1898–99 Aston Villa F.C. season
| 1898–99 season | |
|---|---|
| Chairman | Frederick Rinder |
| Manager | George Ramsay |
| First Division | 1st (champions, 4th title) |
| FA Cup | First round |
| Top goalscorer | Fred Wheldon (16) |
| Season | 1898–99 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Aston Villa, 4th English title |
| Relegated | Bolton Wanderers, Wednesday |
| Top goalscorer | Steve Bloomer (23 goals) |
| Biggest home win | Derby County 9–0 Wednesday (21 January 1899) |
| Biggest away win | Liverpool 0–3 Aston Villa (15 October 1898) Nottingham Forest 0–3 Liverpool (26 November 1898) Wednesday 0–3 Liverpool (31 December 1898) |
| Highest scoring | Derby County 5–5 Everton (15 October 1898) |
| Longest winning run | 8 matches Aston Villa |
| Longest unbeaten run | 17 matches Liverpool |
| Longest losing run | 4 matches Everton Sheffield United Sunderland The Wednesday Wolverhampton Wanderers |
| Highest attendance | 41,000 Aston Villa 5–0 Liverpool (29 April 1899) |
| Lowest attendance | 1,000 Bury 1–1 Newcastle United (22 October 1898) West Brom 2–0 Notts Forest (24 December 1898) West Brom 6–2 Blackburn (21 January 1899) |
| Average attendance | 10,004 |
← 1897–98 | |
The 1898–99 English football season was Aston Villa's 11th season in the Football League, the top flight of English football. Villa were champions for an unequalled fourth time.
There were debuts for Walter Leigh, Albert Wilkes, Billy Haggart, Frank Bedingfield, Bobby Templeton and Ralph Gaudie (5).
Three of Villa’s 1897 double-winning team joined Celtic in the summer of 1897, so the previous season had proved to be a rebuilding period for the club. By the mid-point of 1898/99, Villa had a narrow lead over Everton and Burnley but a late season run by Liverpool dropped them to second place. It came down to ‘last-game decider’, with Villa at home to Liverpool. 41,000 spectators shoe-horned themselves into Villa Park to see an emphatic win by the home team, 5–0.
The season was notable for one of those one-off, never repeated events that enliven League history. The referee was late arriving for the match at The Wednesday. After some deliberation, it was decided to start without him. Though he took over at half-time, the delay meant that darkness fell with 10 minutes left to play. Wednesday were the better team on the day and led 3–1 at the time. The League consulted the rule-book and decided that the last 10 minutes would have to be played at a later date. The first suggestion was that perhaps the 10 minutes could be played before the return game at Villa Park. In the end, Villa agreed to play Wednesday in a benefit match for one of their players, and the missing minutes were duly played out before the friendly game. Villa made one change for the second game, Garraty replacing Bedingfield.