1905–06 Burslem Port Vale F.C. season

Burslem Port Vale

1905–06 season
Chairman	Robert Audley
Manager	Tommy Clare
Stadium	Athletic Ground
Football League Second Division	17th (28 Points)
FA Cup	First Round
Staffordshire Senior Cup	Semi-final
Birmingham Senior Cup	Semi-final
Top goalscorer	League: Harry Mountford (15) All: Harry Mountford (15)
Highest home attendance	6,000 vs Chelsea (30 October 1905)
Lowest home attendance	1,000 vs Chesterfield Town (9 September 1905)
Average home league attendance	3,200
Home colours
← 1904–05 1906–07 →

The 1905–06 season was Burslem Port Vale's eighth consecutive season (12th overall) of football in the Football League.^[1] It was another season spent struggling at the lower end of the league.

On the pitch the team leaked goals and avoided the re-election zone by the skin of their teeth. A poor season on the pitch was more than matched by a hopeless financial season off the pitch, with low attendance figures suggesting that the club could not sustain league football for much longer.^[1]

Bert Eardley, was in his seventh season with Vale.

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

Forward Adrian Capes was getting on in years.

Ageing Lucien Boullemier made one comeback appearance.

Half-back Harry Croxton.

Albert Cook as usual made only sporadic appearances.

Overview

Second Division

An expanded league saw an extra four new clubs added to the division, in addition to the replacement for Doncaster Rovers, who failed to gain re-election the previous season. This put the Vale up against Chelsea, Hull City, Leeds City, and Clapton Orient for the first time.

The first five games of the season saw a tally of just three points collected, with fourteen goals conceded. This was followed by four wins in five as the club surged up the league, this run included a 3–2 win over high-flying Chelsea, where an impressive 6,000 fans turned up.^[1] Another barren spell followed, with just one point gained in the following nine games – in six of these the "Valeites" failed to score.^[1] A rare win came on 30 December, with Harry Mountford scoring a hat-trick past Lincoln City – the first hat-trick a Vale player had scored in close to three years.^[1] However the side then proceeded to lose all their matches in January. The last three months saw a revival, and the club managed to win six of their last fifteen games.^[1]

The Vale finished just outside the re-election zone on goal average, if the ranking was based on goal difference then they would have finished below Chesterfield. Vale lost seventeen of their nineteen away games, never drawing a match away from home, and conceded more on their travels than any other side in the league. Overall the defence was the leakiest in the division, conceding 82 goals in 38 games.^[1]

Harry Mountford was the club's top scorer with 15 goals, with Robert Carter, Philip Smith, George Price also contributing significantly to the scoring tally. Carter and Arthur Box missed just three matches; Mountford, Price, James Hamilton, and William Cope also hardly missed a game.

Finances

The financial outlook was bleak, poor runs of results saw already low attendance figures plummet. The club's directors therefore took the decision to sell right-half Harry Croxton and inspirational striker Adrian Capes to Stoke in November 1905.^[1] There were rumours of the club winding up at the end of the season, though the club would continue in its current form for one more season.^[1] Despite selling players and spending frugally the club lost a whopping £450, with gate receipts falling by £280 on the previous campaign. Sam Gleaves warned that if supporters failed to turn up for matches then the club would "inevitably cease to exist".

Cup competitions

In the FA Cup, Vale defeated amateur club Oxford City after Oxford failed to make the most of their shooting chances; the Second Round saw Vale eliminated by Gainsborough Trinity at home, despite having organized special training sessions beforehand.^[1] In the County cups, Vale knocked out local rivals Stoke (Reserves) at home by 5–0 and 3–0 scorelines, before receiving 7–0 and 5–1 thumpings at Birmingham and Burton United respectively at the semi-final stages.^[1]

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		F	A	GA	GD		Pts
1	Bristol City	38		17	1	1	43	8		13	5	1	40	20		83	28	2.964	+ 55		66
2	Manchester United	38		15	3	1	55	13		13	3	3	35	15		90	28	3.214	+ 62		62
3	Chelsea	38		13	4	2	58	16		9	5	5	32	21		90	37	2.432	+ 53		53
4	West Bromwich Albion	38		13	4	2	53	16		9	4	6	26	20		79	36	2.194	+ 43		52
5	Hull City	38		10	5	4	38	21		9	1	9	29	33		67	54	1.241	+ 13		44
6	Leeds City	38		11	5	3	38	19		6	4	9	21	28		59	47	1.255	+ 12		43
7	Leicester Fosse	38		10	3	6	30	21		5	9	5	23	27		53	48	1.104	+ 5		42
8	Grimsby Town	38		11	7	1	33	13		4	3	12	13	33		46	46	1.000	± 0		40
9	Burnley	38		9	4	6	26	23		6	4	9	16	30		42	53	0.792	– 11		38
10	Stockport County	38		11	6	2	36	16		2	3	14	8	40		44	56	0.786	– 12		35
11	Bradford City	38		7	4	8	21	22		6	4	9	25	38		46	60	0.767	– 14		34
12	Barnsley	38		11	4	4	45	17		1	5	13	15	45		60	62	0.968	– 2		33
13	Lincoln City	38		10	1	8	46	29		2	5	12	23	43		69	72	0.958	– 3		30
14	Blackpool	38		8	3	8	22	21		2	6	11	15	41		37	62	0.597	– 25		29
15	Gainsborough Trinity	38		10	2	7	35	22		2	2	15	9	35		44	57	0.772	– 13		28
16	Glossop	38		9	4	6	36	28		1	4	14	13	43		49	71	0.690	– 22		28
17	Burslem Port Vale	38		10	4	5	34	25		2	0	17	15	57		49	82	0.598	– 33		28
18	Chesterfield	38		8	4	7	26	24		2	4	13	14	48		40	72	0.556	– 32		28
19	Burton United	38		9	4	6	26	20		1	2	16	8	47		34	67	0.507	– 33		26
20	Clapton Orient	38		6	4	9	19	22		1	3	15	16	56		35	78	0.449	– 43		21

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	35	36	37	38
Ground	A	H	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A
Result	L	W	L	D	L	W	W	W	L	W	L	L	L	D	L	L	L	L	L	W	L	L	L	W	D	L	W	L	W	L	W	L	D	W	L	L	W	L
Position	13	13	14	13	17	14	9	6	12	8	10	14	14	13	15	17	17	17	17	15	16	17	19	16	18	18	16	17	17	17	16	18	17	15	16	16	15	17

Sourced from Statto.^[2]

Football League Second Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
2 September 1905	Lincoln City	A	1–3	3,000	o.g.
9 September 1905	Chesterfield	H	4–3	1,000	Capes (2), Smith, Crombie
11 September 1905	Blackpool	H	1–2		Carter
16 September 1905	Grimsby Town	H	2–2	2,000	Smith (2)
23 September 1905	Barnsley	A	0–4	3,000
30 September 1905	Clapton Orient	H	2–1		Mountford, Cook (pen)
7 October 1905	Burnley	A	3–1	3,000	Mountford (2), Price
14 October 1905	Leeds City	H	2–0	1,500	Mountford, Carter
21 October 1905	Burton United	A	0–1	3,000
30 October 1905	Chelsea	H	3–2	6,000	Price, Croxton, Carter
4 November 1905	Gainsborough Trinity	A	0–4
11 November 1905	Bristol City	H	0–1	3,000
18 November 1905	Manchester United	A	0–3	8,000
25 November 1905	Glossop	H	3–3		Mountford, Cook, Holyhead
2 December 1905	Stockport County	A	0–3
16 December 1905	Bradford City	A	0–2	9,000
23 December 1905	West Bromwich Albion	H	0–1	3,500
25 December 1905	Hull City	H	1–3	4,000	Cook
26 December 1905	Leicester Fosse	A	1–2	10,000	Mountford
30 December 1905	Lincoln City	H	3–1	3,000	Mountford (3)
6 January 1906	Chesterfield	A	0–2	10,000
20 January 1906	Grimsby Town	A	0–5	3,000
27 January 1906	Barnsley	H	1–2		Smith
3 February 1906	Clapton Orient	A	3–1		Smith (2), Carter
10 February 1906	Burnley	H	2–2		Mountford, Smith
17 February 1906	Leeds City	A	1–3	9,000	Mountford
24 February 1906	Burton United	H	4–1		Carter, Mountford, Price, Grant
3 March 1906	Chelsea	A	0–7	10,000
10 March 1906	Gainsborough Trinity	H	1–0		Eardley
17 March 1906	Bristol City	A	0–4	10,000
24 March 1906	Manchester United	H	1–0	3,000	Box (pen)
31 March 1906	Glossop	A	2–3	3,000	o.g., Mountford
7 April 1906	Stockport County	H	0–0
13 April 1906	Leicester Fosse	H	2–0	5,000	Carter, Mountford
14 April 1906	Blackpool	A	1–2	2,000	Carter
16 April 1906	Hull City	A	2–3	7,000	Mountford, Carter
21 April 1906	Bradford City	H	2–1		Walley, Smith
28 April 1906	West Bromwich Albion	A	1–4	5,000	Holyhead

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
IR	9 December 1905	Oxford City	A	1–0	3,000	Price
1R	13 January 1906	Gainsborough Trinity	H	0–3	1,500

Player statistics

Appearances Pos. Name League FA Cup Total (+Senior Cup) Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals GK Arthur Box 35 1 2 0 40 1 GK George Boote 3 0 0 0 3 0 DF James Hamilton 34 0 2 0 38 0 DF William Cope 34 0 2 0 38 0 DF Arthur Shelley 1 0 0 0 1 0 DF Samuel Ashworth 4 0 2 0 6 0 DF George Aytoun 4 0 0 0 4 0 DF Lucien Boullemier 1 0 0 0 1 0 DF W. Jones 4 0 0 0 6 0 MF Bert Eardley 17 1 0 0 17 1 MF Harry Croxton 11 1 0 0 14 2 MF Sam Whittingham 31 0 0 0 33 0 MF William Bradbury 4 0 0 0 5 0 MF Joseph Holyhead 28 2 2 0 30 2 MF Vic Horrocks 19 0 2 0 22 0 MF Albert Cook 8 3 2 0 10 3 MF Robert Carter 35 8 2 0 40 9 MF Hugh Walley 9 1 0 0 9 1 MF Alex Crombie 17 1 2 0 22 1 MF Ebenezer Grant 5 1 0 0 5 1 FW George Price 34 3 1 1 38 6 FW Adrian Capes 12 2 0 0 14 2 FW Harry Mountford 33 15 1 0 37 15 FW William Thomas 9 0 0 0 10 0 FW Philip Smith 25 8 1 0 29 9 FW Alfred Hall 1 0 0 0 1 0

Scorers All competitions Scorer Goals Harry Mountford 15 Robert Carter 9 Philip Smith 8 George Price 6 Albert Cook 3 Adrian Capes 2 Joseph Holyhead Alex Crombie Harry Croxton Hugh Walley 1 Arthur Box Bert Eardley Ebenezer Grant League Scorer Goals Harry Mountford 15 Robert Carter 8 Philip Smith Albert Cook 3 George Price Adrian Capes 2 Joseph Holyhead Harry Croxton 1 Hugh Walley Arthur Box Bert Eardley Alex Crombie Ebenezer Grant

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 1905–1906 : Results & Fixtures. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 28 April 2012.

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