1896–97 Aston Villa F.C. season
The 1896-97 English football season was Aston Villa's 9th season in the Football League since being one of its 12 founding members in 1888. Villa were champions for the third time matching Sunderland's three wins. For good measure, the FA Cup was also won, to make Villa the second team to complete "The Double" after Preston North End in 1888–89.
| 1896–97 season | |
|---|---|
| Manager | George Ramsay |
| Grounds | Wellington Road |
| First Division | Champions (3) |
| FA Cup | Winners |
| Top goalscorer | League: Fred Wheldon (18) All: Fred Wheldon (22) |
The Aston Villa team of 1897 that won The Double | |||||||
| Event | 1896–97 FA Cup | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Date | 10 April 1897 | ||||||
| Venue | Crystal Palace, London | ||||||
| Referee | J. Lewis | ||||||
| Attendance | 65,891 | ||||||
This was the season during which Villa moved from Wellington Road to their current home at Villa Park, although it was still referred to as 'Aston Lower Grounds' for some time.
John Campbell was not quite as productive as in the previous season, and the leading scorer honours went to Fred Wheldon. Fred had been signed in 1896 for £350 from local rivals Small Heath, who had been relegated the previous season. He was a good dribbler with the ball and won four caps for England. He played first class cricket for Worcestershire.
There were debuts for Fred Wheldon (123), Jimmy Whitehouse and Albert Evans.