CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

1899–1900 Small Heath F.C. season

season of football team

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionDec 7, 2025
Entity authorityQ4557475 ↗
Source-derived summary

The 1899–1900 Football League season was Small Heath Football Club's eighth in the Football League and their sixth in the Second Division. They spent most of the season in the top four in the 18-team division, but rarely in the top two, eventually finishing in third place, six points behind the promotion positions. They also took part in the 1899–1900 FA Cup, entering at the third qualifying round and losing to Walsall after a replay in the fifth qualifying round. In local cup competitions, they were beaten by Wolverhampton Wanderers in the first round of both the Birmingham and Staffordshire Cups, and by Walsall in the semi-final of the Lord Mayor of Birmingham's Charity Cup.

Twenty-one players represented the club in nationally organised first-team competition, and there were fifteen different goalscorers. Bob McRoberts was the top scorer with 24 goals, of which 19 came in league matches. No other player reached double figures. McRoberts, goalkeeper Nat Robinson and full-back Arthur Archer played in every match. Off the field, the club made a significant financial loss over the season. The directors made it clear they could not continue funding a loss-making enterprise, and suggested that a reduction in players' wages was the only course of action.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “1899–1900 Small Heath F.C. season” as season of football team. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1899, 1900—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Small, Heath and season can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as season of football team. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 7, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q4557475. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1899 and 1900.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “1899–1900 Small Heath F.C. season”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow 1899–1900 Small Heath F.C. season primary sources, 1899–1900 Small Heath F.C. season archive and Small research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “1899–1900 Small Heath F.C. season”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “1899–1900 Small Heath F.C. season” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.