1894–95 Aston Villa F.C. season


The 1894–95 English football season was Aston Villa's 7th season in the Football League falling into what was to be called Villa's golden era. Villa started the season as League champions and, under George Ramsay's management committee, won the FA Cup for the second time. The 1894–95 Division 1 season was the first season of the First league Second City Derby with Aston Villa beating local rivals Small Heath 2–1 on 1 September 1894. Villa beat Small Heath in the final of the Mayor of Birmingham's Charity Cup.
The 1895 FA Cup Final was contested by Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion at Crystal Palace. Aston Villa won 1–0, with Bob Chatt being credited with scoring the fastest goal in FA Cup Final history, scored after just 30 seconds. This record would stand for 114 years before being broken by Everton 's Louis Saha in 2009 with a goal after 25 seconds. The first trophy, the 'little tin idol', had been made by Martin, Hall & Co at a cost of £20. It was stolen from a Birmingham shoe shop window belonging to William Shillcock while held by Aston Villa on 11 September 1895 and was never seen again. Despite a £10 reward for information, the crime was never solved. As it happened while it was in their care, the FA fined Villa £25 to pay for a replacement. Just over 60 years later, 80 year old career criminal Henry James Burge claimed to have committed the theft, confessing to a newspaper, with the story being published in the Sunday Pictorial newspaper on 23 February 1958.Burge claimed the cup had been melted down to make counterfeit half-crown coins, which matched known intelligence of the time that stolen silver was being used to forge coins which were then laundered through betting shops at a local racecourse.
There were debut appearances for Harry Wilkes, Billy Dorrell, George Kinsey, Howard Spencer, Tom Purslow, Billy Podmore and Bob Gordon.

First Division

Matches

Source:

Second City Derby

Small Heath's First Division campaign began on Saturday 1 September with a visit to local rivals and League champions Aston Villa. The match turned out rather closer than predicted. Small Heath's Jack Hallam opened the scoring from a Tommy Hands cross with the first League goal of the season, "for the match was started punctually, and it would have been a sheer impossibility to score faster than the Small Heath player did." Steve Smith equalised for Villa some 20 minutes later, and a Bob Gordon goal meant they took the lead immediately afterwards, and retained that lead to the end. The Birmingham Daily Post picked out Hallam and Caesar Jenkyns for praise, was disappointed by Fred Wheldon, "usually the bright particular star of the front rank", and suggested that Jack Oliver would be a success "when he has lost a little superfluous flesh".
The reverse fixture resulted in a 2-2 draw on 20 October 1894 with Bob Gordon and Denny Hodgetts scoring for Villa.
Small Heath took on Aston Villa in their last match of the season, the final of the Birmingham Charity Cup. Unfortunately for the charities, the weather was poor and the attendance low, but those spectators present saw an exciting game. Wheldon scored first with a fierce shot that entered the net off the goalkeeper and the underside of the bar, then Bob Chatt equalised from a free kick and Charlie Athersmith outpaced Oliver and his parried shot was forced over the line. Mobley tied the scores with a long shot, but in the second half with the wind behind them, Villa scored three times to Jack Hallam's one to take the match 5–3.

FA Cup

DateOpponentVenueScoreNotesScorers
2 Feb 1895Derby CountyH2–1FA Cup – 1st Round—
16 Feb 1895Newcastle UnitedH7–1FA Cup – 2nd Round—
2 Mar 1895Nottingham ForestH6–2FA Cup – 3rd Round—
16 Mar 1895SunderlandA2–1FA Cup – Semi-final—
20 Apr 1895West Bromwich AlbionA1–0FA Cup – Final—