# 1906–07 Crystal Palace F.C. season

Crystal Palace started their second season in a new division, having gained promotion from the Southern League Division Two the previous season. There were a number of personnel changes this season, with Archie Grant and captain Ted Birnie moving to Chelsea and George Walker going to New Brompton. Palace's hat-trick hero in their FA Cup exploits of last season, Walter Watkins, also moved on to Northampton Town. In their places Palace brought in a number of new faces. Charles Ryan joined from Nunhead, Thomas Wills from Newcastle, Bill Forster from Sheffield United and Bill Ledger from Pryhope Villa. Wilf Innerd was made captain and played in all but one of the club's League and Cup matches. The club struggled to find their feet on the new division, and failed to score in 13 of their matches, finishing the season in 19th position, one place off the bottom. This was enough to ensure safety though, as for this season there was no relegation. Palace again called on a number of amateurs from the local area and beyond, including Henry Littlewort. Littlewort, who made his only appearance for the club this season, would go on to win a gold medal with the British Football team in the 1912 Olympics.

## Southern Football League First Division

| Date | Opponents | H / A | Result F – A | Scorers | Attendance |
| 1 September 1906 | Northampton Town | H | 3 – 0 | Woodger (2), Harker | 7,000 |
| 8 September 1906 | Queen's Park Rangers | A | 0 – 1 | | 7,900 |
| 15 September 1906 | Fulham | A | 0 – 3 | | 7,900 |
| 19 September 1906 | Reading | H | 4 – 1 | Harker, Roberts, Woodger, Hodgkinson | 4,000 |
| 22 September 1906 | Southampton | A | 1 – 1 | Edwards (pen) | 4,500 |
| 29 September 1906 | West Ham United | H | 1 – 1 | Wallace | 10,000 |
| 6 October 1906 | Tottenham Hotspur | A | 0 – 3 | | 18,000 |
| 13 October 1906 | Swindon Town | H | 3 – 2 | Wallace (3) | 5,000 |
| 20 October 1906 | Norwich City | A | 2 – 4 | Edwards (pen.), Wallace | 5,000 |
| 27 October 1906 | Luton Town | H | 0 – 1 | | 8,000 |
| 3 November 1906 | Bristol Rovers | A | 1 – 1 | Wallace | 5,000 |
| 10 November 1906 | Brentford | A | 0 – 2 | | 6,000 |
| 17 November 1906 | Millwall | H | 3 – 0 | Roberts, Wallace, Innerd | 6,000 |
| 24 November 1906 | Leyton | A | 4 – 0 | Astley (2), Wallace, Harker | |
| 1 December 1906 | Portsmouth | H | 1 – 0 | Woodger | 7,500 |
| 15 December 1906 | Plymouth Argyle | H | 0 – 2 | | 6,000 |
| 22 December 1906 | Brighton & Hove Albion | A | 1 – 2 | Wallace | 5,000 |
| 26 December 1906 | Watford | A | 0 – 2 | | 3,000 |
| 29 December 1906 | Northampton Town | A | 1 – 2 | Roberts | 3,000 |
| 5 January 1907 | Queen's Park Rangers | H | 5 – 1 | Astley (4), Harker | 15,000 |
| 19 January 1907 | Fulham | A | 1 – 2 | Astley | 6,500 |
| 26 January 1907 | Southampton | H | 1 – 1 | Roberts | 6,500 |
| 9 February 1907 | Tottenham Hotspur | H | 0 – 1 | | 8,000 |
| 16 February 1907 | Swindon Town | A | 1 – 2 | Astley | 5,000 |
| 2 March 1907 | Luton Town | A | 1 – 2 | Astley | 8,000 |
| 16 March 1907 | Brentford | H | 0 – 3 | | 7,000 |
| 23 March 1907 | Millwall | A | 0 – 2 | | 10,000 |
| 25 March 1907 | West Ham United | A | 1 – 1 | Harker | 3,000 |
| 29 March 1907 | Reading | A | 1 – 1 | Weston | 10,000 |
| 30 March 1907 | Leyton | H | 1 – 0 | Woodger | 7,000 |
| 1 April 1907 | Watford | H | 1 – 3 | Roberts (pen.) | 10,000 |
| 6 April 1907 | Portsmouth | A | 0 – 6 | | 7,000 |
| 13 April 1907 | New Brompton | H | 1 – 3 | Edwards (pen.) | 5,500 |
| 17 April 1907 | Bristol Rovers | H | 3 – 3 | Astley, Roberts, Woodger | 2,000 |
| 20 April 1907 | Plymouth Argyle | A | 0 – 0 | | |
| 24 April 1907 | Norwich City | H | 0 – 1 | | 2000 |
| 27 April 1907 | Brighton & Hove Albion | H | 2 – 2 | Harker, Edwards (pen.) | 4,000 |
| 29 April 1907 | New Brompton | A | 2 – 4 | Harker, Roberts | 3,000 |
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GR | Pts |
| 16 | New Brompton | 38 | 12 | 9 | 17 | 47 | 59 | 0.797 | 33 |
| 17 | Swindon Town | 38 | 11 | 11 | 16 | 43 | 54 | 0.796 | 33 |
| 18 | Queens Park Rangers | 38 | 11 | 10 | 17 | 47 | 55 | 0.855 | 32 |
| 19 | Crystal Palace | 38 | 8 | 9 | 21 | 46 | 66 | 0.697 | 25 |
| 20 | Northampton Town | 38 | 5 | 9 | 24 | 29 | 88 | 0.330 | 19 |

## FA Cup

After their exploits in the FA Cup the previous season, Crystal Palace were entered into the Cup in the final qualifying round by the Football Association. They drew Rotherham County, overcoming them 4–0 at Stamford Bridge. The match was a home tie for Palace, but due to their Crystal Palace ground already being booked for a rugby international the club had to have the tie moved. The next round, the first round proper, saw them drawn against the biggest club of the time, Newcastle United. Unbeaten at home in over a year, and unbeaten at home in the Cup since the previous century, Newcastle were expected to easily defeat Palace, but in the first great FA Cup shock, Palace went to Newcastle and won 1–0. The second round saw Palace defeat Fulham in a replay, and then the club took Brentford to a replay and won that too. Drawn at home against Everton in the quarter finals, Palace took a 1–0 lead, but were unable to hold on and drew 1–1 in front of their highest crowd to date of 35,000. In the replay at Goodison Park Palace lost 4–0 and another good cup run was at an end.
| Date | Round | Opponents | H / A | Result F – A | Scorers | Attendance |
| 8 December 1906 | Fourth Qualifying Round | Rotherham County | N | 4 – 0 | Roberts (2), Harker, own goal | 1,500 |
| 12 January 1907 | First Round | Newcastle United | A | 1 – 0 | Astley | 28,000 |
| 2 February 1907 | Second Round | Fulham | A | 0 – 0 | | 28,000 |
| 6 February 1907 | Second Round Replay | Fulham | H | 1 – 0 | Woodger | 20,000 |
| 23 February 1907 | Third Round | Brentford | H | 1 – 1 | Harker | 31,123 |
| 27 February 1907 | Third Round Replay | Brentford | A | 1 – 0 | Roberts | 4,000 |
| 9 March 1907 | Fourth Round | Everton | H | 1 – 1 | Astley | 35,000 |
| 13 March 1907 | Fourth Round Replay | Everton | A | 0 – 4 | | 34,340 |

## Squad statistics

| Pos. | Name | League | League | FA Cup | FA Cup | Total | Total |
| Pos. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| GK | Bob Hewitson | 36 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 44 | 0 |
| GK | Herbert Hunter | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| FB | Matthew Edwards | 31 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 39 | 4 |
| FB | Thomas Wills | 17 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 0 |
| FB | Harry Menzies | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| FB | Harry Collyer | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| FB | J. Richard Jackson | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| HB | Wilf Innerd (c) | 37 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 45 | 1 |
| HB | Charles Ryan | 26 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 32 | 0 |
| HB | Bill Forster | 30 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 38 | 0 |
| HB | Arthur Wilson | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| HB | Frank Ransom | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| HB | Bill Ledger | 11 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 2 |
| HB | Henry Littlewort | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| HB | Frank Edwards | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| FW | Charles Wallace | 35 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 42 | 9 |
| FW | Dick Harker | 35 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 43 | 9 |
| FW | George Woodger | 34 | 6 | 8 | 1 | 42 | 7 |
| FW | Archie Needham | 28 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 36 | 0 |
| FW | Dick Roberts | 36 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 44 | 10 |
| FW | Horace Astley | 19 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 27 | 12 |
| FW | Joe Hodgkinson | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 |
| FW | William Weston | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
| FW | Arthur Sans | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| FW | Herbert Swann | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| FW | Bill Lawrence | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |