With the current team having the chance to equal a club record this week I thought I’d have a look at how the team that set that record in 1910 got on. The most obvious thing that jumps out is how the return of the team’s talisman coincided with the upturn of results. Sound familiar? Whilst we have heralded Jack’s return with our 8 game winning streak, Harry Hampton’s return to the 1910 team had the same affect. Both suffered bad injuries. That said, I’m not sure you’d consider ‘death’ as an injury as in the story retold here:
The story is backed up by the contemporary account:
Hampton was sent to the club surgeon by (horse) ambulance where he regained consensus about 8 o’clock that evening, with 5 stud marks in the middle of his chest.
Anyway, the 9 wins were:
H - Manchester City 2-1 - Scorers: Bache, Walters
A - Everton 1-0 - Scorers: Walters
H - Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 - Scorers: Walters, Bache
A - Bristol City 2-1 - Scorers: Bache, Walters
H - Newcastle United 3-2 - Scorers: Hampton 2, Walters
A - Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 - Scorers: Hampton, Walters
H - Middlesbrough 5-0 - Scorers: Bache 3, Hampton 2
A - Preston North End 1-0 - Scorers: Wallace (pen)
H - Notts County 3-1 - Scorers: Bache 2, Hampton
Due to an inconsistent start to the season (no doubt due to the injury to Hampton, Villa used 4 different players at centre-forward in his absence: Billy Gerrish (in the Charity Shield), William Renneville, Joe Bache (in the Birmingham Charity Cup) & Jimmy Jones), Villa found themselves twelfth in the league before the run. The Notts County win moved Villa into first place.
The run came to an end in defeat at Old Trafford (probably the first visit there).
Villa finished runners up that season, one point behind Man United, coming so close to retaining the league title.
