1952–53 season of Brentford F.C.
Brentford 1952–53 football season
During the 1952–53 English football season, Brentford competed in the Football League Second Division . A forgettable season, during which Tommy Lawton was appointed as the club's player-manager , ended with a 17th-place finish.
Season summary [ edit ]
Forward Tommy Lawton was appointed as player-manager in January 1953
Brentford 's 1952–53 pre-season preparations were thrown into disarray by the departure of secretary-manager Jackie Gibbons in August 1952. In his letter of resignation , Gibbons wrote of having failed to see "eye to eye" with the Brentford board. Long-serving assistant manager Jimmy Bain took over as caretaker until a permanent appointment could be made. 34-year-old forward Les Smith was the club's only signing and returned to Griffin Park after six years with Aston Villa . Half backs Bill Slater and forwards Johnny Paton and Jimmy Bowie were the only departures of note.
Brentford had a poor start to the Second Division season and won just five of the opening 20 matches.[2] Four defeats and no wins in a five-match spell in September 1952 led caretaker Bain to break up his settled XI and experiment with moving players into different positions. Want-away captain Ron Greenwood left for First Division club Chelsea in October 1952 and forward Jimmy D'Arcy arrived in part-exchange. The tide began to turn after back to back victories over Barnsley on Christmas Day and Boxing Day .[2] Forward Tommy Lawton was announced as Brentford's player-manager on 2 January 1953 and Jimmy Bain reverted to his role as assistant. Lawton was unbeaten in 9 of his first 12 matches, but the team lost confidence after a pair of heavy defeats in March and slumped to a 17th-place finish.[2]
League table [ edit ]
Source:
[citation needed ] Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal average; 3) Goals scored
Results [ edit ]
Brentford's goal tally listed first.
No.
Date
Opponent
Venue
Result
Attendance
Scorer(s)
1
23 August 1952
Lincoln City
H
1–0
27,787
Goodwin
2
27 August 1952
Huddersfield Town
A
0–0
21,358
3
30 August 1952
Hull City
A
2–2
35,993
Dare , Monk (pen )
4
3 September 1952
Huddersfield Town
H
1–3
21,733
Lawton
5
6 September 1952
Blackburn Rovers
H
3–2
21,904
Sperrin , Lawton , Monk (pen )
6
8 September 1952
Sheffield United
A
2–3
17,397
Goodwin , Ledgerton
7
13 September 1952
Nottingham Forest
A
0–3
26,923
8
17 September 1952
Sheffield United
H
0–0
11,707
9
20 September 1952
Everton
H
2–4
21,042
Lawton , Harper
10
27 September 1952
Bury
A
0–3
12,398
11
4 October 1952
Doncaster Rovers
A
2–0
13,465
Monk , Goodwin
12
11 October 1952
Southampton
H
3–0
17,225
Lawton , Monk (pen ), Smith
13
18 October 1952
Notts County
A
0–4
26,033
14
25 October 1952
Leicester City
H
4–2
21,655
Goodwin , Lawton (2), Dare
15
1 November 1952
West Ham United
A
1–3
23,263
D'Arcy
16
8 November 1952
Fulham
H
2–2
29,241
D'Arcy , Monk (pen )
17
15 November 1952
Rotherham United
A
1–4
15,427
Monk (pen )
18
22 November 1952
Plymouth Argyle
H
1–2
17,192
Lawton
19
29 November 1952
Leeds United
A
2–3
16,077
Dare , Ledgerton
20
13 December 1952
Birmingham City
A
1–3
9,963
Lawton
21
20 December 1952
Lincoln City
A
0–0
11,953
22
25 December 1952
Barnsley
H
4–0
15,976
Sperrin , Dare , Lawton (2)
23
26 December 1952
Barnsley
A
2–0
13,725
McNeil (og ), Ledgerton
24
3 January 1953
Hull City
H
1–0
16,035
D'Arcy
25
17 January 1953
Blackburn Rovers
A
0–3
21,487
26
24 January 1953
Nottingham Forest
H
1–1
15,110
Ledgerton
27
7 February 1953
Everton
A
0–5
36,431
28
14 February 1953
Bury
H
2–2
9,387
Sperrin , Bloomfield
29
21 February 1953
Doncaster Rovers
H
1–0
16,716
Lawton
30
28 February 1953
Southampton
A
2–0
20,327
Ellerington (og ), Dare
31
7 March 1953
Notts County
H
5–0
16,147
Monk (pen ), Harper , Dare , Lawton (2)
32
14 March 1953
Leicester City
A
3–2
21,307
Morrad , Latimer
33
21 March 1953
West Ham United
H
1–4
18,117
Latimer
34
28 March 1953
Fulham
A
0–5
25,550
35
3 April 1953
Swansea Town
H
0–0
17,876
36
4 April 1953
Rotherham United
H
1–1
14,411
Bloomfield
37
6 April 1953
Swansea Town
A
2–3
21,695
Ledgerton , Godwin
38
11 April 1953
Plymouth Argyle
A
0–1
19,955
39
18 April 1953
Leeds United
H
3–3
12,783
Ledgerton , Coote , Lawton
40
22 April 1953
Luton Town
H
1–1
16,347
Ledgerton
41
25 April 1953
Luton Town
A
1–0
15,826
Dare
42
1 May 1953
Birmingham City
H
1–2
8,565
Playing squad [ edit ]
Players' ages are as of the opening day of the 1952–53 season.
Sources: 100 Years Of Brentford,[3] Timeless Bees[4]
Coaching staff [ edit ]
Jimmy Bain (23 August 1952 – 2 January 1953) [ edit ]
Tommy Lawton (2 January 1953 – 1 May 1953) [ edit ]
Statistics [ edit ]
Appearances and goals [ edit ]
Brentford's highest appearance-makers in each position during the Football League season.
Players listed in italics left the club mid-season.
Source: 100 Years Of Brentford[3]
Goalscorers [ edit ]
Players listed in italics left the club mid-season.
Source: 100 Years Of Brentford[3]
International caps [ edit ]
Management [ edit ]
Name
Nat
From
To
Record All Comps
Record League
P
W
D
L
W %
P
W
D
L
W %
Jimmy Bain
23 August 1952
26 December 1952
23
7
5
11
0 30.43
23
7
5
11
0 30.43
Tommy Lawton
3 January 1952
1 May 1953
22
7
7
8
0 31.82
19
6
6
7
0 31.58
Summary [ edit ]
Games played
45 (42 Second Division , 3 FA Cup )
Games won
13 (13 Second Division, 1 FA Cup)
Games drawn
12 (11 Second Division, 1 FA Cup)
Games lost
19 (18 Second Division, 1 FA Cup)
Goals scored
62 (59 Second Division, 3 FA Cup)
Goals conceded
79 (76 Second Division, 3 FA Cup)
Clean sheets
15 (14 Second Division, 1 FA Cup)
Biggest league win
5–0 versus Notts County , 7 March 1953
Worst league defeat
5–0 on two occasions
Most appearances
43, Fred Monk (43 Second Division, 3 FA Cup)
Top scorer (league)
13, Tommy Lawton
Top scorer (all competitions)
15, Tommy Lawton
Transfers & loans [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
^ a b c "Brentford results for the 1952–1953 season" . Statto.com . Archived from the original on 27 August 2016. Retrieved 19 November 2016 .
^ a b c d White, Eric, ed. (1989). 100 Years Of Brentford . Brentford FC. p. 382. ISBN 0951526200 .
^ Haynes, Graham; Coumbe, Frank (2006). Timeless Bees: Brentford F.C. Who's Who 1920–2006 . Yore Publications. ISBN 978-0955294914 .
^ "Jimmy D'Arcy" . nifootball.blogspot.co.uk . Retrieved 22 November 2016 .
^ "Les Smith" . Barry Hugman's Footballers . Retrieved 18 November 2016 .
^ "Bert Allum" . Barry Hugman's Footballers . Retrieved 18 November 2016 .
^ "Bloom – Bossu" . Hayes & Yeading United FC: The Official Website . Retrieved 18 November 2016 .
^ "Jimmy D'Arcy" . Barry Hugman's Footballers . Retrieved 18 November 2016 .
^ "Vernon Avis" . Barry Hugman's Footballers . Retrieved 20 November 2016 .
^ "John Pearson" . Barry Hugman's Footballers . Retrieved 22 November 2016 .
^ "Bond to Bunce" (PDF) . Watford Football Club archive 1881–2016 . p. 7. Retrieved 9 May 2018 .
^ "Pate to Pretty" (PDF) . Watford Football Club archive 1881–2016 . p. 4. Retrieved 9 May 2018 .