1937–38 Aston Villa F.C. season

Aston Villa played the 1937–38 English football season in the Football League Second Division.

Aston Villa

1937–38 season
Chairman	Frederick Rinder
Manager	Jimmy Hogan
2nd Division	1st
FA Cup	Third round
Home colours
← 1936–37 1938–39 →

Main article: History of Aston Villa F.C. (1874–1961)

In the summer of 1938 Villa toured Nazi Germany.^[1] The day before their first match, the England football team bowed to pressure from the British Foreign Office and performed the Nazi salute during a friendly match on 14 May 1938.^[2] Despite this diplomatic protocol the Birmingham Gazette reported the performance of Villa's Frank Broome beside headline, “GESTAPO”, in which it detailed the surveillance of 20,000 Germans in England by the German Secret Police.

The atmosphere in the Villa's first match against a German Select XI was in marked contrast to the England game with continual jeering and whistling. Villa's use of the offside trap was frustrating to the unfamiliar German players and fans. When future Villa manager, Alex Massie fouled Camillo Jerusalem, the referee needed to separate the teams. Hostility from the 110,000 crowd intensified when the Villa players left the pitch without the required Nazi salute and Joseph Goebbels was called to suppress subsequent hostile German press coverage.^[3]

The second game, in Düsseldorf, passed without incident but, following the third match, in Stuttgart, SS guards and Stormtroopers were needed to protect the players from the crowd.^[3] During the war TIME Magazine reported that the Villa reserve team, all captured at Dunkirk, thrashed their captor SS guards.^[4]

There were debuts for Frank Shell, Bill Carey, Tommy Clayton and Jeff Barker.^[5]

Second Division

Pos	Team	Pld	HW	HD	HL	HGF	HGA	AW	AD	AL	AGF	AGA	GAv	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Aston Villa	42	17	2	2	50	12	8	5	8	23	23	2.086	57	Division Champions, promoted
2	Manchester United	42	15	3	3	50	18	7	6	8	32	32	1.640	53	Promoted
3	Sheffield United	42	15	4	2	46	19	7	5	9	27	37	1.304	53
4	Coventry City	42	12	5	4	31	15	8	7	6	35	30	1.467	52
5	Tottenham Hotspur	42	14	3	4	46	16	5	3	13	30	38	1.407	44
6	Burnley	42	15	4	2	35	11	2	6	13	19	43	1.000	44
7	Bradford Park Avenue	42	13	4	4	51	22	4	5	12	18	34	1.232	43
8	Fulham	42	10	7	4	44	23	6	4	11	17	34	1.070	43
9	West Ham United	42	13	5	3	34	16	1	9	11	19	36	1.019	42
10	Bury	42	12	3	6	43	26	6	2	13	20	34	1.050	41
11	Chesterfield	42	12	2	7	39	24	4	7	10	24	39	1.000	41
12	Luton Town	42	10	6	5	53	36	5	4	12	36	50	1.035	40
13	Plymouth Argyle	42	10	7	4	40	30	4	5	12	17	35	0.877	40
14	Norwich City	42	11	5	5	35	28	3	6	12	21	47	0.747	39
15	Southampton	42	12	6	3	42	26	3	3	15	13	51	0.714	39
16	Blackburn Rovers	42	13	6	2	51	30	1	4	16	20	50	0.888	38
17	Sheffield Wednesday	42	10	5	6	27	21	4	5	12	22	35	0.875	38
18	Swansea Town	42	12	6	3	31	21	1	6	14	14	52	0.616	38
19	Newcastle United	42	12	4	5	38	18	2	4	15	13	40	0.879	36
20	Nottingham Forest	42	12	3	6	29	21	2	5	14	18	39	0.783	36
21	Barnsley	42	7	11	3	30	20	4	3	14	20	44	0.781	36	Relegated
22	Stockport County	42	8	6	7	24	24	3	3	15	19	46	0.614	31

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

See also

• List of Aston Villa F.C. records and statistics

References

1. "Aston Villa Football Club | the official club website".
2. Football, fascism and England's Nazi salute Archived 31 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine, BBC Magazine, 22 September 2003
3. "Aston Villa, the Offside Trap and the Nazi Salute". 29 June 2018.
4. Game Called. TIME Magazine, 0040781X, 1/13/1941, Vol. 37, Issue 2
5. "Aston Villa's Seasons". AVFC History.

External links

• avfchistory.co.uk The Matches