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

Results

Stoke's score comes first

Legend WinDrawLoss

Football League First Division

MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers1 2 September 1897 Notts CountyH2–03,500Maxwell (2)2 4 September 1897 LiverpoolH2–24,000Maxwell, T Hill3 11 September 1897 Sheffield UnitedA3–410,000Maxwell (2), Thickett (o.g.)4 18 September 1897 Blackburn RoversH2–18,000Mellor, Schofield5 25 September 1897 West Bromwich AlbionA0–28,2006 2 October 1897 Derby CountyH2–15,000Wood, Maxwell7 9 October 1897 LiverpoolA0–416,0008 16 October 1897 Wolverhampton WanderersH0–210,0009 23 October 1897 Notts CountyA0–44,00010 30 October 1897 West Bromwich AlbionH0–06,40011 6 November 1897 Derby CountyA1–410,000T Hill12 8 November 1897 Preston North EndH1–25,000J Hill13 13 November 1897 Bolton WanderersA1–22,000Pugh14 20 November 1897 Nottingham ForestH1–22,000Wood15 4 December 1897 SunderlandA0–43,50016 11 December 1897 Sheffield UnitedH2–17,000J Hill, Hingerty17 18 December 1897 Aston VillaH0–011,00018 25 December 1897 The WednesdayA0–46,00019 27 December 1897 BuryH3–115,000J Hill, Maxwell, Murphy20 1 January 1898 BuryA3–37,000Mellor, Hingerty, Pray (o.g.)21 8 January 1898 SunderlandH0–110,00022 15 January 1898 Bolton WanderersH2–04,000J Hill, Johnson23 17 January 1898 EvertonA1–14,000Maxwell24 5 February 1898 Wolverhampton WanderersA2–47,000Maxwell, J Hill25 19 February 1898 Nottingham ForestA1–38,000Maxwell26 5 March 1898 Preston North EndA0–06,00027 26 March 1898 The WednesdayH2–14,000Schofield (2)28 2 April 1898 Aston VillaA1–110,000Molyneux29 8 April 1898 Blackburn RoversA1–16,000Schofield30 9 April 1898 EvertonH2–06,000Molyneux, Maxwell

Test matches

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

Team1Stoke421142+252Burnley421153+253Newcastle United420296+344Blackburn Rovers4103512–72

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR129 January 1898 BuryA2–13,000J Hill, MellorR212 February 1898 EvertonH0–025,000R2 Replay17 February 1898 EvertonA1–510,000J Hill

Squad statistics Pos.NameLeagueFA CupTest MatchesTotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGK Zeke Johnston2203000250GK Fred Sheldon30000030GK Tom Wilkes50004090FB Peter Durber1001000110FB Jack Eccles2703040340FB Tom Robertson2302020270HB Jimmy Grewer90000090HB Jimmy McGeachan40200060HB Joe Murphy3013040371HB Edward Parsons60100070HB Jack Ponsonby50000050HB Alex Raisbeck40004181HB Arthur Rowley1801020210HB Alf Wood1922040252FW Jimmy Hill2153200247FW Tom Hill52000052FW Jim Hingerty1022000122FW Freddie Johnson1210040161FW Jack Kennedy20004161FW William Maxwell211120312612FW Harry Mellor2023130263FW Fred Molyneux52002072FW Harry Pugh1812000201FW Joe Schofield2742041335FW Jack Shaffery40100050FW Andrew Smith00000000–Own goals–2–0–0–2

References