1906–07 Burslem Port Vale F.C. season

Burslem Port Vale

1906–07 season
Chairman	Robert Audley
Manager	Sam Bennion
Stadium	Athletic Ground
Football League Second Division	16th (31 Points)
FA Cup	Second Round
Staffordshire Senior Cup	Semi-final
Top goalscorer	League: Billy Beats (13) All: Billy Beats (15)
Highest home attendance	10,000 vs Irthlingborough Town (12 January 1906) & Notts County (2 February 1906)
Lowest home attendance	1,500 vs Wolverhampton Wanderers (16 March 1907)
Average home league attendance	4,147+
Home colours
← 1905–06

The 1906–07 season was Burslem Port Vale's ninth consecutive season (13th overall) of football in the Football League.^[1] The club resigned from the league on 14 June 1907.

On the pitch the team put in win or lose performances, and went for a club record 20 games – from 10 September 1906 to 19 January 1907 – without sharing the points (nine wins, eleven losses). Another record was set with a 7–1 win over Irthlingborough Town in the First Round of the FA Cup – their highest ever margin of victory in the competition.

The club folded at the end of the season after the chairman decided that the club had no viable future. However Cobridge Church immediately took on the name of Port Vale, and worked their way back to the Football League for the 1919–20 season.

Bert Eardley waited until a new Port Vale rose from the ashes of the old before he played league football again.

Even the return of Billy Beats couldn't save the club.

Joe Brough would play for Stoke, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool, and Bristol City, yet still return to Vale in time for their return to the Football League.

George Price left the professional game when Port Vale ceased to exist.

Overview

Second Division

Despite the club's ever-worsening financial situation, Vale managed to bring back former top scorer, and former England international, Billy Beats; he was appointed captain upon his return.^[1] Gambling that big signings would attract big crowds, right-back Hughie Dunn was also brought in from Bristol Rovers; inside-right William Dodds signed from Southwick; with former player Tom Coxon returning from Middlesbrough.^[1] Sam Bennion took charge of team affairs after Tommy Clare's wages were too high to maintain.^[1]

The club started the season well, with three wins in their opening six games; 6,000 turning up for the opening game of the season.^[1] This was followed by four defeats on the bounce, but by winning five of their ten games in November and December the club put themselves in a decent position by Christmas.^[1] The club were two different sides at home and away, thumping Stockport County 5–0 at home and losing 6–0 at Burnley.^[1] Their first away win in ten months came at Blackpool on 22 December.^[1] They on to win just four league games in 1907, though did pick up points in the majority of their matches, going on a streak of six draws in ten games.^[1]

As had been the case in recent campaigns Vale just evaded a place in the re-election zones, finishing two points above the (potential) drop. For the second successive season the "Valeites" had the weakest defence in the league, conceding 83 goals in the league.^[1] Again they were poor on their travels, losing sixteen of their nineteen games away from home. Back at the Athletic Ground they lost just three games.

Billy Beats was top scorer with fifteen goals in all competitions; he was ably assisted by William Dodds, Tom Coxon, Robert Carter, and Harry Mountford, who all hit double figures.^[1] An extremely settled side, only nineteen players were used in the league, with Dodds a league ever-present.

Cup competitions

The club had a good campaign in the FA Cup, picking up their biggest ever win in the competition with a 7–1 trouncing of Irthlingborough Town. They took First Division Notts County to a replay in the Second Round, before losing comprehensively 5–0 at Trent Bridge. Nevertheless, both rounds attracted 10,000 supporters at Vale, a great boost to the club's ailing finances.^[1]

In the Staffordshire Senior Cup the club almost exclusively used their reserve players, but managed to reach the semi-finals, where they were knocked out by Aston Villa Reserves.^[1] To reach they semi-final they had to overcome struggling league rivals Burton United, though this took two replays to accomplish – a 7–0 romp followed 3–3 and 1–1 draws.^[1]

Financial collapse and closure

On 18 May 1907, Robert Audley and Sam Gleaves appealed to the directors to pump more money into the club, and appealed in The Sentinel for local supporters to donate.^[1] This appeal was met with resounding indifference and so the club resigned from the Football League on 14 June 1907.^[1] The Football Association had already issued their fixture list (which had pitted Port Vale against relegated Stoke for the first time) and were furious with the club for quitting so suddenly at such a late stage.^[1]

Robert Audley justified the decision to quit the league by pointing out that the season's £200 loss was as good a figure as could be expected in the future, with the past seven campaigns taking in an average of £1,500, supplemented by an average of £400 in transfer takings.^[1] He claimed "this total could not be expected to pay the expenses of a league club", especially with creditors closing in, the bank refusing an overdraft, and summer wages to be paid.^[1] That so few came forward to help the club in its time of need came to be the final straw for Audley.^[1]

"To the few hundreds of loyal supporters, I tender my best thanks for their support and I join in their regrets that sufficient financial support could not be found to continue the club."

— Robert Audley's final words in his letter to The Sentinel.^[1]

Many of the players joined Stoke, as well as newly elected Oldham Athletic, and Burslem Port Vale was finished.^[1]

Cobridge Church

Port Vale's history would have ended at this point, had it not been for an unexpected twist. North Staffordshire Church League champions Cobridge Church were accepted into the North Staffordshire Federation League, still a very minor league.^[2] Joint-secretaries Millward and E.C.Brundrett had very big ambitions however. They sought permission from the Football Association to change the club's name to Port Vale and bought the old club's ground.^[2] To signify their roots they renamed their reserve side to Cobridge Church.^[2] Technically the Port Vale of before 1907 was a separate entity to the Port Vale of after 1907, however spiritually the club continued its existence from its 1876 founding onwards. In December 1908, a group of ex-directors, led by Sam Bennion, bought into the club, meaning that the new club played at the same ground, had similar owners, a similar name, and played continuously from 1906–07 to 1907–08 and beyond.^[3]

Final league table

Manager Sam Bennion.

Pos	Team	Pld		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		F	A	GA	GD		Pts
1	Nottingham Forest	38		16	2	1	43	13		12	2	5	31	23		74	36	2.056	+ 38		60
2	Chelsea	38		18	0	1	55	10		8	5	6	25	24		80	34	2.353	+ 46		57
3	Leicester Fosse	38		15	3	1	44	12		5	5	9	18	27		62	39	1.590	+ 23		48
4	West Bromwich Albion	38		15	2	2	62	15		6	3	10	21	30		83	45	1.844	+ 38		47
5	Bradford City	38		14	2	3	46	21		7	3	9	24	32		70	53	1.321	+ 17		47
6	Wolverhampton Wanderers	38		13	4	2	49	16		4	3	12	17	37		66	53	1.245	+ 13		41
7	Burnley	38		12	4	3	45	13		5	2	12	17	34		62	47	1.319	+ 15		40
8	Barnsley	38		14	2	3	56	21		1	6	12	17	34		73	55	1.327	+ 18		38
9	Hull City	38		11	2	6	41	20		4	5	10	24	37		65	57	1.140	+ 8		37
10	Leeds City	38		10	5	4	38	26		3	5	11	17	37		55	63	0.873	– 8		36
11	Grimsby Town	38		13	2	4	34	16		3	1	15	23	46		57	62	0.919	– 5		35
12	Stockport County	38		8	8	3	26	12		4	3	12	16	40		42	52	0.808	– 10		35
13	Blackpool	38		9	4	6	25	19		2	7	10	8	32		33	51	0.647	– 18		33
14	Gainsborough Trinity	38		12	3	4	33	20		2	2	15	12	52		45	72	0.625	– 27		33
15	Glossop	38		10	4	5	32	21		3	2	14	21	58		53	79	0.671	– 26		32
16	Burslem Port Vale	38		11	5	3	45	26		1	2	16	15	57		60	83	0.723	– 23		31
17	Clapton Orient	38		9	7	3	25	13		2	1	16	20	54		45	67	0.672	– 22		30
18	Chesterfield	38		10	3	6	36	26		1	4	14	14	40		50	66	0.758	– 16		29
19	Lincoln City	38		10	2	7	29	24		2	2	15	17	49		46	73	0.630	– 27		28
20	Burton United	38		7	3	9	24	23		1	4	14	10	45		34	68	0.500	– 34		23

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	35	36	37	38
Ground	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	A	H
Result	L	D	W	W	L	W	L	L	L	L	W	L	W	L	W	W	W	L	L	L	W	L	D	D	L	D	L	D	L	D	L	D	W	L	L	W	L	W
Position	16	13	8	5	8	6	9	15	15	15	14	16	13	14	11	11	11	11	11	12	12	13	13	14	14	13	14	14	15	14	14	15	15	15	17	16	18	16

Sourced from Statto.^[4]

Football League Second Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
1 September 1906	Leicester Fosse	H	1–2	6,000	Dodds
8 September 1906	Nottingham Forest	A	2–2	4,500	Coxon, Beats
10 September 1906	West Bromwich Albion	H	2–1	4,000	Beats, Paddock
15 September 1906	Lincoln City	H	4–2	5,000	Mountford, Beats, Coxon, Carter
22 September 1906	Burton United	A	0–2	3,000
29 September 1906	Grimsby Town	H	3–2	4,000	Mountford, Beats, Holyhead
6 October 1906	Chesterfield	A	2–4	2,000	Mountford, Dodds
13 October 1906	Burnley	A	0–6	4,000
20 October 1906	Leeds City	H	1–2	4,000	Beats
27 October 1906	Barnsley	A	2–3	1,000	Paddock, Coxon
3 November 1906	Chelsea	H	2–0	5,000	Dodds (2)
10 November 1906	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	2–6	3,000	Dodds, Price
17 November 1906	Clapton Orient	H	3–2		Beats, Carter, Eardley
24 November 1906	Gainsborough Trinity	A	0–2
1 December 1906	Stockport County	H	5–0	6,000	Dodds, Carter, Holyhead, Beats, Mountford
15 December 1906	Glossop	H	4–1	5,000	Beats, Dodds, Mountford, Carter
22 December 1906	Blackpool	A	1–0	2,000	Dodds
25 December 1906	Bradford City	H	2–3	8,000	Beats, Carter
26 December 1906	West Bromwich Albion	A	0–3	12,000
29 December 1906	Leicester Fosse	A	1–4	8,000	Beats
5 January 1907	Nottingham Forest	H	4–2	4,000	Coxon (2), Mountford, Beats
19 January 1907	Lincoln City	A	0–4	3,000
26 January 1907	Burton United	H	0–0	3,000
9 February 1907	Chesterfield	H	2–2		Carter, Mountford
12 February 1907	Bradford City	A	2–3	3,000	Beats, Coxon
16 February 1907	Burnley	H	4–4	3,000	Coxon, Carter, Dodds, Beats
23 February 1907	Leeds City	A	0–2	7,000
2 March 1907	Barnsley	H	2–2	3,000	Price, Dodds
9 March 1907	Chelsea	A	1–2	8,000	Carter
16 March 1907	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	0–0	1,500
21 March 1907	Grimsby Town	A	0–2	2,000
23 March 1907	Clapton Orient	A	1–1		Carter
30 March 1907	Gainsborough Trinity	H	1–0	4,000	Mountford
1 April 1907	Hull City	A	1–4	8,000	Paddock
6 April 1907	Stockport County	A	0–3	1,000
13 April 1907	Hull City	H	2–1	2,000	Brough, Carter
20 April 1907	Glossop	A	0–4	2,000
27 April 1907	Blackpool	H	3–0	3,000	Coxon (2), Dodds

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
5Q	8 December 1907	Swindon Town	A	2–1	6,000	Coxon, Dodds
1R	12 January 1907	Irthlingborough Town	H	7–1	10,000	Coxon (2), Dodds (2), Beats, Carter, Mountford
2R	2 February 1907	Notts County	H	2–2	10,000	Beats, Mountford
1R Replay	6 February 1907	Notts County	A	0–5	10,000

Staffordshire Senior Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
1	5 November 1906	Burton United	H	3–3		Mountford, unknown
Replay	25 December 1906	Burton United	A	1–1		unknown
Replay	1 April 1907	Burton United	H	7–0		unknown
SF	15 April 1907	Aston Villa Reserves	A	0–3		unknown

Player statistics

Appearances Pos. Name League FA Cup Other Total Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals GK Arthur Box 12 0 0 0 0 0 12 0 GK Howard Matthews 26 0 4 0 0 0 30 0 GK Philip Sampher 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 DF James Hamilton 33 0 4 0 1 0 38 0 DF William Cope 17 0 0 0 0 0 17 0 DF Hughie Dunn 27 0 4 0 0 0 31 0 MF Bert Eardley 26 1 4 0 0 0 30 1 MF William Bradbury 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 MF Joseph Holyhead 35 2 4 0 0 0 39 2 MF Vic Horrocks 10 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 MF Robert Carter 34 10 4 1 1 0 39 11 MF Hugh Walley 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 MF Sam Baddeley 30 0 4 0 1 0 35 0 MF Tom Coxon 37 9 4 3 1 0 42 12 MF Ernest Chappell 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 FW George Price 7 2 0 0 0 0 7 2 FW Harry Mountford 32 8 4 2 1 1 37 11 FW John Paddock 8 3 1 0 0 0 9 3 FW Billy Beats 33 13 4 2 1 0 38 15 FW Joe Brough 11 1 0 0 1 0 12 1 FW William Dodds 38 11 3 3 1 0 42 14

Scorers All competitions Scorer Goals Billy Beats 15 William Dodds 14 Tom Coxon 12 Robert Carter 11 Harry Mountford John Paddock 3 Joseph Holyhead 2 George Price Joe Brough 1 Bert Eardley League Scorer Goals Billy Beats 13 William Dodds 11 Robert Carter 10 Tom Coxon 9 Harry Mountford 8 John Paddock 3 Joseph Holyhead 2 George Price Joe Brough 1 Bert Eardley

Transfers

Transfers in

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
Summer 1906	MF		Joe Brough	Smallthorne	Free transfer	[5]
May 1906	MF		Tom Coxon	Middlesbrough	Free transfer	[5]
May 1906	GK		Howard Matthews	Langley St. Michael's	Free transfer	[5]
June 1906	FW		William Dodds	Southwick	Free transfer	[5]
August 1906	FW		Billy Beats	Bristol Rovers	Free transfer	[5]
August 1906	DF		Hughie Dunn	Bristol Rovers	Free transfer	[5]
August 1906	FW		John Paddock	Wellington Town	Free transfer	[5]

Transfers out

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
June 1907	DF		Sam Baddeley	Stoke	Released	[5]
June 1907	FW		Billy Beats	Reading	Released	[5]
June 1907	GK		Arthur Box	Stoke	Released	[5]
June 1907	MF		William Bradbury	Fegg Hayes	Released	[5]
June 1907	MF		Joe Brough	Stoke	Released	[5]
June 1907	MF		Robert Carter	Stockport County	Released	[5]
June 1907	DF		William Cope	Stoke	Released	[5]
June 1907	MF		Tom Coxon	Stoke	Released	[5]
June 1907	FW		William Dodds	Oldham Athletic	Released	[5]
June 1907	DF		Hughie Dunn		Released	[5]
June 1907	MF		Bert Eardley		Released	[5]
June 1907	MF		Ebenezer Grant		Released	[5]
June 1907	DF		James Hamilton	Burslem Town	Released	[5]
June 1907	MF		Joseph Holyhead	Wednesbury Old Athletic	Released	[5]
June 1907	MF		Vic Horrocks	Goldenhill United	Released	[5]
June 1907	GK		Howard Matthews	Burton United	Released	[5]
June 1907	FW		Harry Mountford	Hanley Swifts	Released	[5]
June 1907	FW		John Paddock	Wellington Town	Released	[5]
June 1907	FW		George Price		Released	[5]
June 1907	DF		Arthur Shelley		Released	[5]
June 1907	MF		Hugh Walley	Burton Swifts	Released	[5]

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. Kent, Jeff (1990). "The Hard Road Back (1907-1919)". The Valiants' Years: The Story Of Port Vale. Witan Books. pp. 50–70. ISBN 0-9508981-4-7.
3. What If There Had Been No Port In The Vale?: Startling Port Vale Stories! (Witan Books, 2011, ISBN 978-0-9529152-8-7)
4. Port Vale 1906–1907 : Results & Fixtures. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
5. 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.