The 1901/02 season for Swindon Town was one of our worst ever campaigns and a new entrant to our Hall of Shame… 

In the Amatuer days in the Southern League, where Town were founder members of Southern League Division One in 1894, the 1901/02 season was woeful.

In those early times, Town were playing football wearing green bodies with white sleeves, after ditching a white shirt and black short combo in 1897. Following the club being unable to source a suitable green dye, the only positive to arise from the dreadful 1901/02 season was a change to a new strip of red shirts.

That colour change did Swindon no good whatsoever. Town finished bottom of the 16 team Southern League Division One with a pathetic return of just seven points from 30 games. This was Swindon’s worst points return in our 22 Southern League seasons between 1894/95 to 1919/20.

This seven point total over the course of a season also remains the fewest points return per game for Town in any competitive league. This amounts to 0.23 points per game using two points for a win and 0.3 points per game for three points for a win – equivalent to 14 points over a 46 game game season.

Town won only two games in 1901/02: a 2-1 win over Millwall Athletic in September and a 4-1 victory over the mighty Wellingborough in March. Three draws were secured against Brentford, Southampton and New Brompton. All the seven points were secured at the County Ground – all very indicative of early Southern League football and the difficulties of winning on your travels.

Swindon were defeated in the remaining 25 games, including thrashings away by Southampton (1-6), Kettering Town (1-10), Northampton Town (0-8), Tottenham Hotspur (1-7) and New Brompton (0-5).

With a seven point return, finishing 14 points behind 14th placed Wellingborough, Town slumped to the bottom of the division for the second season running, needing a ‘Test Match’ to retain League status again.

Surprisingly though, Town managed to avoid relegation after a disastrous season, when they beat ‘non-league’ Fulham 3-1 in a Test Match.

Swindon also finished bottom of the Western League, drawing two and losing fourteen of their sixteen games – and they decide to resign from the competition at the end of the season – never to return.

Southern League Division One:  16th of 16
Western League Division One:  9th of 9

Swindon vs Bristol Rovers match reports from 1901/02 – http://beforethetoteend.weebly.com/190102-southern-league-div-1.html

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv1	Pts2	Notes
1	Portsmouth	30	20	7	3	67	24	2.79	47
2	Tottenham Hotspur	30	18	6	6	61	22	2.77	42
3	Southampton	30	18	6	6	71	28	2.54	42
4	West Ham United	30	17	6	7	45	28	1.61	40
5	Reading	30	16	7	7	57	24	2.38	39
6	Millwall Athletic	30	13	6	11	46	31	1.48	32
7	Luton Town	30	11	10	9	31	36	0.86	32
8	Kettering	30	12	5	13	44	39	1.13	29
9	Bristol Rovers	30	12	5	13	43	39	1.1	29
10	New Brompton	30	10	7	13	39	38	1.03	27
11	Northampton Town	30	11	5	14	53	65	0.82	27
12	Queens Park Rangers	30	9	6	15	34	55	0.62	24
13	Watford	30	9	4	17	36	58	0.62	22
14	Wellingborough	30	9	3	18	34	72	0.47	21
15	Brentford	30	7	6	17	34	61	0.56	20	Relegation test matches
16	Swindon Town	30	2	3	25	17	92	0.18	7

Read More Tales from the STFC Hall of Shame…

Information and picture from www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk