The 1894–95 English football season was Small Heath F.C.'s 14th season of competitive association football and third season in the Football League. In 1893–94, Small Heath, based in Birmingham, finished in second place in the divisional championship and gained promotion by defeating Darwen 3–1 in a test match. The club had struggled financially during the season, and there were suggestions that it might have disbanded had promotion not been secured. In their first season in the First Division, they finished in 12th place in the 16-team division, thus avoiding the possibility of relegation via the test matches.
Small Heath entered the 1894–95 FA Cup at the first round proper, and for the second consecutive year lost in that round to the eventual losing finalists, who this season were West Bromwich Albion. In local competitions, they were eliminated in the semi-final of the Birmingham Senior Cup, also by West Bromwich Albion, and lost to Aston Villa in the final of the Mayor of Birmingham's Charity Cup. The committee opted not to compete in the United Counties League, a supplementary competition.
Twenty-one different players represented the club in nationally organised competitive matches during the season and there were nine different goalscorers. Two players, Bill Purves and – for the third consecutive season – Billy Ollis, appeared in every League match, and none of the first-choice eleven missed more than four League matches. The top scorer, for the second year running, was inside-forward Frank Mobley with 13 goals. The match against Sunderland attracted a crowd estimated at 15,000, around double the highest attendance from previous years.
Background Having won the inaugural Second Division title in 1892–93 but missed out on promotion via the test match system, in 1893–94 they finished second in the division and were promoted to the First Division by defeating Darwen 3–1 in the test match. The club had been in financial difficulty during the season, and the Birmingham Daily Post speculated that failure in the test match "would in all probability have meant the disbanding of the club". The accounts showed income of £1,816 and expenditure of £2,039, a deficit of £222 on the year. Nevertheless, in preparation for the new season, the club began work on a grandstand and relaid the pitch.
All the regular first-choice players signed on again for the new campaign, apart from goalkeeper George Hollis. Of the less regular team members, Bernard Pumfrey left for Midland League club Gainsborough Trinity,Matthews (1995), Complete Record, p. 118. William Reynolds and Gilbert Smith were released to join Birmingham & District League club Berwick Rangers,Matthews (1995), Complete Record, pp. 119, 125. and Chris Charsley retired from League football to concentrate on his police career.Matthews (1995), Complete Record, p. 78. Small Heath signed the former Sunderland full back Jack Oliver, whom they had failed to recruit earlier in the season, and forward Charlie Letherbarrow from Walsall,Matthews (1995), Complete Record, p. 106. but those were the only major signings. The squad was boosted by players from local football, who included Alec Leake, Bill Lewis and a young Billy Pratt. Alfred Jones continued as secretary-manager, and Caesar Jenkyns retained the captaincy.Matthews (1995), Complete Record, pp. 8–9. There were no changes to the team's kit of light blue shirts with navy collar trim, cuffs and pocket, white knickerbockers and navy socks.
Review
September–October
Small Heath's First Division campaign began on Saturday 1 September with a visit to local rivals and League champions Aston Villa, which turned out rather closer than predicted. Jack Hallam opened the scoring from a Tommy Hands cross with the first League goal of the season, "for the match was started punctually, and it would have been a sheer impossibility to score faster than the Small Heath player did." Villa equalised some 20 minutes later, took the lead immediately afterwards, and retained that lead to the end. The Birmingham Daily Post picked out Hallam and Caesar Jenkyns for praise, was disappointed by Fred Wheldon, "usually the bright particular star of the front rank", and suggested that Jack Oliver would be a success "when he has lost a little superfluous flesh".
On the Sunday, Jenkyns was involved in an incident after he and an acquaintance staked a quart of beer on a bicycle race. Solihull Police Court later heard how, after Jenkyns lost the race, he knocked his opponent off his bicycle, hit another man, and returned to the public house where he struck a third man in the face. He was convicted on three counts of assault, and fined 20s plus costs on each count. In the following day's visit to Everton, Small Heath had Oliver and Charles Partridge to thank for the score being restricted to 5–0.
The new grandstand was open for the first home match of the season, against Bolton Wanderers, and those spectators not distracted by the visit to the city of the Duke and Duchess of York (the future George V and Queen Mary) saw a much improved performance from the forwards that produced a 2–1 win with goals from Frank Mobley and Wheldon. The visit to Wolverhampton Wanderers ended in defeat by the same score. Oliver conceded a penalty kick for a foul on Charlie Reynolds, Wheldon equalised before half-time, and Wolverhampton regained the lead straight after the interval.
"The surprise of Saturday's football" came when a late goal from Hands was enough to beat Preston North End, though there was a suggestion in the press that the team would do well to moderate their tactics, which "were not of the gentlest". For Preston's visit to Coventry Road the following weekend, the club applied for a licence to sell alcohol within the ground, as it was the only First Division club without such a licence. The application was refused, the licensing magistrate "remarking that if the public wanted drink they could go outside to get it."
The Leicester Chronicle suspected that "it will be a long time, perhaps, before we have another match so keenly contested". The visitors scored early on, but Small Heath's shoot-on-sight policy produced goals for Hands, after a clash with Mobley left Preston goalkeeper James Trainer on the floor, and for Wheldon, before Edward Brueton, deputising in goal for the injured Partridge, let in a soft goal just before half-time. The second half brought "more finesse and less vigour" from the home side, but Preston grew stronger, took the lead, and Small Heath "appeared to be done with". Then Trainer could only turn Mobley's lob in off the post, the same player gave his side the lead, but "before the Small Heath contingent had finished congratulating one another", "North End charging down the field finely from the centre kick scored again before the whistle sounded" to make the final score 4–4. Match receipts totalled nearly £250, a ground record.
After Wolverhampton Wanderers took a three-goal lead at Coventry Road, the Daily Post suggested that Caesar Jenkyns must have spent the interval "exhorting his men to make a famous effort", for "they responded nobly to his appeal". Adopting a strategy of all-out attack, running the ball upfield at full speed before crossing to as many of the forwards as could converge on goal, they scored four times in 25 minutes to demoralise the opposition and win the match. The quality of Hands' movement and crosses was singled out for particular praise. Small Heath then played West Bromwich Albion in a benefit match for Fred Wheldon, who had first played for the club on trial in 1890, and since signing, before the 1890–91 season, had not missed a game in League or FA Cup. Hands and triallist goalkeeper Charlie Williams of Swindon Town were injured during the game, and unfortunately for the beneficiary, only 2,000 spectators turned up.
A creditable performance in a losing cause at Burnley, marred only by the forwards' lack of composure in front of goal, was followed by the visit of Aston Villa. Bob Gordon scored early, but thereafter was marked out of the game by Jenkyns. Villa had the better of the first half but Wheldon tied the scores from a penalty kick just before half-time; just after, the home side took the lead with "a determined and characteristic rush", but Dennis Hodgetts equalised, again from a penalty. The defences, Partridge and Jenkyns for Small Heath and the Villa backs in particular, had the best of the remaining time, and the match was drawn. After only four games, gate receipts, including the £450 paid by that day's 14,600 spectators, already amounted to half that of the preceding season. Small Heath finished October with a 2–2 draw on a waterlogged pitch at Stoke which left them in ninth place in the League.
November–December
Three goals behind in the first 20 minutes, Small Heath had fought back to level terms when a powerful shot from Everton's Alex Latta was given as a goal, despite having gone well wide, the referee believing it had passed through a hole in the net. William McGregor, former president of the League, suggested that it "was the worst decision he had seen since the establishment of the goal-nets", and Latta himself agreed that the ball had gone wide. The crowd were unimpressed"ironical shouts of 'Goal' were the reception of any shots by Everton, of good or bad quality, that followed"until with ten minutes left, Jenkyns tied the scores with a header from a free kick. While confirming that the result had to stand, the League appointed a committee to look into the circumstances of the phantom goal, and issued an instruction to referees to "inspect and observe the condition" of goalnets before each match in the future.
In contrast, Small Heath put on "a very indifferent display" in losing 4–1 at West Bromwich Albion. They scored twice, very much against the run of play, to come back from 2–0 down to beat Stoke 4–2, and their good fortune continued at Bolton Wanderers. The home goalscorer, Alex Paton, left the field injured before half-time, goalkeeper John Willie Sutcliffe was insistent that Jack Hallam's equaliser had been punched into the goal – Hallam was equally insistent that it had not – and after Wheldon scored Small Heath's winner, the referee ended the game a few minutes early. Bolton applied to the League for the match to be replayed because of the short time – the referee admitted to having ended the game 2½ minutes early, though not the 5 alleged by Bolton – but the result stood.
Unusually, Small Heath led at half-time at home to Sheffield United. Charlie Letherbarrow, in only his second appearance for the club, scored after ten minutes and again approaching the interval to regain the lead. Between the two legitimate scores, he hit a swerving shot which looped up off the chest of goalkeeper William Foulke and into the net, but the referee judged that the ball had been played in from behind the goal-line. In the second half, Wheldon converted a penalty kick when Foulke pushed Hallam out of the way as he attempted to reach a cross from Tommy Hands, and Letherbarrow completed his hat-trick as Small Heath won 4–1. Jack Oliver received a good reception when he returned to his former club – Small Heath were introduced as "Oliver's team" – but Sunderland took no pity, winning 7–1. At Liverpool, an exciting game produced a 3–1 defeat. The three home forwards worked as one, putting extra pressure on the centre of the visiting midfield, and the defence was unable to hold them out. The game was rough at times, Liverpool's Joe McQue attracting particular attention because of an incident in the corresponding match the previous season when Caesar Jenkyns was sent off for his violent reaction to McQue kicking Frank Mobley in the abdomen.