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1893–94 Aston Villa F.C. season

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Aston Villa
1893–94 season
Chairman
ManagerScotland George Ramsay
GroundWellington Road
First DivisionChampions (1)
FA CupRound 3
Jimmy Cowan

The 1893–94 English football season was Aston Villa's 6th season in the Football League since its formation. They finished the season as champions for the first time, and for the next few years they would be very much the dominant side of English football, winning a total of five championships and two FA Cups by 1900.

For the first two of these championship seasons, they were based at Wellington Road. Though reporters claimed gates of 20,000, it is not clear how many of these would have been able to see the game!

Villa built up a six-point lead by the end of December and maintained that margin to the end of the season, with only Sunderland providing a serious challenge.

Jack Devey was an all-round sportsman who enjoyed a long cricket career with Warwickshire. He played football for local clubs in Birmingham before joining Villa in 1891. He was capped twice by England.

Jimmy Cowan was an attacking centre-half in the days when this was a common tactic. He was well known as a sprinter and won the Powderhall Handicap in 1896. He was just 5 ft 612 in (1.69 m) tall, but his quoted weight of 12 st 3 lbs (77.6 kg) indicates a sprinter’s powerful build.

There were debut appearances for, Len Benwell, George Russell, Jack Reynolds, Jim Elliott, Jimmy Welford, James Gillan, Willie Groves, Steve Smith and Bill Randle.[1]

Aston Villa won the league title in the final match of the season 3-1 against Everton with goals from top scorer Guy Jones.

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GAv Pts Relegation
1 Aston Villa (C) 30 19 6 5 84 42 2.000 44
2 Sunderland 30 17 4 9 72 44 1.636 38
3 Derby County 30 16 4 10 73 62 1.177 36
4 Blackburn Rovers 30 16 2 12 69 53 1.302 34
5 Burnley 30 15 4 11 61 51 1.196 34
6 Everton 30 15 3 12 90 57 1.579 33
7 Nottingham Forest 30 14 4 12 57 48 1.188 32
8 West Bromwich Albion 30 14 4 12 66 59 1.119 32
9 Wolverhampton Wanderers 30 14 3 13 52 63 0.825 31
10 Sheffield United 30 13 5 12 47 61 0.770 31
11 Stoke 30 13 3 14 65 79 0.823 29
12 The Wednesday 30 9 8 13 48 57 0.842 26
13 Bolton Wanderers 30 10 4 16 38 52 0.731 24
14 Preston North End (O) 30 10 3 17 44 56 0.786 23 Qualification for test matches
15 Darwen (R) 30 7 5 18 37 83 0.446 19
16 Newton Heath (R) 30 6 2 22 36 72 0.500 14
Source: World Football
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal average; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated

FA Cup

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Ever-present: Jimmy Cowan

First at top: 16 September

Players used: 23

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Aston Villa's Seasons". AVFC History.
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