The City Ground

SEASON: 1890-91

Total Season: 26Prev Season: 1889-90
League Season: This Season: 2025-26
Next Season: 1891-92

DIVISION: Football Alliance (Tier 2)

MANAGER(s):: Harry Radford
FA Cup:: Quarter Final (Sunderland (A) 0-4)

Top Goalscorer:: Alex Higgins (11 goals)

WHAT HAPPENED
This was our second season in the newly-formed Football Alliance and this season we finished 5th. We entered a request for election to the Football League but this was denied so we were to have one more season in the Alliance...

Competitive Games:: 5
Competitive Goals:: 23
Goals per game:: 4.6
League Games:: 22
League Points:: 25 out of 44 (2 points per win)
Points Percentage:: 56.8%

Highest League Attendance:: -
Lowest League Attendance:: -
Average League Attendance:: -
Highest Cup Attendance:: 8,000 (Sunderland Albion)
Lowest Cup Attendance:: 8,000 (Sunderland Albion)

Champions:: Everton
FA Cup:: Blackburn Rovers

SEASON RECORDS

Most Goals scored: 14
14-0 (Sat Jan 17, 1891, Clapton, Away, FA Cup)

Biggest Winning Margin: 14
14-0 (Sat Jan 17, 1891, Clapton, Away, FA Cup)

Most Goals Conceded: 4
0-4 (Sat Feb 14, 1891, Sunderland, Away, FA Cup)

Biggest Losing Margin: 4
0-4 (Sat Feb 14, 1891, Sunderland, Away, FA Cup)

Total Players:: 14
Debuts:: 7
Last Games:: 3

Clean Sheets:: 2
Yellow Cards:: 0
Red Cards:: 0
Own goals (against):: 0 (scored by us for opponents)
Own goals (for):: 0 (scored by opponents for us)
Penalties scored:: 0
Penalties conceded:: 0
Penalties missed:: 0
Penalties saved:: 0

TABLE

Click here for all tables for 1890-91

LEAGUE POSITIONS

GOALS
Goals scored, conceded and win and loss margins

Goal count:	1 goal	3 goals	4 goals	5+ goals
Scored	1 time	1 time		2 times
Conceded	1 time	1 time	1 time
Won By				2 times
Lost By			1 time

LEAGUE POSITION ANALYSIS
Analysis of the league positions
This table shows:
(a) how many days we spent in each of the league positions
(b) how we did when we played teams in each of the league positions.

Position days		Record against teams in each position
Forest Pos	Num Days	Opp Pos	P	W	D	L	F	A	Points	Results (Green=win; Blue=draw; Red=loss)
1	56	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	86	2	2	-	1	1	2	3	1	Stoke (1-2), Sunderland Albion (1-1)
3	54	3	1	-	1	-	0	0	1	Sunderland Albion (0-0)
4	14	4	2	-	1	1	2	5	1	Stoke (2-2), Grimsby Town (0-3)
5	14	5	3	2	-	1	10	8	4	Darwen (5-2), Birmingham St George's (3-6), Walsall Town Swifts (2-0)
6		6	1	1	-	-	5	2	2	Crewe Alexandra (5-2)
7		7	3	-	2	1	7	8	2	Newton Heath LYR (1-1), Darwen (4-4), Walsall Town Swifts (2-3)
8		8	4	3	1	-	23	3	7	Bootle (7-0), Newton Heath LYR (8-2), Grimsby Town (1-1), Crewe Alexandra (7-0)
9		9	1	1	-	-	4	0	2	Birmingham St George's (4-0)
10		10	1	-	-	1	2	4	0	Small Heath (2-4)
11		11	2	1	-	1	6	5	2	The Wednesday (2-0), Small Heath (4-5)
12		12	1	-	1	-	0	0	1	The Wednesday (0-0)

Not included: Week 1 game against Bootle (5-1) as all teams were unplaced at the time

GAMES

Manager for all games: Harry Radford
Football Alliance

Week	Date	Time	Opponent	H/A	Score	Att	Pos	Scorers
1	Sat Sep 06, 1890	3:00 pm	Bootle	A	5-1	-	1	? (?), Higgins (?, ?), Pike (?), Rorke (?)
2	Sat Sep 13, 1890	3:00 pm	Darwen	H	5-2	3,000	2	Higgins (?), Shaw (?), McCallum (?), Smith (?, ?)
3	Sat Sep 20, 1890	3:00 pm	Newton Heath LYR	A	1-1	4,000	2	Shaw (?)
4	Sat Sep 27, 1890	3:00 pm	Crewe Alexandra	H	5-2	-	1	Higgins (?, ?), Pike (?), McCallum (?), Smith (?)
5	Fri Oct 03, 1890	3:00 pm	Stoke	H	2-2	3,000	1	Pike (?), Lindley (?)
6	Sat Oct 11, 1890	3:00 pm	Sunderland Albion	A	0-0	-	2
7	Sat Oct 18, 1890	3:00 pm	Bootle	H	7-0	3,000	1	Higgins (?), Pike (?), May (?, ?, ?, ?), Smith (?)
8	Sat Nov 01, 1890	3:00 pm	The Wednesday	A	2-0	10,000	1	Higgins (?, ?)
9	Sat Nov 08, 1890	3:00 pm	Birmingham St George's	H	4-0	4,000	1	Siddons (? OG), Higgins (?, ?), Pike (?)
10	Sat Nov 22, 1890	3:00 pm	Newton Heath LYR	H	8-2	2,000	1	Higgins (?), Shaw (?, ?, ?), Pike (?, ?, ?), McCallum (?)
11	Sat Nov 29, 1890	3:00 pm	Stoke	A	1-2	3,000	2	? (?)
12	Sat Dec 13, 1890	3:00 pm	Darwen	A	4-4	4,000	2	Higgins (?, ?, ?, ?)
13	Sat Dec 27, 1890	3:00 pm	Grimsby Town	H	1-1	3,000	2	Higgins (?)
14	Sat Jan 24, 1891	3:00 pm	Sunderland Albion	H	1-1	5,000	3	McCallum (?)
15	Mon Feb 02, 1891	3:00 pm	Birmingham St George's	A	3-6	2,000	3	Russell (?), Rowan (?), May (?)
16	Sat Feb 21, 1891	3:00 pm	Crewe Alexandra	A	7-0	-	2	Higgins (?, ?, ?, ?), McCallum (?, ?), May (?)
17	Thu Feb 26, 1891	3:00 pm	Small Heath	H	4-5	2,500	2	Pike (?, ?, ?), Duncan (?)
18	Sat Feb 28, 1891	3:00 pm	Small Heath	A	2-4	5,000	2	Higgins (?), McCallum (?)
19	Sat Mar 14, 1891	3:00 pm	Walsall Town Swifts	H	2-0	3,000	2	? (? OG), Higgins (?)
20	Sat Mar 21, 1891	3:00 pm	The Wednesday	H	0-0	-	4
21	Sat Apr 04, 1891	3:00 pm	Walsall Town Swifts	A	2-3	3,000	5	Pike (?), McCallum (?)
22	Thu Apr 09, 1891	3:00 pm	Grimsby Town	A	0-3	4,000	5

FA Cup

Date	Time	Opponent	Round	Replay	H/A	Score	Att	Scorers
Sat Jan 17, 1891	3:00 pm	Clapton	1		A	14-0	1,500	Higgins (?, ?, ?, ?, ?), Shaw (?), McCallum (?, ?), Lindley (?, ?, ?, ?), Smith (?, ?)
Sat Jan 31, 1891	3:00 pm	Sunderland Albion	2		A	1-1	12,000	Smith (?)
Sat Feb 07, 1891	3:00 pm	Sunderland Albion	2	1	H	3-3	8,000	Higgins (?, ?, ?)
Wed Feb 11, 1891	3:00 pm	Sunderland Albion	2	2	N	5-0	6,000	Higgins (?, ?, ?), Shaw (?), Lindley (?)
Sat Feb 14, 1891	3:00 pm	Sunderland	Quarter		A	0-4	15,000

Friendly

Date	Time	Opponent	Country	H/A	Score	Att	Scorers
Mon Sep 01, 1890	3:00 pm	Wolverhampton Wanderers	England	A	0-1	8,000
Wed Sep 03, 1890	3:00 pm	Notts Olympic	England	H	4-0	-	? (?, ?, ?, ?)
Mon Sep 15, 1890	3:00 pm	Heart Of Midlothian	Scotland	A	0-1	-
Mon Sep 29, 1890	3:00 pm	Sheffield United	England	A	2-1	-	? (?, ?)
Thu Oct 02, 1890	3:00 pm	Queen's Park	Scotland	H	4-2	3,500	Higgins (?), Pike (?), Smith (?, ?)
Thu Oct 23, 1890	3:00 pm	Aston Villa	England	H	3-0	3,500	? (?, ?, ?)
Sat Oct 25, 1890	3:00 pm	Clapton	England	A	4-0	-	Higgins (?), Pike (?), May (?), Russell (10')
Thu Nov 13, 1890	3:00 pm	Wolverhampton Wanderers	England	H	5-0	-	? (?, ?, ?, ?, ?)
Sat Nov 15, 1890	3:00 pm	West Bromwich Albion	England	A	2-2	2,000	? (?), Higgins (?)
Thu Nov 27, 1890	3:00 pm	Bolton Wanderers	England	H	7-1	-	Higgins (?, ?, ?), Pike (?), May (?, ?), Smith (?)
Sat Dec 06, 1890	3:00 pm	Clyde	Scotland	A	5-2	2,000	? (?), Russell (?), McCallum (?), Smith (?, ?)
Thu Dec 18, 1890	3:00 pm	Burnley	England	H	3-4	1,500	? (?, ?, ?)
Fri Dec 26, 1890	3:00 pm	Notts	England	A	0-0	20,000
Thu Jan 01, 1891	3:00 pm	Bolton Wanderers	England	A	0-3	6,000
Sat Jan 03, 1891	3:00 pm	Heart Of Midlothian	Scotland	H	8-2	3,000	Higgins (?, ?), Shaw (?), Russell (?), Rowan (?), Smith (?, ?, 69')
Sat Jan 10, 1891	3:00 pm	Glasgow Rangers	Scotland	A	2-1	1,500	Higgins (?), Smith (?)
Mon Mar 02, 1891	3:00 pm	Sheffield United	England	A	4-1	3,000	Higgins (?, ?, ?), Rowan (?)
Thu Mar 12, 1891	3:00 pm	West Bromwich Albion	England	H	2-3	3,000	Higgins (?), Pike (?)
Mon Mar 16, 1891	3:00 pm	Aston Villa	England	A	2-3	-	? (?, ?)
Fri Mar 27, 1891	3:00 pm	Middlesbrough Ironopolis	England	A	2-2	2,000	? (?), Russell (?)
Sat Mar 28, 1891	3:00 pm	Newcastle East End	England	A	2-1	3,000	? (?, ?)
Mon Mar 30, 1891	3:00 pm	Chatham Town	England	A	2-0	4,000	? (?, ?)
Tue Mar 31, 1891	3:00 pm	Royal Arsenal	England	A	5-0	7,000	Pike (?), McCallum (?, ?), May (?), Smith (?)
Thu Apr 02, 1891	3:00 pm	Blackburn Rovers	England	H	4-0	3,000	Pike (?, ?), McCallum (?), Smith (?)
Sat Apr 11, 1891	3:00 pm	Glasgow Rangers	Scotland	H	3-0	4,000	Russell (?, ?, ?)
Sat Apr 18, 1891	3:00 pm	Notts	England	H	2-4	9,500	Shaw (?), Smith (?)
Mon Apr 20, 1891	3:00 pm	Everton	England	A	1-1	-	? (?)
Mon Apr 27, 1891	12:00 am	Burnley	England	A	0-3	1,500

Date	Game Type	Opponent	Round	Replay Count	H/A	Score	Att	Scorers
Manager: Harry Radford
Mon Sep 01, 1890	Friendly	Wolverhampton Wanderers			A	0-1	8,000
Wed Sep 03, 1890	Friendly	Notts Olympic			H	4-0	-	? (?, ?, ?, ?)
Sat Sep 06, 1890	Football Alliance	Bootle			A	5-1	-	? (?), Higgins (?, ?), Pike (?), Rorke (?)
Sat Sep 13, 1890	Football Alliance	Darwen			H	5-2	3,000	Higgins (?), Shaw (?), McCallum (?), Smith (?, ?)
Mon Sep 15, 1890	Friendly	Heart Of Midlothian			A	0-1	-
Sat Sep 20, 1890	Football Alliance	Newton Heath LYR			A	1-1	4,000	Shaw (?)
Sat Sep 27, 1890	Football Alliance	Crewe Alexandra			H	5-2	-	Higgins (?, ?), Pike (?), McCallum (?), Smith (?)
Mon Sep 29, 1890	Friendly	Sheffield United			A	2-1	-	? (?, ?)
Thu Oct 02, 1890	Friendly	Queen's Park			H	4-2	3,500	Higgins (?), Pike (?), Smith (?, ?)
Fri Oct 03, 1890	Football Alliance	Stoke			H	2-2	3,000	Pike (?), Lindley (?)
Sat Oct 11, 1890	Football Alliance	Sunderland Albion			A	0-0	-
Sat Oct 18, 1890	Football Alliance	Bootle			H	7-0	3,000	Higgins (?), Pike (?), May (?, ?, ?, ?), Smith (?)
Thu Oct 23, 1890	Friendly	Aston Villa			H	3-0	3,500	? (?, ?, ?)
Sat Oct 25, 1890	Friendly	Clapton			A	4-0	-	Higgins (?), Pike (?), May (?), Russell (10')
Sat Nov 01, 1890	Football Alliance	The Wednesday			A	2-0	10,000	Higgins (?, ?)
Sat Nov 08, 1890	Football Alliance	Birmingham St George's			H	4-0	4,000	Siddons (? OG), Higgins (?, ?), Pike (?)
Thu Nov 13, 1890	Friendly	Wolverhampton Wanderers			H	5-0	-	? (?, ?, ?, ?, ?)
Sat Nov 15, 1890	Friendly	West Bromwich Albion			A	2-2	2,000	? (?), Higgins (?)
Sat Nov 22, 1890	Football Alliance	Newton Heath LYR			H	8-2	2,000	Higgins (?), Shaw (?, ?, ?), Pike (?, ?, ?), McCallum (?)
Thu Nov 27, 1890	Friendly	Bolton Wanderers			H	7-1	-	Higgins (?, ?, ?), Pike (?), May (?, ?), Smith (?)
Sat Nov 29, 1890	Football Alliance	Stoke			A	1-2	3,000	? (?)
Sat Dec 06, 1890	Friendly	Clyde			A	5-2	2,000	? (?), Russell (?), McCallum (?), Smith (?, ?)
Sat Dec 13, 1890	Football Alliance	Darwen			A	4-4	4,000	Higgins (?, ?, ?, ?)
Thu Dec 18, 1890	Friendly	Burnley			H	3-4	1,500	? (?, ?, ?)
Fri Dec 26, 1890	Friendly	Notts			A	0-0	20,000
Sat Dec 27, 1890	Football Alliance	Grimsby Town			H	1-1	3,000	Higgins (?)
Thu Jan 01, 1891	Friendly	Bolton Wanderers			A	0-3	6,000
Sat Jan 03, 1891	Friendly	Heart Of Midlothian			H	8-2	3,000	Higgins (?, ?), Shaw (?), Russell (?), Rowan (?), Smith (?, ?, 69')
Sat Jan 10, 1891	Friendly	Glasgow Rangers			A	2-1	1,500	Higgins (?), Smith (?)
Sat Jan 17, 1891	FA Cup	Clapton	1		A	14-0	1,500	Higgins (?, ?, ?, ?, ?), Shaw (?), McCallum (?, ?), Lindley (?, ?, ?, ?), Smith (?, ?)
Sat Jan 24, 1891	Football Alliance	Sunderland Albion			H	1-1	5,000	McCallum (?)
Sat Jan 31, 1891	FA Cup	Sunderland Albion	2		A	1-1	12,000	Smith (?)
Mon Feb 02, 1891	Football Alliance	Birmingham St George's			A	3-6	2,000	Russell (?), Rowan (?), May (?)
Sat Feb 07, 1891	FA Cup	Sunderland Albion	2	1	H	3-3	8,000	Higgins (?, ?, ?)
Wed Feb 11, 1891	FA Cup	Sunderland Albion	2	2	N	5-0	6,000	Higgins (?, ?, ?), Shaw (?), Lindley (?)
Sat Feb 14, 1891	FA Cup	Sunderland	Quarter		A	0-4	15,000
Sat Feb 21, 1891	Football Alliance	Crewe Alexandra			A	7-0	-	Higgins (?, ?, ?, ?), McCallum (?, ?), May (?)
Thu Feb 26, 1891	Football Alliance	Small Heath			H	4-5	2,500	Pike (?, ?, ?), Duncan (?)
Sat Feb 28, 1891	Football Alliance	Small Heath			A	2-4	5,000	Higgins (?), McCallum (?)
Mon Mar 02, 1891	Friendly	Sheffield United			A	4-1	3,000	Higgins (?, ?, ?), Rowan (?)
Thu Mar 12, 1891	Friendly	West Bromwich Albion			H	2-3	3,000	Higgins (?), Pike (?)
Sat Mar 14, 1891	Football Alliance	Walsall Town Swifts			H	2-0	3,000	? (? OG), Higgins (?)
Mon Mar 16, 1891	Friendly	Aston Villa			A	2-3	-	? (?, ?)
Sat Mar 21, 1891	Football Alliance	The Wednesday			H	0-0	-
Fri Mar 27, 1891	Friendly	Middlesbrough Ironopolis			A	2-2	2,000	? (?), Russell (?)
Sat Mar 28, 1891	Friendly	Newcastle East End			A	2-1	3,000	? (?, ?)
Mon Mar 30, 1891	Friendly	Chatham Town			A	2-0	4,000	? (?, ?)
Tue Mar 31, 1891	Friendly	Royal Arsenal			A	5-0	7,000	Pike (?), McCallum (?, ?), May (?), Smith (?)
Thu Apr 02, 1891	Friendly	Blackburn Rovers			H	4-0	3,000	Pike (?, ?), McCallum (?), Smith (?)
Sat Apr 04, 1891	Football Alliance	Walsall Town Swifts			A	2-3	3,000	Pike (?), McCallum (?)
Thu Apr 09, 1891	Football Alliance	Grimsby Town			A	0-3	4,000
Sat Apr 11, 1891	Friendly	Glasgow Rangers			H	3-0	4,000	Russell (?, ?, ?)
Sat Apr 18, 1891	Friendly	Notts			H	2-4	9,500	Shaw (?), Smith (?)
Mon Apr 20, 1891	Friendly	Everton			A	1-1	-	? (?)
Mon Apr 27, 1891	Friendly	Burnley			A	0-3	1,500

TRANSFERS
Transfers before, during and immediately after the season.

In (15) - £0				Out (9) - £0
Date	Player	Details	Fee	Date	Player	Details	Fee
	David Russell	Bought			Frank Guttridge	Sold
	Fred Thompson	Bought			John Duncan	Sold
	John Duncan	Bought			Joseph Southall	Sold
	Neil McCallum	Bought			Matthew Rorke	Sold
	Percy Oscroft	Bought			Sandy Rowan	Sold
	Robertson (1891-92)	Bought			T Radford	Sold
	Teddy May	Bought			Teddy May	Sold
April 1890	Tom Widdowson	Bought			Walter Cox	Retired
	William Brown (1890)	Bought		Nov 02, 1891	Jack Earp	Sold
	William 'Tich' Smith	Bought
1890	Adam Scott	Bought
June 1890	Matthew Rorke	Bought
June 1890	Sandy Rowan	Bought
Aug 01, 1890	Alex Higgins	Bought
Sep 13, 1890	Walter Cox	Bought

SQUAD

*Age = Player age on August 1st					Season Record (Competitive Games only)
Pos	Num	Player	Country	Age*	P	W	D	L	Goals	Yellows	Reds	Went Off	Came On	Unused Sub	Notes
Goalkeepers
GK		Jack Holland			2	1		1
GK		Tom Widdowson	England		1		1
GK		Walter Cox	Scotland
GK		William Brown (1890)	England		2	1	1
Defenders
D		Adam Scott	Scotland		5	2	2	1
D		Frank Guttridge	England	24
D		Harry Pike	England
D		Jack Earp		17	5	2	2	1
D		Joseph Southall
D		Robertson (1891-92)
Midfielders
M		Albert Smith	England	21	5	2	2	1
M		David Russell	Scotland		4	2	2
M		Fred Thompson	England
M		John Bullock	Wales
M		Matthew Rorke
M		Neil McCallum	Scotland	22	5	2	2	1	2
M		Sandy Rowan	Scotland	22
M		Tommy Jeacock			3	1	1	1
M		William 'Tich' Smith	England	21	5	2	2	1	3
Forwards
F		Alex Higgins	Scotland	26	5	2	2	1	11
F		Arthur Shaw	England	21	5	2	2	1	2
F		Horace Pike	England	20
F		John Duncan
F		Teddy May	England	24	3	1	1	1
F		Tinsley Lindley	England	24	5	2	2	1	5
F		Percy Oscroft	England	17

		Edward Anderson	Scotland
		G Shelton (1890)
		T Radford

GOALSCORERS

Number of different scorers: 5

Goals (Pens)	Player	Num Games
11	Alex Higgins	5
5	Tinsley Lindley	5
3	William 'Tich' Smith	5
2	Arthur Shaw	5
2	Neil McCallum	5

LEAGUE DOUBLES (FOR)
Home and away victories for the season

	Game 1				Game 2
Opponent	Date	H/A	Score		Date	H/A	Score

LEAGUE DOUBLES (AGAINST)
Home and away losses for the season

	Game 1				Game 2
Opponent	Date	H/A	Score		Date	H/A	Score