# 1904–05 Aston Villa F.C. season

The 1904–05 Football League season was Aston Villa's 17th season in the First Division, the top flight of English football at the time. The season fell in what was to be called Villa's golden era.
During the season Howard Spencer and Joe Bache shared the captaincy of the club.
Villa won both matches in the Second City derby, 2-1 at Villa Park and 3-0 away. Events surrounding the February 1905 match away to Small Heath highlighted their Coventry Road ground's inadequacies. The official attendance was given as 28,000, though with the gates closed before kick-off, thousands scaled walls or forced entrances in order to gain admission, and the actual attendance was estimated at anything up to 35,000.
Aston Villa won the FA Cup competition for the fourth time, beating Newcastle United 2–0 in the final at Crystal Palace, through two goals scored by Harry Hampton. The man of the match was Aston Villa's prolific scorer Billy Garraty, great-great grandfather of footballer Jack Grealish, who was born only a few miles from the now Villa Park.
Also known as "The Wellington Whirlwind," Hampton played as a centre forward for Aston Villa from 1904 to 1920. He scored both goals against Newcastle United in the 1905 FA Cup Final. Hampton was a prolific goalscorer.
There were debuts for Harry Hampton (339), Josiah Gray, Walter Brown, Jimmy Cantrell and Watty Corbett.

## Football League

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts | Relegation |
| 1 | Newcastle United (C) | 34 | 23 | 2 | 9 | 72 | 33 | 2.182 | 48 | |
| 2 | Everton | 34 | 21 | 5 | 8 | 63 | 36 | 1.750 | 47 | |
| 3 | Manchester City | 34 | 20 | 6 | 8 | 66 | 37 | 1.784 | 46 | |
| 4 | Aston Villa | 34 | 19 | 4 | 11 | 63 | 43 | 1.465 | 42 | |
| 5 | Sunderland | 34 | 16 | 8 | 10 | 60 | 44 | 1.364 | 40 | |
| 6 | Sheffield United | 34 | 19 | 2 | 13 | 64 | 56 | 1.143 | 40 | |
| 7 | Small Heath | 34 | 17 | 5 | 12 | 54 | 38 | 1.421 | 39 | |
| 8 | Preston North End | 34 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 42 | 37 | 1.135 | 36 | |
| 9 | The Wednesday | 34 | 14 | 5 | 15 | 61 | 57 | 1.070 | 33 | |
| 10 | Woolwich Arsenal | 34 | 12 | 9 | 13 | 36 | 40 | 0.900 | 33 | |
| 11 | Derby County | 34 | 12 | 8 | 14 | 37 | 48 | 0.771 | 32 | |
| 12 | Stoke | 34 | 13 | 4 | 17 | 40 | 58 | 0.690 | 30 | |
| 13 | Blackburn Rovers | 34 | 11 | 5 | 18 | 40 | 51 | 0.784 | 27 | |
| 14 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 34 | 11 | 4 | 19 | 47 | 73 | 0.644 | 26 | |
| 15 | Middlesbrough | 34 | 9 | 8 | 17 | 36 | 56 | 0.643 | 26 | |
| 16 | Nottingham Forest | 34 | 9 | 7 | 18 | 40 | 61 | 0.656 | 25 | |
| 17 | Bury | 34 | 10 | 4 | 20 | 47 | 67 | 0.701 | 24 | Relegation to the Second Division |
| 18 | Notts County | 34 | 5 | 8 | 21 | 36 | 69 | 0.522 | 18 | Relegation to the Second Division |

## First team squad

* Billy George, 39 appearances, conceded 46
* Billy Brawn, 37 appearances
* Joe Bache, 37 appearances
* Billy Garraty, 37 appearances
* Alex Leake, 36 appearances
* Freddie Miles, 35 appearances
* Joe Pearson, 31 appearances
* Jack Windmill, 30 appearances
* Harry Hampton, 28 appearances
* Albert Hall, 28 appearances
* Howard Spencer, 24 appearances
* Albert Wilkes, 10 appearances
* Billy Matthews, 7 appearances
* Alf Wood, 6 appearances
* Willie Clarke, 5 appearances
* Albert Evans, 5 appearances
* Micky Noon, 5 appearances
* George Johnson, 3 appearances
* Harry Cooch, 1 appearance, conceded 2
* Mart Watkins, 1 appearance
* Josiah Gray, 7 appearances
* Walter Brown, 11 appearances
* Jimmy Cantrell, 3 appearances
* Watty Corbett, 1 appearance