The 1899–1900 season was

Stoke Stoke is a common place name in the United Kingdom. Stoke may refer to: Places United Kingdom The largest city called Stoke is Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. See below. Berkshire * Stoke Row, Berkshire Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stok ...

's 11th season in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

. As the nineteenth century gave way to the twentieth, it became common knowledge that Stoke were still under a heavy financial cloud. There had been more public appeals for funds - and a certain amount of money had been raised. The directors had continued to go to Scotland for players but, they were not all that successful. The team itself had flirted with relegation for a number of seasons now and there had been only one respectable cup run, Stoke often looked capable of beating the best teams in the country but they were far too inconsistent and always seemed to be at least a couple of quality players short of what was required to challenge for honours. Stoke's final season of the nineteenth century saw them finish in a mid table position of 9th, Stoke struggled for goals during the season scoring 37 only the bottom two relegated clubs scoring less.

Season review

League

Stoke began the 1899–1900 campaign well, beating

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

and Preston North End at home and drawing away at

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

in their first three matches.

Tom Wilkes Thomas Edward Wilkes (July 30, 1939 – June 28, 2009) was an American art director, designer, photographer, illustrator, writer and producer-director. Life Wilkes was born in Long Beach, California and raised in southern California. Wilkes atte ...

had replaced the outgoing

George Clawley George Clawley (10 April 1875 – 16 July 1920) was an English professional goalkeeper who played for Stoke, Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He was the goalkeeper for the Spurs side that ...

in goal and there was a change in attack as local player Sam Higginson was introduced in the place of Fred Molyneux who joined

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

while Jack Farrell joined Southampton. Tom Holford also came through the ranks at the

Victoria Ground The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League. History ...

and he went on to become a club legend making over 260 appearances. There was also change in the boardroom as Mr W Cowlishaw replaced Mr J Fenton. On 13 November 1899 league leaders Aston Villa visited Stoke which attracted a crowd of 15,000 to the

. Gate receipts amounted to £379 a record at the time. Villa won 2–0 and were on their way to a third straight title. Stoke took ninth place in the First Division just two points away from fifth.

FA Cup

After last seasons run to the semi-final Stoke exited the FA Cup this season in the first round losing 1–0 in a replay to

after a 0–0 draw.

Final league table

Results

''Stoke's score comes first''

Legend

Football League First Division

FA Cup

Squad statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1899-1900 Stoke F.C. season Stoke City F.C. seasons