The 1893–94 English football season was Small Heath F.C.'s 13th season of competitive association football and second season in the English Football League. In 1892–93, the inaugural season of the Football League Second Division, Small Heath, based in Birmingham, had won the divisional championship but failed to gain promotion via the test match system. This year, they finished as distant runners-up in the League, eight points behind Liverpool, but were successful in the test match, defeating Darwen 3–1 to confirm their place in the First Division for the 1894–95 Football League season. The club struggled financially during the season, and there were suggestions that it might have disbanded had promotion not been secured.
Small Heath entered the 1893–94 FA Cup in the first round proper, and lost in that round for the second consecutive year, this time to the eventual losing finalists, Bolton Wanderers of the First Division. In local competitions, they were eliminated by Midland League club Loughborough in the first round of the Birmingham Senior Cup and by Wolverhampton Wanderers in the semi-final of the Mayor of Birmingham's Charity Cup. Small Heath played fewer friendly matches than in the previous season, instead competing in a regionally organised supplementary competition, the United Counties League, in which they finished third of four teams in the southern section.
Small Heath used 23 different players in nationally organised competitive matches during the season and had 12 different goalscorers. Four players, Ted Devey, Fred Wheldon, Tommy Hands and Billy Ollis, appeared in every League match, all but Devey for the second consecutive season. The top scorer was inside-forward Frank Mobley with 25 goals – his total of 24 League goals made him the Second Division's leading scorer – and all five first-choice forwards reached double figures for the second season running.
Background Small Heath were elected to the newly formed Second Division in 1892, and went on to win the divisional championship. However, promotion to the First Division depended on the test match system, in which each of the lowest-ranked three teams from the First Division played off against one of the highest-ranked three from the Second Division. Small Heath lost to Newton Heath after a replay, so were not promoted. The League's Annual General Meeting heard proposals that the First Division be expanded to either 20 or 18 teams. Both motions were, unsurprisingly, seconded by Small Heath, but both were defeated, thus confirming that the team would play in the Second Division for the 1893–94 season. The Second Division championship shield was presented to the club at a meeting of the Football League held at the Colonnade Hotel in New Street, Birmingham, in August.
Of the regular first-team members from the previous season, goalkeeper Chris Charsley, a serving police officer, was unavailable and full back Tom Bayley had been released.Matthews, Complete Record, p. 71. Fred Speller, who had suffered a badly broken leg early in the season, had been playing in practice matches and was believed to be back to full fitness. Fringe players Harry Edwards and Fred Jones had left the club,Matthews, Complete Record, pp. 85, 102. and Harry Morris had retired to concentrate on his plumbing business. Goalkeeper George Hollis, backs Arthur Littleford, Bernard Pumfrey and George Short, half-backs Ted Devey, Caesar Jenkyns, Teddy Jolley and Billy Ollis, and forwards Jack Hallam, Tommy Hands, Frank Mobley, Billy Walton and Fred Wheldon all remained with the club. Newcomers included forwards Jack Lee, Charles Izon and Walter Jackson, all signed from non-league clubs in the West Midlands area. Alfred Jones continued as secretary-manager, and Caesar Jenkyns retained the captaincy.Matthews, Complete Record, pp. 8–9. The team adopted a new kit, keeping the white knickerbockers but replacing the royal blue shirt and stockings with shirts in a lighter shade of blue, with navy collar trim, cuffs and pocket and navy stockings.
Review
September
Small Heath opened their second season in the English Football League with a visit to Walsall, who were playing at Wednesbury because their new ground was not yet ready. Former Small Heath full-back Tom Bayley was one of several newcomers for the hosts, but their visitors had few changes in personnel. Teddy Jolley came in at full-back, and replacing Billy Walton was Jack Lee, who "dribbles cleverly, and is a very dangerous forward round goal". In the presence of 4,000 spectators, Lee scored twice as Small Heath won 3–1. Fred Wheldon opened the scoring for Small Heath in the first 30 seconds of their next match, at home to Rotherham Town; 15 minutes later the visitors were 3–2 ahead, but by half-time the home side had regained the lead. Unsurprisingly the tempo dropped in the second half, but a game played in a "friendly and sportsmanlike spirit" was marred towards the end by Rotherham forward Alf Pickering suffering a fracture of his right leg just below the knee in an accidental collision with Bernard Pumfrey, "the snap of the bone being heard all round the ground". Initial reports suggested the break was such that he was "almost certain" never to play football again. This was followed by a comfortable 6–1 defeat of Burton Swifts, in which Jolley moved to inside right in Jack Hallam's absence through illness, giving Gilbert Smith his debut at full back.
In the return fixture against Walsall, Charles Izon, a well-built forward who "is quick on the ball, and shoots excellently", scored a hat-trick on his debut as Small Heath again won comfortably. A visit to Liverpool gave Caesar Jenkyns the honour of scoring the first Football League goal conceded by the home side, but the visitors "fell all to pieces" in the second half, and were decisively beaten. The young and inexperienced Smith made mistakes that cost two goals, but the forwards "were undoubtedly the weak spot", and the Birmingham Daily Post'''s reporter suggested they would "have to learn to shoot harder and play with far more spirit if they are to keep up the reputation they gained last season". After Burslem Port Vale "beat Small Heath on Monday in more decided a fashion than did Liverpool", by five goals to nil, the poor form shown in the previous two matches by the forwards, and by Wheldon in particular, was much improved at Ardwick. Although Small Heath scored only once, the resultant win was enough to take them into October in second place in the division, having already completed a quarter of the 28-game league programme.
October
Small Heath came back from a 2–1 half-time deficit to beat Grimsby Town 5–2, but the visit of Liverpool was eventful in a rather different manner. After the referee rejected the Liverpool players' claim that Small Heath's equaliser had entered the goal through a hole in the side netting, their play became rough, culminating in centre-half Joe McQue, a "strapping fellow", kicking Frank Mobley in the abdomen, apparently intentionally. While the referee was cautioning McQue, Small Heath captain Caesar Jenkyns rushed in, knocked McQue to the ground, and was sent off. With a man advantage, it still took Liverpool until the stroke of time to score the winning goal. The Posts reporter suggested that, despite the provocation, Jenkyns should not have reacted the way he did, but "the knowledge that it cost his side the game" was sufficient punishment. Despite the referee in his report agreeing that "the punishment of being sent off would meet case", and that Jenkyns had "played a perfectly fair game" and had expressed regret at his actions, both when dismissed and after the game, the Football Association imposed a four-week suspension, to begin on 31 October.
In the meantime the play of Jenkyns and his fellow half-backs was instrumental in a 4–1 defeat of Woolwich Arsenal. The first half hour was played "in a spiritless fashion", but then Wheldon scored "a fine goal with one of his characteristic shots", and the remainder of the game was one-sided. The Small Heath team prepared for their match at Newcastle United by taking the train as far as York on the Friday evening, which left only another for the day of the match. Contrary to expectation, Small Heath were successful in a "hard game", with the half-backs again influential despite Jenkyns receiving a "nasty blow in the mouth". They ended October level on points with three other clubs, in third place on goal average.
November
While most of the Second Division clubs were involved in FA Cup qualifying ties, Small Heath, who had received a bye to the first round proper, lost a friendly match against Everton reserve team by five goals to nil. Everton's near neighbours Liverpool complained to the League that the game adversely affected the attendance at their home fixture with Newcastle, but the League confirmed that Everton were within their rights to arrange the match. "Better forward play [had] rarely been witnessed at Lincoln than that shown by Small Heath" in a 5–2 defeat of Lincoln City, whose defence failed to cope with the industry and creativity of Teddy Jolley feeding the "light but nimble" forwards, Mobley in particular. The next weekend, numerous matches were postponed or abandoned because of the weather. Although the Small Heath and Crewe Alexandra players were changed and ready to play, the referee would not start the game because the "blinding snowstorm would prevent him from having a proper sight of the play".
Advertised as a "Grand League Match" in the local paper – vying for attention with the forthcoming Sailors' Bazaar, a Boys' Brigade band concert and a clearance sale of squirrel-tail fur boas – Small Heath's visit to Middlesbrough Ironopolis failed to live up to the billing. A storm that cost hundreds of lives at sea had left the Paradise Ground with damaged railings and grandstand blown down, and only a few hundred spectators stood in the pouring rain to see the home side produce a surprise victory by three goals to nil on a sodden pitch. The Leicester Chronicle feared "that last year's second division champions are far from being what they were", having dropped as many points already as in the whole of the previous season.
December
Jenkyns returned from suspension against a Northwich Victoria side bottom of the division and playing with only ten men. Wheldon scored four and Mobley three in an 8–0 win, and the goalscoring continued in midweek in the fixture postponed because of the snowstorm, as Small Heath beat a Crewe Alexandra side without several first-choice players by six goals to one. Burton Swifts proved more difficult opponents. On a heavy pitch, play was concentrated in the midfield area as the strength of both teams lay in their half backs, and Small Heath's winning goal came with ten minutes of the match remaining. It was reported that the club had turned down a big offer from First Division club Aston Villa for the services of Fred Wheldon. Newcastle United travelled to Birmingham on the Friday, to be fresh for Saturday's match, as Small Heath had done in the reverse fixture, and again, the tactic worked. Their forwards "displayed excellent combination", were "splendidly supported by the half-backs", and "but for [Jenkyns'] untiring efforts matters would have been worse" than the 4–1 defeat.