1951–52 Brentford F.C. season

During the 1951–52 English football season, Brentford competed in the Football League Second Division. The Bees secured a third-consecutive top 10 finish and reached the fourth round of the FA Cup, taking Luton Town to two replays before being knocked out.

Brentford

1951–52 season
Chairman	Frank Davis
Secretary-Manager	Jackie Gibbons
Stadium	Griffin Park
Second Division	10th
FA Cup	Fourth round
Top goalscorer	League: Dare (14) All: Dare (16)
Highest home attendance	35,827
Lowest home attendance	10,243
Average home league attendance	23,022
Home colours
← 1950–51 1952–53 →

Season summary

After two consecutive 9th-place finishes in the Second Division, Brentford manager Jackie Gibbons elected to keep his squad together for the 1951–52 season, with former Brighton & Hove Albion utility player Frank Morrad being his only first team signing.^[1]

Aided by the goalscoring of full back-cum-centre forward Fred Monk, Brentford showed excellent form in the first half of the season and just five losses in the opening 21 matches put the club into the promotion places.^[2] The push for promotion was derailed during the Christmas period, after consecutive defeats to Southampton on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.^[3] A dressing room ruckus ensued between manager Gibbons on one side and half backs Ron Greenwood and Jimmy Hill on the other.^[4] The bust-up resulted in Greenwood and Hill requesting transfers, with Hill eventually moving to local rivals Fulham in March 1952 in exchange for inside forward Jimmy Bowie.^[4]

Centre forward Billy Dare came into goalscoring in the second half of the season,^[5] but the disruption to the Harper-Hill-Greenwood half back line (Greenwood later rescinded his transfer request) led to an increase in the number of goals conceded and Brentford drifted out of contention for promotion to finish in 10th place.^[2] Amid much fanfare, former England international Tommy Lawton was signed for a club record £16,000 fee in March 1952,^[6] but he managed to contribute only two goals in his 10 appearances.^[5] In 2010, full back Ken Horne commented that "I'm sure we could have gone up that year but the spirit completely went out the team. We'd got by on spirit. The team had been kept together for so long that they had been fighting for each other".^[3]

The end of the season saw the retirement of Brentford's final two players signed prior to the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 – goalkeeper Ted Gaskell and utility man Tom Manley.^[7] Both received a joint-testimonial in April 1954.^[7]

League table

Main article: 1951–52 Football League Second Division

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts
8	Luton Town	42	16	12	14	77	78	0.987	44
9	Rotherham United	42	17	8	17	73	71	1.028	42
10	Brentford	42	15	12	15	54	55	0.982	42
11	Sheffield United	42	18	5	19	90	76	1.184	41
12	West Ham United	42	15	11	16	67	77	0.870	41

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal average; 3) Goals scored

Results

Brentford's goal tally listed first.

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League Second Division

No.	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorer(s)	Notes
1	18 August 1951	Leeds United	A	1–1	20,268	Paton
2	22 August 1951	Everton	A	0–1	32,722
3	25 August 1951	Rotherham United	H	2–0	24,904	Sperrin, Monk
4	27 August 1951	Everton	H	1–0	19,525	Sperrin
5	1 September 1951	Cardiff City	A	0–2	27,772
6	5 September 1951	Doncaster Rovers	A	2–1	21,154	Goodwin, Monk (pen)
7	8 September 1951	Birmingham City	H	1–0	25,029	Monk
8	15 September 1951	Leicester City	A	1–1	23,757	Monk
9	22 September 1951	Nottingham Forest	H	1–1	26,350	Hill
10	29 September 1951	Queens Park Rangers	A	1–3	25,339	Monk
11	6 October 1951	Notts County	H	1–0	28,214	Coote
12	13 October 1951	Luton Town	A	2–0	18,521	Sperrin, Monk
13	20 October 1951	Bury	H	4–0	20,726	Sperrin (2), Coote, Paton
14	27 October 1951	Swansea Town	A	1–1	19,235	Sperrin
15	3 November 1951	Coventry City	H	4–0	22,899	Monk
16	10 November 1951	West Ham United	A	0–1	26,288
17	17 November 1951	Sheffield United	H	4–1	26,288	Paton, Monk (2), Sperrin
18	24 November 1951	Barnsley	A	0–0	10,149
19	1 December 1951	Hull City	H	2–1	26,072	Monk (2)
20	8 December 1951	Blackburn Rovers	A	0–3	13,617
21	15 December 1951	Leeds United	H	2–1	17,957	Dare (2)
22	22 December 1951	Rotherham United	A	1–1	14,809	Monk
23	25 December 1951	Southampton	H	1–2	25,841	Dare
24	26 December 1951	Southampton	A	1–2	21,625	Sperrin
25	29 December 1951	Cardiff City	H	1–1	27,547	Paton
26	5 January 1952	Birmingham City	A	2–1	28,368	Dare, Badham (og)
27	19 January 1952	Leicester City	H	1–3	19,923	Dare
28	26 January 1952	Nottingham Forest	A	0–2	21,649
29	9 February 1952	Queens Park Rangers	H	0–0	25,645
30	16 February 1952	Notts County	A	2–5	22,503	Dare, Sperrin
31	1 March 1952	Luton Town	H	3–3	21,218	Dare (2), Horne
32	8 March 1952	Bury	A	0–1	12,140
33	15 March 1952	Swansea Town	H	3–1	29,753	Coote, Dare (2)
34	22 March 1952	Coventry City	A	1–2	27,577	Dare
35	5 April 1952	Sheffield United	A	4–1	23,435	Lawton, Paton, Dare, Harper
36	11 April 1952	Sheffield Wednesday	H	2–3	35,827	Bragg, Dare
37	12 April 1952	Barnsley	H	1–1	19,912	Goodwin
38	14 April 1952	Sheffield Wednesday	A	0–2	43,935
39	19 April 1952	Hull City	A	1–4	30,891	Dare
40	21 April 1952	West Ham United	H	1–1	12,563	Lawton	[nb 1]
41	26 April 1952	Blackburn Rovers	H	1–1	16,195	Slater
42	30 April 1952	Doncaster Rovers	H	1–0	10,243	Morrad

FA Cup

Main article: 1951–52 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorer(s)	Notes
3R	12 January 1952	Queens Park Rangers	H	3–1	35,000	Coote, Paton, Sperrin
4R	2 February 1952	Luton Town	A	2–2	25,320	Sperrin (2)
4R (replay)	6 February 1952	Luton Town	H	0–0 (a.e.t.)	29,500
4R (2nd replay)	18 February 1952	Luton Town	N	2–3 (a.e.t.)	37,269	Dare (2)	[nb 2]

• Sources: 100 Years Of Brentford,^[5] Statto, 11v11

Playing squad

Players' ages are as of the opening day of the 1951–52 season.

Pos.	Name	Nat.	Date of birth (age)	Signed from	Signed in	Notes
Goalkeepers
GK	Ted Gaskell		(1916-12-19)19 December 1916 (aged 34)	Buxton	1937
GK	Alf Jefferies		(1922-02-09)9 February 1922 (aged 29)	Oxford City	1945
GK	Reg Newton		(1926-06-30)30 June 1926 (aged 25)	Leyton Orient	1949
Defenders
DF	Wally Bragg		(1929-07-08)8 July 1929 (aged 22)	Twickenham Celtic	1946
DF	Ian Dargie		(1931-10-03)3 October 1931 (aged 19)	Tonbridge	1952
DF	Ken Horne		(1926-06-25)25 June 1926 (aged 25)	Blackpool	1950
DF	Tecwyn Jones		(1930-01-03)3 January 1930 (aged 21)	Holywell Town	1950
DF	Frank Morrad		(1920-02-28)28 February 1920 (aged 31)	Brighton & Hove Albion	1951
DF	Roddy Munro		(1920-07-27)27 July 1920 (aged 31)	Rangers	1946
Midfielders
HB	George Bristow		(1933-06-25)25 June 1933 (aged 18)	Youth	1950
HB	Ron Greenwood (c)		(1921-11-11)11 November 1921 (aged 29)	Bradford Park Avenue	1949
HB	Tony Harper		(1925-05-26)26 May 1925 (aged 26)	Headington United	1948
HB	Frank Latimer		(1923-10-03)3 October 1923 (aged 27)	Snowdown Colliery Welfare	1945
HB	Bill Slater		(1927-04-29)29 April 1927 (aged 24)	Blackpool	1951	Amateur
Forwards
FW	Jimmy Bowie		(1924-08-09)9 August 1924 (aged 27)	Fulham	1952
FW	Ken Coote		(1928-05-19)19 May 1928 (aged 23)	Wembley	1949
FW	Billy Dare		(1927-02-14)14 February 1927 (aged 24)	Hendon	1948
FW	Verdi Godwin		(1926-02-11)11 February 1926 (aged 25)	Grimsby Town	1952
FW	Jackie Goodwin		(1920-09-29)29 September 1920 (aged 30)	Birmingham City	1949
FW	Tommy Lawton		(1919-10-06)6 October 1919 (aged 31)	Notts County	1952
FW	Terry Ledgerton		(1930-10-07)7 October 1930 (aged 20)	Huyton	1950
FW	Fred Monk		(1920-10-09)9 October 1920 (aged 30)	Guildford City	1948
FW	Johnny Paton		(1923-04-02)2 April 1923 (aged 28)	Celtic	1949
FW	Billy Sperrin		(1922-04-09)9 April 1922 (aged 29)	Guildford City	1949
Players who left the club mid-season
HB	Jimmy Hill		(1928-07-22)22 July 1928 (aged 23)	Reading	1949	Transferred to Fulham

• Sources: 100 Years Of Brentford,^[5] Timeless Bees^[8]

Coaching staff

Name	Role
Jackie Gibbons	Secretary-Manager
Jimmy Bain	Assistant Manager
David Richards	Trainer
Jack Cartmell	Assistant Trainer
Jimmy Hogan	Assistant Trainer

Statistics

Appearances and goals

Jefferies

Horne

Munro

Greenwood (c)

Harper

Hill

Coote

Sperrin

Goodwin

Paton

Monk

Brentford's highest appearance-makers in each position during the Football League season.

Pos	Nat	Name	League		FA Cup		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK		Ted Gaskell	15	0	4	0	19	0
GK		Alf Jefferies	17	0	0	0	17	0
GK		Reg Newton	10	0	0	0	10	0
DF		Wally Bragg	10	1	0	0	10	1
DF		Ian Dargie	1	0	—		1	0
DF		Ken Horne	34	1	4	0	38	1
DF		Tecwyn Jones	1	0	0	0	1	0
DF		Frank Morrad	1	1	0	0	1	1
DF		Roddy Munro	40	0	4	0	44	0
HB		George Bristow	2	0	0	0	2	0
HB		Ron Greenwood	37	0	3	0	40	0
HB		Tony Harper	37	1	4	0	41	1
HB		Jimmy Hill	27	1	3	0	30	1
HB		Frank Latimer	4	0	1	0	5	0
HB		Bill Slater	7	1	1	0	8	1
FW		Jimmy Bowie	9	0	—		9	0
FW		Ken Coote	24	3	4	1	28	4
FW		Billy Dare	42	14	4	2	46	16
FW		Verdi Godwin	1	0	—		1	0
FW		Jackie Goodwin	21	2	2	0	23	2
FW		Tommy Lawton	10	2	—		10	2
FW		Terry Ledgerton	5	0	1	0	6	0
FW		Fred Monk	40	12	2	0	42	12
FW		Johnny Paton	36	5	3	1	39	6
FW		Billy Sperrin	31	9	4	2	35	11

• Players listed in italics left the club mid-season.
• Source: 100 Years Of Brentford^[5]

Goalscorers

Pos.	Nat	Player	FL2	FAC	Total
FW		Billy Dare	14	2	16
FW		Fred Monk	12	0	12
FW		Billy Sperrin	9	2	11
FW		Johnny Paton	5	1	6
FW		Ken Coote	3	1	4
FW		Tommy Lawton	2	—	2
FW		Jackie Goodwin	2	0	2
DF		Wally Bragg	1	0	1
HB		Tony Harper	1	0	1
HB		Jimmy Hill	1	0	1
DF		Ken Horne	1	0	1
DF		Frank Morrad	1	0	1
HB		Bill Slater	1	0	1
Opponents			1	0	1
Total			54	7	61

• Players listed in italics left the club mid-season.
• Source: 100 Years Of Brentford^[5]

Amateur international caps

Pos.	Nat	Player	Caps	Goals	Ref
HB		Bill Slater	5	0	[9]

Management

Name	Nat	From	To	Record All Comps					Record League
				P	W	D	L	W %	P	W	D	L	W %
Jackie Gibbons		18 August 1951	30 April 1952	46	16	14	16	034.78	42	15	12	15	035.71

Summary

Games played	46 (42 Second Division, 4 FA Cup)
Games won	16 (15 Second Division, 1 FA Cup)
Games drawn	14 (12 Second Division, 2 FA Cup)
Games lost	16 (15 Second Division, 1 FA Cup)
Goals scored	61 (54 Second Division, 7 FA Cup)
Goals conceded	61 (55 Second Division, 6 FA Cup)
Clean sheets	11 (10 Second Division, 1 FA Cup)
Biggest league win	4–0 on two occasions
Worst league defeat	3–0 versus Blackburn Rovers, 8 December 1951; 4–1 versus Hull City, 19 April 1952; 5–2 versus Notts County, 16 February 1952
Most appearances	46, Billy Dare (42 Second Division, 4 FA Cup)
Top scorer (league)	14, Billy Dare
Top scorer (all competitions)	16, Billy Dare

Transfers & loans

Players transferred in
Date	Pos.	Name	Previous Club	Fee	Ref.
May 1951	DF	George Lowden	Unattached	Amateur	[10]
August 1951	DF	Frank Morrad	Brighton & Hove Albion	n/a	[1]
September 1951	HB	Mike Skivington	Gillingham	n/a	[11]
December 1951	GK	Dave Jones	Dover	n/a	[12]
December 1951	HB	Bill Slater	Blackpool	Amateur	[13]
25 February 1952	DF	Ian Dargie	Tonbridge	n/a	[14]
March 1952	FW	Jimmy Bowie	Fulham	Exchange	[4]
March 1952	FW	Verdi Godwin	Grimsby Town	n/a	[15]
March 1952	FW	Tommy Lawton	Notts County	£16,000	[6]
Players transferred out
Date	Pos.	Name	Subsequent club	Fee	Ref.
December 1951	n/a	Jack Nicholson	Dundee United	n/a	[16]
March 1952	HB	Jimmy Hill	Fulham	Exchange	[4]
Players released
Date	Pos.	Name	Subsequent club	Join date	Ref.
May 1952	GK	Ted Gaskell	Retired		[17]
May 1952	FW	Bernard Kelly	Deal Town	1952	[18]
May 1952	HB	Tom Manley	Retired		[7]
May 1952	FW	Tommy Mycock	Tranmere Rovers	May 1952	[19]
May 1952	HB	Mike Skivington	Retired		[11]

Notes

1. The original fixture on 29 March 1952 was abandoned at half time due to snow, with the score at 1–1.
2. Match played at Arsenal Stadium, London.

References

1. Haynes & Coumbe 2006, p. 110-111.
2. "Brentford results for the 1951–1952 season". Statto.com. Archived from the original on 10 September 2016. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
3. Bruzon, Nick. "Where Are They Now? Ken Horne – Part 2". Archived from the original on 15 February 2018. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
4. White 1989, p. 202-207.
5. White, Eric, ed. (1989). 100 Years Of Brentford. Brentford FC. p. 381. ISBN 0951526200.
6. Haynes & Coumbe 2006, p. 95-96.
7. Haynes & Coumbe 2006, p. 99-100.
8. Haynes, Graham; Coumbe, Frank (2006). Timeless Bees: Brentford F.C. Who's Who 1920–2006. Yore Publications. ISBN 978-0955294914.
9. "England Matches – The Amateurs 1947–1962". www.englandfootballonline.com. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
10. Haynes & Coumbe 2006, p. 98.
11. "Mike Skivington". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
12. "Dave Jones". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
13. Haynes & Coumbe 2006, p. 146.
14. "Ian Dargie 1931–2015". www.brentfordfc.com. Retrieved 31 August 2024.
15. Haynes & Coumbe 2006, p. 67.
16. "Player Appearances and goalscoring records – N". Scottish Football Historical Archive. p. 577. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
17. Lane, David (2005). Cult Bees & Legends: Volume Two. Hampton Hill: Legends Publishing. pp. 98–115. ISBN 0954368282.
18. Haynes & Coumbe 2006, p. 91.
19. "Tommy Mycock". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 19 June 2016.