By way of an 1896 variation on the “Stoke invasion” of 1894 and 1895 (as explained in Jack Farrell’s profile), St Mary’s brought in a native of Stoke, who had been playing in Cheshire football. Ted Shenton marked his Southern League debut with a goal. But he was unable to oust the regular outside-right, Chippy Naughton, one of the 1895 invaders. Ted had to be content, therefore, with a season in a successful Reserves side, in which he performed impressively enough to be picked for Hampshire in March 1897. That was not what he’d come for, however. So he opted to return to the Potteries, where he worked as a loader in the coal mines.