Aston Villa 1896-97 Double Winners

The 1897 FA Cup final was played on April 10th at  Crystal Palace. A crowd of  65,891 saw Aston Villa beat Everton 3-2. Jimmy Crabtree scored the winner in the 44th minute.
Whilst Villa were playing in the final their nearest rivals in the league, Derby, were losing their match at Bury thus confirming Villa as  First Division champions.
In their League programme of 30 matches Villa won 21, drew 5 and lost 4. They scored 73 goals and conceded 38. They finished 11 points clear of their rivals.
The Cup run began with a 5-0 defeat of Newcastle at home on 30th January,  Notts County were beaten 2-1, a goalless draw with Preston North End was followed by a 3-2 win.  In the semi final at Bramall Lane, Sheffield, Liverpool were beaten 3-0.

The Invincibles. Preston North End 1888–89

Back (non-players): , Rt Hon. RW Hanbury MP, Sir WEM Tomlinson MP, W Sudell (secretary/manager), 

Back (players): Drummond, Howarth, Russell, Holmes, Graham, Dr Mills-Roberts. 

Front: Gordon, Jimmy Ross, Goodall, Dewhurst, Thomson

Preston North End dominated the first ever Football League season, finishing 11 points ahead of their nearest rivals. In a 22 match programme they recorded 18 wins and 4 draws, scoring 74 goals and conceding 15.

The cup run was condensed into 2 months- Bootle were beaten 3-0 away in the first round on February 2nd. Preston then beat  Grimsby 2-0 away, and Birmingham St Georges 2-0 at Deepdale.
The semi final at Brammal Lane, Sheffield saw West Bromwich Albion beaten 1-0.
The Final was played at The Kennington Oval in London on Saturday March 30th. Preston completed the double by thrashing Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-0. The match was watched by 25000.

John Goodall was top scorer, with 23 goals in 26 appearances.

A complete record of the season, including appearances, goals etc can be found here: