804	– 9		30
13	Grimsby Town	34		9	3	5	22	14		2	5	10	11	32		33	46	0.717	– 13		30
14	Leicester Fosse	34		8	3	6	30	25		3	4	10	10	30		40	55	0.727	– 15		29
15	Blackpool	34		8	5	4	26	15		1	5	11	10	33		36	48	0.750	– 12		28
16	Burslem Port Vale	34		7	4	6	28	25		3	3	11	19	47		47	72	0.653	– 25		27
17	Burton United	34		7	2	8	20	29		1	2	14	10	55		30	84	0.357	– 54		20
18	Doncaster Rovers	34		3	2	12	12	32		0	0	17	11	49		23	81	0.284	– 58		8

Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against;
GA = Goal average; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

Results

Burslem Port Vale's score comes first

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34
Ground	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A
Result	D	D	D	D	L	L	L	L	W	W	L	D	W	L	L	W	L	L	D	D	L	W	L	W	L	W	L	W	L	L	L	W	W	L
Position	11	7	9	6	13	13	15	16	15	10	11	11	11	12	15	12	14	15	16	15	16	16	16	16	16	15	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16

Sourced from Statto.^[2]

Football League Second Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
3 September 1904	Manchester United	H	2–2	5,000	Bowen, Allman
5 September 1904	Blackpool	H	2–2		Capes, Eardley
10 September 1904	Glossop	A	0–0	4,000
17 September 1904	Chesterfield Town	H	0–0	3,500
24 September 1904	Bradford City	A	1–2	10,000	Holyhead
1 October 1904	Lincoln City	H	0–1
8 October 1904	Leicester Fosse	A	0–3	3,000
15 October 1904	Barnsley	H	0–2	3,000
29 October 1904	Burnley	H	3–1	1,500	Simpson (2), Mountford
5 November 1904	Grimsby Town	A	3–0	2,500	Mountford, Simpson, Price
12 November 1904	Liverpool	H	1–2	3,000	Price
19 November 1904	Doncaster Rovers	H	2–2	1,800	Eardley, o.g.
3 December 1904	Burton United	A	3–2		Eardley (2), Simpson
17 December 1904	Bolton Wanderers	H	1–2	3,000	Whittingham
24 December 1904	Bristol City	A	2–4	6,000	Allman (2)
26 December 1904	West Bromwich Albion	A	1–0	3,000	Allman
31 December 1904	Manchester United	A	1–6	15,000	Price
7 January 1905	Glossop	H	0–1	2,000
21 January 1905	Bradford City	H	1–1	1,000	Croxton
28 January 1905	Lincoln City	A	3–3	3,000	Croxton, Capes, Cope
11 February 1905	Barnsley	A	0–3
18 February 1905	West Bromwich Albion	H	3–2	3,500	Carter (2), Allman
25 February 1905	Burnley	A	0–5	1,000
4 March 1905	Grimsby Town	H	2–0	2,000	Capes, Whittingham
11 March 1905	Blackpool	A	0–3	1,400
18 March 1905	Doncaster Rovers	H	2–0	1,000	Price, Whittingham
25 March 1905	Gainsborough Trinity	A	0–1
1 April 1905	Burton United	H	4–2		Allman, Price, Carter, Mountford
3 April 1905	Leicester Fosse	H	1–3	2,000	Allman
8 April 1905	Liverpool	A	1–8	14,000	Croxton
15 April 1905	Bolton Wanderers	A	1–3	12,000	Horrocks
21 April 1905	Gainsborough Trinity	H	3–2	3,000	Horrocks, Carter, Thomas
22 April 1905	Bristol City	H	3–2	2,000	Allman, Capes, Carter
24 April 1905	Chesterfield Town	A	1–2	4,000	Price

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
6Q	10 December 1904	Barnsley	A	0–0	2,000
6Q Replay	15 December 1904	Barnsley	H	1–2		Loverseed

Player statistics

Appearances Pos. Name League FA Cup Total (+Senior Cup) Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals GK Harry Cotton 31 0 2 0 36 0 GK Arthur Box 3 0 0 0 4 0 DF Ernest Mullineux 13 0 0 0 17 0 DF James Hamilton 23 0 2 0 25 0 DF William Cope 22 1 2 0 25 1 DF Thomas Reaney 3 0 0 0 3 0 MF Bert Eardley 16 4 2 0 19 4 MF Harry Croxton 34 3 2 0 40 3 MF Sam Whittingham 31 3 2 0 38 3 MF William Bradbury 3 0 0 0 4 0 MF Joseph Holyhead 33 1 2 0 38 1 MF Vic Horrocks 4 2 0 0 4 2 MF Ben Jones 1 0 0 0 1 0 MF Albert Cook 5 0 0 0 5 0 MF Robert Carter 14 5 0 0 14 5 MF George Bowen 6 1 0 0 7 1 FW George Price 29 6 2 0 34 7 FW Adrian Capes 30 4 2 0 35 4 FW Tom Simpson 10 4 0 0 13 7 FW William Loverseed 2 0 2 1 5 1 FW Dick Allman 27 8 0 0 29 8 FW Harry Mountford 24 3 2 0 28 3 FW William Thomas 2 1 0 0 2 1 FW Edward Williams 5 0 0 0 6 0 FW Enoch Rowley 1 0 0 0 1 0 FW Dick Evans 1 0 0 0 2 0 FW W. Edwards 1 0 0 0 1 0

Scorers All competitions Scorer Goals Dick Allman 8 Tom Simpson 7 George Price Robert Carter 5 Adrian Capes 4 Bert Eardley Harry Mountford 3 Sam Whittingham Harry Croxton Vic Horrocks 2 George Bowen 1 William Cope Joseph Holyhead William Thomas William Loverseed League Scorer Goals Dick Allman 8 George Price 6 Robert Carter 5 Adrian Capes 4 Bert Eardley Tom Simpson Harry Mountford 3 Sam Whittingham Harry Croxton Vic Horrocks 2 George Bowen 1 William Cope Joseph Holyhead William Thomas

References

1. Kent, Jeff (1990). "The Hopeless Struggle (1898-1907)". The Valiants' Years: The Story Of Port Vale. Witan Books. pp. 50–70. ISBN 0-9508981-4-7.
2. Port Vale 1904–1905 : Results & Fixtures. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 28 April 2012.

• Kent, Jeff (1993). The Port Vale Record 1879-1993. Witan Books. ISBN 0-9508981-9-8.