Brighton & Hove Albion 1909-10 Season

Brighton & Hove Albion 1909-10 Season Overview

Brighton & Hove Albion enjoyed a truly memorable 1909-10 season as Jack Robson led the Albion to both the Southern League Division One title and the Southern Professional Charity Cup, the first and only ‘double’ season in the club’s history.

The success was made even more remarkable given that Brighton finished the 1908-09 campaign just one point above the relegation zone. They had enjoyed some success by winning the Western League Division One A and reaching the Southern Charity Cup Final, but even so the turnaround was astonishing.

With the Southern League expanding to 22 teams for the 1909-10 season and the increasing travel costs which came with being a part of the Western League, the Albion declined to defend their Western Division title, focusing their efforts entirely on the main Southern League competition.

Without the demand of two leagues, Robson could work with a smaller squad. Only four players arrived in the summer – Bill Hastings, Bullet Jones, Joe McGhie and Fred Blackman – but all proved to be quality additions. Blackman played every game, McGhie and Hastings only missed one apiece and Jones led the scoring charts with 22 goals in all competitions.

The season kicked off with back-to-back 0-0 draws away at Portsmouth on Saturday 1^st September 1909 and Brentford on Tuesday 4^th September 1909. Wins over Coventry City (4-1), Watford (2-1) and Reading (1-0) lifted Brighton into second at the start of October but form was quite mixed from there through to December. The only defeat at the Goldstone Ground of the entire season came against Crystal Palace (1-2) on Saturday 18^th December 1909 and dropped the Albion down to eighth.

That proved to be the turning point in the campaign. After defeat against the Eagles, Brighton lost just one more Division One game all season, registering 14 wins and eight draws from their next 23 games.  Southampton were the only side to down the Seagulls when they triumphed 2-1 at the Dell on Saturday 5^th March 1910.

Brighton had already hit top spot by that point and booked their spot in the Southern Charity Cup Final. A 2-1 win at Reading on Saturday 5^th February 1910 took the Albion into first place in Division One and they didn’t relinquish top spot for the remainder of the campaign.

A 3-0 win over Swindon Town in the semi finals of the Southern Charity Cup at Stamford Bridge on Monday 21^st February 1910 followed victories over Reading (3-1) and Southampton (1-0) in the competition’s previous round to set up a potentially historic last two months of the season.

Following that Division One defeat at the Dell, the Albion drew 1-1 away at Leyton on Monday 7^th March 1910. Five consecutive wins followed against Croydon Common (1-0), Millwall (1-0), Exeter City (2-1), New Brompton (5-1) and Exeter again (1-0). The final three of those games all took place over a packed Easter Weekend which was rounded off with a 0-0 draw at Bristol Rovers, securing an impressive four-day haul of seven points out of eight.

Equally impressive was the form of Swindon Town, the Albion’s closest pursuers. The Robins would visit the Goldstone in the penultimate game of the season, a fixture which looked increasingly like it would prove to be the title decider with each passing week.

Before facing Swindon, Brighton had the small matter of the Southern Charity Cup Final. Having lost 2-0 against Brentford in the final in the previous season, the Albion made no mistake this time around to defeat Watford 1-0 at Stamford Bridge on Monday 4^th April 1910. Jones scored the only goal of the game, giving Brighton their first ever knockout cup success.

Swindon came to Hove 19 days later on Saturday 23^rd April. Brighton needed only a point to secure the Southern League title and 11,000 fans packed into the Goldstone in anticipation of seeing their side crowned champions. Within nine minutes, Jones had scored twice to settle any early nerves and although Swindon pulled one back through Freddie Fenton, they never looked likely to get the win they needed to keep their own title hopes alive. When Bert Longstaff scored a third for the Albion with 10 minutes remaining, it was all over. The crowd poured onto the pitch at the final whistle to carry the players from the field.

Brighton had one final game to play out, rounding off the season with a 0-0 draw away at Crystal Palace. The Albion ended the season five points clear of Swindon and deserved champions. They proved to be extremely difficult to beat, losing just six Division One games all season. 11 draws from 21 games on the road went a long way towards securing the title while goalkeeper Bob Whiting conceded just 28 times from 42 outings, by far and away the best defensive record of any side the in the league.

Lifting the title gave Brighton the opportunity to go forth and take on Football League champions Aston Villa in the Charity Shield for the title of Unofficial Champions of England. That game would take place in the opening weeks of the 1910-11 season, giving Albion fans plenty to look forward to over the summer of 1910 following one of the best campaigns in the club’s history.