BigSoccer's Players of the Season: 1876-77

Additional information in blue.

This is the season when Glasgow is confirmed as the strongest centre in British football, ahead of London and Sheffield. In the major matches below, Scottish teams win every game against their English counterparts, often by decisive margins. It is also the last season when Sheffield plays to its own rules.


Queen's Park-Notts County 5-1, 7.10.1876, Glasgow, Hampden Park, Attendance: 6,000
goals: Angus McKinnon, MacKinnon, Highet, Weir (2) / McNeil (o.g.)
best players: McNeil, Weir, Neill, Cochrane / Cursham
Notts County made a return visit to Hampden Park. The crowd, though over 6,000, was less than two years previously as some saw the result as a foregone conclusion. County defended doggedly for 24 minutes but, once Queen's opened the scoring, the result was never in doubt.

Wanderers-Queen's Park 0-6, 4.11.1876, London
goals: Angus McKinnon, MacKinnon (2), Highet, Weir (2)
best players: Wace, W Rawson / Weir, McNeil, A McKinnon, Cochrane, Senior, Taylor
Queen's recorded a resounding 6-0 victory. The Sportsman reported that Queen's Park were undoubtedly superior to their opponents at every point of the game. Weir's dribbling was the best we have ever seen, and he was carried to the pavilion in triumph at the close.
The Queen's Park team was - J Dickson, goal; J J Taylor and R W Neill, backs; C Campbell and J Phillips, half-backs; J B Weir, W MacKinnon, H McNeil, Highet, A. McKinnon and T Tod.
Kinnaird, once again representing Wanderers this season, did not play.

Sheffield-London 5-1, 11.11.1876, Sheffield, Bramall Lane, Attendance: ? (with Sheffield rules)
goals: Morton Betts og, Rodgers og, Gregory 2, Orton / Cursham
best players: Mosforth, JC Clegg, WE Clegg, Gregory, Wilkinson / Cursham
Kinnaird plays, but no other player from Wanderers is selected.

Scottish Cup 3rd round, Vale of Leven - Third Lanark 1-0, 18.11.1876, Alexandria
goals:
best players:

Queen's Park-Cambridge University 3-0, 9.12.1876, Glasgow, Hampden Park, Attendance: 7,000
goals: Roughton (o. g.), Highet, A. McKinnon W MacKinnon
best players: Highet, Taylor, W MacKinnon, McNeil / Jarrett

London - Sheffield 3-1, 30.12.1876, The Oval, Attendance: ? (with London rules)
goals: Parry, Barker, F Heron / Gregory
best players: W Rawson, Maddison, Wollaston / P Andrews, Hunter

Scottish Cup Quarter-final, Queen's Park-Vale of Leven 1-2, 30.12.1876, Glasgow, Hampden Park, Attendance: 2,000
goals: ? (o.g.) / Baird (2)
best players: Taylor, McNeil, Highet / Baird, McLintock, Ferguson
Queen's Park loses for the first time in Scotland. It is a controversial match where Vale of Leven is accused of using spikes on the muddy ground. There was heavy rain throughout and the pitch was a quagmire. Despite the terrible conditions, about 2,000 spectators turned up. Queen's took the lead after about 20 minutes with an own goal and had the better of things up to half-time. In the second half, Queen's Park faced the wind and, after eight minutes, Vale of Leven equalised through John Baird. Vale were now the stronger side and got a second through Baird.

FA Cup 3rd round, Royal Engineers- Sheffield FC 1-0, 20.1.1877, Chatham ? The Oval.
Goals: H Rawson
best players: Ruck, Goodwyn / Jackson (gk)

Glasgow- Sheffield 1-0, 10.2.1877, Glasgow, Hampden Park, Attendance: ?
http://gottfriedfuchs.blogspot.com/2014/02/sheffield-v-glasgow-1870s.html
goals: Carr (o.g.) 5.
best players: Weir, Neill, Campbell / Mosforth, Gregory
P Andrews had moved to Leeds and it was noted that Lang was surprisingly overlooked by Sheffield, having moved there (ostensibly to work in a cutlery factory, in fact he was paid to play for Wednesday).
The goal came in the 5th minute when Carr palmed a corner kick from Hunter into his own goal.

Oxford University v Cambridge University 1-0, 10.2.1877, The Oval. Attendance 1,500
Goal: Parry
Best Players: W Rawson / Jarrett

FA Cup Quarter-final, Cambridge University - Royal Engineers 1-0, 17.2.1877, The Oval, Attendance: 1,100
Goals: Hargreaves
best players: Bury

ENG-SCO 1-3, 3.3.1877, The Oval, Attendance: 2,000
https://eu-football.info/_match.php?id=4320
http://www.englandfootballonline.com/Seas1872-00/1876-77/M0006Sco1877.html
Goals: 0:1 (25') John Ferguson, 0:2 (48') James Richmond, 1:2 (55') Alf Lyttleton, 1:3 (69') John Ferguson
best players: Cursham, Bury / Campbell, Phillips, Neill, Vallance
Disagreeable weather; Rain before kick-off.
The passing of the Scottish team was extremely good, and it would have been better if some of their opponents had pursued the same tactics, instead of selfishly keeping the ball until it was too late.

WAL-SCO 0-2, 5.3.1877, The Racecourse, Wrexham, Attendance: 4,000
https://eu-football.info/_match.php?id=4321
Goals: 0:1 (55') Charles Campbell, 0:2 (75') William Evans (own goal)
best players: ?

Scottish Cup Final, Vale of Leven - Rangers 1-0, 1-1, 17.3.1877, Glasgow, West of Scotland Cricket Ground, Attendance: 8,000
goals: Paton 10' / McDougall (o.g.) 65'
best players:

FA Cup Semi-final, Wanderers - Cambridge University 1-0, 20.3.1877, The Oval, Attendance: ?
Goals: H. Heron
best players:

FA Cup Final, Wanderers - Oxford University 2-1, 24.3.1877, The Oval, Attendance: 3,000
Goals: 0-1 Kinnaird 15' (o.g.), Kenrick 1-1 86', 2-1 Lindsay 97'
best players: Hughes, H Heron / W Rawson, Waddington
Oxford takes the lead in the final when Arthur Kinnaird, now the Wanderers goalkeeper because of his injury, steps behind his goal-line while holding the ball, thereby scoring an own goal. After the break Kinnaird switches place with a limping forward and leads his team into attack. Wanderers equalizes in the dying stages of the match and scores the winning goal in extra time.

Scottish Cup Final replay, Vale of Leven - Rangers 1-0, 1-1, 7.4.1877, Glasgow, West of Scotland Cricket Ground, Attendance: 15,000
goals: McDougall 70' / Dunlop 20'
best players: Jamieson, McLintock, Baird / M McNeil, Dunlop, W McNeil, Vallance, Gillespie

Scottish Cup Final second replay, Vale of Leven - Rangers 3-2, 13.4.1877, Glasgow, West of Scotland Cricket Ground, Attendance: 12,000
goals: 1-0 Watson (o.g.) 15', 1-1 W. McNeil 47', 1-2 Campbell 50', 2-2 Baird 70', 3-2 Paton 88'
best players: Paton, Ferguson, Jamieson, McLintock, McIntyre, Michie / M McNeil, Dunlop, Gillespie, Vallance

Charity Cup Final, Queen's Park-Rangers 4-0, 28.4.1877, Glasgow, Hampden Park, Attendance: 11,000
goals: Weir (2), Campbell, Hillcoat
best players:
A committee of influential Glasgow businessmen had raised funds for a new cup competition, with the proceeds to be given to a charitable project. Rangers stepped in to replace Vale of Leven in the Charity Cup Final.
The Queen's Park team was - J Dickson; J Taylor (captain) and R W Neill; C Campbell and J Phillips; T C Highet, F Tod, A B Hillcoat, T Lawrie, W Mackinnon and H McNeil.


Newspaper sources: London Evening Standard, Morning Post, The Sportsman, Edinburgh Evening News, Glasgow Herald, The Scotsman, Sheffield Daily Telegraph, Sheffield Independent

Sources are from the British Newspaper Archive, managed by the British Library Board.

 

Another important match this season was the first Sheffield Challenge Cup Final. It was played on 10 March 1877 at Bramall Lane.

Wednesday 4 Heeley 3
Goals: Butler 2, WE Clegg, Skinner / Martin, Skinner og, Stacey og.
Best Players: Bishop, Lang / Andrews, Hunter

Heeley were 3-0 up. Wednesday's winner came in extra time.

A lot of money was gambled on the result.

The attendance was 8,000, compared with 3,000 for the FA Cup Final at The Oval, and crowds of 8,000, 15,000 and 12,000 for the Scottish Cup Final and two replays.

There is the occasional report this season of footballers being secretly paid to play for Sheffield clubs.

 

My original team of the season (2-2-6) was:

McGeoch - Neill, Bury - W Rawson, Jarrett - Weir, McNeil, W MacKinnon, Highet, Cursham, Mosforth.

I did not include Ferguson because he only came into the Scottish team against England when Weir was unavailable.

Half-backs Rawson and Jarrett had better write-ups than Campbell this season, though the Scot would go on to become a great player.

 

I know Weir is losing his spot as a top player to a degree but the descriptions of his performance vs Wanderers are a higher level of praise than I have ever read during this period.

 

How about Vallance for fullback?

 

Weir was Queen's Park's best forward this season. He was selected for Scotland against England but dropped out and was replaced by Ferguson of Vale of Leven.

I suspect McNeil and Highet were unavailable as well. McNeil played against Wales and both were back against England in Glasgow the following year. Travel was sometimes an issue for amateur players who had other jobs.

Vallance had a solid season at back and made his international debut, replacing the veteran Taylor. Neill had been at a good level for longer and Bury was highly rated by the English press this year. William Rawson could also play as a back.

Despite Queen's Park's cup defeat at the hands of Vale of Leven, which as elegos says was controversial, they were still seen as Scotland's leading team. The 6-0 thrashing of eventual FA Cup winners Wanderers in London was the most significant result in all football this season. It left no doubt that Scottish football was now superior.

 

Looks good to me.