1903–04 Burslem Port Vale F.C. season

Burslem Port Vale

1903–04 season
Chairman	Robert Audley
Manager	Sam Gleaves
Stadium	Athletic Ground
Football League Second Division	13th (29 Points)
FA Cup	First Round
Birmingham Senior Cup	First Round
Staffordshire Senior Cup	First Round
Top goalscorer	League: Adrian Capes (14) All: Adrian Capes (17)
Highest home attendance	5,000 vs Bristol City (26 December 1903)
Lowest home attendance	500 vs Grimsby Town (13 February 1904)
Average home league attendance	2,250+
Home colours
← 1902–03 1904–05 →

The 1903–04 season was Burslem Port Vale's sixth consecutive season (tenth overall) of football in the Football League.^[1] The club went the whole season without recording an away win, part of a club record 29 away games without victory. With the new rule of the direct free kick introduced, Arthur Rowley also wrote himself into the history books by becoming the first player to score from a free kick.^[1]

The first team was firmly established, and the players had been together for some years. The financial crisis that loomed over the club was held at bay by an FA Cup run and by selling a promising young winger.

Bert Eardley, in his fifth season with the club, was a key first team member.

Ageing Winger Billy Heames was still a key threat.

George Price was at the heart of the Vale team, as he remained throughout his career.

Top scorer, and Valeite legend, Adrian Capes.

Right-back Ernest Mullineux played 40 games for the club in all competitions.

Half-back Harry Croxton become crucial to the spine of the team.

Overview

Second Division

A rather quiet pre-season saw no major signings or departures, and hopes were built of an improvement on last season's ninth place finish.^[1]

The first game of the season was on 7 September 1903 against Bolton Wanderers, where Arthur Rowley wrote himself into the history books by becoming the first player to score from a direct free kick.^[1] Five days later the Vale beat Manchester United 1–0, and their season got going – albeit very slowly.^[1] Four games later they found their second victory – against new boys Bradford City, however by October they had racked up just five points from their opening eight games.^[1] A seven game unbeaten run saw them surge up the table towards the end of 1903. This run ended at Gainsborough Trinity, but could be justified by the fact that they had played three games in four days.^[1] They went on to muster just one point from seven games to find themselves back in the danger zone as players looked towards their promising cup run rather than the league itself.^[1] An inconsistent end to the season followed, though picking up points from eight of their last twelve games was enough to ensure safety.^[1] On the final game of the season 20,000 Woolwich Arsenal fans turned up to watch their team claim the championship, however the "Valeites" hung on for a draw, with Harry Cotton in remarkable form, and a goalless draw was enough to hand the league title to Preston North End.^[1] Port Vale were one of only two teams to take a point home from London that season. This was even more surprising considering that Vale went the whole season without recording an away win, and had to rely entirely on their home form to stay in the league. They finished two points ahead of the re-election zones, and were twenty points shy of promotion.

Adrian Capes was top scorer for the fourth consecutive season with seventeen goals, fourteen of them coming in the league.^[1] Tom Simpson contributed fifteen goals, and would only score thirteen more Football League goals in his entire career. Goalkeeper Harry Cotton missed just two games, as did right-back Ernest Mullineux; Harry Croxton, Arthur Rowley, Billy Heames, George Price, Bert Eardley, W. Perkins, and Joseph Holyhead made up the first of the first team – who each made a minimum of 35 out of 42 possible appearances in all competitions.

Finances

Again attendances were disappointing, and to improve the financial outlook players were sold as early as October, when a highly promising Tom Coxon signed to nearby Stoke for £200.^[1] Their FA Cup clash at Southampton saw them rake in a £491 share of gate receipts.^[1] A loss of £39 was recorded on the season, and raising wages and falling gate receipts were only off-set by the income from transfers and cup runs.^[1] Recognizing this, the directors insisted that a controversial policy of selling on players had to be adopted.^[1]

Cup competitions

In September the club were eliminated in both county cup competitions by Stoke by three goal margins.^[1] The "Valeites" found rather more success in the FA Cup, though had to win four matches to reach the First Round, at which point they were eliminated by Southampton of the Southern Football League. On the way they racked up a 6–0 home win over Stockport County in the Fourth Qualification Round Replay.

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		F	A	GA	GD		Pts
1	Preston North End	34		13	4	0	38	10		7	6	4	24	14		62	24	2.583	+ 38		50
2	Woolwich Arsenal	34		15	2	0	67	5		6	5	6	24	17		91	22	4.136	+ 69		49
3	Manchester United	34		14	2	1	42	14		6	6	5	23	19		65	33	1.970	+ 32		48
4	Bristol City	34		14	2	1	53	12		4	4	9	20	29		73	41	1.780	+ 32		42
5	Burnley	34		12	2	3	31	20		3	7	7	19	35		50	55	0.909	– 5		39
6	Grimsby Town	34		12	5	0	39	12		2	3	12	11	37		50	49	1.020	+ 1		36
7	Bolton Wanderers	34		10	3	4	38	11		2	7	8	21	30		59	41	1.439	+ 18		34
8	Barnsley	34		10	5	2	25	12		1	5	11	13	45		38	57	0.667	– 19		32
9	Gainsborough Trinity	34		10	2	5	34	17		4	1	12	19	43		53	60	0.883	– 17		31
10	Bradford City	34		8	5	4	30	25		4	2	11	15	34		45	59	0.763	– 14		31
11	Chesterfield	34		8	5	4	22	12		3	3	11	15	33		37	45	0.822	– 8		30
12	Lincoln City	34		9	4	4	25	18		2	4	11	16	40		41	58	0.707	– 17		30
13	Burslem Port Vale	34		10	3	4	44	20		0	6	11	10	32		54	52	1.038	+ 2		29
14	Burton United	34		8	6	3	33	16		3	1	13	12	45		45	61	0.738	– 16		29
15	Blackpool	34		8	2	7	25	27		3	3	11	15	40		40	67	0.597	– 27		27
16	Stockport County	34		7	7	3	28	23		1	4	12	12	49		40	72	0.556	– 32		27
17	Glossop	34		7	4	6	42	25		3	2	12	15	39		57	64	0.891	– 7		26
18	Leicester Fosse	34		5	8	4	26	21		1	2	14	16	61		42	82	0.512	– 40		22

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

Burslem Port Vale's score comes first

Legend

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	31	32	33	34
Ground	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	H	H	A	A	H	A	A	A	A	H	A	H	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	A	H	H	A	A
Result	L	W	L	D	L	W	L	L	W	D	W	D	D	W	D	L	L	L	D	L	L	L	W	L	W	L	W	L	D	D	W	W	L	D
Position	14	9	11	11	13	10	12	14	11	11	9	10	9	9	9	9	9	11	11	12	14	15	15	16	16	17	16	16	16	15	14	13	13	13

Sourced from Statto.^[2]

Football League Second Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
7 September 1903	Bolton Wanderers	H	2–3	3,000	Rowley, Price
12 September 1903	Manchester United	H	1–0	3,000	Simpson
19 September 1903	Burnley	A	0–1	6,000
26 September 1903	Glossop	H	1–1	3,000	Rowley
3 October 1903	Preston North End	A	1–3	9,000	Coxon
10 October 1903	Bradford City	H	5–2	3,000	Coxon (2), Simpson, Capes, o.g.
17 October 1903	Grimsby Town	A	1–3	3,000	Coxon
24 October 1903	Woolwich Arsenal	H	2–3	3,000	Heames, Simpson
7 November 1903	Barnsley	H	3–0	1,000	Simpson (2), Capes
21 November 1903	Lincoln City	H	2–2	1,500	Perkins, Simpson
5 December 1903	Stockport County	H	2–0		Perkins, Capes
19 December 1903	Chesterfield	A	1–1	2,000	Capes
25 December 1903	Leicester Fosse	A	1–1	8,000	Capes
26 December 1903	Bristol City	H	3–1	5,000	Capes (2), Simpson
28 December 1903	Bradford City	A	1–1	13,000	Simpson
29 December 1903	Gainsborough Trinity	A	0–3	2,000
2 January 1904	Bolton Wanderers	A	0–5	5,000
9 January 1904	Manchester United	A	0–2	10,000
16 January 1904	Burnley	H	2–2		Allman, Capes
23 January 1904	Glossop	A	1–4	5,000	Mountford
30 January 1904	Preston North End	H	0–1	3,000
13 February 1904	Grimsby Town	H	1–2	500	Price
27 February 1904	Leicester Fosse	H	6–2	1,000	Capes (2), Croxton, Simpson, Price, Eardley
5 March 1904	Barnsley	A	0–1
12 March 1904	Blackpool	H	5–0		Price (2), Capes, Mullineux, o.g.
19 March 1904	Lincoln City	A	2–3		Capes, Simpson
26 March 1904	Gainsborough Trinity	H	3–0	1,000	Allman, Capes, Simpson
1 April 1904	Blackpool	A	0–1	1,500
2 April 1904	Stockport County	A	1–1	2,000	Allman
4 April 1904	Burton United	A	0–0
9 April 1904	Burton United	H	3–1	2,000	Mountford, Holyhead, Eardley
16 April 1904	Chesterfield	H	3–0	1,500	Heames, Price, Capes
23 April 1904	Bristol City	A	1–2	4,000	Loverseed
25 April 1904	Woolwich Arsenal	A	0–0	20,000

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
3Q	31 October 1903	Crewe Alexandra	A	0–0	4,000
3Q Replay	5 November 1903	Crewe Alexandra	H	2–1	2,000	Simpson, Heames
4Q	14 November 1903	Stockport County	A	0–0	3,000
4Q Replay	19 November 1903	Stockport County	H	6–0	2,000	Simpson (2), Capes, Eardley, Holyhead, Price
5Q	28 November 1903	Nantwich	A	1–0	3,000	Capes
IR	12 December 1903	Burton United	H	3–0		Capes, Heames, Simpson
R1	6 February 1904	Southampton	A	0–3	8,000

Birmingham Senior Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
1	28 September 1903	Stoke	H	2–5	2,000	unknown

Staffordshire Senior Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
1	13 September 1903	Stoke	A	0–3

Player statistics

Appearances Pos. Name League FA Cup Other Total Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals GK William Chadwick 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 GK Harry Cotton 32 0 7 0 1 0 40 0 DF Ernest Mullineux 33 1 7 0 0 0 40 1 DF James Hamilton 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 MF Billy Heames 30 2 7 2 1 0 38 4 MF Bert Eardley 29 2 7 1 1 0 37 3 MF W. H. Machin 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 MF Harry Croxton 32 1 7 0 0 0 39 1 MF Arthur Rowley 30 2 7 0 1 0 38 2 MF W. Perkins 27 2 7 0 1 0 35 2 MF Tom Coxon 3 4 0 0 0 0 3 4 MF Sam Whittingham 7 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 MF William Bradbury 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 MF Joseph Holyhead 27 1 7 1 1 0 35 2 MF Sam Howshall 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 FW George Price 32 6 4 1 1 0 37 7 FW Adrian Capes 31 14 7 3 1 0 39 17 FW Tom Simpson 24 11 6 4 1 0 31 15 FW William Tunstall 1 0 3 0 0 0 4 0 FW William Loverseed 6 1 0 0 1 0 7 1 FW Dick Allman 8 3 1 0 0 0 9 3 FW Harry Mountford 7 2 0 0 0 0 7 2

Scorers All competitions Scorer Goals Adrian Capes 17 Tom Simpson 15 George Price 7 Tom Coxon 4 Billy Heames Dick Allman 3 Bert Eardley Arthur Rowley 2 W. Perkins Harry Mountford Joseph Holyhead Harry Croxton 1 Ernest Mullineux William Loverseed League Scorer Goals Adrian Capes 14 Tom Simpson 11 George Price 6 Tom Coxon 4 Dick Allman 3 Billy Heames 2 Bert Eardley Arthur Rowley W. Perkins Harry Mountford Harry Croxton 1 Ernest Mullineux William Loverseed Joseph Holyhead

Transfers

Transfers in

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
May 1903	MF		William Bradbury	Newcastle Swifts	Free transfer	[3]
May 1903	FW		Sam Howshall	Newcastle Swifts	Free transfer	[3]
June 1903	FW		Harry Mountford	Hanley Swifts	Free transfer	[3]
June 1903	FW		William Thomas	Newcastle Swifts	Free transfer	[3]
August 1903	MF		Sam Whittingham	Stoke	Free transfer	[3]
September 1903	MF		Joseph Holyhead	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Free transfer	[3]

Transfers out

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
Summer 1904	GK		William Chadwick		Released	[3]
Summer 1904	MF		Billy Heames		Left contract	[3]
Summer 1904	MF		W. Perkins	Newark	Free transfer	[3]
Summer 1904	MF		Arthur Rowley		Released	[3]
Summer 1904	FW		William Tunstall		Released	[3]

References

Specific

1. 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.
2. Port Vale 1903–1904 : Results & Fixtures. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
3. 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.