The 1895–96 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 seventh season in the Football League. Stoke enjoyed their best season yet under new manager

Bill Rowley William Spencer Rowley (11 September 1865 – 16 March 1934) was an English footballer who played as goalkeeper for Stoke in the 1880s and 1890s, also making two appearances for England. He later became Stoke's manager between 1895 and 1897. H ...

finishing in 6th position with 30 points. Stoke only drew one game this season and that came in the FA Cup against Burnley.

Season Review

League

In the summer of 1895 the club had become a Limited liability company and long serving goalkeeper

was given the position of secretary-manager. One of Rowley's best pieces of business was to bring William Maxwell to the club from

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

. Maxwell went on to score 75 goals in 156 matches in six seasons with Stoke. Before the start of the season, there was a mini-exodus of players to Southampton St. Mary's such as

Jack Farrell John A. "Jack" Farrell (July 5, 1857 – February 9, 1914), also known as "Moose", was an American Major League Baseball player who played mainly second base in his 11 seasons. Born in Newark, New Jersey, Farrell made his major league debut ...

Samuel Meston Samuel Meston (16 January 1872 – 14 August 1948) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a half-back for Stoke and Southampton. Whilst with Southampton, he appeared in two FA Cup Finals and won six Southern League championship ...

Willie Naughton William A. Naughton (16 July 1870 – 23 April 1906) was a Scottish professional footballer, who played as an outside-forward for various clubs in Scotland and England in the 1880s and 1890s, including Celtic, Stoke and Southampton. Throughou ...

and trainer Bill Dawson. Some players would later return to Stoke after their spell on the south coast. One of Stoke's most bizarre transfer deals took place in February 1896 when they signed Allan Maxwell from Darwen. Instead of requesting a transfer fee Darwen wanted a set of wrought iron gates to be supplied by Stoke. On the pitch Stoke finished their highest position yet of sixth place, picking up 30 points in the process. No league draw was forthcoming for Stoke their only draw came in the FA Cup against Burnley.

FA Cup

For the second season running Stoke were knocked out of the FA Cup by Wolverhampton Wanderers this time 3–0 in the third round. Prior to this Stoke were in free scoring form beating Tottenham Hotspur 5–0 and Burnley 7–1.

Season Review

League

FA Cup

Final league table

Results

Legend

Football League First Division

FA Cup

Squad statistics

References