1952–53 season of Brentford F.C.
Brentford 1952–53 football season
Brentford 1952–53 season Chairman Frank Davis Manager Jimmy Bain (until 2 January 1953 ) Tommy Lawton (from 2 January 1953 )Stadium Griffin Park Second Division 17th FA Cup Fourth round Top goalscorer League: Lawton (13) All: Lawton (15) Highest home attendance 29,241 Lowest home attendance 8,565 Average home league attendance 17,474
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 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
Source: [citation needed ] Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal average; 3) Goals scored
Results Brentford's goal tally listed first. Legend 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
FA Cup Sources: 100 Years Of Brentford,[3] Statto, 11v11 Playing squad Players' ages are as of the opening day of the 1952–53 season. Sources: 100 Years Of Brentford,[3] Timeless Bees[4] Coaching staff Jimmy Bain (23 August 1952 – 2 January 1953) Name Role Jimmy Bain Caretaker Manager David Richards Trainer Jack Cartmell Assistant trainer
Tommy Lawton (2 January 1953 – 1 May 1953) Statistics Appearances and goals 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 Players listed in italics left the club mid-season. Source: 100 Years Of Brentford[3] International caps Management 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 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 References ^ 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 . ^ "Player: James Duncan Bowie". Watford Football Club Archive . Retrieved 1 June 2024 . ^ "Player: John Paton". Watford Football Club Archive . Retrieved 1 June 2024 .