1904–05 Small Heath F.C. season
# 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

| Date | League position | Opponents | Venue | Result | Score F–A | Scorers | Attendance |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 3 September 1904 | 12th | Manchester City | A | L | 1–2 | Green pen | 24,000 |
| 10 September 1904 | 17th | Notts County | H | L | 1–2 | Beer pen | 15,000 |
| 17 September 1904 | 17th | Sheffield United | A | L | 1–2 | Beer pen | 14,000 |
| 24 September 1904 | 16th | Newcastle United | H | W | 2–1 | W.H. Jones 2 | 13,000 |
| 1 October 1904 | 17th | Preston North End | A | D | 2–2 | Wilcox, McRoberts | 10,000 |
| 8 October 1904 | 14th | Middlesbrough | H | W | 1–2 | Field, Beer pen | 10,000 |
| 15 October 1904 | 11th | Wolverhampton Wanderers | A | W | 1–0 | Wilcox | 8,000 |
| 22 October 1904 | 8th | Bury | H | W | 5–0 | Wilcox, Field, Green 2, McRoberts | 15,000 |
| 29 October 1904 | 11th | Aston Villa | A | L | 1–2 | Wilcox | 40,000 |
| 5 November 1904 | 8th | Blackburn Rovers | H | W | 2–0 | Wigmore, Green | 15,000 |
| 12 November 1904 | 8th | Nottingham Forest | A | W | 2–0 | McRoberts, W.H. Jones | 8,000 |
| 19 November 1904 | 4th | Sheffield Wednesday | H | W | 2–1 | W.H. Jones, Green | 15,000 |
| 26 November 1904 | 4th | Sunderland | A | W | 4–1 | Wilcox, W.H. Jones 2, Green | 12,000 |
| 3 December 1904 | 2nd | Woolwich Arsenal | H | W | 2–1 | Dougherty, W.H. Jones | 12,000 |
| 10 December 1904 | 5th | Derby County | A | L | 0–3 | | 6,000 |
| 17 December 1904 | 7th | Everton | H | L | 1–2 | W.H. Jones | 18,000 |
| 26 December 1904 | 5th | Middlesbrough | A | W | 1–0 | McRoberts | 10,000 |
| 31 December 1904 | 5th | Manchester City | H | W | 3–1 | W.H. Jones 2, Wilcox | 15,000 |
| 2 January 1905 | 5th | Bury | A | D | 1–1 | Green | 9,000 |
| 7 January 1905 | 5th | Notts County | A | D | 0–0 | | 8,000 |
| 14 January 1905 | 5th | Sheffield United | H | W | 2–0 | W.H. Jones, Wilcox | 12,000 |
| 21 January 1905 | 5th | Newcastle United | A | W | 1–0 | Tickle | 24,000 |
| 28 January 1905 | 3rd | Preston North End | H | W | 2–0 | Wilcox 2 | 15,000 |
| 11 February 1905 | 2nd | Wolverhampton Wanderers | H | W | 4–1 | Wilcox 3, Green | 15,000 |
| 25 February 1905 | 4th | Aston Villa | H | L | 0–3 | | 32,000 |
| 4 March 1905 | 3rd | Blackburn Rovers | A | W | 4–1 | W.H. Jones 2 (1 pen), Field, Beer | 5,000 |
| 11 March 1905 | 4th | Nottingham Forest | H | L | 1–2 | Field | 8,000 |
| 18 March 1905 | 5th | Sheffield Wednesday | A | L | 1–3 | Green | 12,000 |
| 25 March 1905 | 5th | Sunderland | H | D | 1–1 | W.H. Jones | 12,000 |
| 1 April 1905 | 5th | Woolwich Arsenal | A | D | 1–1 | W.H. Jones | 18,000 |
| 8 April 1905 | 5th | Derby County | H | W | 2–0 | Green, W.H. Jones | 12,000 |
| 15 April 1905 | 5th | Everton | A | L | 1–2 | Hartwell | 20,000 |
| 22 April 1905 | 5th | Stoke | H | L | 0–1 | | 15,000 |
| 29 April 1905 | 7th | Stoke | A | L | 0–1 | | 2,000 |

### League table (part)

Final First Division table (part) :

| Pos | Club | Pld | W | D | L | F | A | GA | Pts |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 5th | Sunderland | 34 | 16 | 8 | 10 | 60 | 44 | 1.36 | 40 |
| 6th | Sheffield United | 34 | 19 | 2 | 13 | 64 | 56 | 1.14 | 40 |
| 7th | Small Heath | 34 | 17 | 5 | 12 | 59 | 38 | 1.42 | 39 |
| 8th | Preston North End | 34 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 52 | 47 | 1.14 | 36 |
| 9th | Sheffield Wednesday | 34 | 14 | 5 | 15 | 61 | 57 | 1.07 | 33 |
| Key | Pos = League position; Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points | Pos = League position; Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points | Pos = League position; Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points | Pos = League position; Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points | Pos = League position; Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points | Pos = League position; Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points | Pos = League position; Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points | Pos = League position; Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points | Pos = League position; Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points |
| Source | | | | | | | | | |

## FA Cup

| Round | Date | Opponents | Venue | Result | Score F–A | Scorers | Attendance |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| First round | 4 February 1905 | Portsmouth | H | L | 0–2 | | 25,000 |

## Appearances and goals

Players having played at least one first-team match :

| Name | Position | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Name | Position | League | League | FA Cup | FA Cup | Total | Total |
| Nat Robinson | Goalkeeper | 34 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 35 | 0 |
| John Glover | Full back | 24 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 25 | 0 |
| Ambrose Hartwell | Full back | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 1 |
| Frank Stokes | Full back | 34 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 35 | 0 |
| Billy Beer | Half back | 31 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 4 |
| Jack Bird | Half back | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Jim Dougherty | Half back | 25 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 26 | 1 |
| Harry Howard | Half back | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| Alfred Sellman | Half back | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Walter Wigmore | Half back | 28 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 29 | 1 |
| Charlie Athersmith | Forward | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Oakey Field | Forward | 30 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 4 |
| Benny Green | Forward | 34 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 35 | 10 |
| Charles Harvey | Forward | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Billy Jones | Forward | 30 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 31 | 16 |
| Thomas Jones | Forward | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Bob McRoberts | Forward | 14 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 4 |
| Charlie Tickle | Forward | 16 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 1 |
| Freddie Wilcox | Forward | 27 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 28 | 12 |
| Jimmy Windridge | Forward | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
