1904–05 Small Heath F.C. season


The 1904–05 Football League season was Small Heath Football Club's 13th in the Football League and their 5th in the First Division. In third position in the 18-team league, only one point behind the leaders, with eight matches remaining, they gained only four points from the sixteen available, and finished seventh. They also took part in the 1904–05 FA Cup, entering at the first round proper and losing to Portsmouth in that round. In locally organised competition, they won the Birmingham Senior Cup for the first time, defeating West Bromwich Albion by seven goals to two. After this season, the club entered a primarily reserve team for this competition, which had previously not been permitted.
Nineteen players made at least one appearance in nationally organised first-team competition, and there were nine different goalscorers. Goalkeeper Nat Robinson, full-back Frank Stokes and forward Benny Green were all ever-present over the 35-match season. Billy Jones was leading scorer with 16 goals, all of which came in the league.
At an Extraordinary General Meeting held in March 1905, it was proposed that, Small Heath being the only major football club in the city since Birmingham St George's had folded in 1892, the club should be renamed Birmingham City F.C. The shareholders were not in favour, though they were prepared to go as far as plain Birmingham Football Club instead. Even this was a step too far for some; one reporter referred to "the Small Heath club now masquerading as Birmingham".
Events surrounding the February 1905 match with Aston Villa highlighted the Coventry Road ground's inadequacies. The official attendance was given as 28,000, though with the gates closed before kick-off, thousands scaled walls or forced entrances in order to gain admission, and the actual attendance was estimated at anything up to 35,000. The Birmingham Daily Mail reported "a constant stream of vehicles to the ground, while the trams were disgorging their freights at Muntz Street every two or three minutes." Inside, "the swaying of the mass of spectators rendered the placing of additional supports against the barriers a necessary precaution", and children were passed overhead and placed on the pitch for their own safety. The following Monday the same newspaper commented that had space been available, another ten or fifteen thousand spectators might well have attended, as "hundreds of people found the doors closed against them, and probably there were thousands who would not go to the ground in view of the inevitable crush." The club's landlords would neither sell the freehold of the ground nor allow its expansion, so the directors began planning to move to a new home.

Football League First Division

DateLeague
position		OpponentsVenueResultScore
F–A		ScorersAttendance
3 September 190412thManchester CityAL1–2Green pen24,000
10 September 190417thNotts CountyHL1–2Beer pen15,000
17 September 190417thSheffield UnitedAL1–2Beer pen14,000
24 September 190416thNewcastle UnitedHW2–1W.H. Jones 213,000
1 October 190417thPreston North EndAD2–2Wilcox, McRoberts10,000
8 October 190414thMiddlesbroughHW1–2Field, Beer pen10,000
15 October 190411thWolverhampton WanderersAW1–0Wilcox8,000
22 October 19048thBuryHW5–0Wilcox, Field, Green 2, McRoberts15,000
29 October 190411thAston VillaAL1–2Wilcox40,000
5 November 19048thBlackburn RoversHW2–0Wigmore, Green15,000
12 November 19048thNottingham ForestAW2–0McRoberts, W.H. Jones8,000
19 November 19044thSheffield WednesdayHW2–1W.H. Jones, Green15,000
26 November 19044thSunderlandAW4–1Wilcox, W.H. Jones 2, Green12,000
3 December 19042ndWoolwich ArsenalHW2–1Dougherty, W.H. Jones12,000
10 December 19045thDerby CountyAL0–36,000
17 December 19047thEvertonHL1–2W.H. Jones18,000
26 December 19045thMiddlesbroughAW1–0McRoberts10,000
31 December 19045thManchester CityHW3–1W.H. Jones 2, Wilcox15,000
2 January 19055thBuryAD1–1Green9,000
7 January 19055thNotts CountyAD0–08,000
14 January 19055thSheffield UnitedHW2–0W.H. Jones, Wilcox12,000
21 January 19055thNewcastle UnitedAW1–0Tickle24,000
28 January 19053rdPreston North EndHW2–0Wilcox 215,000
11 February 19052ndWolverhampton WanderersHW4–1Wilcox 3, Green15,000
25 February 19054thAston VillaHL0–332,000
4 March 19053rdBlackburn RoversAW4–1W.H. Jones 2, Field, Beer5,000
11 March 19054thNottingham ForestHL1–2Field8,000
18 March 19055thSheffield WednesdayAL1–3Green12,000
25 March 19055thSunderlandHD1–1W.H. Jones12,000
1 April 19055thWoolwich ArsenalAD1–1W.H. Jones18,000
8 April 19055thDerby CountyHW2–0Green, W.H. Jones12,000
15 April 19055thEvertonAL1–2Hartwell20,000
22 April 19055thStokeHL0–115,000
29 April 19057thStokeAL0–12,000

League table (part)

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentsVenueResultScore
F–A		ScorersAttendance
First round4 February 1905PortsmouthHL0–225,000

Appearances and goals