# 1897–98 Stoke F.C. season

The 1897–98 season was Stoke's ninth season in the Football League.
It was another season of struggle for Stoke who finished bottom of the First Division on goal average level on points with five teams. They entered the test matches for the second time against Newcastle United and Burnley and again came out victorious. However it was in controversial circumstances as in the final test match against Burnley, both sides needed a draw to be in the First Division for next season and for 90 minutes the Stoke and Burnley players did not attempt to win and the match finished in a 0–0 draw. After this obvious exploitation of the rules the league scrapped the test match system in favour of automatic promotion and relegation.

## Season Review
### League

In September 1897 Horace Austerberry was appointed secretary-manager of Stoke in succession of Bill Rowley who became general secretary. Also Mr J. T. Fenton assumed the role of chairman taking over from Mr. S. Barker. The Stoke directors continued to search in Scotland for quality players following the success of William Maxwell and they did find one in the form of Alex Raisbeck who went on to gain international caps for his country unfortunately he only played eight matches for Stoke before deciding to join Liverpool.
The bottom five teams in the First Division finished with 24 points but Stoke had the poorest goal average of them all and took bottom spot. They had to play the top two sides from the Second Division, Burnley and Newcastle United. Stoke came through successfully, beating each side once and drawing with Burnley to stay up.
In the final test match Stoke and Burnley needed a draw to be in the First Division next season. It finished 0–0 after a farcical 90 minutes during which neither side put in a challenge or had a shot at goal and at one point a few fans in the crowd held on to the ball and refused to return it to the players. After this obvious exploit of the rules the league scrapped the test match system in favour of automatic promotion and relegation.

### FA Cup

Stoke beat Bury 2–1 in the first round but crashed out 5–1 to Everton in the second round replay.

## Final league table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts | Relegation |
| 12 | Preston North End | 30 | 8 | 8 | 14 | 35 | 43 | 0.814 | 24 | |
| 13 | Notts County | 30 | 8 | 8 | 14 | 36 | 46 | 0.783 | 24 | |
| 14 | Bury | 30 | 8 | 8 | 14 | 39 | 51 | 0.765 | 24 | |
| 15 | Blackburn Rovers | 30 | 7 | 10 | 13 | 39 | 54 | 0.722 | 24 | Qualification for test matches |
| 16 | Stoke (O) | 30 | 8 | 8 | 14 | 35 | 55 | 0.636 | 24 | Qualification for test matches |
* ↑ Blackburn Rovers were initially relegated but were later reprieved due to the First Division expanding to 18 teams for the following season.

## Results

Stoke's score comes first

### Legend

| Win | Draw | Loss |

### Football League First Division

| Match | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 1 | 2 September 1897 | Notts County | H | 2–0 | 3,500 | Maxwell (2) |
| 2 | 4 September 1897 | Liverpool | H | 2–2 | 4,000 | Maxwell, T Hill |
| 3 | 11 September 1897 | Sheffield United | A | 3–4 | 10,000 | Maxwell (2), Thickett (o.g.) |
| 4 | 18 September 1897 | Blackburn Rovers | H | 2–1 | 8,000 | Mellor, Schofield |
| 5 | 25 September 1897 | West Bromwich Albion | A | 0–2 | 8,200 | |
| 6 | 2 October 1897 | Derby County | H | 2–1 | 5,000 | Wood, Maxwell |
| 7 | 9 October 1897 | Liverpool | A | 0–4 | 16,000 | |
| 8 | 16 October 1897 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | H | 0–2 | 10,000 | |
| 9 | 23 October 1897 | Notts County | A | 0–4 | 4,000 | |
| 10 | 30 October 1897 | West Bromwich Albion | H | 0–0 | 6,400 | |
| 11 | 6 November 1897 | Derby County | A | 1–4 | 10,000 | T Hill |
| 12 | 8 November 1897 | Preston North End | H | 1–2 | 5,000 | J Hill |
| 13 | 13 November 1897 | Bolton Wanderers | A | 1–2 | 2,000 | Pugh |
| 14 | 20 November 1897 | Nottingham Forest | H | 1–2 | 2,000 | Wood |
| 15 | 4 December 1897 | Sunderland | A | 0–4 | 3,500 | |
| 16 | 11 December 1897 | Sheffield United | H | 2–1 | 7,000 | J Hill, Hingerty |
| 17 | 18 December 1897 | Aston Villa | H | 0–0 | 11,000 | |
| 18 | 25 December 1897 | The Wednesday | A | 0–4 | 6,000 | |
| 19 | 27 December 1897 | Bury | H | 3–1 | 15,000 | J Hill, Maxwell, Murphy |
| 20 | 1 January 1898 | Bury | A | 3–3 | 7,000 | Mellor, Hingerty, Pray (o.g.) |
| 21 | 8 January 1898 | Sunderland | H | 0–1 | 10,000 | |
| 22 | 15 January 1898 | Bolton Wanderers | H | 2–0 | 4,000 | J Hill, Johnson |
| 23 | 17 January 1898 | Everton | A | 1–1 | 4,000 | Maxwell |
| 24 | 5 February 1898 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | A | 2–4 | 7,000 | Maxwell, J Hill |
| 25 | 19 February 1898 | Nottingham Forest | A | 1–3 | 8,000 | Maxwell |
| 26 | 5 March 1898 | Preston North End | A | 0–0 | 6,000 | |
| 27 | 26 March 1898 | The Wednesday | H | 2–1 | 4,000 | Schofield (2) |
| 28 | 2 April 1898 | Aston Villa | A | 1–1 | 10,000 | Molyneux |
| 29 | 8 April 1898 | Blackburn Rovers | A | 1–1 | 6,000 | Schofield |
| 30 | 9 April 1898 | Everton | H | 2–0 | 6,000 | Molyneux, Maxwell |

### Test matches

| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 20 April 1898 | Newcastle United | A | 1–2 | 5,000 | Kennedy |
| 23 April 1898 | Newcastle United | H | 1–0 | 14,000 | Maxwell |
| 26 April 1898 | Burnley | A | 2–0 | 3,000 | Schofield, Raisbeck |
| 30 April 1898 | Burnley | H | 0–0 | 15,000 | |
| Pos. | Team | Pld. | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts. |
| 1 | Stoke | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 5 |
| 2 | Burnley | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 5 |
| 3 | Newcastle United | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 6 | +3 | 4 |
| 4 | Blackburn Rovers | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 12 | –7 | 2 |

### FA Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| R1 | 29 January 1898 | Bury | A | 2–1 | 3,000 | J Hill, Mellor |
| R2 | 12 February 1898 | Everton | H | 0–0 | 25,000 | |
| R2 Replay | 17 February 1898 | Everton | A | 1–5 | 10,000 | J Hill |

## Squad statistics

| Pos. | Name | League | League | FA Cup | FA Cup | Test Matches | Test Matches | Total | Total |
| Pos. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| GK | Zeke Johnston | 22 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 0 |
| GK | Fred Sheldon | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| GK | Tom Wilkes | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| FB | Peter Durber | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 |
| FB | Jack Eccles | 27 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 34 | 0 |
| FB | Tom Robertson | 23 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 27 | 0 |
| HB | Jimmy Grewer | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| HB | Jimmy McGeachan | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| HB | Joe Murphy | 30 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 37 | 1 |
| HB | Edward Parsons | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| HB | Jack Ponsonby | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| HB | Alex Raisbeck | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 1 |
| HB | Arthur Rowley | 18 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 21 | 0 |
| HB | Alf Wood | 19 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 25 | 2 |
| FW | Jimmy Hill | 21 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 7 |
| FW | Tom Hill | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 |
| FW | Jim Hingerty | 10 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 2 |
| FW | Freddie Johnson | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 16 | 1 |
| FW | Jack Kennedy | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
| FW | William Maxwell | 21 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 26 | 12 |
| FW | Harry Mellor | 20 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 26 | 3 |
| FW | Fred Molyneux | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 2 |
| FW | Harry Pugh | 18 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 1 |
| FW | Joe Schofield | 27 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 33 | 5 |
| FW | Jack Shaffery | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| FW | Andrew Smith | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| – | Own goals | – | 2 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | 2 |