Overview [ ]
The 1897-98 season was Fulham 's 16th season playing football and the last full season they would play as an amateur outfit. An ambitious committee saw fit to change the team in order to push for a much higher finish and new faces duly arrived - players such as Ted Freeman , Albert Maile , Billy Ives and Allan Knight saw fit to help the club on its way to the most successful season since its formation.
Fulham managed to go unbeaten in the league, yet somehow finished runners-up to champions Barnet . Ted Freeman was the runaway leading goalscorer, second to Billy Ives . There was considerable success in the London Senior Cup , whereby a fifth round exit was easily the furthest that the club had progressed to in their history of entering the competition. The form they so brilliantly displayed in the league, and to a degree, the London Senior Cup was not to be repeated in the Middlesex Senior Cup , as they slumped to a poor 5-0 thrashing and a first round exit.
The season was the last which would feature the early Fulham legend Johnny May , who was finally dislodged from the 'keepers spot by new signing and former Stanley man Albert Maile .
League tables [ ]
London League Division Two[ ]
Pos
Club
P
W
D
L
GF
GA
Gav1
Pts2
Notes
1
Barnet
18
15
2
1
63
17
3.71
32
2
Fulham
18
13
5
0
60
10
6.00
31
3
Hammersmith Athletic
18
11
1
6
40
25
1.60
23
4
Metropolitan Railway
18
11
1
6
41
26
1.58
23
5
West Hampstead
18
8
2
8
37
35
1.06
18
6
West Croydon
18
6
4
8
31
44
0.70
16
7
Orient
18
7
0
11
30
45
0.66
14
8
Harrow Athletic
18
4
1
13
23
58
0.40
9
9
2nd Life Guards
18
3
1
14
13
35
0.37
7
10
Forest Swifts
18
2
3
13
18
61
0.30
7
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
Squad [ ]
Starting XI [ ]
This represents the most commonly selected players by competitive appearances
No.
Pos.
Name
Appearances
Notes
1
GK
Albert Maile
22
2
RB
AE Jennings
12
3
LB
Henry Shrimpton
22
4
RH
Sammy Aylott
22
John Cox had 13 appearances
5
CH
Jimmy Taylor
23
6
LH
Allan Knight
23
7
OR
JJ Davies
15
Billy Steers had 14 appearances
8
IR
Ted Freeman
25
9
CF
Billy Ives
14
10
IL
Patsy Harris
5
11
OL
Willie Robertson
25
Staff [ ]
Committee [ ]
Position
Staff
Club Secretary
Horace Wilkins
Assistant Secretary
Jim Shrimpton
Treasurer
Arthur Thomas
Committee Member
Harry Coleman
Committee Member
Herbert Jackson
Committee Member
Billy Mugford
Committee Member
Tom Walker
Committee Member
Arthur Wilson
Coaching staff [ ]
Position
Staff
Trainer
Tom Walker
Transfers [ ]
Players in [ ]
Date
Pos.
Name
From
Fee
Sept 1897
IF
Ted Freeman
?
?
Sept 1897
CF
S McPherson
?
?
Sept 1897
OF
Johnny Pask
Stanley
?
Oct 1897
GK
Albert Maile
Stanley
?
Oct 1897
HB
Allan Knight
Queens Park Rangers
?
Nov 1897
CF
Billy Ives
Dunstable Town
?
Dec 1897
OF
JJ Davies
?
?
Dec 1897
FB
AE Jennings
?
?
Apr 1898
IF
Jimmy Bowden
St John's Wood
?
Players out [ ]
Date
Pos.
Name
To
Fee
Jul 1897
GK
George Pearce
Retired
n/a
Aug 1897
FB
Tom Atkinson
?
?
Sept 1897
FB
John Laird
?
?
Nov 1897
CF
Leonard Moon
3rd Grenadier Guards
?
Feb 1898
GK
Fred Kingsbury
Ipswich Town
?
Feb 1898
HB
John Cox
?
?
19 Mar 1898
CF
Jimmy Lindsey
Millwall Athletic
?
Matches [ ]
Friendlies [ ]
#
Date
Opposition
Venue
Result
Score
Additional Information
1
Sat 11 Sept 1897
Hanwell
Home
Won
5-0
2
Sat 18 Sept 1897
Hammersmith Athletic
Away
Lost
0-2
3
Sat 4 Dec 1897
Millwall Athletic Reserves
Away
Lost
1-2
4
Sat 11 Dec 1897
Millwall Athletic Reserves
Home
Lost
0-2
5
Sat 18 Dec 1897
Queens Park Rangers
Away
Lost
0-3
Originally a London Senior Cup tie, but poor weather forced this match to be played as a friendly
6
Sat 25 Dec 1897
East Ham
Home
?
3-?
7
Mon 27 Dec 1897
Swindon Old Town
Home
Won
5-0
8
Sat 19 Feb 1898
West Ham Garfield
Home
Lost
0-2
9
Sat 5 Mar 1898
East Ham
Home
Won
11-1
10
Sat 19 Mar 1898
Bow
Home
Won
5-0
London League Division Two[ ]
#
Date
Opposition
Venue
Result
Score
Additional Information
1
Sat 25 Sept 1897
Forest Swifts
Home
Won
9-0
2
Sat 2 Oct 1897
Orient
Home
Won
6-0
3
Sat 13 Nov 1897
West Croydon
Home
Won
3-1
4
Sat 20 Nov 1897
Metropolitan Railway
Away
Won
1-0
5
Sat 8 Jan 1898
Harrow Athletic
Away
Won
4-0
6
Sat 15 Jan 1898
Harrow Athletic
Home
Won
13-0
7
Sat 5 Feb 1898
Metropolitan Railway
Home
Drew
2-2
8
Sat 12 Feb 1898
Barnet
Away
Drew
1-1
9
Sat 19 Feb 1898
2nd Life Guards
Away
Won
n/a
Match scratched, Fulham awarded 2 points
10
Sat 26 Feb 1898
Hammersmith Athletic
Away
Won
2-0
11
Sat 12 Mar 1898
2nd Life Guards
Home
Won
1-0
12
Wed 16 Mar 1898
West Croydon
Away
Drew
2-2
13
Sat 26 Mar 1898
Barnet
Home
Drew
0-0
14
Sat 2 Apr 1898
West Hampstead
Away
Won
3-0
15
Sat 9 Apr 1898
Orient
Away
Won
4-2
16
Mon 11 Apr 1898
Forest Swifts
Home*
Won
4-0
Match played at Craven Cottage again for reasons unknown
17
Sat 16 Apr 1898
Hammersmith Athletic
Home
Won
3-0
18
Sat 23 Apr 1898
West Hampstead
Home
Drew
2-2
London Senior Cup [ ]
#
Date
Opposition
Venue
Result
Score
Additional Information
1st qualifying round
Sat 9 Oct 1897
Westminster
Home
Won
4-1
2nd qualifying round
Sat 6 Nov 1897
Wandsworth
Home
Won
1-0
3rd qualifying round
Sat 27 Nov 1897
Metropolitan Railway
Home
Won
2-0
4th qualifying round
Sat 1 Jan 1898
Queens Park Rangers
Away
Won
4-3
1st round
Sat 22 Jan 1898
Barking Woodville
Away
Drew
0-0
Replay
Sat 29 Jan 1898
Barking Woodville
Home
Lost
0-1
Middlesex Senior Cup [ ]
#
Date
Opposition
Venue
Result
Score
Additional Information
1st qualifying round
Sat 23 Oct 1897
Pemberton
Away
Lost
0-5
FA Amateur Cup [ ]
#
Date
Opposition
Venue
Result
Score
Additional Information
1st qualifying round
Sat 16 Oct 1897
Eversleigh
Home
Won
3-0
2nd qualifying round
Sat 30 Oct 1897
Southall
Away
Lost
0-1
Statistics [ ]
Appearances & goals [ ]
Top scorers [ ]
Fulham F.C. Seasons
1882-83 • 1883-84 • 1884-85 • 1885-86 • 1886-87 • 1887-88 • 1888-89 • 1889-90 • 1890-91 • 1891-92 • 1892-93 • 1893-94 • 1894-95 • 1895-96 • 1896-97 • 1897-98 • 1898-99 • 1899-00 • 1900-01 • 1901-02 • 1902-03 • 1903-04 • 1904-05 • 1905–06 • 1906–07 • 1907–08 • 1908–09 • 1909–10 • 1910–11 • 1911–12 • 1912–13 • 1913–14 • 1914–15 • 1915–16 • 1916–17 • 1917–18 • 1918–19 • 1919–20 • 1920–21 • 1921–22 • 1922–23 • 1923–24 • 1924–25 • 1925–26 • 1926–27 • 1927–28 • 1928–29 • 1929–30 • 1930–31 • 1931–32 • 1932–33 • 1933–34 • 1934–35 • 1935–36 • 1936–37 • 1937–38 • 1938–39 • 1939–40 • 1940–41 • 1941–42 • 1942–43 • 1943–44 • 1944–45 • 1945–46 • 1946–47 • 1947–48 • 1948–49 • 1949–50 • 1950–51 • 1951–52 • 1952–53 • 1953–54 • 1954–55 • 1955–56 • 1956–57 • 1957–58 • 1958–59 • 1959–60 • 1960–61 • 1961–62 • 1962–63 • 1963–64 • 1964–65 • 1965–66 • 1966–67 • 1967–68 • 1968–69 • 1969–70 • 1970–71 • 1971–72 • 1972–73 • 1973–74 • 1974–75 • 1975–76 • 1976–77 • 1977–78 • 1978–79 • 1979–80 • 1980–81 • 1981–82 • 1982–83 • 1983–84 • 1984–85 • 1985–86 • 1986–87 • 1987–88 • 1988–89 • 1989–90 • 1990–91 • 1991–92 • 1992–93 • 1993–94 • 1994–95 • 1995–96 • 1996–97 • 1997–98 • 1998–99 • 1999–00 • 2000–01 • 2001–02 • 2002–03 • 2003–04 • 2004–05 • 2005–06 • 2006–07 • 2007–08 • 2008–09 • 2009–10 • 2010–11 • 2011–12 • 2012-13 • 2013-14 • 2014-15 • 2015-16 • 2016-17 • 2017-18 • 2018-19 • 2019-20 • 2020-21 • 2021-22 • 2022-23 • 2023-24 • 2024-25