The 1896-97 season was Fulham's 15th season playing football and as an amateur outfit. It was also the first season in the inaugral London League, which Fulham entered in Division 2. It was also their debut season entering the FA Cup. Most notably it was the first season that the club used Craven Cottage for its home matches. The 4-0 victory over Minerva in the Middlesex Senior Cup was the first match to ever take place at the ground (apart from a reserve fixture shortly before). Fulham's first season in the London League could have gone a lot better, and they finished a poor 8th position out of the 9 teams in the league. In the cup competitions, Fulham's debut in the FA Cup was short-lived, getting thumped 5-0 away to Swanscombe. This embarrassed the club and caused them to not enter the competition for 4 years, preferring instead the FA Amateur Cup in the intervening seasons. It was a more graceful exit in the Middlesex Senior Cup, where Fulham exited in the 2nd round to eventual winners Ealing. There was also a 1st Qualifying round exit in the London Senior Cup.
The one result of note, however, was the 8-0 thumping that rivals Stanley gave Fulham at Craven Cottage early in the season. Goalkeeper and captain Johnny May was largely blamed for the defeat by club secretary Horace Wilkins and he was briefly kicked out of the club for it. May had conceded the first penalty of his entire career, and had been protesting throughout the match about the pitch conditions to the referee but to no avail. One report said that the other players were discouraged by Johnny's failing to negotiate at least five easy shots. In consequence a new goalkeeper had been chosen to play against Swanscombe, Fred Kingsbury. The fallout between May and Wilkins only lasted around two months as he was back in the team shortly after Christmas.
It was a poor League campaign for the Reds as they were then known. Other than the 1892-93 West London League success, this was the first time the club had entered a league and were hoping for a top table finish though this was not to be. The results were generally poor, and although showing glimpses of promise in performances from players such as centre half Harry Johnson, winger Willie Robertson and new signing Leonard Moon, Fulham were simply not good enough to earn a higher finish. Other than the thrashing served out by rivals Stanley, there was another severe beating of note when Fulham visited Forest Swifts in January 1897. When centre forward Sammy Aylott, inside forward Alec Frame and full back and skipper Tom Shrimpton failed to turn up after travelling to the wrong ground, it left Fulham with only 8 men. This prompted reserve John Laird to play and club secretary Herbert Jackson to start as centre forward in his ordinary clothes! Managing to head into half time only 1-0 down, club treasurer Arthur Thomas turned out in the second half, again in normal dress! Fulham then the misfortune to lose three players to injury which included goalkeeper Fred Kingsbury and Forest Swifts eventualy ran out 8-1 winners.
Better performances did follow, especially after the arrival of Leonard Moon in February 1897, who was more famous for playing first-class cricket but less famous than his older brother Billy Moon who was an England international as a goalkeeper. He finished with four league goals and five in total, making him the top scorer excluding friendlies.
1 The system of using goal average to separate two teams tied on points was used 2 The points system: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for losing 3 Clapton Clifton were expelled from the league in March 1897 and the team's record was deleted
Horace Wilkins
Bromley
Brentford
Queens Park Rangers
Stanley
Hammersmith Athletic
John Laird