The 1895–96 season was the eleventh since the foundation of Southampton St. Mary's F.C. and their second in league football, as members of the Southern League. They finished the league season in third place behind the previous season's champions, Millwall Athletic, and Luton Town. In the FA Cup they reached the first round proper for the second consecutive season, where they were defeated by The Wednesday, of the Football League.

Pre-season In the spring of 1895, Charles Robson had been appointed secretary to Southampton St Mary's Football Club, then playing in the Southern League. As secretary, he was responsible for signing new players and agreeing player contracts as well as being involved in team selection – the day to day coaching and training of the players was in the hands of the trainer.

One of Robson's first acts as secretary was to accompany Alfred McMinn, one of the club committee, on a trip to the Potteries to recruit players. McMinn was a native of Staffordshire and was "most persuasive on his home turf". On this trip, Robson and McMinn signed six players: Jack Farrell, Samuel Meston and Willie Naughton from Stoke, Watty Keay from Derby County, Joe Turner from Dresden United and Alf Wood from Burslem Port Vale, as well as recruiting Stoke's long-serving trainer, Bill Dawson. The Saints committee were anxious to secure their services and signed then before the Football League season was over. Port Vale and Stoke lodged a complaint with the Football Association about "poaching", and an emergency FA meeting was held at Sheffield, resulting in the Saints being severely censured for negligence. St Mary's were ordered to pay their own costs, plus £4 6s 3d to Stoke and £1 13s to Port Vale. McMinn was suspended for a year and Dawson for a month. Wood's registration with St Mary's was cancelled (shortly afterwards he moved to Stoke).

A proposal was put forward that the name of the club should be amended from Southampton St. Mary's to plain Southampton F.C. – this was rejected on the grounds that the club could no longer be called "The Saints" if the official name was changed. One change that was approved was that the team jerseys should be red and white halves rather than red and white quarters.

League season

The 1895–96 season was the Saints' second in the Southern League, having finished third in the inaugural season. The team started the season badly, losing four of the first five matches, all of which were away from home. The poor start to the season was blamed on the inability of the new players to settle in the area. Eventually, under trainer Dawson's guidance, the team's form improved and there were only two further league defeats; after mid-December, the team suffered only one defeat and kept eight "clean sheets", despite first-choice goalkeeper Tom Cain missing several matches through injury. At the end of the season, they finished third behind Millwall Athletic and Luton Town, with the top three positions identical to the previous year.

Top scorer in the league was Jack Farrell with ten goals from his 17 appearances. The highlight of the league season was the visit of Millwall on 21 March 1896 when a crowd of 8,000 saw the Saints defeat the reigning champions 2–0, with goals from Charles Baker and Joe Turner.

In addition to the Southern League and FA Cup matches, the club played nearly 30 friendly matches, including a 9–0 victory over the Dublin Fusiliers and a 13–0 victory over the City Ramblers, in both of which Jack Farrell scored five goals. There were also victories over Dundee and Tottenham Hotspur.

At the end of the season, the Saints had to vacate the Antelope Ground, which had been sold for re-development, and moved to the County Ground, partly through the connections of the club's president, Robson's former Hampshire strike partner, Dr. H. W. R. Bencraft, who was also Hon. Secretary to the cricket club.

League results Date OpponentsH / AResultF – AScorers 14 September 1895 Millwall AthleticA0 – 1 21 September 1895ChathamA1 – 3Naughton28 September 1895ReadingA2 – 3Naughton, Turner5 October 1895Royal OrdnanceA2 – 1Farrell (2)19 October 1895 ClaptonA3 – 7Angus, Baker, Farrell26 October 1895 Luton TownH2 – 1Naughton, Turner16 November 1895IlfordA1 – 0Rogers30 November 1895 New BromptonA0 – 1 7 December 1895 Swindon TownH4 – 2Littlehales, Naughton, Taylor, Turner21 December 1895 ReadingH5 – 0Keay (3), Farrell, Littlehales18 January 1896 Chatham TownH4 – 0Farrell (2), Naughton (2)25 January 1896 Royal OrdnanceH5 – 0Baker, Keay, Littlehales, Naughton, Turner15 February 1896 Swindon TownA2 – 0 Baker, Littlehales7 March 1896 Luton TownA0 – 3 21 March 1896 Millwall AthleticH2 – 0Baker, Turner28 March 1896New BromptonH5 – 0Hodgkinson (2), Baker, Farrell, Naughton 3 April 1896 ClaptonH2 – 0Farrell, Keay 4 April 1896 IlfordH4 – 0Farrell (2), Keay, Turner

Legend WinDrawLoss

Top of league table

FA Cup In the FA Cup, an away victory over local rivals Freemantle in the first qualifying round was followed by comfortable home victories over Marlow (5–0), Reading (3–0) and Uxbridge (3–0). In the First Round proper, the Saints received a home draw against opposition from the Football League First Division for the second consecutive year, this time against The Wednesday. Saints' trainer, Bill Dawson, spent the week leading up to Wednesday's visit with extra training for the players, taking them through their paces on Shawford Down.

For the match, played at the Antelope Ground on 1 February 1896, the crowd was estimated at 12,000, by far the largest yet recorded for a football match in Southampton. The Saints had to play their third-choice goalkeeper, Walter Cox as Tom Cain was injured, and the Royal Artillery refused to allow on-loan 'keeper "Gunner" Reilly to play. The Saints took an early lead, through Watty Keay, before two goals from Alec Brady gave Wednesday the half-time lead. Wednesday increased their lead shortly after the break, and although Joe Turner got one back, the Saints were unable to score an equalizer. Wednesday ran out 3–2 winners and went on to win the Cup the following April.

DateRoundOpponentsH / AResultF – AScorersAttendance12 October 1895 1st Qualifying Round FreemantleA5 – 1Farrell (2), Littlehales, Naughton, Turner5,3542 November 18952nd Qualifying Round MarlowH5 – 0Turner (2), Farrell (2), Meston4,00023 November 18953rd Qualifying Round ReadingH3 – 0 Taylor, Naughton, Keay5,00014 December 18954th Qualifying Round UxbridgeH3 – 0Naughton, Keay, Turner4,0001 February 1896Round 1 ProperThe WednesdayH2 – 3Keay, Turner12,000

Player statistics

PositionNationalityNameLeagueappsLeaguegoalsFA CupappsFA CupgoalsTotalappsTotalgoals FW 3110 41 FB 185502312 GK 300030 GK 10000100 GK 305080 HB 302050 FW 1710542214 FB 401050 HB 721082 HB 100010 FW 15653209 FW 100010 HB 17451225 HB 400040 FB 8030110 FB 18051231 FW 178432111 FB 100010 GK200020 FB 811091 HB 100010 HB 8121102 HB 12050170 FW 176552211

Key GK — Goalkeeper FB — Full back HB — Half back FW — Forward

Notes Sergt. Inglis was loaned to the Saints by the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders for the final match of the season Gunner Phillips was a member of the Royal Artillery team and played the penultimate match of the season on loan to the "Saints"

Transfers

In DatePositionNameFrom October 1895GK Tom Cain EvertonOctober 1895HB Jimmy Dale StokeApril 1895FW Jack Farrell StokeDecember 1895HB John Hodgkinson Tunstall April 1895FW Watty Keay Derby CountyMarch 1896HBWilliam McMillan Heart of MidlothianApril 1895FB Samuel Meston StokeApril 1895FW Willie Naughton StokeApril 1895FW Joe Turner Dresden United

Departures DatePositionNameToNovember 1895FW Jack Angus RetiredOctober 1895GK Jack Barrett RetiredSummer 1895FW Jack Dorkin RetiredSummer 1895HB Bill Furby FreemantleJuly 1895FW Fred Hollands Millwall AthleticSummer 1895FB William Jeffrey RetiredDecember 1895FW Bob Kiddle RetiredSummer 1895FW Arthur Nineham FreemantleSummer 1895FW Harry Offer RetiredSummer 1895FW Herbert Ward RetiredSummer 1895GK Herbert Williamson Royal Ordnance Factories

References

Bibliography

External links Southampton's kit designs