# 1895–96 Stoke F.C. season

The 1895–96 season was Stoke's seventh season in the Football League.
Stoke enjoyed their best season yet under new manager Bill Rowley finishing in 6th position with 30 points. Stoke only drew one game this season and that came in the FA Cup against Burnley.

## Season Review
### League

In the summer of 1895 the club had become a Limited liability company and long serving goalkeeper Bill Rowley was given the position of secretary-manager. One of Rowley's best pieces of business was to bring William Maxwell to the club from Dundee. Maxwell went on to score 75 goals in 156 matches in six seasons with Stoke. Before the start of the season, there was a mini-exodus of players to Southampton St. Mary's such as Jack Farrell, Samuel Meston, Willie Naughton and trainer Bill Dawson. Some players would later return to Stoke after their spell on the south coast.
One of Stoke's most bizarre transfer deals took place in February 1896 when they signed Allan Maxwell from Darwen. Instead of requesting a transfer fee Darwen wanted a set of wrought iron gates to be supplied by Stoke. On the pitch Stoke finished their highest position yet of sixth place, picking up 30 points in the process. No league draw was forthcoming for Stoke their only draw came in the FA Cup against Burnley.

### FA Cup

For the second season running Stoke were knocked out of the FA Cup by Wolverhampton Wanderers this time 3–0 in the third round. Prior to this Stoke were in free scoring form beating Tottenham Hotspur 5–0 and Burnley 7–1.

## Final league table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts |
| 4 | Bolton Wanderers | 30 | 16 | 5 | 9 | 49 | 37 | 1.324 | 37 |
| 5 | Sunderland | 30 | 15 | 7 | 8 | 52 | 41 | 1.268 | 37 |
| 6 | Stoke | 30 | 15 | 0 | 15 | 56 | 47 | 1.191 | 30 |
| 7 | The Wednesday | 30 | 12 | 5 | 13 | 44 | 53 | 0.830 | 29 |
| 8 | Blackburn Rovers | 30 | 12 | 5 | 13 | 40 | 50 | 0.800 | 29 |

## Results

Stoke's score comes first

### Legend

| Win | Draw | Loss |

### Football League First Division

| Match | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 1 | 2 September 1895 | Bolton Wanderers | H | 2–0 | 7,000 | Dickson, W Maxwell |
| 2 | 7 September 1895 | Derby County | H | 2–1 | 6,000 | Schofield (2) |
| 3 | 14 September 1895 | Small Heath | A | 2–1 | 6,000 | Dickson, Hyslop |
| 4 | 21 September 1895 | West Bromwich Albion | H | 3–1 | 12,000 | Hyslop (3) |
| 5 | 28 September 1895 | Sheffield United | A | 0–1 | 6,000 | |
| 6 | 5 October 1895 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | A | 0–1 | 4,000 | |
| 7 | 12 October 1895 | Derby County | A | 1–2 | 8,000 | Wood |
| 8 | 19 October 1895 | Small Heath | H | 6–1 | 8,000 | Schofield (3), Hyslop, W Maxwell, Grewer |
| 9 | 26 October 1895 | Bolton Wanderers | A | 1–3 | 4,000 | Hyslop |
| 10 | 2 November 1895 | Sheffield United | H | 4–0 | 8,000 | Hyslop (2), Dickson, Clare |
| 11 | 9 November 1895 | West Bromwich Albion | A | 0–1 | 3,500 | |
| 12 | 11 November 1895 | Preston North End | H | 4–0 | 7,000 | Hyslop (2), Lonie (2) |
| 13 | 16 November 1895 | The Wednesday | A | 1–2 | 4,000 | W Maxwell |
| 14 | 23 November 1895 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | H | 4–1 | 5,000 | Lonie, Dickson (3) |
| 15 | 28 November 1895 | Nottingham Forest | A | 0–4 | 4,000 | |
| 16 | 30 November 1895 | Bury | A | 1–0 | 2,500 | Hyslop |
| 17 | 7 December 1895 | Burnley | H | 2–1 | 1,000 | Lonie, Schofield |
| 18 | 14 December 1895 | Everton | A | 2–7 | 10,000 | Schofield, Sandland |
| 19 | 21 December 1895 | The Wednesday | H | 5–0 | 4,000 | Hyslop (3), Dickson, Proctor |
| 20 | 25 December 1895 | Preston North End | A | 1–0 | 5,000 | Proctor |
| 21 | 26 December 1895 | Bury | H | 0–2 | 4,000 | |
| 22 | 4 January 1896 | Aston Villa | H | 1–2 | 12,000 | Schofield |
| 23 | 22 February 1896 | Aston Villa | A | 2–5 | 10,000 | Dickson, W Maxwell |
| 24 | 14 March 1896 | Sunderland | H | 5–0 | 6,000 | W Maxwell, Heames, Hyslop, A Maxwell, McNeill (o.g.) |
| 25 | 16 March 1896 | Burnley | A | 0–2 | 3,000 | |
| 26 | 21 March 1896 | Nottingham Forest | H | 1–0 | 5,000 | Hyslop |
| 27 | 28 March 1896 | Sunderland | A | 1–4 | 3,000 | Hyslop |
| 28 | 3 April 1896 | Blackburn Rovers | A | 1–3 | 3,000 | Turner |
| 29 | 4 April 1896 | Blackburn Rovers | H | 3–0 | 3,500 | W Maxwell (2), Johnson |
| 30 | 11 April 1896 | Everton | H | 1–2 | 3,000 | Schofield |

### FA Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| R1 | 1 February 1896 | Tottenham Hotspur | H | 5–0 | 6,000 | W Maxwell (3), Dickson, A Maxwell |
| R2 | 15 February 1896 | Burnley | A | 1–1 | 10,000 | Dickson |
| R2 Replay | 20 February 1896 | Burnley | H | 7–1 | 4,000 | Dickson, Hyslop (4), A Maxwell, W Maxwell |
| R3 | 29 February 1896 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | A | 0–3 | 16,000 | |

## Squad statistics

| Pos. | Name | League | League | FA Cup | FA Cup | Total | Total |
| Pos. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| GK | Albert Boardman | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| GK | George Clawley | 26 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 30 | 0 |
| GK | Bill Rowley | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| FB | Bill Capewell | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| FB | Tommy Clare | 30 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 34 | 1 |
| FB | Jack Eccles | 28 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 32 | 0 |
| FB | Duncan McDonald | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| HB | Davy Brodie | 29 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 31 | 0 |
| HB | Jimmy Grewer | 29 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 33 | 1 |
| HB | Tom Robertson | 13 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 0 |
| HB | Edgar Sanderson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| HB | Jimmy Turner | 24 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 27 | 1 |
| HB | Alf Wood | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| FW | Arthur Brookfield | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| FW | Billy Dickson | 30 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 34 | 11 |
| FW | Billy Heames | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| FW | Tommy Hyslop | 27 | 17 | 3 | 4 | 30 | 21 |
| FW | Freddie Johnson | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 1 |
| FW | Tom Lonie | 9 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 4 |
| FW | Allan Maxwell | 8 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 12 | 3 |
| FW | William Maxwell | 23 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 27 | 11 |
| FW | Edward Proctor | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| FW | Teddy Sandland | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| FW | Bill Sawers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| FW | Joe Schofield | 28 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 32 | 9 |
| – | Own goals | – | 1 | – | 0 | – | 1 |