1894–95 Burslem Port Vale F.C. season

Burslem Port Vale
1894–95 season
Chairman	Edward Oliver
Manager	Enoch Hood
Stadium	Athletic Ground
Football League Second Division	15th (18 Points)
FA Cup	First Qualifying Round
Birmingham Senior Cup	Second Round
Staffordshire Senior Cup	Second Round
Top goalscorer	League: Meshach Dean (7); All: Meshach Dean (8)
Highest home attendance	2,500 vs Leicester Fosse (23 March 1895)
Lowest home attendance	300 vs Woolwich Arsenal (19 January 1895) & Rotherham Town (16 February 1895)
Average home league attendance	1,367+
	Home colours
	Home colours
← 1893–94	1895–96 →

The 1894–95 season was Burslem Port Vale's third consecutive season of football in the Football League,^[1] the progress of the previous season was lost, as 19 of the 30 league games ended in defeat. Only nearby Crewe Alexandra finished below the Vale, however only Walsall Town Swifts failed to gain re-election – despite finishing two points ahead of Vale, as was the case in 1892–93, the Vale found great difficulty in scoring goals, with only Crewe scoring fewer.

A season to forget, the club fared no better the following season, and lost their Football League status between 1896–1898, their 2–2 draw at Crewe on 5 January 1895 was their final away draw until 3 December 1898, as the team fared extremely poorly on the road, losing almost all their away games.

Overview[edit]

Second Division[edit]

Ever-present Tom Baddeley.

An opening day victory over Walsall Town Swifts betrayed what would be a difficult season for the "Valeites". Following the opening day they won just one of their next 21 league games, with only four of these games ending in a draw, during this streak they lost 10–0 at Notts County on 26 February 1895, after three players failed to turn up, leaving reserve players to make up the numbers.^[1] Seemingly destined for a rock bottom finish, they rallied at the season's end to win five of their last seven games. One of these victories was a 7–1 demolition of Lincoln City, with big victories also coming over Grimsby Town and Crewe Alexandra, at the end of the season the Vale were 30 points behind champions Bury, and six points off safety, but were re-elected to the league.^[1]

Goalkeeper Tom Baddeley was the only ever-present throughout the season, with left-back Dick Ray missing just one game. Billy Beats, George Samuel Eccles, Meshach Dean, and Alf Wood, favourites of previous campaigns, rarely missed a match. At the end of the season Wood left for Southampton, and Ray for Manchester City, with their places filled with reserves the next season looked bleak.^[1]

Finances[edit]

Financially the club struggled, with attendances down due to continuing defeats, the pay rises the players had for the good work the previous season damaged the budget.^[1]

Cup competitions[edit]

For the fourth consecutive season they exited the FA Cup in the first round of qualification, for the second consecutive season they scored three goals in their defeat, this time Stourbridge scored five.

Final league table[edit]

Key player Billy Beats.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GA	GD	Pts
1	Bury	30	15	0	0	48	11	8	2	5	30	22	78	33	2.364	+ 45	48
2	Notts County	30	12	2	1	50	15	5	3	7	25	30	75	45	1.667	+ 30	39
3	Newton Heath	30	9	6	0	52	18	6	2	7	26	26	78	44	1.773	+ 34	38
4	Leicester Fosse	30	11	2	2	45	20	4	6	5	27	33	72	53	1.358	+ 19	38
5	Grimsby Town	30	14	0	1	51	16	4	1	10	28	36	79	52	1.519	+ 27	37
6	Darwen	30	13	1	1	53	10	3	3	9	21	33	74	43	1.721	+ 31	36
7	Burton Wanderers	30	10	3	2	49	9	4	4	7	18	30	67	39	1.718	+ 28	35
8	Woolwich Arsenal	30	11	3	1	54	20	3	3	9	21	38	75	58	1.293	+ 17	34
9	Manchester City	30	9	3	3	56	28	5	0	10	26	44	82	72	1.139	+ 30	31
10	Newcastle United	30	11	1	3	51	28	1	2	12	21	56	72	84	0.857	– 12	27
11	Burton Swifts	30	9	2	4	34	20	2	1	12	18	54	52	74	0.703	– 22	25
12	Rotherham Town	30	10	0	5	37	22	1	2	12	18	40	55	62	0.887	– 7	24
13	Lincoln City	30	8	0	7	32	27	2	0	13	20	65	52	92	0.565	– 40	20
14	Walsall Town Swifts	30	8	0	7	35	25	2	0	13	12	67	47	92	0.511	– 45	20
15	Burslem Port Vale	30	6	3	6	30	23	1	1	13	9	54	39	77	0.506	– 48	18
16	Crewe Alexandra	30	3	4	8	20	34	0	0	15	6	69	26	103	0.252	– 77	10

Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against;
GA = Goal average; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

Results[edit]

Burslem Port Vale's score comes first

Legend[edit]

Win	Draw	Loss

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
Ground	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	A	A	H	A	H	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A
Result	W	L	L	L	L	L	D	W	L	L	L	L	L	L	L	D	L	L	L	D	D	L	L	W	L	W	L	W	W	W
Position	1	11	14	14	15	16	14	13	14	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	14	15

Sourced from Statto.^[2]

Football League Second Division[edit]

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
1 September 1894	Walsall Town Swifts	H	1–0	2,000	Beats
8 September 1894	Manchester City	A	1–4	2,000	Wood
15 September 1894	Bury	H	1–2	1,500	Marple
17 September 1894	Notts County	H	0–3	1,000
22 September 1894	Walsall Town Swifts	A	0–2	3,000
29 September 1894	Burton Swifts	A	0–1	1,000
6 October 1894	Newcastle United	H	4–4	2,000	Scarratt, Wood, James Smith, Eccles
20 October 1894	Burton Wanderers	H	1–0	1,500	Beats
27 October 1894	Darwen	A	0–2	3,000
10 November 1894	Bury	A	0–4	3,000
17 November 1894	Darwen	H	0–3	2,000
8 December 1894	Lincoln City	A	1–6	1,000	Dean
24 December 1894	Newton Heath	H	2–5	1,000	Beats, McDonald
25 December 1894	Woolwich Arsenal	A	0–7	8,000
1 January 1895	Newton Heath	A	0–3	4,000
5 January 1895	Crewe Alexandra	A	2–2		James Smith, Evans
19 January 1895	Woolwich Arsenal	H	0–1	300
26 January 1895	Grimsby Town	A	1–4		James Smith
2 February 1895	Manchester City	H	1–2	1,500	Ray
16 February 1895	Rotherham Town	H	1–1	300	James Smith
23 February 1895	Leicester Fosse	H	1–1		Evans
26 February 1895	Notts County	A	0–10	1,500
2 March 1895	Rotherham Town	A	1–2	1,000	James Smith
4 March 1895	Burton Swifts	H	2–0		Evans, Dean
9 March 1895	Burton Wanderers	A	0–4	4,100
23 March 1895	Leicester Fosse	H	7–1	2,500	Beats (2), unknown, Evans, Dean, J. Mason, Wood
26 March 1895	Lincoln City	A	1–2	3,000	Evans
6 April 1895	Grimsby Town	H	5–0	800	Dean (2), Beats, Evans, J. Mason
12 April 1895	Newcastle United	A	2–1	3,000	Eardley (2)
20 April 1895	Crewe Alexandra	H	4–0		Dean (2), Wood, Eardley

The Burslem Port Vale team in 1894.

FA Cup[edit]

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Goalscorers
1Q	13 October 1894	Stourbridge	A	3–5	Beats, Dean, unknown

Birmingham Senior Cup[edit]

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
2	9 February 1895	Loughborough	H	0–1	1,000

Staffordshire Senior Cup[edit]

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
1	31 January 1895	Leek	A	5–1		unknown
2	25 February 1895	Burton Wanderers	A	3–5	600+	Wood (2), James Smith

Player statistics[edit]

Appearances[edit]

Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		Other		Total
Pos.	Name	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	Tom Baddeley	30	0	1	0	3	0	34	0
GK	Albert Boardman	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
DF	G.S. Eccles	27	1	1	0	3	0	31	1
DF	John Edwards	6	0	1	0	0	0	7	0
DF	Frank Haslam	8	0	0	0	0	0	8	0
DF	Teddy Morse	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
DF	Dick Ray	29	1	1	0	2	0	32	1
DF	Jim Beech	14	0	1	0	1	0	16	0
MF	Meshach Dean	28	7	1	1	1	0	30	8
MF	Jimmy Scarratt	12	1	1	0	0	0	13	1
MF	Jack Smith	8	0	0	0	1	0	9	0
MF	Alf Wood	28	4	1	0	2	2	31	6
MF	Joseph Boughey	6	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
MF	James Holdcroft	12	0	0	0	2	0	14	0
MF	Frederick Marple	2	1	0	0	0	0	2	1
MF	Ted McDonald	19	1	0	0	2	0	21	1
MF	Jos Randles	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
MF	Eric Regan	5	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
MF	James Smith	20	5	1	0	2	1	23	6
MF	Fred Belfield	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
MF	Walter Wilson	5	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
FW	Billy Beats	28	6	1	1	1	0	31	7
FW	Charlie Mason	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
FW	Jim Mason	10	2	0	0	1	0	11	2
MF	Billy Eardley	8	3	0	0	1	0	9	3
FW	Dick Evans	16	6	0	0	3	0	19	6

Scorers[edit]

All competitions[edit]

Scorer	Goals
Meshach Dean	8
Billy Beats	7
Dick Evans	6
James Smith
Alf Wood
Billy Eardley	3
Jim Mason	2
G.S. Eccles	1
Frederick Marple
Ted McDonald
Dick Ray
Jimmy Scarratt

League[edit]

Scorer	Goals
Meshach Dean	7
Billy Beats	6
Dick Evans	6
James Smith	5
Alf Wood	4
Billy Eardley	3
Jim Mason	2
G.S. Eccles	1
Frederick Marple
Ted McDonald
Dick Ray
Jimmy Scarratt

Transfers[edit]

Transfers in[edit]

Date from	Position	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
Summer 1894	DF	Dick Ray	Macclesfield	Free transfer	^[3]
May 1894	DF	Jim Beech	Smallthorne Albion	Free transfer	^[3]
May 1894	DF	Frank Haslam	Mansfield Town	Free transfer	^[3]
July 1894	MF	Ted McDonald	Stoke	Free transfer	^[3]
July 1894	MF	Walter Wilson	Mansfield Town	Free transfer	^[3]
August 1894	MF	Eric Regan	Ardwick	Free transfer	^[3]
September 1894	MF	James Smith	Kilmarnock	Free transfer	^[3]
November 1894	FW	Dick Evans	Newcastle White Star	Free transfer	^[3]

Transfers out[edit]

Date from	Position	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
October 1894	GK	Joe Frail	Gorton Villa	Free transfer	^[3]
November 1894	MF	John Edwards	Stockport County	Free transfer	^[3]
December 1894	MF	Walter Wilson	Nelson	Free transfer	^[3]
March 1895	DF	Frank Haslam	Notts County	Free transfer	^[3]
March 1895	MF	James Smith	Preston North End	Released	^[3]
June 1895	FW	Billy Beats	Wolverhampton Wanderers	£80	^[3]
Summer 1895	FW	Billy Eardley	Newcastle Swifts	Free transfer	^[3]
Summer 1895	MF	Frederick Marple		Released	^[3]
Summer 1895	DF	Dick Ray	Crewe Alexandra	Free transfer	^[3]
Summer 1895	MF	Jimmy Scarratt		Released	^[3]
Summer 1895	MF	Jack Smith		Released	^[3]

References[edit]

Specific

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Kent, Jeff (1990). "Trying to make the Grade (1888-1898)". The Valiants' Years: The Story Of Port Vale. Witan Books. pp. 26–50. ISBN 978-0-9508981-4-8.
^ Port Vale 1894–1895 : Results & Fixtures. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s Kent, Jeff (1996). Port Vale Personalities. Witan Books. ISBN 0-9529152-0-0.

General

Kent, Jeff (1993). The Port Vale Record 1879-1993. Witan Books. ISBN 978-0-9508981-9-3.

[Kent-1] Kent, Jeff (1990). "Trying to make the Grade (1888-1898)". The Valiants' Years: The Story Of Port Vale. Witan Books. pp. 26–50. ISBN 978-0-9508981-4-8.

[2] Port Vale 1894–1895 : Results & Fixtures. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 28 April 2012.

[transfers-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s Kent, Jeff (1996). Port Vale Personalities. Witan Books. ISBN 0-9529152-0-0.

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Port Vale F.C. seasons
1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 99–1900
1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10
1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20
1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30
1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40
1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50
1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60
1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70
1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80
1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90
1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 99–2000
2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10
2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20

v t e Port Vale Football Club
History Managers Records Seasons
Grounds	Athletic Ground Old Recreation Ground Vale Park
Players	25+ appearances <25 appearances Player of the Year Winners
Matches	1989 Play-off Final 1993 League Trophy Final 1993 Play-off Final 1996 Anglo-Italian Final 2001 League Trophy Final Potteries derby