The 1898–99 English football season was Aston Villa's 11th season in the Football League, the top flight of English football. Villa were champions for an unequalled fourth time.
Tommy Bowman was ever-present in the League campaign. There were debuts for Walter Leigh,https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/walter-leigh Albert Wilkes,https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/albert-wilkes Billy Haggart,https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/billy-haggart Frank Bedingfield,https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/frank-bedingfield Bobby Templetonhttps://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/bobby-templeton and Ralph Gaudie (5).https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/ralph-gaudie To ensure a competitive campaign Burslem Port Vale signed striker Howard Harvey from Aston Villa for £50 to bolster what remained a semi-professional squad.
Three of Villa’s 1897 double-winning team joined Celtic in the summer of 1897, so the previous season had proved to be a rebuilding period for the club. By the mid-point of 1898/99, Villa had a narrow lead over Everton and Burnley but a late season run by Liverpool dropped them to second place. It came down to ‘last-game decider’, with Villa at home to Liverpool. 41,000 spectators shoe-horned themselves into Villa Park to see an emphatic win by the home team, 5–0.
Aston Villa Reserves won the Walsall Senior Cup in 1899. League
Players used: 23
Source: avfchistory.co.uk
FA Cup The first round of the 1898–99 FA Cup contained sixteen ties between 32 teams. The matches were played on Saturday, 28 January 1899. Four matches were drawn, with the replays taking place in the following midweek fixture.
Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamDate6Nottingham Forest2–1Aston Villa28 January 1899
Sheriff of London Charity Shield Queen's Park were invited to play in the annual Sheriff of London Charity Shield, a precursor of the FA Community Shield in 1899 which pitted the best amateur and professional sides of the season against each other. They would play the Football League First Division champions Aston Villa. The amateur side was usually represented by Corinthian, however Queen's Park had defeated them 4–1 at Hampden Park earlier that year and the trophy committee decided that they deserved the honour. The match ended in a scoreless draw which saw the sides share the honour, holding the trophy for six months each.
Birmingham Cup Burslem Port Vale lost 4–0 to Aston Villa in the final.
References
External links Aston Villa official website