1898–99 Stoke F.C. season
Introduction 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.
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. The season hardly started well when three players were suspended for a breach of club rules during pre-season training for drinking champagne. 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.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.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.At the end of the season club legend Joe Schofield decided to retire from playing after spending eight years with Stoke.===FA Cup===Stoke reached the semi-finals of the competition for the first time after seeing off Sheffield Wednesday, Small Heath and Tottenham Hotspur. They succumbed to a 3–1 defeat to Derby County at neutral Molineux with Steve Bloomer scoring a fine hat-trick for the "Rams".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. "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.
Final league table
Results ''Stoke's score comes first''===Legend===WinDrawLoss===Football League First Division===MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers1 1 September 1898 Derby CountyH0–014,0002 3 September 1898 Aston VillaA1–330,000Farrell3 10 September 1898 BurnleyH4–17,000Farrell, Mellor, Schofield, Kennedy4 17 September 1898 Sheffield UnitedA1–18,000Maxwell5 24 September 1898 Newcastle UnitedH0–07,5006 1 October 1898 Preston North EndA2–46,000Maxwell (2)7 8 October 1898 LiverpoolH2–112,000Murphy, Turner8 15 October 1898 Nottingham ForestA1–25,000Farrell9 22 October 1898 Bolton WanderersH2–35,000Maxwell (2)10 29 October 1898 Derby CountyA1–18,000Maxwell11 5 November 1898 West Bromwich AlbionH2–17,750Maxwell, Kennedy12 12 November 1898 Blackburn RoversA1–47,000 Turner13 14 November 1898 Preston North EndH2–16,500 Turner, Schofield14 19 November 1898 The WednesdayH1–06,000 Schofield15 26 November 1898 SunderlandA0–25,00016 3 December 1898 Wolverhampton WanderersH2–47,000Schofield, Johnson17 10 December 1898 EvertonA0–210,00018 17 December 1898 Notts CountyH1–15,000Maxwell19 24 December 1898 BuryA2–58,000Schofield, Molyneux20 26 December 1898 Nottingham ForestH2–110,000Maxwell, Kennedy21 31 December 1898 Aston VillaH3–010,000Maxwell, Kennedy, Turner22 14 January 1899 Sheffield UnitedH4–19,000Maxwell (2), Schofield (2)23 21 January 1899 Newcastle UnitedA0–34,00024 4 February 1899 LiverpoolA0–18,00025 18 February 1899 Bolton WanderersA2–04,000Turner (2)26 4 March 1899 West Bromwich AlbionA1–01,714Kennedy27 11 March 1899 Blackburn RoversH0–16,00028 25 March 1899 SunderlandH1–04,000Maxwell29 27 March 1899 The WednesdayA3–112,000Turner, Farrell, Johnson30 1 April 1899 Wolverhampton WanderersA2–32,000Maxwell, Schofield31 8 April 1899 EvertonH2–13,000Johnson, Tooth32 15 April 1899 Notts CountyA0–25,00033 17 April 1899 BurnleyA1–14,000Maxwell34 22 April 1899 BuryH1–13,000Maxwell===FA Cup===RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR128 January 1899 The WednesdayA2–216,000Farrell, KennedyR1 Replay2 February 1899 The WednesdayH2–015,000Maxwell, SchofieldR211 February 1899 Small HeathH2–212,000Maxwell, SchofieldR2 Replay15 February 1899 Small HeathA2–115,000 Kennedy, MolyneuxR325 February 1899 Tottenham HotspurH4–122,000 Kennedy, Molyneux, Schofield, JohnsonSemi-final18 March 1899 Derby CountyN1–329,000Maxwell
Squad statistics Pos.NameLeagueFA CupTotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGK George Clawley34060400FB Jack Eccles21060270FB Tom Robertson31060370FB Arthur Rowley14000140HB James Bradley26060320HB Jack Deakin200020HB Tom Holford500050HB Joe Murphy19100191HB Edward Parsons13060190HB Alf Wood27060330FW Ephraim Colclough200020FW Jack Farrell22431255FW Len Hales100010FW Tommy Hyslop12000120FW Jack Kennedy27563338FW Freddie Johnson26361324FW William Maxwell3116633719FW Harry Mellor610061FW Fred Molyneux613293FW Joe Schofield148531911FW George Tooth110011FW Jimmy Turner700070FW Joe Turner27710287
References