1887–88 Aston Villa F.C. season

1887–88 FA Cup
Tournament details
Country	England; Wales; Ireland
Teams	149
Final positions
Champions	West Bromwich Albion (1st title)
Runners-up	Preston North End

Aston Villa
1887–88 season
Manager	George Ramsay
Ground	Wellington Road
FA Cup	5th

The 1887–88 English football season was Aston Villa's 9th season in the Football Association Cup, the top-level football competition at the time. It was not as successful ending. There were debuts for Gershom Cox,^[1] Harry Devey,^[2] Tommy Green ^[3] and Albert Allen.^[4] Inside-forward Allen became Villa's first England international ^[5] scoring three goals in a 5–1 victory over Ireland in april 1888.

Wellington Road's record attendance of 26,849 was set for an FA Cup fifth round match against Preston North End on 7 January 1888. Preston won 3–1, and the match was marred by a huge pitch invasion, the first serious incidence of crowd trouble in English football.^[6]

With competitive football at a premium, William McGregor (Villa's President) worked to create a competition involving regular matches and wrote to the leading clubs of the time (all based in the North of England and the Midlands). After some discussion the clubs agreed to set up a twelve team league. Each club would play the other home and away, for a total of twenty-two matches each. Villa were to be joined in the inaugural competition by Stoke, Wolves, West Brom, Notts County, Burnley, Blackburn Rovers, Derby County, Bolton Wanderers, Everton, Accrington (no relation to the present-day Accrington Stanley) and Preston North End. The league was never styled 'the English League' as McGregor envisioned that Scottish clubs would one day wish to join.

FA Cup

Meanwhile Villa's last pre-league FA Cup campaign saw the first competitive "Second City derby" occur on Saturday, 5 November 1887 Villa beat Small Heath 4-0 in the second round. Tommy Green scored a brace before half-time with Albert Brown and Albert Allen adding to the score in the second half. This was their first meeting with modern rivals Birmingham City.^[7] They would not play again until the local rivals were promoted to the First Division for the 1894–95 season

Preston were a fine side and the match was billed as a clash between England's best teams. This prompted a then-record crowd of 27,000, which the police had some difficulty keeping off the pitch. With Preston leading 3–1 and chaos in the stadium, the clubs tried to calm things down by declaring the match a 'friendly'. However, the FA overruled the decision and decided that the result would stand. Villa, the holders, were out.

1st Round v Oldbury Town (A) 4–0 ^[8]
2nd Round v Small Heath (A) 4–0 ^[9]
3rd Round Villa received a 'bye'
4th Round v Shankhouse (A) 9–0 ^[10]
5th Round v Preston North End (H) 1–3 ^[11]

Birmingham Charity Cup

Walsall Town F.C. and Walsall Swifts F.C. had amalgamated.^[12] Walsall Town Swifts' inaugural match was a 0–0 draw against Aston Villa in the Birmingham Charity Cup final on 9 April 1888. A disagreement over the venue of the replay meant Aston Villa were awarded the trophy.^[13]^: 7^[14]

References

^ "Gershom Cox". AVFC History. Retrieved 2026-01-23.
^ "Harry Devey". AVFC History. Retrieved 2026-01-23.
^ "Tommy Green". AVFC History. Retrieved 2026-01-23.
^ "Albert Allen". AVFC History. Retrieved 2026-01-23.
^ p10, The Aston Villa Miscellany David Woodhall, 2007. ISBN 1-905326-17-3
^ Paul Smith & Shirley Smith (2005) The Ultimate Directory of English & Scottish Football League Grounds Second Edition 1888–2005, Yore Publications, p143, ISBN 0954783042
^ "Small Heath Alliance 0-4 Aston Villa (Holders), 1887-88 FA Cup 2nd Round, 5 Nov 1887". avfchistory.co.uk. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
^ https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/game/37
^ https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/game/38
^ https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/game/39
^ https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/game/40
^ M Greenslade, ed. (1976). "Walsall Social Life". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 17: Offlow hundred (part). British History Online. Retrieved 4 October 2010.
^ Matthews, Tony (1999). The Complete Record of Walsall Football Club. Breedon Books. ISBN 978-1859831564.
^ "Walsall FC to host Aston Villa in 125th birthday bash". Express & Star. 13 May 2018. Retrieved 23 July 2019.

External links

Aston Villa official website

[1] "Gershom Cox". AVFC History. Retrieved 2026-01-23.

[2] "Harry Devey". AVFC History. Retrieved 2026-01-23.

[3] "Tommy Green". AVFC History. Retrieved 2026-01-23.

[4] "Albert Allen". AVFC History. Retrieved 2026-01-23.

[VM-5] 10, The Aston Villa Miscellany David Woodhall, 2007. ISBN 1-905326-17-3

[UD-6] Paul Smith & Shirley Smith (2005) The Ultimate Directory of English & Scottish Football League Grounds Second Edition 1888–2005, Yore Publications, p143, ISBN 0954783042

[7] "Small Heath Alliance 0-4 Aston Villa (Holders), 1887-88 FA Cup 2nd Round, 5 Nov 1887". avfchistory.co.uk. Retrieved 7 August 2023.

[8] ttps://www.avfchistory.co.uk/game/37

[9] ttps://www.avfchistory.co.uk/game/38

[10] ttps://www.avfchistory.co.uk/game/39

[11] ttps://www.avfchistory.co.uk/game/40

[social-12] M Greenslade, ed. (1976). "Walsall Social Life". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 17: Offlow hundred (part). British History Online. Retrieved 4 October 2010.

[HistoryBook-13] Matthews, Tony (1999). The Complete Record of Walsall Football Club. Breedon Books. ISBN 978-1859831564.

[14] "Walsall FC to host Aston Villa in 125th birthday bash". Express & Star. 13 May 2018. Retrieved 23 July 2019.

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Aston Villa F.C. seasons
1870s	1870–71 1871–72 1872–73 1873–74 1874–75 1875–76 1876–77 1877–78 1878–79 1879–80
1880s	1880–81 1881–82 1882–83 1883–84 1884–85 1885–86 1886–87 1887–88 1888–89 1889–90
1890s	1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900
1900s	1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10
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1930s	1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40
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1960s	1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70
1970s	1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80
1980s	1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90
1990s	1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000
2000s	2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10
2010s	2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20
2020s	2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26

1887–88 in English football
« 1886–87 1888–89 »
FA competitions	FA Cup Final
Related to national team	Home Championship
Club seasons	Aston Villa Eastville Rovers (Bristol Rovers) Newton Heath LYR (Manchester United) Royal Arsenal (Arsenal) St. Mary's Y.M.A. (Southampton) Stoke West Bromwich Albion