1899–1900 Burslem Port Vale F.C. season

Burslem Port Vale
1899–1900 season
Chairman	Robert Audley
Secretary	Sam Gleaves
Stadium	Athletic Ground
Football League Second Division	11th (34 Points)
FA Cup	Fifth Qualifying Round; (knocked out by Stalybridge Rovers)
Birmingham Senior Cup	Runners-up; (knocked out by Wolverhampton Wanderers)
Staffordshire Senior Cup	Runners-up; (knocked out by West Bromwich Albion)
Top goalscorer	League: Howard Harvey (10); All: Howard Harvey (17)
Highest home attendance	3,000 vs Newton Heath, 7 April 1900; vs. Grimsby Town, 9 September 1899
Lowest home attendance	300 vs Lincoln City, 21 April 1900
Average home league attendance	1,518+
Biggest win	5–0 vs. West Bromwich Albion, 11 December 1899
Biggest defeat	0–5 (twice)
	Home colours
	Home colours
	← 1898–99 1900–01 →

The 1899–1900 season was Burslem Port Vale's second consecutive season (sixth overall) of football in the English Football League.^[1] Under the stewardship of chairman Robert Audley and manager Sam Gleaves, Vale finished 11th in the league with 34 points, registering a decent defensive record but struggling for goals—the second‑lowest tally in the division. In the FA Cup, Vale reached the Fifth Qualifying Round before being eliminated by Stalybridge Rovers. They were also runners-up in both the Staffordshire Senior Cup and Birmingham Senior Cup, losing finals to West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers respectively. The team's league top scorer was Howard Harvey, with 10 goals in the Second Division (17 in all competitions). Attendances were low: the highest home gates reached about 3,000 for matches against Newton Heath (7 April 1900) and Grimsby Town (9 September 1899), while the lowest dipped to just 300 spectators for the home win over Lincoln City on 21 April 1900. The average league attendance was approximately 1,518.

Not long after his debut, left-half Billy Leech established himself as an essential first-teamer.

Striker Danny Simpson was nearing the end of his playing career.

Overview

Second Division

During the pre-season, the Athletic Ground had its capacity increased to 25,000. Four new forwards were signed, namely Scots Billy Grassam (Maryhill) and James Reid (Hibernian), and local lads Charles Walters (Gainsborough Trinity) and Billy Leech (Tottenham Hotspur).^[1]

The season started with three defeats in four games, including a 3–2 loss to Grimsby Town in a home tie that the hosts had looked comfortably ahead with 20 minutes to play. The team won all six league fixtures in the months of October and November, with just two goals conceded. However, attendance figures made grim reading, and left-half Ted McDonald had to be sold to Notts County in November to raise cash.^[1] A top-of-the-table clash with Newton Heath at Bank Street ended in a 3–0 defeat. A 5–0 humbling at Bolton Wanderers on 2 January signalled the end of the club's promotion hopes. Goalkeeper Herbert Birchenough was sold to Glossop in January, with top scorer Howard Harvey also sold to Manchester City that same month.^[1]

The club were in a downward spiral, and the team went on a ten-game sequence without a win. A 4–0 loss at Gainsborough Trinity on 17 March demonstrated the team's lack of confidence, though it was the poor attendances that were more worrying for the club's survival as a Football League club. Three wins in the final five games of the campaign kept the club securely in mid-table. Their second-to-last match saw a mere 300 supporters turn up to watch a 2–1 win over Lincoln City. The club finished in 11th position and only the bottom club Loughborough scored fewer goals. All players of monetary value were made available for transfer, with Scottish forwards James Reid and Billy Grassam being signed by Southern League side West Ham United. Billy Leech joined Stoke and left-back Tom McFarlane moved on to Middlesbrough.^[1]

Finances

Club chairman Robert Audley warned in November that poor attendances would lead to the club's demise. Secretary Sam Gleaves said that £500 was urgently needed, and it was noted that Port Vale were the only club in the division to be operating at a loss. A Shilling Fund was started to meet the shortfall, though only £39 was raised. The players agreed to go two weeks without wages in February to avoid complete financial collapse. On 27 March, Audley reported that the club were in debt to the tune of £940. Huge reductions in the playing budget still required a committee to raise £500 to try and keep the club as a going concern. At the end of the season, there were drastic budget cuts, even so much as to stop paying players wages over the summer period – the only club in the league to do so.^[1] Cheaper, local talent was recruited to fill the void left by departing stars. The club lost £73 throughout the campaign despite having trimmed ten times that figure from the playing budget.^[2]

Cup competitions

In the FA Cup, the club vanquished nearby Nantwich despite having to play with ten men following a head injury to Charles Walters in the first half. They then overcame Crewe Alexandra following a replay. However, a 1–0 home defeat to Lancashire Combination side Stalybridge Rovers eliminated Vale at the fifth qualification round.^[1]

They reached the final of the Staffordshire Senior Cup and the Birmingham Senior Cup, losing to West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers respectively.^[1] West Brom defeated Vale 5–0 in the final at Villa Park, taking revenge for the "Valeites" dumping West Brom out of the Birmingham Cup by the same scoreline.^[1]

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts
9	Lincoln City	34	14	8	12	46	43	1.070	36
10	New Brighton Tower	34	13	9	12	66	58	1.138	35
11	Burslem Port Vale	34	14	6	14	39	49	0.796	34
12	Walsall	34	12	8	14	50	55	0.909	32
13	Gainsborough Trinity	34	9	7	18	47	75	0.627	25

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal average; 3) Goals scored

Results

Burslem Port Vale's score comes first

Football League Second Division

Results by matchday

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	31	32	33	34
Ground	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	H
Result	L	W	L	L	W	L	W	W	W	W	W	W	L	D	W	D	L	D	D	L	L	L	D	L	D	W	L	W	L	W	W	L	W	L
Position	16	8	10	12	9	12	8	6	5	4	4	4	5	6	5	6	6	7	6	7	8	8	9	9	9	9	9	8	9	10	9	9	9	11
Points	0	2	2	2	4	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	16	17	19	20	20	21	22	22	22	22	23	23	24	26	26	28	28	30	32	32	34	34

Source: Statto^[3]
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Matches

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
2 September 1899	New Brighton Tower	A	0–2	3,000
4 September 1899	Middlesbrough	H	3–1	2,000	Harvey, Bayley, Grassam
9 September 1899	Grimsby Town	H	2–3	3,000	Heames, Grassam
16 September 1899	Woolwich Arsenal	A	0–1	5,000
23 September 1899	Barnsley	H	3–1	2,000	Heames, Grassam, Harvey
30 September 1899	Leicester Fosse	A	0–2	4,000
7 October 1899	Luton Town	H	1–0	2,500	Boullemier
14 October 1899	Burton Swifts	H	2–1	1,500	Boullemier, Heames
21 October 1899	Walsall	A	1–0	3,000	Reid
4 November 1899	Chesterfield	A	4–0	2,000	Harvey (3), Leech
11 November 1899	Gainsborough Trinity	H	1–0	1,000	Harvey
25 November 1899	Loughborough	H	3–1	800	Harvey, Walters, Reid
2 December 1899	Newton Heath	A	0–3	5,000
16 December 1899	Lincoln City	A	1–1	200	Harvey
23 December 1899	Small Heath	H	3–0	500	Heames, Harvey, Price
30 December 1899	New Brighton Tower	H	1–1	2,000	Harvey
2 January 1900	Bolton Wanderers	A	0–5	2,570
6 January 1900	Grimsby Town	A	1–1	3,000	Simpson
13 January 1900	Woolwich Arsenal	H	1–1	2,000	Grassam
20 January 1900	Barnsley	A	0–3	2,000
27 January 1900	Small Heath	A	1–2	5,000	Whitehouse
3 February 1900	Leicester Fosse	H	0–2	600
10 February 1900	Luton Town	A	1–1	500	Eardley
12 February 1900	The Wednesday	H	0–3	2,000
17 February 1900	Burton Swifts	A	2–2		Walters, Beech
24 February 1900	Walsall	H	1–0	700	Heames
3 March 1900	Middlesbrough	A	0–1	6,000
10 March 1900	Chesterfield	H	2–0	1,500	Simpson, Grassam
17 March 1900	Gainsborough Trinity	A	0–4	1,000
31 March 1900	Loughborough	A	2–1	500	Price, Simpson
7 April 1900	Newton Heath	H	1–0	3,000	Boullemier
14 April 1900	The Wednesday	A	0–4	5,000
21 April 1900	Lincoln City	H	2–1	300	Price, Heames
23 April 1900	Bolton Wanderers	H	0–2	400

FA Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
3Q	28 October 1899	Nantwich	H	2–0	600	Reid, Heames
4Q	18 November 1899	Crewe Alexandra	A	2–2	4,000	Harvey (2 [1 pen])
4Q Replay	22 November 1899	Crewe Alexandra	H	3–1	1,500	Harvey (pen), Walters, Grassam
5Q	9 December 1899	Stalybridge Rovers	H	0–1	3,000

Birmingham Senior Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
1	11 December 1899	West Bromwich Albion	H	5–0	1,500	Harvey (3 [1 pen]), Whitehouse (2)
2	15 January 1900	Burton Swifts	H	3–0	500	Price, unknown, unknown
SF	5 March 1900	Ironbridge	H	6–3	1,000	Heames, Whitehouse, Grassam, unknown
Final	2 April 1900	Wolverhampton Wanderers	N	1–2	500	Grassam

Staffordshire Senior Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
2	2 October 1899	Burton Swifts	H	3–1	800	Reid, Grassam, unknown
SF	30 October 1899	Walsall	A	3–1	1,000	McDonald, Grassam, Harvey
Final	4 December 1899	West Bromwich Albion	N	1–1	4,000	Reid
Replay	26 April 1900	West Bromwich Albion	N	0–5	5,000

Player statistics

Appearances and goals

Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		Other		Total
Pos.	Name	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	Herbert Birchenough	18	0	3	0	3	0	24	0
GK	William Saunders	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
GK	Tom Poole	15	0	1	0	3	0	19	0
DF	S. E. Bayley	2	1	0	0	0	0	2	1
DF	Jim Beech	31	1	4	0	6	0	41	1
DF	Lucien Boullemier	32	3	4	0	5	0	41	3
DF	Tom McFarlane	31	0	4	0	6	0	41	0
DF	Thomas Spilsbury	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
DF	Frank Stokes	32	0	4	0	6	0	42	0
DF	Tom Davies	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
DF	Joseph Bennett	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
MF	Billy Heames	31	6	3	1	5	1	39	8
MF	Ted McDonald	9	0	0	0	1	1	10	1
MF	Billy Leech	26	1	4	0	6	0	36	1
MF	Bert Eardley	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	1
FW	Danny Simpson	17	3	0	0	2	0	19	3
FW	George Price	21	3	0	0	5	1	26	4
FW	Tommy Lander	8	0	2	0	2	0	12	0
FW	Howard Harvey	17	10	4	3	3	4	24	17
FW	Frank Whitehouse	19	1	0	0	4	3	23	4
FW	Charles Walters	10	2	3	1	3	0	16	3
FW	James Reid	17	2	4	1	4	2	25	5
FW	Billy Grassam	31	5	4	1	6	4	41	10

Top scorers

Place	Position	Nation	Name	Second Division	FA Cup	Other	Total
1	FW	England	Howard Harvey	10	3	4	17
2	FW	Scotland	Billy Grassam	5	1	4	10
3	MF	England	Billy Heames	6	1	1	8
4	FW	Scotland	James Reid	2	1	2	5
5	FW	England	Frank Whitehouse	1	0	3	4
–	FW	England	George Price	3	0	1	4
7	FW	England	Danny Simpson	3	0	0	3
–	FW		Charles Walters	2	1	0	3
–	DF	England	Lucien Boullemier	3	0	0	3
10	DF		S. E. Bayley	1	0	0	1
–	DF		Jim Beech	1	0	0	1
–	MF		Billy Leech	1	0	0	1
–	MF	England	Bert Eardley	1	0	0	1
–	MF	England	Ted McDonald	0	0	1	1
–	–	–	Unknown	0	0	4	4
			TOTALS	39	7	20	66

Transfers

Transfers in

Date from	Position	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
Summer 1899	MF	Frank Whitehouse	Bucknall	Free transfer	^[4]
June 1899	MF	Billy Leech	Tottenham Hotspur	Free transfer	^[4]
June 1899	FW	Charles Walters	Gainsborough Trinity	Free transfer	^[4]
June 1899	FW	James Reid	Hibernian	Free transfer	^[4]
July 1899	FW	Billy Grassam	Maryhill	Free transfer	^[4]
September 1899	DF	Joseph Bennett	Porthill	Free transfer	^[4]

Transfers out

Date from	Position	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
November 1899	MF	Ted McDonald	Notts County	'considerable'	^[4]
January 1900	GK	Herbert Birchenough	Glossop	£250	^[4]
January 1900	FW	Howard Harvey	Manchester City	unknown	^[4]
May 1900	MF	Frank Whitehouse	Stoke	Free transfer	^[4]
Summer 1900	DF	Joseph Bennett		Released	^[4]
Summer 1900	FW	Billy Grassam	West Ham United	Free transfer	^[4]
Summer 1900	MF	Billy Leech	Stoke	Free transfer	^[4]
Summer 1900	DF	Tom McFarlane	Middlesbrough	Free transfer	^[4]
Summer 1900	FW	James Reid	West Ham United	Free transfer	^[4]
Summer 1900	FW	Charles Walters		Released	^[4]

References

Specific

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Kent, Jeff (1990). "The Hopeless Struggle (1898-1907)". The Valiants' Years: The Story Of Port Vale. Witan Books. pp. 50–70. ISBN 0-9508981-4-7.
^ What If There Had Been No Port In The Vale?: Startling Port Vale Stories! (Witan Books, 2011, ISBN 978-0-9529152-8-7)
^ Port Vale 1899–1900 : Results & Fixtures Archived 17 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p 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 0-9508981-9-8.

[Kent-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Kent, Jeff (1990). "The Hopeless Struggle (1898-1907)". The Valiants' Years: The Story Of Port Vale. Witan Books. pp. 50–70. ISBN 0-9508981-4-7.

[if-2] What If There Had Been No Port In The Vale?: Startling Port Vale Stories! (Witan Books, 2011, ISBN 978-0-9529152-8-7)

[3] Port Vale 1899–1900 : Results & Fixtures Archived 17 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 28 April 2012.

[transfers-4] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p Kent, Jeff (1996). Port Vale Personalities. Witan Books. ISBN 0-9529152-0-0.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

v t e Port Vale F.C. seasons
1880–81 1881–82 1882–83 1883–84 1884–85 1885–86 1886–87 1887–88 1888–89 1889–90
1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–00
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 1999–00
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
2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26 2026–27 2027–28 2028–29 2029–30