Brighton & Hove Albion 1905-06 Season

Brighton & Hove Albion 1905-06 Season Overview

The 1905-06 season was a busy campaign for Brighton & Hove Albion as they supplemented their Southern League Division One fixtures by entering the newly formed midweek United League. The new competition offered the Albion 18 additional fixtures which gave the players more match practice, but more importantly offered nine further home games. Such was the perilous status of the Albion’s finances that increased income from extra fixtures at the Goldstone was seen as vital to the club’s survival.

For the second summer running, there was an astonishingly high turnover of players as Frank Scott-Walford attempted to make his mark on the squad ahead of his first full season in charge with 18 new faces arriving. For all the changes made, there was little improvement in the league at least with Brighton finishing the 1905-06 Division One season in 16th place, avoiding relegation by three points. They fared slightly better in the United League, coming seventh out of 10.

A major problem for the Albion was their form on the road; they won just one away game in the Southern League all season, a 1-0 success at Watford on Easter Monday 16^th April 1906. A 0-0 stalemate at Queens Park Rangers on Saturday 25^th November 1905 and a 1-1 draw on the final day of the season away at Swindon Town represented the only other points Brighton garnered on their travels. Four away points all season and just six goals scored in 17 games.

The United League didn’t offer much improvement, a single win away at Crystal Palace 2-0 on Wednesday 22^nd November 1905 and draws against Grays United, Luton Town and Clapton Orient being achieved with just nine goals scored in nine games.

In contrast, home form was relatively good. From Boxing Day, the Albion were unbeaten in 15 games in all competitions at the Goldstone and that ultimately kept them outside the relegation zone come the end of the campaign.

The real joy in the 1905-06 season came for Brighton in the FA Cup as they progressed through the qualifying rounds and into the competition proper for the first time. The Albion entered in the fourth qualifying round where they secured their maiden victory over Football League opponents when beating Glossop 1-0 at North Road on Saturday 9^th December 1905.

Fellow Southern League Division One side Swindon Town were up next in the first round. Brighton made light work of the Robins, racking up their biggest win of the season as a 3-0 victory set up a second round meeting with Football League Division One opponents Middlesbrough.

Middlesbrough offered to switch the tie to Ayresome Park, a much bigger stadium than the humble Goldsone which would have allowed the Albion to take a bigger share of the gate receipts. Brighton turned down the offer, deciding instead to double the normal entrance price to one shilling. Supporters made their feelings known at this misguided attempt at capitalisation as only 7,462 turned up despite the historic nature of the game.

Those who did pay their shilling saw Brighton pick up a credible 1-1 draw on Saturday 3^rd February 1906. Four days later and it was the same scoreline at Ayresome Park. A second replay was convened at Bramall Lane for Monday 12^th February 1906, where Boro’s class eventually showed as they ran out 3-1 winners thanks to a hat-trick from Alf Common, England’s first ever £1000 footballer.