WHEN FOOTBALL BEGAN

  The great-great grandfather of Jack Grealish was a GREAT PLAYER IN 1899-1900 HE FINISHED TOP SCORER IN THE TOP FLIGHT   GARRATY, BILLY (ASTON VILLA) Season: 1899/1900 Goals scored: 27 (out of 77); 17 home, 10 away Percentage: 28.5 per cent Runner-up: Steve Bloomer (Derby County), 19 goals Villa were League Champions   Billy Garraty set a new Aston Villa scoring record in 1899/1900 when, in a total of forty first-class matches, he netted thirty-one goals, twenty-seven in the League. His closest rival was his strike partner Jack Devey with eighteen (thirteen in the League) and Garraty’s tally could and should have been higher, as he missed two penalties! Nevertheless, his haul of twenty-seven in the League remains as the second highest total in any one season by a Villa player; the great Tom ‘ Pongo ’ Waring holds the record, with an amazing haul of forty-nine in 1930/31. In 1899/1900, Billy played wonderfully well – nothing seemed to bother him....

 Manchester United’s great run continued when it faced Birmingham (City only being added to the club’s name in 1943) at St Andrews. With the home side struggling at the bottom of the League, the news that William Henry ‘Billy’ Jones was fit enough to play after a lengthy absence due to injury was a big boost. He was a popular player with the Birmingham fans, earning the nickname of the ‘Tipton Smasher’ for scoring over 100 goals in just over 250 appearances at the club in two spells between 1901/09 and 1912/13. With the home half-backs finding it difficult to keep pace with the United forwards, it was no great surprise when the League leaders struck on 15 minutes, James Turnbull driving the ball home. Thoughts that this might lead to another United rout was quickly dispelled when almost from the kick-off Billy Peplow crossed for Jones to head the equaliser. Five minutes later, Manchester United was back in the lead when Meredith nipped between Frank Cornon and Frank Stokes and, fro...

 Because they were the best-supported club, Everton had been able to attract Nick Ross from Preston North End. It is believed that he was being paid £10 a month, twice what other top players were receiving at £1.25 a week, or 25 shillings. This was around 25 per cent greater than the average working wage, considerably less than what the top players earn today, but as playing football for a living was much better than working down the pit or a dusty factory, few players would have bemoaned their luck. Other Earning Opportunities Although there was no corporate sponsorship of football in 1888 – the first competition to negotiate a sponsorship deal was the League Cup ninety-four years later – some players did benefit from the growing commercial appeal of the game. Ross’s teammate George Dobson was an agent for R. Mercer of Bolton, who was famous for manufacturing football goods for many years. Another Evertonian, Frank Sugg, was even more successful. The international cricketer, who w...

Burnley 1 McKay Blackburn Rovers 7 (Southworth 3, Beresford, Forrest, Fecitt 2)  The Rovers met with feeble resistance at Turf Moor on Saturday, and walked round the home contingent … but for some smart work by Poland, the record would have been even more serious than it was. (The Burnley Gazette, Wednesday 3 October 1888) Having won two and lost six of their opening eight fixtures, the Burnley Club Committee had been searching north of the Border for Scottish players to boost their line-up and it was believed beforehand that three new men had been secured. In the event, only Billy McKay from Edinburgh had travelled south and his performance was to be disparaged in the local paper, reporting that ‘he was of very little use, being about the slowest man on the field’. He did, however, score, a feat he was to repeat in his next three games, but after failing to keep his sequence going in the fifth game McKay never played again for Burnley and moved to Newcastle West at the season’s en...

 FIRST WOLVES HAT-TRICK Wolves 4 (Wood 3, Brodie) v. Derby 1 (Lees) The poor weather conditions meant there was only a modest crowd in attendance. They saw Wolves press from the start and it was a surprise that it took half an hour for Wood to put his side one goal ahead, an advantage they doubled when the same player scored just before the interval. Soon after, Wood secured himself a place in history by becoming the first Wolves player to score a League hat-trick, and although Lees pulled a goal back, Brodie scored to make it 4-1.

Willie Layton was a great full back for Sheffield Wednesday in the late Victorian/Edwardian era.  He won the Second Division Championship in 1899-1900 and was twice a winner of the top flight in 1902-03 and 1903-04. Three seasons later he was a member of the Wednesday team that won the FA Cup when they beat Everton 1-0 at the Crystal Palace.  However, before he even made the first team, Willie, a miner and a young part time professional footballer, was a lucky man when he decided to take a night shift off work at Blackwell Colliery in order to be fresh to play for Sheffield Wednesday reserves the following afternoon. In doing so he avoided a major explosion that killed seven of his friends.  A 4 minute documentary film explains more at:-   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k1fcY5vtPo