| 1904–05 season | ||
|---|---|---|
| Chairman | Walter W. Hart | |
| Secretary-manager | Alf Jones | |
| Ground | Coventry Road | |
| Football League First Division | 7th | |
| FA Cup | First round(eliminated byPortsmouth) | |
| Birmingham Senior Cup | Winner | |
| Top goalscorer | League:Billy Jones (16) All: Billy Jones (16) | |
| Highest home attendance | 32,000 vsAston Villa,25 February 1905 | |
| Lowest home attendance | 8,000 vsNottingham Forest,11 March 1905 | |
| Average home league attendance | 14,647 | |
| ||
The1904–05 Football League season wasSmall Heath Football Club's 13th inthe Football League and their 5th in theFirst Division. In third position in the 18-team league, only one point behind the leaders, with eight matches remaining, they gained only four points from the sixteen available, and finished seventh. They also took part in the1904–05 FA Cup, entering at the first round proper and losing toPortsmouth in that round. In locally organised competition, they won theBirmingham Senior Cup for the first time, defeatingWest Bromwich Albion by seven goals to two. After this season, the club entered a primarilyreserve team for this competition, which had previously not been permitted.
Nineteen players made at least one appearance in nationally organised first-team competition, and there were nine different goalscorers. GoalkeeperNat Robinson, full-backFrank Stokes and forwardBenny Green were all ever-present over the 35-match season.Billy Jones was leading scorer with 16 goals, all of which came in the league.
At anExtraordinary General Meeting held in March 1905, it was proposed that, Small Heath being the only major football club in the city[2] sinceBirmingham St George's had folded in 1892, the club should be renamed Birmingham City F.C. The shareholders were not in favour, though they were prepared to go as far as plain Birmingham Football Club instead. Even this was a step too far for some; one reporter referred to "the Small Heath club now masquerading as Birmingham".[3]
Events surrounding the February 1905 match withAston Villa highlighted theCoventry Road ground's inadequacies. The official attendance was given as 28,000,[4] 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.[5][6] TheBirmingham Daily Mail reported "a constant stream of vehicles to the ground, while the trams were disgorging their freights at Muntz Street every two or three minutes."[4] Inside, "the swaying of the mass of spectators rendered the placing of additional supports against the barriers a necessary precaution", and children were passed overhead and placed on the pitch for their own safety.[4] The following Monday the same newspaper commented that had space been available, another ten or fifteen thousand spectators might well have attended, as "hundreds of people found the doors closed against them, and probably there were thousands who would not go to the ground in view of the inevitable crush."[7] The club's landlords would neither sell thefreehold of the ground nor allow its expansion, so the directors began planning to move to a new home.[6]
| Date | League position | Opponents | Venue | Result | Score F–A | Scorers | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 September 1904 | 12th | Manchester City | A | L | 1–2 | Greenpen | 24,000 |
| 10 September 1904 | 17th | Notts County | H | L | 1–2 | Beerpen | 15,000 |
| 17 September 1904 | 17th | Sheffield United | A | L | 1–2 | Beerpen | 14,000 |
| 24 September 1904 | 16th | Newcastle United | H | W | 2–1 | W.H. Jones 2 | 13,000 |
| 1 October 1904 | 17th | Preston North End | A | D | 2–2 | Wilcox,McRoberts | 10,000 |
| 8 October 1904 | 14th | Middlesbrough | H | W | 2–1 | Field, Beerpen | 10,000 |
| 15 October 1904 | 11th | Wolverhampton Wanderers | A | W | 1–0 | Wilcox | 8,000 |
| 22 October 1904 | 8th | Bury | H | W | 5–0 | Wilcox, Field, Green 2, McRoberts | 15,000 |
| 29 October 1904 | 11th | Aston Villa | A | L | 1–2 | Wilcox | 40,000 |
| 5 November 1904 | 8th | Blackburn Rovers | H | W | 2–0 | Wigmore, Green | 15,000 |
| 12 November 1904 | 8th | Nottingham Forest | A | W | 2–0 | McRoberts, W.H. Jones | 8,000 |
| 19 November 1904 | 4th | Sheffield Wednesday | H | W | 2–1 | W.H. Jones, Green | 15,000 |
| 26 November 1904 | 4th | Sunderland | A | W | 4–1 | Wilcox, W.H. Jones 2, Green | 12,000 |
| 3 December 1904 | 2nd | Woolwich Arsenal | H | W | 2–1 | Dougherty, W.H. Jones | 12,000 |
| 10 December 1904 | 5th | Derby County | A | L | 0–3 | 6,000 | |
| 17 December 1904 | 7th | Everton | H | L | 1–2 | W.H. Jones | 18,000 |
| 26 December 1904 | 5th | Middlesbrough | A | W | 1–0 | McRoberts | 10,000 |
| 31 December 1904 | 5th | Manchester City | H | W | 3–1 | W.H. Jones 2, Wilcox | 15,000 |
| 2 January 1905 | 5th | Bury | A | D | 1–1 | Green | 9,000 |
| 7 January 1905 | 5th | Notts County | A | D | 0–0 | 8,000 | |
| 14 January 1905 | 5th | Sheffield United | H | W | 2–0 | W.H. Jones, Wilcox | 12,000 |
| 21 January 1905 | 5th | Newcastle United | A | W | 1–0 | Tickle | 24,000 |
| 28 January 1905 | 3rd | Preston North End | H | W | 2–0 | Wilcox 2 | 15,000 |
| 11 February 1905 | 2nd | Wolverhampton Wanderers | H | W | 4–1 | Wilcox 3, Green | 15,000 |
| 25 February 1905 | 4th | Aston Villa | H | L | 0–3 | 32,000 | |
| 4 March 1905 | 3rd | Blackburn Rovers | A | W | 4–1 | W.H. Jones 2 (1pen), Field, Beer | 5,000 |
| 11 March 1905 | 4th | Nottingham Forest | H | L | 1–2 | Field | 8,000 |
| 18 March 1905 | 5th | Sheffield Wednesday | A | L | 1–3 | Green | 12,000 |
| 25 March 1905 | 5th | Sunderland | H | D | 1–1 | W.H. Jones | 12,000 |
| 1 April 1905 | 5th | Woolwich Arsenal | A | D | 1–1 | W.H. Jones | 18,000 |
| 8 April 1905 | 5th | Derby County | H | W | 2–0 | Green, W.H. Jones | 12,000 |
| 15 April 1905 | 5th | Everton | A | L | 1–2 | Hartwell | 20,000 |
| 22 April 1905 | 5th | Stoke | H | L | 0–1 | 15,000 | |
| 29 April 1905 | 7th | Stoke | A | L | 0–1 | 2,000 |
| Pos | Club | Pld | W | D | L | F | A | GA | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5th | Sunderland | 34 | 16 | 8 | 10 | 60 | 44 | 1.36 | 40 |
| 6th | Sheffield United | 34 | 19 | 2 | 13 | 64 | 56 | 1.14 | 40 |
| 7th | Small Heath | 34 | 17 | 5 | 12 | 59 | 38 | 1.42 | 39 |
| 8th | Preston North End | 34 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 52 | 47 | 1.14 | 36 |
| 9th | Sheffield Wednesday | 34 | 14 | 5 | 15 | 61 | 57 | 1.07 | 33 |
| Key | Pos = League position; Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA =Goal average; Pts = Points | ||||||||
| Source | [8] | ||||||||
| Round | Date | Opponents | Venue | Result | Score F–A | Scorers | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First round | 4 February 1905 | Portsmouth | H | L | 0–2 | 25,000 |
| Name | Position | League | FA Cup | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Nat Robinson | Goalkeeper | 34 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 35 | 0 |
| John Glover | Full back | 24 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 25 | 0 |
| Ambrose Hartwell | Full back | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 1 |
| Frank Stokes | Full back | 34 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 35 | 0 |
| Billy Beer | Half back | 31 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 4 |
| Jack Bird | Half back | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Jim Dougherty | Half back | 25 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 26 | 1 |
| Harry Howard | Half back | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| Alfred Sellman | Half back | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Walter Wigmore | Half back | 28 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 29 | 1 |
| Charlie Athersmith | Forward | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Oakey Field | Forward | 30 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 4 |
| Benny Green | Forward | 34 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 35 | 10 |
| Charles Harvey | Forward | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Billy Jones | Forward | 30 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 31 | 16 |
| Thomas Jones | Forward | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Bob McRoberts | Forward | 14 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 4 |
| Charlie Tickle | Forward | 16 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 1 |
| Freddie Wilcox | Forward | 27 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 28 | 12 |
| Jimmy Windridge | Forward | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
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