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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
Forward Tommy Lawton (right) 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 former Brentford 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, winning 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 playing players in different positions. Want-away captain Ron Greenwood left for First Division club Chelsea in October 1952, with forward Jimmy D'Arcy arriving in part-exchange. The tide began to turn in December, 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, with Jimmy Bain reverting to his previous role. Lawton was unbeaten in 9 of his first 12 matches, but the team lost confidence after 4–1 and 5–0 defeats to West Ham United and rivals Fulham respectively in late March and would win just once more before the end of the season, leading to a 17th-place finish.[ 2]
League table
Pos
Team
Pld
Home
Away
F
A
GA
GD
Pts
W
D
L
F
A
W
D
L
F
A
1
Sheffield United
42
15
3
3
60
27
10
7
4
37
28
97
55
1.764
+42
60
2
Huddersfield Town
42
14
4
3
51
14
10
6
5
33
19
84
33
2.545
+51
58
3
Luton Town
42
15
1
5
53
17
7
7
7
31
32
84
49
1.714
+35
52
4
Plymouth Argyle
42
12
5
4
37
24
8
4
9
28
36
65
60
1.083
+5
49
5
Leicester City
42
13
6
2
55
29
5
6
10
34
45
89
74
1.203
+15
48
6
Birmingham City
42
11
3
7
44
38
8
7
6
27
28
71
66
1.076
+5
48
7
Nottingham Forest
42
11
5
5
46
32
7
3
11
31
35
77
67
1.149
+10
44
8
Fulham
42
14
1
6
52
28
3
9
9
29
43
81
71
1.141
+10
44
9
Blackburn Rovers
42
12
4
5
40
20
6
4
11
28
45
68
65
1.046
+3
44
10
Leeds United
42
13
4
4
42
24
1
11
9
29
39
71
63
1.127
+8
43
11
Swansea Town
42
10
9
2
45
26
5
3
13
33
55
78
81
0.963
–3
42
12
Rotherham United
42
9
7
5
41
30
7
2
12
34
44
75
74
1.014
+1
41
13
Doncaster Rovers
42
9
9
3
26
17
3
7
11
32
47
58
64
0.906
–6
40
14
West Ham United
42
9
5
7
38
28
4
8
9
20
32
58
60
0.967
–2
39
15
Lincoln City
42
9
9
3
41
26
2
8
11
23
45
64
71
0.901
–7
39
16
Everton
42
9
8
4
38
23
3
6
12
33
52
71
75
0.947
–4
38
17
Brentford
42
8
8
5
38
29
5
3
13
21
47
59
76
0.776
–15
37
18
Hull City
42
11
6
4
36
19
3
2
16
21
50
57
69
0.826
–12
36
19
Notts County
42
11
5
5
41
31
3
3
15
19
57
60
88
0.682
–28
36
20
Bury
42
10
6
5
33
30
3
3
15
20
51
53
81
0.654
–28
35
21
Southampton
42
5
7
9
45
44
5
6
10
23
41
68
85
0.800
–17
33
22
Barnsley
42
4
4
13
31
46
1
4
16
16
62
47
108
0.435
–61
18
P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points
Key
Division Champions, promoted
Promoted
Relegated
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
Playing squad
Players' ages are as of the opening day of the 1952–53 season.
Coaching staff
Jimmy Bain (23 August 1952 – 2 January 1953)
Tommy Lawton (2 January 1953 – 1 May 1953)
Statistics
Appearances and goals
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
General Grounds Affiliated clubs Players Rivalries