1897–98 Stoke F.C. season


The 1897–98 season was Stoke's ninth season in the Football League.
It was another season of struggle for Stoke who finished bottom of the First Division on goal average level on points with five teams. They entered the test matches for the second time against Newcastle United and Burnley and again came out victorious. However it was in controversial circumstances as in the final test match against Burnley, both sides needed a draw to be in the First Division for next season and for 90 minutes the Stoke and Burnley players did not attempt to win and the match finished in a 0–0 draw. After this obvious exploitation of the rules the league scrapped the test match system in favour of automatic promotion and relegation.

Season Review

League

In September 1897 Horace Austerberry was appointed secretary-manager of Stoke in succession of Bill Rowley who became general secretary. Also Mr J. T. Fenton assumed the role of chairman taking over from Mr. S. Barker. The Stoke directors continued to search in Scotland for quality players following the success of William Maxwell and they did find one in the form of Alex Raisbeck who went on to gain international caps for his country unfortunately he only played eight matches for Stoke before deciding to join Liverpool.
The bottom five teams in the First Division finished with 24 points but Stoke had the poorest goal average of them all and took bottom spot. They had to play the top two sides from the Second Division, Burnley and Newcastle United. Stoke came through successfully, beating each side once and drawing with Burnley to stay up.
In the final test match Stoke and Burnley needed a draw to be in the First Division next season. It finished 0–0 after a farcical 90 minutes during which neither side put in a challenge or had a shot at goal and at one point a few fans in the crowd held on to the ball and refused to return it to the players. After this obvious exploit of the rules the league scrapped the test match system in favour of automatic promotion and relegation.

FA Cup

Stoke beat Bury 2–1 in the first round but crashed out 5–1 to Everton in the second round replay.

Final league table

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

Football League First Division

MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
12 September 1897Notts CountyH2–03,500Maxwell
24 September 1897LiverpoolH2–24,000Maxwell, T Hill
311 September 1897Sheffield UnitedA3–410,000Maxwell, Thickett
418 September 1897Blackburn RoversH2–18,000Mellor, Schofield
525 September 1897West Bromwich AlbionA0–28,200
62 October 1897Derby CountyH2–15,000Wood, Maxwell
79 October 1897LiverpoolA0–416,000
816 October 1897Wolverhampton WanderersH0–210,000
923 October 1897Notts CountyA0–44,000
1030 October 1897West Bromwich AlbionH0–06,400
116 November 1897Derby CountyA1–410,000T Hill
128 November 1897Preston North EndH1–25,000J Hill
1313 November 1897Bolton WanderersA1–22,000Pugh
1420 November 1897Nottingham ForestH1–22,000Wood
154 December 1897SunderlandA0–43,500
1611 December 1897Sheffield UnitedH2–17,000J Hill, Hingerty
1718 December 1897Aston VillaH0–011,000
1825 December 1897The WednesdayA0–46,000
1927 December 1897BuryH3–115,000J Hill, Maxwell, Murphy
201 January 1898BuryA3–37,000Mellor, Hingerty, Pray
218 January 1898SunderlandH0–110,000
2215 January 1898Bolton WanderersH2–04,000J Hill, Johnson
2317 January 1898EvertonA1–14,000Maxwell
245 February 1898Wolverhampton WanderersA2–47,000Maxwell, J Hill
2519 February 1898Nottingham ForestA1–38,000Maxwell
265 March 1898Preston North EndA0–06,000
2726 March 1898The WednesdayH2–14,000Schofield
282 April 1898Aston VillaA1–110,000Molyneux
298 April 1898Blackburn RoversA1–16,000Schofield
309 April 1898EvertonH2–06,000Molyneux, Maxwell

Test matches

DateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
20 April 1898Newcastle UnitedA1–25,000Kennedy
23 April 1898Newcastle UnitedH1–014,000Maxwell
26 April 1898BurnleyA2–03,000Schofield, Raisbeck
30 April 1898BurnleyH0–015,000

Team
1Stoke421142+25
2Burnley421153+25
3Newcastle United420296+34
4Blackburn Rovers4103512–72

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
R129 January 1898BuryA2–13,000J Hill, Mellor
R212 February 1898EvertonH0–025,000
R2 Replay17 February 1898EvertonA1–510,000J Hill

Squad statistics