1897–98 Aston Villa F.C. season

First Division
Champions	Sheffield United (1st English title)
Top goalscorer	Fred Wheldon, 21 goals
Biggest home win	Everton 6–1 West Brom; (27 November 1897); Derby County 5–0 Notts Forest; (11 April 1898); Wolves 5–0 The Wednesday; (16 April 1898)
Biggest away win	Liverpool 0–4 Sheffield United; (5 February 1898)
Highest scoring	The Wednesday 3–6 Notts Forest; (1 January 1898)
Longest winning run	7 matches, Sunderland
Longest unbeaten run	14 matches, Sheffield United
Longest losing run	5 matches, Stoke
Highest attendance	50,000 (15 January 1898) ; Aston Villa 1–2 Sheffield United
Lowest attendance	1,000 (13 November 1897); West Brom 2–1 Liverpool
	← 1896–97 1898–99 →

Aston Villa
1897–98 season
Manager	George Ramsay
Ground	Wellington Road
Football League	6th
FA Cup	First round
Top goalscorer	Fred Wheldon (21)

The 1897–98 Football League season was Aston Villa's 10th season in the Football League. Villa, the reigning champions, played in the First Division, the top flight of English football. George Ramsay would continue in charge of the team picked by the Management Committee. The season fell in what was to be called Villa's golden era.^[1]

First-class cricketer^[2] and England football international, Jack Devey was Captain. Jimmy Crabtree also captained the team.^[3] "Diamond" Freddie Wheldon was League top scorer with 21. Billy Garraty great-great grandfather of Jack Grealish, made his league debut for Aston Villa during the season but made just one other appearance that year.^[4]^[5] Other debuts were James Fisher,^[6] Jack Sharp,^[7] Bert Sharp,^[8] Billy George,^[9] Howard Harvey,^[10] Jimmy Suddick,^[11] Tommy Bowman,^[12] Edmund Strange,^[13] George Johnson ^[14] and Charlie Aston.^[15]^[16]

Aston Villa's Christmas fixture was away at Everton kicking off at 11:00am. Wheldon, kit man Joe Grierson & Jimmy and John Cowan were travelling to the station when their coach and horse overturned. Playing a crucial game short of players and without kit was not an option but missing a match would incur a fine of £250 (roughly £40,000 in 2026). By the time they arrived, their 8:50am train had departed leaving Vice-President C S Johnstone and the rest of the team on the platform. The only option was to take a train to Stafford where they told a special would take them onwards to Liverpool. However once at Stafford, they found there was no train arranged. Johnstone took control and was able to bribe their train's driver, stoker and guard with seats in the director's box, dinner and half a sovereign each if they would continue the train to Liverpool. The game kicked-off ten minutes late. Unfortunately Johnstone was unable to guarantee a victory.^[17]

First Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts
4	Everton	30	13	9	8	48	39	1.231	35
5	The Wednesday	30	15	3	12	51	42	1.214	33
6	Aston Villa	30	14	5	11	61	51	1.196	33
7	West Bromwich Albion	30	11	10	9	44	45	0.978	32
8	Nottingham Forest	30	11	9	10	47	49	0.959	31

Source: World Football
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal average; 3) Goals scored

Matches

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Note	Scorers
1 September 1897	Wednesday	H	5–2	—	Jack Cowan, Fred Wheldon (3), Charlie Athersmith ^[18]
4 September 1897	Albion	H	4–3	—	Fred Wheldon (3), James Fisher
11 September 1897	Notts County	A	3–2	—	Jimmy Cowan (2), Jack Devey
18 September 1897	Bury	H	3–1	—	James Fisher (2), Fred Wheldon
25 September 1897	Blackburn	A	3–4	—	Jack Cowan, Fred Wheldon (2)
27 September 1897	Wednesday	A	0–3	—	—
2 October 1897	Bolton	H	3–2	—	Jack Sharp (2), Fred Wheldon
9 October 1897	Albion	A	1–1	—	Jack Sharp
16 October 1897	Notts County	H	4–2	—	Jack Devey, Jack Sharp (2), Fred Wheldon
23 October 1897	Sunderland	A	0–0	—	—
30 October 1897	Liverpool	H	3–1	—	Fred Wheldon, Charlie Athersmith, Jack Devey
6 November 1897	Preston	A	1–3	—	Charlie Athersmith
13 November 1897	Everton	H	3–0	—	Fred Wheldon (2), Jack Sharp
20 November 1897	Bolton	A	0–2	—	—
27 November 1897	Sunderland	H	4–3	—	Howard Harvey (2), Fred Wheldon (2)
11 December 1897	Blackburn	H	5–1	—	Jimmy Crabtree, Fred Wheldon, Charlie Athersmith, Jimmy Cowan, Jack Cowan
18 December 1897	Stoke	A	0–0	—	—
25 December 1897	Everton	A	1–2	—	Fred Wheldon
27 December 1897	Wolves	A	1–1	—	Charlie Athersmith
8 January 1898	Sheffield United	A	0–1	—	—
15 January 1898	Sheffield United	H	1–2	—	Fred Wheldon
22 January 1898	Derby	A	1–3	—	Bert Sharp
5 February 1898	Preston	H	4–0	—	Jimmy Suddick, Fred Wheldon, Charlie Athersmith, Jack Sharp
5 March 1898	Derby	H	4–1	—	Steve Smith, James Fisher, Jack Sharp, —
12 March 1898	Bury	A	2–1	—	Jack Sharp, Fred Wheldon
26 March 1898	Forest	A	1–3	—	James Fisher
2 April 1898	Stoke	H	1–1	—	Jack Sharp
11 April 1898	Wolves	H	1–2	—	Fred Wheldon
16 April 1898	Liverpool	A	0–4	—	—
30 April 1898	Forest	H	2–0	—	Steve Smith, George Johnson ^[18]

Source: avfchistory.co.uk

FA Cup

Staffordshire Cup

Matches played by Aston Villa included a 6-1 victory over West Bromwich Albion.^[19]

References

^ "Aston Villa Club History 1900 – 1939". AVFC.co.uk. Archived from the original on 24 August 2006. Retrieved 28 October 2007.
^ "Jack Devey". www.cricketarchive.com. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
^ AVFC History: 1897–98 season
^ Kendrick, Mat (26 May 2015). "Aston Villa v Arsenal: This 1905 FA Cup winner is related to a current Villa star – find out who". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
^ "Player info: William Garraty". Englandstats.com. Davey Naylor. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
^ https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/james-fisher
^ https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/jack-sharp
^ https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/bert-sharp
^ https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/billy-george
^ https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/howard-harvey
^ https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/jimmy-suddick
^ https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/tommy-bowman
^ https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/edmund-strange
^ https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/george-johnson
^ https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/charlie-aston
^ "Aston Villa's Seasons". AVFC History.
^ From the Archives: Christmas transport chaos from 1897
^ ^a ^b https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/aston-villa/matches/league/1897-98
^ "Aston Villa". Sports Argus. 28 October 1899. p. 4.

External links

[OffHist0039-1] "Aston Villa Club History 1900 – 1939". AVFC.co.uk. Archived from the original on 24 August 2006. Retrieved 28 October 2007.

[ca-2] "Jack Devey". www.cricketarchive.com. Retrieved 23 July 2015.

[3] AVFC History: 1897–98 season

[4] Kendrick, Mat (26 May 2015). "Aston Villa v Arsenal: This 1905 FA Cup winner is related to a current Villa star – find out who". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 15 August 2018.

[5] "Player info: William Garraty". Englandstats.com. Davey Naylor. Retrieved 15 August 2018.

[6] ttps://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/james-fisher

[7] ttps://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/jack-sharp

[8] ttps://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/bert-sharp

[9] ttps://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/billy-george

[10] ttps://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/howard-harvey

[11] ttps://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/jimmy-suddick

[12] ttps://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/tommy-bowman

[13] ttps://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/edmund-strange

[14] ttps://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/george-johnson

[15] ttps://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/charlie-aston

[16] "Aston Villa's Seasons". AVFC History.

[CD-17] From the Archives: Christmas transport chaos from 1897

[AVFC9798-18] ttps://www.avfchistory.co.uk/aston-villa/matches/league/1897-98

[19] "Aston Villa". Sports Argus. 28 October 1899. p. 4.

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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
1910s	1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20
1920s	1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30
1930s	1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40
1940s	1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50
1950s	1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60
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