1886–87 Aston Villa F.C. season


The 1886–87 [English football season] was Aston Villa's 8th season in the Football Association Cup, the top-level football competition at the time.
Following the professionalisation of football in 1885, the club decided that it needed a full-time paid manager. The following advert was placed in the Birmingham Daily Gazette newspaper in June 1886:
Villa received 150 applicants for the role, but with his strong association with the club George Ramsay was the overwhelming choice of the membership. Thus on 26 June 1886, Villa appointed what has been described as the world's first football manager. The position predates the modern role of a football manager, the advert used the title 'manager' but the club settled on the title of 'secretary'. Ramsay was responsible for the team, including controlling recruitment and transfers, supported by a specialist fitness trainer, who from 1893 until 1915 was Joe Grierson. The team was selected by the committee each week, which consisted of such figures as William McGregor, Fred Rinder and, following their retirement, former club captains John Devey and Howard Spencer.
In the 1886–87 season, Villa started their road to The Oval with a club record 13–0 victory over Wednesbury Old Athletic that still stands today. After Derby Midland were beaten Villa needed four matches to defeat Wolverhampton Wanderers.
A bye in the fourth round added to victories over Horncastle and Darwen meant that Villa were set for their first Semi-final, against Scottish giants Rangers, to be played at Crewe. In a bid to win the trophy, the Scottish FA allowed Rangers to borrow players from other clubs. Consequently, stars from Queen's Park and Hibernian were amongst the eleven that lined up to face Villa. However Villa won 3–1 to reach their first FA Cup final.
The Final pitted Villa against local rivals West Bromwich Albion. With Albion installed as favourites, thousands travelled from Birmingham and the Black Country to watch the game. Winger Dennis Hodgetts opened the scoring for Villa in bizarre circumstances. The Albion keeper didn't bother to prevent the ball going into the net, as he believed, wrongly, that Hodgetts was offside. The legendary Archie Hunter added Villa's second. He prodded the ball over the goal-line while lying on the floor following a deliberate collision with the West Brom goalkeeper. Such 'attacks' on goalies were legal and commonplace back then. After a goalless second half, Hunter received the trophy, and with it the distinction of being Villa's first FA Cup winning captain.
Villa's team in their first FA Cup Final was as follows- Jimmy Warner ; Frank Coulton, , John Burton, Frankie Dawson, Harry Yates, Richmond Davis, Albert Brown, Archie Hunter, Howard Vaughton, Dennis Hodgetts.
To add gloss to their victory Villa beat, Scottish Cup winners Hibs Hibernian |3-0 the following Saturday]. They could now make a legitimate claim to being 'best club in the World'.
There were debut appearances for Dennis Hodgetts, Jimmy Warner, Frank Coulton, Harry Yates, and Arthur Loach

FA Cup details

DateOpponentVenueResultNotesRef
30 Oct 1886Wednesbury Old AthleticH13–0Villa's all-time record win
20 Nov 1886Derby MidlandH6–1
11 Dec 1886Wolverhampton WanderersH2–2
19 Dec 1896Wolverhampton WanderersA1–1Replay
15 Jan 1887Wolverhampton WanderersA3–3Replay
29 Jan 1887Wolverhampton WanderersH2–0Replay
———Villa received a bye—
5 Feb 1887HorncastleH5–0
12 Feb 1887DarwenH3–2
5 Mar 1887RangersNeutral 3–1Semi-final
2 Apr 1887West Bromwich AlbionNeutral 2–0Final