1891–92 Everton F.C. season

Everton
1891–92 season
Manager Dick Molyneux
The Football League 5th
Top goalscorer Scotland Alex Latta (17)
Highest home attendance 16,000 vs Preston (10 October 1891) & Sunderland (25 December 1891)
Lowest home attendance 4,000 vs Burnley (2 January 1892)
Average home league attendance 11.200
Home colours

Regular Football League First team

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
Scotland David Jardine 17 appearances in goal
Scotland Duncan McLean 20 appearances at left back, right back and centre half
England Bob Howarth 11 appearances at left & right back – club debut (5 December 1891)
Scotland Bob Kelso 23 appearances at right half & right back
England Johnny Holt 21 appearance at left half
Scotland Hope Robertson 20 appearances at centre half & right half
Scotland Alex Latta 25 appearances at outside right and centre forward
Scotland Tom Wylie 16 appearances at outside right, inside right and inside left
Scotland Alan Maxwell 16 appearances at inside right & centre forward – club debut (31 October 1891)
England Edgar Chadwick 25 appearances at inside left
England Alf Milward Ever present with 26 appearances at outside left

Number of League games in which this eleven was fielded = 1

Other members of the first team squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
England Richard Williams 9 appearances in goal – club debut (24 October 1891)
England Joe Marsden 1 appearance at right back
Scotland John Collins 6 appearance at right & left back
England Jack Kent 1 appearances at left back – only club appearance (14 November 1891)
England Jack Earp 9 appearances at right & left back – club debut (14 November 1891)
England David Kirkwood 5 appearances at right half
Scotland William Campbell 4 appearances at left half and left back
Wales Robert Jones 3 appearance at left half
Wales Charlie Parry 1 appearance at centre half
Scotland Alex Lochhead 5 appearances at centre half
Scotland Patrick Gordon 4 appearances at inside right
Scotland Joey Murray 4 appearances at inside right – club debut (17 October 1891)
Scotland Sammy Thomson 3 appearances at centre forward
England Jack Elliott 1 appearance at centre forward
England Fred Geary 10 appearances at inside right & centre forward

Injury and inconsistency, as well as board room uncertainty cost Everton dearly in their bid to retain the title in 1891/92 as they slipped to fifth place in an expanded League, picking up one point less from four games more.

The boardroom turmoil came in the form of a huge rent increase, which led to this being Everton's final season at Anfield Road, the vast majority of officials, players and spectators moving out to Goodison Park at the end of the season.

On the field the champions had won the title despite not having a regular goalkeeper. Jack Angus was by now dead and Robert Smalley's days in goal were over, leaving the way clear for David Jardine to establish his place with Richard Williams emerging as his understudy.

Another blow to the champions was the loss of both their title winning full backs during the summer, Andrew Hannah having returned to his home town club Renton and club captain Dan Doyle having also been lured to Scotland to play for Celtic. Everton's failure to find adequate replacements would cost them dearly as their goals against tally rose by twenty during their title defence. Several players would be tried in the early stages of the season with only Hannah and Doyle's understudy, Duncan McLean proving a suitable long term replacement. Eventually the problem was eased by the signing in December of Preston's Robert Howarth.

During the summer former Everton right half Bob Kelso returned from Preston, pushing David Kirkwood back out of the side to start the season with a half back line of Kelso-Holt-Campbell but the latter was forced to drop back into the struggling defence after just two games. Among those brought in to fill the vacant position was Hope Robertson who proved strong enough in the role to keep Campbell out for the remainder of the season.

The front line was also changed when Tom Wylie, a bit part player in the title winning season was brought in to replace Alec Brady who left for Celtic. The biggest blow came five games into the season when top goalscorer Fred Geary suffered an injury that kept him out for sixteen games. Alan Maxwell was his replacement but never came close to the goal tally of Geary, even though he was retained at centre forward when Geary returned for the final five games of the season to play alongside at inside right.

While the lack of a settled goalkeeper, the breakup of the full back partnership and loss of the top goalscorer for sixteen games did have an impact on Everton's title defence it is highly unlikely that they would have mounted a stronger challenge to the impressive new champions, Sunderland. Even if Everton had been one goal better off in every game they would still have only climbed one place to fourth and would still have been six points off retaining their crown. Indeed Everton took just one point of the eventual top three as Sunderland did the double over them to an aggregate of 6–1, third placed Bolton equalled the highest number of goals scored by a visiting team when winning 5–2 on the way to their league double over the toffeemen and runners up Preston hammered them 4–0 at Deepdale, although they were held at Anfield Road. By contrast Everton completed a league double over Aston Villa, who still managed to finish above them in fourth as well as doubles over Notts County and Stoke.

The regular first eleven of 1891/92 did not actually take the field as a team until their trip to Burnley on 13 February 1892 when they were beaten 0–1, although Howarth and Mclean started in each other's preferred full back positions. It was the only occasion in which the most regular eleven took the field, largely due to Howarth's mid season signing and the return of Geary late on forcing Wylie out of the side.

The Football League

Date Opponents Home/

Away

Result

F – A

Scorers Attendance
5 September 1891 West Bromwich Albion A 0–4 6,000
7 September 1891 Darwen H 5–3 Fred Geary (2), Alf Milward (2), Edgar Chadwick 8,000
19 September 1891 Blackburn H 3–1 Fred Geary, Alex Latta, Bob Kelso 15,000
26 September 1891 Accrington A 1–1 Patrick Gordon 3,500
3 October 1891 Sunderland A 1–2 Fred Geary 10,000
10 October 1891 Preston H 1–1 Samuel Thomson 16,000
17 October 1891 Bolton A 0–1 10,000
24 October 1891 Derby County A 3–0 Alex Latta (2), Edgar Chadwick 7,000
31 October 1891 Preston A 0–4 1,200
7 November 1891 West Bromwich H 4–3 Alex Latta (3), Alf Milward 8,100
14 November 1891 Darwen A 1–3 Alex latta 4,000
21 November 1891 Wolverhampton A 1–5 Alex Latta 5,000
28 November 1891 Aston H 5–1 Edgar Chadwick (2), Alex Latta, Thomas Wylie, Alan Maxwell 15,000
5 December 1891 Blackburn A 2–2 Alex Latta, Jimmy Douglas own goal 6,500
12 December 1891 Wolverhampton A 2–1 Alex Latta, Edgar Chadwick 10,000
25 December 1891 Sunderland H 0–4 16,000
28 December 1891 Aston A 4–3 Alan Maxwell (2), Edgar Chadwick (2) 14,000
2 January 1892 Burnley H 1–1 Alf Milward 4,000
9 January 1892 Notts A 3–1 Alf Milward, Alex Latta, Alan Maxwell 4,000
13 February 1892 Burnley A 0–1 7,000
5 March 1892 Stoke H 1–0 Edgar Chadwick 7,000
12 March 1892 Stoke A 1–0 Edgar Chadwick 2,000
19 March 1892 Accrington H 3–0 Edgar Chadwick (2), Alex Latta 8,000
15 April 1892 Derby H 1–2 Bob Kelso 12,000
18 April 1892 Bolton H 2–5 Fred Geary, Alf Milward 12,000
23 April 1892 Notts H 4–0 Fred Geary, Alex Latta (3) 10,000

Football Association Challenge Cup

Date Round Opponents Home/

Away

Result

F – A

Scorers Attendance
23 January 1892 First Burnley H 1–3 Alf Milward 8,000

Final league table

P WDLFAGAPts
1Sunderland26210593362.58342
2Preston North End26181761311.96837
3Bolton Wanderers26172751371.37836
4Aston Villa261501189561.58930
5Everton261241049491.00028
6Wolverhampton Wanderers261141159461.28326
7Burnley261141149451.08926
8Notts County261141155511.07826
9Blackburn Rovers261061058650.89226
10Derby County261041246520.88524
11Accrington[1]26841440780.51320
12West Bromwich Albion[2]26661451580.87918
13Stoke[1]26541738610.62314
14Darwen[3]264319381120.33911

Records

The following positive or neutral records were set by the 1891–92 Everton team

The following negative records were also set by the team

  1. 1.0 1.1 Re-elected to the Football League First Division
  2. FA Cup holders – No re-election required
  3. Not re-elected, invited to join Second Division

Sources