1897–98 Tottenham Hotspur F.C. season

The 1897–98 season was Tottenham's second season as a fully professional club and the 15th year since their inception. In the season Tottenham played in two leagues. The main campaign was played in the Southern Football League with midweek games in the United League. They also competed the FA Cup qualifying rounds. The first game was a 7–0 win at home against 2nd Coldstream Guards, the second was a 4–3 loss to Luton Town.[1]

Tottenham Hotspur
1897–98 season
ManagerJohn Cameron
StadiumNorthumberland Park
Southern League3rd
United League2nd
FA Cup4th Qualifying Round
Top goalscorerBill Joyce (16)

In the United League Tottenham also played Luton twice, Luton won the first game 5–0 and in the second game which finished in a draw 2–2 was described as a dirty game by the Weekly Herald. The referee was classed as being poor, penalising the wrong players, not noticing a handball goal and not being able to handle what was called "a dirty game". This led to some Tottenham supporters using foul language and some attacks on Luton players.[2] Luton complained to the Football Association about the conduct at Northumberland Park, the result was that Tottenham had to play their next home game at Millwall's ground.[3]

Squad

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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
GK   ENG Charles Ambler
GK   SCO Joseph Cullen
DF   SCO Edwin Downie
DF   SCO Alex Hall
DF   ENG Stanley Briggs
DF   ENG Joe Knowles
DF   ENG Lycurgus Burrows
DF   SCO Jack Montgomary
MF   ENG William Crump
No. Pos. Nation Player
MF   WAL Jack Jones
MF   SCO Johnny Madden
MF   SCO Robert Tannahill
MF   SCO Robert Stormont
FW   ENG Thomas Meade
FW   SCO Jimmy Davidson
FW   SCO David Black
FW   SCO Bill Joyce
FW   SCO Jimmy Hartley

Transfers

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Date from Position Nationality Name From Fee Ref.
May 1897 Forward   James Davidson Burnley Unknown [4]
May 1897 Full back   Joe Knowles Sunderland Unknown [5]
Date from Position Nationality Name To Fee Ref.
December 1897 Full back   Lycurgus Burrows Sheffield United Unknown [6]

Competitions

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Southern League

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Table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GR Pts
1 Southampton 22 18 1 3 53 18 2.944 37
2 Bristol City 22 13 7 2 67 33 2.030 33
3 Tottenham Hotspur 22 12 4 6 52 31 1.677 28
4 Chatham Town 22 12 4 6 50 34 1.471 28
5 Reading 22 8 7 7 39 31 1.258 23
Source: [7]
Rules for classification: The system of using goal average to separate two teams tied on points was used until the 1976-77 season. The points system: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for losing.

Results

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4 September 1897 1 Sheppey United 1–1 Tottenham Hotspur Isle of Sheppey, Kent
Stadium: Botany Road
18 September 1897 2 Tottenham Hotspur 2–0 Southampton Tottenham, London
Stadium: Northumberland Park
25 September 1897 3 Tottenham Hotspur 7–0 Millwall Tottenham, London
Stadium: Northumberland Park
2 October 1897 4 New Brompton 1–0 Tottenham Hotspur Gillingham, Kent
Stadium: Priestfield Stadium
9 October 1897 5 Tottenham Hotspur 2–0 Gravesend United Tottenham, London
Stadium: Northumberland Park
23 October 1897 6 Southampton 4–1 Tottenham Hotspur Southampton
Stadium: County Ground
6 November 1897 7 Reading 3–3 Tottenham Hotspur Reading
Stadium: Cricket Ground
13 November 1897 8 Tottenham Hotspur 2–2 Bristol City Tottenham, London
Stadium: Northumberland Park
27 November 1897 9 Bristol City 3–1 Tottenham Hotspur Bristol
Stadium: St John's Lane
18 December 1897 10 Wolverton 1–2 Tottenham Hotspur Wolverton
15 January 1898 11 Tottenham Hotspur 4–0 Northfleet Tottenham, London
Stadium: Northumberland Park
22 January 1898 12 Tottenham Hotspur 7–1 Wolverton Tottenham, London
Stadium: Northumberland Park
29 January 1898 13 Chatham 4–2 Tottenham Hotspur Chatham, Kent
5 February 1898 14 Swindon Town 3–0 Tottenham Hotspur Swindon, Wiltshire
Stadium: County Ground
19 February 1898 15 Northfleet 1–3 Tottenham Hotspur Northfleet, Kent
26 February 1898 16 Tottenham Hotspur 1–1 Reading Millwall, London[a]
5 March 1898 17 Gravesend United 1–2 Tottenham Hotspur Gravesend, Kent
Stadium: Overcliffe Ground
19 March 1898 18 Tottenham Hotspur 4–0 Sheppey United Tottenham, London
Stadium: Northumberland Park
2 April 1898 19 Tottenham Hotspur 3–1 New Brompton Tottenham, London
Stadium: Northumberland Park
9 April 1898 20 Tottenham Hotspur 2–1 Chatham Tottenham, London
Stadium: Northumberland Park
11 April 1898 21 Tottenham Hotspur 2–0 Swindon Town Tottenham, London
Stadium: Northumberland Park
16 April 1898 22 Millwall 3–1 Tottenham Hotspur Isle of Dogs, London
Stadium: The Athletic Grounds

United League

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Table

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Pos Club P W D L F A Pts
1 Luton Town 16 13 2 1 49 11 28
2 Tottenham Hotspur 16 8 5 3 40 21 21
3 Woolwich Arsenal 16 8 5 3 35 24 21
4 Kettering 16 8 1 6 28 25 19
5 Rushden Town 16 9 1 8 25 42 15
6 Southampton 16 6 3 7 23 24 12
7 Millwall 16 4 4 8 27 27 12
8 Wellingborough 16 3 3 10 16 42 9
9 Loughborough 16 1 2 13 8 42 4

Results

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16 September 1897 1 Tottenham Hotspur 1–1 Kettering Town Tottenham, London
Stadium: Northumberland Park
29 September 1897 2 Loughborough 1–2 Tottenham Hotspur Loughborough, Leicestershire
Stadium: Athletic Ground
11 October 1897 3 Luton Town 5–0 Tottenham Hotspur Luton, Bedfordshire
Stadium: Dunstable Road
16 October 1897 4 Millwall 0–0 Tottenham Hotspur Isle of Dogs, London
Stadium: The Athletic Grounds
4 December 1897 5 Tottenham Hotspur 5–0 Wellingborough Tottenham, London
Stadium: Northumberland Park
25 December 1897 6 Tottenham Hotspur 3–2 Woolwich Arsenal Tottenham, London
Stadium: Northumberland Park
1 January 1898 7 Rushden Town 5–2 Tottenham Hotspur Rushden, Northamptonshire
Stadium: Hayden Road
8 January 1898 8 Tottenham Hotspur 3–1 Rushden Town Tottenham, London
Stadium: Northumberland Park
10 January 1898 9 Kettering Town 4–2 Tottenham Hotspur Kettering, Northamptonshire
Stadium: Rockingham Road
19 January 1898 10 Southampton 2–2 Tottenham Hotspur Southampton, Hampshire
Stadium: County Ground
3 February 1898 11 Tottenham Hotspur 2–2 Luton Town Tottenham, London
Stadium: Northumberland Park
12 March 1898 12 Tottenham Hotspur 3–2 Millwall Tottenham, London
Stadium: Northumberland Park
17 March 1898 13 Tottenham Hotspur 5–0 Loughborough Tottenham, London
Stadium: Northumberland Park
24 March 1898 14 Tottenham Hotspur 7–0 Southampton Tottenham, London
Stadium: Northumberland Park
8 April 1898 15 Woolwich Arsenal 1–0 Tottenham Hotspur Plumstead, London
Stadium: Manor Ground
23 April 1898 16 Wellingborough Town 2–2 Tottenham Hotspur Wellingborough, London
Stadium: Bassett's Close

FA Cup

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Results

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30 October 1897 Q3 Tottenham Hotspur 7–0 2nd Coldstream Guards Tottenham, London
Black  
Crump  
Joyce   
Stadium: Northumberland Park
Attendance: 4,000
20 November 1897 Q4 Tottenham Hotspur 3–4 Luton Town Tottenham, London
Black  
Joyce   
Stadium: Northumberland Park
Attendance: 12,000

Notes

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  1. ^ The 26 February 1898 Southern League game was played at Millwall due to suspension of Northumberland Park after attacks on Luton players. Source:Tottenham Hotspur The Official Illustrated History 1882–1995

References

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  1. ^ Tottenham Hotspur Official Handbook 2018–2019. Tottenham Hotspur.
  2. ^ "Hotspur Nuggets". Weekly Herald. 11 February 1898.
  3. ^ Soar 1995, p. 233.
  4. ^ Goodwin 1992, p. 103.
  5. ^ Goodwin 1992, p. 224.
  6. ^ Goodwin 1992, p. 64.
  7. ^ Soar, Phil (1995). Tottenham Hotspur The Official Illustrated History 1882–1995. Hamlyn. p. 233. ISBN 0-600-58706-1.

Bibliography

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  • Soar, Phil (1995). Tottenham Hotspur The Official Illustrated History 1882–1995. Hamlyn. ISBN 0-600-58706-1.
  • Goodwin, Bob (1992). The Spurs Alphabet. ACL & Polar Publishing (UK) Ltd. ISBN 0-9514862-8-4.