1897–98 Tottenham Hotspur F.C. season

The 1897–98 season was Tottenham's second season as a fully professional club and the 15th year since their inception. In the season Tottenham played in two leagues. The main campaign was played in the Southern Football League with midweek games in the United League. They also competed the FA Cup qualifying rounds. The first game was a 7–0 win at home against 2nd Coldstream Guards, the second was a 4–3 loss to Luton Town.^[1]

In the United League Tottenham also played Luton twice, Luton won the first game 5–0 and in the second game which finished in a draw 2–2 was described as a dirty game by the Weekly Herald. The referee was classed as being poor, penalising the wrong players, not noticing a handball goal and not being able to handle what was called "a dirty game". This led to some Tottenham supporters using foul language and some attacks on Luton players.^[2] Luton complained to the Football Association about the conduct at Northumberland Park, the result was that Tottenham had to play their next home game at Millwall's ground.^[3]

Squad[edit]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  ENG Charles Ambler — GK  SCO Joseph Cullen — DF  SCO Edwin Downie — DF  SCO Alex Hall — DF  ENG Stanley Briggs — DF  ENG Joe Knowles — DF  ENG Lycurgus Burrows — DF  SCO Jack Montgomary — MF  ENG William Crump

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  WAL Jack Jones — MF  SCO Johnny Madden — MF  SCO Robert Tannahill — MF  SCO Robert Stormont — FW  ENG Thomas Meade — FW  SCO Jimmy Davidson — FW  SCO David Black — FW  SCO Bill Joyce — FW  SCO Jimmy Hartley

Transfers[edit]

In[edit]

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
May 1897	Forward		James Davidson	Burnley	Unknown	[4]
May 1897	Full back		Joe Knowles	Sunderland	Unknown	[5]

Out[edit]

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
December 1897	Full back		Lycurgus Burrows	Sheffield United	Unknown	[6]

Competitions[edit]

Southern League[edit]

Table[edit]

Results[edit]

United League[edit]

Table[edit]

Results[edit]

FA Cup[edit]

Results[edit]

Tottenham Hotspur v 2nd Coldstream Guards

30 October 1897 Q3	Tottenham Hotspur	7–0	2nd Coldstream Guards	Tottenham, London
	Black Crump Joyce			Stadium: Northumberland Park Attendance: 4,000

Tottenham Hotspur v Luton Town

20 November 1897 Q4	Tottenham Hotspur	3–4	Luton Town	Tottenham, London
	Black Joyce			Stadium: Northumberland Park Attendance: 12,000

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

• Soar, Phil (1995). Tottenham Hotspur The Official Illustrated History 1882–1995. Hamlyn. ISBN 0-600-58706-1.
• Goodwin, Bob (1992). The Spurs Alphabet. ACL & Polar Publishing (UK) Ltd. ISBN 0-9514862-8-4.