1895–96 Burslem Port Vale F.C. season

The 1895–96 season was Burslem Port Vale's fourth consecutive season of football in the English Football League.^[1] Another poor season struggling at the wrong end of the table, this time they failed to gain re-election; two seasons in the Midlands League followed, and despite a finish of 7th and then 5th they were re-elected back into the Football League for the expanded 1898–99 season.^[1]

Burslem Port Vale

1895–96 season
Stadium	Athletic Ground
Football League Second Division	14th (18 Points)
FA Cup	Second Qualifying Round (knocked out by Burton Swifts)
Birmingham Senior Cup	First Round (knocked out by Stourbridge)
Staffordshire Senior Cup	First Round (knocked out by Stoke)
Top goalscorer	League: Ernest Beckett (8) All: Ernest Beckett (8)
Highest home attendance	5,000 vs Burton Wanderers, 18 January 1896
Lowest home attendance	500 vs Rotherham Town, 25 January 1896
Average home league attendance	1,771
Biggest win	4–0 vs. Rotherham Town, 25 January 1896
Biggest defeat	2–8 vs. Darwen, 19 October 1895
Home colours
← 1894–95 1896–97 →

A season to forget, a 5–4 victory over eventual champions Liverpool was one of the few memorable days. This came during a run of games where 65 goals were scored in 11 games. Overall, a leaky defence kept just 5 clean sheets in 30 league and 4 cup games. On their travels, the team lost all their games, other than a 2–0 win over Rotherham Town on the opening day.^[1] From 21 September 1895 to 18 April 1896, they recorded 14 straight losses away from home and went 27 games without a draw away from home between 26 January 1895 and 3 December 1898 – both club records.

Ever-present goalkeeper Tom Baddeley saved Vale from embarrassing scorelines on numerous occasions.

Ever-present George Price made his debut in 1896 and remained with the club for another eleven years.

Danny Simpson made his debut in 1896 and would become top scorer for 1896–97 and 1897–98.

Overview

Second Division

Vale finished 14th place, with 18 points, 28 points short of champions Liverpool. They finished four points behind Lincoln City, who were safe from re-election. Having twice successfully applied for re-election in the past three seasons, this time around, they lost their league status. Nearby Crewe Alexandra fared even worse than Vale and didn't return to the Football League until 1921, whilst Rotherham Town were never to return. However, Vale spent just two seasons in the Midland League before winning back their league status.^[1]

The club suffered heavy defeats at Anfield, at Darwen, at Leicester Fosse, and in both clashes with Notts County and Grimsby Town. However, they did manage victories over future giants of the game Liverpool, Newton Heath (later Manchester United), and Newcastle United.

Top scorers of previous years were lost, Billy Beats sold to Wolverhampton Wanderers in pre-season, whilst Meshach Dean lost his touch. Goals at a premium, Ernest Beckett (8), and Jim Mason (6) were the only players to score with anything approaching regularity. Highly impressive goalkeeper Tom Baddeley was an ever-present for the second successive season, with left-back George Youds and centre-half Ralph Barlow missing just one match each. At the end of the season, Baddeley and Eccles left for Wolves, Eardley and McDonald left for Stoke, all wishing to remain Football League players.^[1]

Cup competitions

Again, Vale failed poorly in the FA Cup, easing past Scottish club Hereford Thistle in the first round of qualification with a walkover. The Second Round held league rivals Burton Swifts, who managed to draw at Vale's home and then win the replay with the odd goal. Facing rivals Stoke in the Staffordshire Senior Cup, they lost 4–0 at home.^[1]

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts	Qualification or relegation
12	Loughborough	30	9	5	16	40	66	0.606	23
13	Lincoln City	30	9	4	17	53	75	0.707	22
14	Burslem Port Vale	30	7	4	19	43	78	0.551	18	Resigned from league
15	Rotherham Town	30	7	3	20	34	97	0.351	17
16	Crewe Alexandra	30	5	3	22	30	95	0.316	13

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal average; 3) Goals scored

Results

Football League Second Division

Main article: 1894–95 Football League

Burslem Port Vale's score comes first

Results by matchday

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
Ground	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	H	A	A	A	H	H	H	H	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	A	A	H	A	A	H
Result	W	L	L	L	D	L	W	W	L	L	L	L	W	D	W	L	L	L	L	D	L	L	L	W	L	L	D	L	L	W
Position	1	11	11	14	12	13	12	11	13	13	13	14	13	13	12	13	13	13	14	14	14	15	14	14	15	15	15	15	15	14

Source: Statto^[2]
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Matches

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
7 September 1895	Rotherham Town	A	2–0	2,000	Beckett, Handley
14 September 1895	Notts County	H	0–4	2,000
21 September 1895	Burton Wanderers	A	1–2	2,500	Dean
28 September 1895	Liverpool	A	1–5	5,000	J. Mason
5 October 1895	Darwen	H	3–3	1,000	Eardley (2), Evans
19 October 1895	Darwen	A	2–8	4,000	Eardley (2)
21 October 1895	Liverpool	H	5–4	1,000	Evans, J. Mason, Beckett, Downie, Black
26 October 1895	Crewe Alexandra	H	2–1	1,500	J. Mason, Barlow
16 November 1895	Grimsby Town	H	1–4	800	Beckett
7 December 1895	Notts County	A	2–7	500	Evans, Beckett
25 December 1895	Woolwich Arsenal	A	1–2	8,000	Fallows
4 January 1896	Grimsby Town	A	1–6	2,000	Downie
11 January 1896	Burton Swifts	H	1–0	1,500	Beckett
18 January 1896	Burton Wanderers	H	2–2	5,000	Edwards, Sandham
25 January 1896	Rotherham Town	H	4–0	500	Beckett, Sandham, McDonald, J. Mason
10 February 1896	Manchester City	H	0–1	3,000
15 February 1896	Woolwich Arsenal	H	0–2	1,000
17 February 1896	Manchester City	A	0–1	3,000
22 February 1896	Lincoln City	H	0–1	1,000
7 March 1896	Leicester Fosse	H	1–1	1,500	Beckett
14 March 1896	Burton Swifts	A	1–2	2,000	Beckett
21 March 1896	Leicester Fosse	A	0–5	5,000
23 March 1896	Newton Heath	H	3–0	3,000	Randles (2), J. Mason
25 March 1896	Crewe Alexandra	A	2–3		C. Mason, Evans
3 April 1896	Newcastle United	A	2–4	8,500	Simpson, Randles
6 April 1896	Newton Heath	A	1–2	5,000	McDonald
7 April 1896	Loughborough	H	1–1		Simpson
11 April 1896	Loughborough	A	0–3	1,500
18 April 1896	Lincoln City	A	2–4		Belfield (2)
20 April 1896	Newcastle United	H	2–0	2,000	J. Mason, Randles

FA Cup

Main article: 1895–96 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
1Q	12 October 1895	Hereford Thistle	H	walkover
2Q	2 November 1895	Burton Swifts	H	1–1	1,500	unknown
2Q Replay	6 November 1895	Burton Swifts	A	0–1	1,000

Birmingham Senior Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
1	20 January 1896	Stourbridge	A	2–3	2,000	Downie, o.g.

Staffordshire Senior Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
1	8 February 1896	Stoke	A	0–4	4,000

Player statistics

Appearances and goals

Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		Other		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	Tom Baddeley	30	0	2	0	2	0	34	0
DF	G.S. Eccles	17	0	2	0	1	0	20	0
DF	John Edwards	3	1	0	0	1	0	4	1
DF	Teddy Morse	12	0	0	0	1	0	13	0
DF	Jim Beech	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
DF	George Youds	29	0	2	0	2	0	33	0
MF	Meshach Dean	3	1	0	0	0	0	3	1
MF	Joseph Boughey	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
MF	James Holdcroft	24	0	2	0	0	0	26	0
MF	Ted McDonald	27	2	1	0	2	0	30	2
MF	Jos Randles	7	4	1	0	0	0	8	4
MF	Fred Belfield	5	2	0	0	0	0	5	2
MF	Ralph Barlow	29	1	2	0	2	0	33	1
MF	James Downie	12	2	2	0	2	1	16	3
MF	John Fallows	8	1	0	0	1	0	9	1
MF	Hamlet Handley	5	1	0	0	0	0	5	1
MF	James Kirkham	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
FW	Charlie Mason	8	1	1	0	0	0	9	1
FW	Jim Mason	26	6	2	0	2	0	30	6
FW	Billy Eardley	9	4	1	0	0	0	10	4
FW	Dick Evans	20	4	0	0	2	0	22	4
FW	Ernest Beckett	23	8	2	0	2	0	27	8
FW	David Black	7	1	2	0	0	0	9	1
FW	Jimmy Ditchfield	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
FW	George Price	5	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
FW	Joseph Sandham	4	2	0	0	2	0	6	2
FW	Danny Simpson	12	2	0	0	0	0	12	2

Top scorers

Place	Position	Nation	Name	Second Division	FA Cup	Other	Total
1	FW		Ernest Beckett	8	0	0	8
2	FW		Jim Mason	6	0	0	6
3	MF	England	Jos Randles	4	0	0	4
–	FW	England	Billy Eardley	4	0	0	4
–	FW	England	Dick Evans	4	0	0	4
6	MF		James Downie	2	0	1	3
7	MF	England	Fred Belfield	2	0	0	2
–	MF		Ted McDonald	2	0	0	2
–	FW		Danny Simpson	2	0	0	2
–	FW		Joseph Sandham	2	0	0	2
11	MF		Ralph Barlow	1	0	0	1
–	FW		David Black	1	0	0	1
–	MF	England	Meshach Dean	1	0	0	1
–	DF	England	John Edwards	1	0	0	1
–	MF		John Fallows	1	0	0	1
–	MF	England	Hamlet Handley	1	0	0	1
–	FW		Charlie Mason	1	0	0	1
–	–	–	Own goals	0	0	1	1
			TOTALS	43	0	1	44

Transfers

Transfers in

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
July 1895	FW		Ernest Beckett	Newcastle Swifts	Free transfer	[3]
September 1895	FW		Billy Eardley	Newcastle Swifts	Free transfer	[3]
September 1895	MF		James Downie	Blackburn Rovers	Free transfer	[3]
September 1895	FW		David Black	Blackburn Rovers	Free transfer	[3]
January 1896	MF		John Edwards	Stockport County	Free transfer	[3]
January 1896	FW		Joseph Sandham	Crewe Alexandra	Free transfer	[3]
February 1896	FW		Danny Simpson	Tunstall Town	Free transfer	[3]

Transfers out

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
October 1895	MF		Alf Wood	Stoke	Free transfer	[3]
January 1896	FW		David Black		Released	[3]
February 1896	FW		Joseph Sandham	Dresden United	Free transfer	[3]
May 1896	DF		George Samuel Eccles	Wolverhampton Wanderers	'considerable'	[3]
Summer 1896	MF		Joseph Boughey	Audley	Released	[3]
Summer 1896	MF		Meshach Dean		Released	[3]
Summer 1896	FW		Jimmy Ditchfield		Released	[3]
Summer 1896	MF		James Downie		Released	[3]
Summer 1896	MF		John Edwards	Grays United	Free transfer	[3]
Summer 1896	MF		Hamlet Handley		Released	[3]
Summer 1896	MF		James Kirkham		Released	[3]
Summer 1896	FW		Charlie Mason		Released	[3]
Summer 1896	DF		William Rhodes		Released	[3]
August 1896	FW		Billy Eardley	Stoke	Free transfer	[3]
August 1896	MF		Ted McDonald	Stoke	Free transfer	[3]

References

Specific

1. Kent, Jeff (1990). "Trying to make the Grade (1888-1898)". The Valiants' Years: The Story Of Port Vale. Witan Books. pp. 26–50. ISBN 0-9508981-4-7.
2. Port Vale 1895–1896 : Results & Fixtures Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
3. Kent, Jeff (1996). Port Vale Personalities. Witan Books. ISBN 0-9529152-0-0.

General

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