Brighton & Hove Albion 1910-11 Season

Brighton & Hove Albion 1909-10 Season Overview

Following their crowning as Southern League champions at the end of the 1909-10 season, Brighton & Hove Albion were presented with the opportunity to be crowned as Champions of England at the start of the 1910-11 in the FA Charity Shield.

The Charity Shield was contested in these days between the Football League winners and the Southern League winners, the victors being unofficially hailed as the best team in the land. And so on Monday 5^th September 1910, the Albion went to Stamford Bridge to take on Aston Villa in the biggest game in the club’s history.

Jack Robson had done little to strengthen his squad in the summer, keeping faith with the players who had delivered the Southern League and Southern Professional Charity Cup. Robson named the same starting XI to take on Villa as had lined up in the final game of the previous campaign.

Not many people outside of Sussex gave Brighton a chance; no Southern League side had won the Charity Shield by beating Football League opponents and Villa were the most famous club in England at the time. Hundreds of Brighton supporters made the trip to West London, where the Albion pulled off a magnificent upset to deservedly win 1-0 with Charlie Webb scoring the only goal of the game.

That made it three trophies in five months for Robson and his players. They duly lost their next Division One game 2-1 away at Watford, leading some to question if the squad’s performances may now let up having achieved everything asked of them. No was the answer and nine consecutive wins in all competitions following that Watford defeat took the Albion to the top of the table.

Victory number eight in that sequence came away at Millwall on Saturday 22^nd October 1910. It was the Lions’ first game at the Den following their move from North Greenwich and 25,000 were there to witness the historic occasion, by far the biggest crowd Brighton had ever played a league game in front of. Jack Haworth was the man who ruined the party as his goal with eight minutes remaining secured a 1-0 win for the visitors.

A 3-1 defeat at West Ham United on Saturday 5^th November 1910 sent the Albion into a bit of a slump and they won just three of their next 11 games between then and the end of 1910. January provided an upturn, inspired party by an FA Cup first round draw which paired Brighton with Football League opponents Leeds City, managed by former Albion boss Frank Scott-Walford. An excellent 3-1 win was secured at Elland Road thanks to two goals from Bullet Jones and one from Jimmy Smith.

Such was the excitement generated by that success that Jones was physically chased around Brighton Station by jubilant fans when the team returned home. An estimated 2,000 supporters had packed the station and only dispersed at 2.30am. The FA Cup joy was short lived as the Albion crashed out the following month in a second round replay to fellow Southern League side Coventry City. A 0-0 draw at the Goldstone on Saturday 4^th February 1911 was followed by a 1-0 defeat at Highfield Road on Thursday 9^th February 1911. To complete a bizarre week of fixtures, the Sky Blues were back at the Goldstone on Saturday 11^th February where Brighton won 2-1.

The Albion continued to hang onto the coattails of leaders Swindon Town but an Easter weekend in which they suffered defeats at home to Exeter City (1-2) and drew at Brentford (1-1) meant that Town could claim the championship against Brighton with victory at the County Ground on Saturday 22^nd April. The irony of this situation was lost on nobody after the Albion had won the title the previous year in identical circumstances, by beating Swindon who were their nearest pursuers. A 1-0 win for Town meant that the title went to Wiltshire.

There was an opportunity for immediate revenge as the sides then met in the Southern Professional Charity Cup Final at Craven Cottage two days later on Monday 24^th April 1911. Victories over Portsmouth (1-0), Reading (2-0) and Watford (2-1) had carried Brighton to their third final in as many seasons. They were not able to retain the trophy however, going down 1-0 in a replay on Thursday 27^th April 1910 after the initial tie finished 0-0.

Brighton ended the season in third place, pipped to the runners up spot by Northampton Town on goal average. Bullet Jones was top scorer for the second year running, registering 19 goals and Billy Booth started every single match for a remarkable third successive campaign.