1950–51 Colchester United F.C. season

Colchester United

1950–51 season
Chairman	Bill Allen[1]
Manager	Jimmy Allen
Stadium	Layer Road
Third Division South	16th
FA Cup	1st round (eliminated by Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic)
Top goalscorer	League: Arthur Turner (13) All: Arthur Turner (15)
Highest home attendance	14,199 v Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic, 7 September 1950[2]
Lowest home attendance	6,941 v Gillingham, 16 December 1950[3]
Average home league attendance	10,571[4]
Biggest win	7–1 v Woodford Town, 11 November 1950
Biggest defeat	1–7 v Plymouth Argyle, 28 October 1950
Home colours
← 1949–50 1951–52 →

The 1950–51 season was Colchester United's ninth season in their history and their first ever season in the Football League, competing in the Third Division South, the third tier of English football. Alongside competing in the Third Division South, the club also participated in the FA Cup. The club ended the league season in 16th-position, while they exited the FA Cup in the first round following a defeat to Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic.

Season overview

Colchester's first–ever game in the Football League was against their old Southern League rivals Gillingham at Priestfield Stadium on 19 August 1950. A crowd of 19,542 witnessed the 0–0 draw between the sides. Five days later, Bob Curry scored the U's first–ever Football League goal during a 1–1 draw at Swindon Town, but it was not until 31 August that the Layer Road crowd were able to enjoy its first Football League goal for the home side. Arthur Turner, the season's top–scorer with 15 goals, struck five minutes into a 4–1 win in the return game with Swindon. Colchester remained unbeaten in their first seven games, a run that equalled a record for new clubs entering the Football League set by Aberdare Athletic in 1921–22.

After occupying second position in the Third Division South table, the U's suffered a slump in form, losing nine of the next ten games. They finished the season in 16th-position, averaging 10,571 through the Layer Road turnstiles. It would be the only season that Layer Road would host a five-figure season average.^[5]

Players

As of match played 5 May 1951.^[6]

Name	Position	Nationality	Place of birth	Date of birth	Apps	Goals	Signed from	Date signed	Fee
Goalkeepers
George Wright	GK		Plymouth	(1919-10-10)10 October 1919 (aged 30)	54	0	Plymouth Argyle	May 1949	£1,000
Defenders
George French	FB		Colchester	(1926-11-10)10 November 1926 (aged 23)	0	0	West Ham United	February 1949	Free transfer
John Harrison	FB		Leicester	(1927-09-27)27 September 1927 (aged 22)	0	0	Aston Villa	30 September 1950[a]	Nominal
Digger Kettle	FB		Colchester	(1922-06-03)3 June 1922 (aged 27)	150	1	Arclight Sports	September 1946	Free transfer
Trevor Rowlands	FB		Wattstown	(1922-02-02)2 February 1922 (aged 28)	0	0	Norwich City	20 July 1950	£1,000
Reg Stewart	CB		Sheffield	(1925-10-30)30 October 1925 (aged 24)	51	0	Sheffield Wednesday	20 August 1949[a]	£1,000
Midfielders
Harry Bearryman	WH		Wandsworth	(1924-09-26)26 September 1924 (aged 25)	146	9	Chelsea	4 July 1947	Free transfer
Jimmy Elder	WH		Scone	(1928-03-05)5 March 1928 (aged 22)	0	0	Portsmouth	19 August 1950[a]	£1,000
Len Jones	WH		Barnsley	(1913-06-09)9 June 1913 (aged 36)	0	0	Southend United	19 August 1950[a]	Undisclosed
John Moore	WH		Chiswick	(1923-09-25)25 September 1923 (aged 26)	13	0	Brentford	8 September 1949[a]	£1,000
Forwards
Bob Allen	WG		Bromley-by-Bow	(1916-10-11)11 October 1916 (aged 33)	89	6	Gainsborough Trinity	13 June 1946	Free transfer
Peter Aitchison	WG		Harlow	(1931-09-19)19 September 1931 (aged 18)	0	0	Amateur	August 1950	Free transfer
John Church	WG		Lowestoft	(1919-09-17)17 September 1919 (aged 30)	0	0	Norwich City	19 August 1950[a]	£1,000
Dick Cullum	FW		Colchester	(1931-01-28)28 January 1931 (aged 19)	0	0	Colchester Colts	28 March 1951[a]	Free transfer
Bob Curry	IF		Gateshead	(1918-11-02)2 November 1918 (aged 31)	172	90	Northampton Town	13 June 1947	Free transfer
Fred Cutting	IF		North Walsham	(1921-12-04)4 December 1921 (aged 28)	125	55	Norwich City	6 December 1947[a]	Free transfer
Dennis Hillman	WG		Southend-on-Sea	(1918-11-27)27 November 1918 (aged 31)	136	27	Brighton & Hove Albion	21 September 1946	Free transfer
Vic Keeble	CF		Colchester	(1930-06-25)25 June 1930 (aged 19)	81	63	King George Youth Club	23 May 1947	£10
Johnny McKim	IF		Greenock	(1926-01-22)22 January 1926 (aged 24)	0	0	Chelsea	19 August 1950[a]	£1,000
Arthur Turner	CF		Poplar	(1921-01-22)22 January 1921 (aged 29)	117	83	Charlton Athletic	September 1946	Free transfer

Transfers

In

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
20 July 1950	FB		Trevor Rowlands	Norwich City	£1,000	[7]
August 1950	FB		Bill Rochford	Southampton	£1,000	[8]
August 1950	WG		Peter Aitchison	Amateur	Free	[9]
19 August 1950	WH		Jimmy Elder	Portsmouth	£1,000	[10][a]
19 August 1950	WH		Len Jones	Southend United	Undisclosed	[11][a]
19 August 1950	WG		John Church	Norwich City	£1,000	[12][a]
19 August 1950	IF		Johnny McKim	Chelsea	£1,000	[13][a]
30 September 1950	FB		John Harrison	Aston Villa	Nominal	[14][a]
30 September 1950	WH		Joe Locherty	Sheffield Wednesday	£1,000	[15][a]
17 February 1951	GK		Barney Bircham	Grimsby Town	£800	[16][a]
26 March 1951	FW		Dick Cullum	Colchester Colts	Free	[17][a]

• Total spending: ~ £6,800

Out

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
End of season	GK		Ken Whitehead	Whitton United	Released	[18]
End of season	WG		Stan Foxall	Chelmsford City	Released	[19]
End of season	CF		Denis Maffey	Great Yarmouth Town	Free	[20]
End of season	OL		Bob Neville	Clacton Town	Released	[21]
6 May 1950	FB		Doug Beach	Chelmsford City	Free	[22][a]
20 January 1951	WH		Joe Locherty	Scarborough	Released	[15][a]
24 February 1951	FB		Bill Rochford	Retired	Retired	[8][a]
24 March 1951	GK		Barney Bircham	Free agent	Released	[16][a]
26 March 1951	WG		José Gallego	Cambridge United	Released	[23][a]
28 April 1951	WH		Bill Layton	Harwich & Parkeston	Player-manager	[24][a]

Match details

Third Division South

Results round by round

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts
14	Exeter City	46	18	6	22	62	85	0.729	42
15	Walsall	46	15	10	21	52	62	0.839	40
16	Colchester United[a]	46	14	12	20	63	76	0.829	40
17	Swindon Town	46	18	4	24	55	67	0.821	40
18	Aldershot	46	15	10	21	56	88	0.636	40

Matches

FA Cup

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

^[6][25]

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Third Division South		FA Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
	GK	ENG	George Wright	41	0	39	0	2	0
	DF	ENG	John Harrison	33	0	31	0	2	0
	DF	ENG	Digger Kettle	15	0	15	0	0	0
	DF	WAL	Trevor Rowlands	15	1	15	1	0	0
	DF	ENG	Reg Stewart	48	0	46	0	2	0
	MF	ENG	Harry Bearryman	48	0	46	0	2	0
	MF	SCO	Jimmy Elder	46	4	45	4	1	0
	MF	ENG	Len Jones	43	3	41	2	2	1
	FW	ENG	Bob Allen	31	1	29	1	2	0
	FW	ENG	John Church	42	10	40	10	2	0
	FW	ENG	Dick Cullum	1	1	1	1	0	0
	FW	ENG	Bob Curry	34	14	32	12	2	2
	FW	ENG	Fred Cutting	12	4	11	3	1	1
	FW	ENG	Dennis Hillman	4	0	4	0	0	0
	FW	ENG	Vic Keeble	21	7	21	7	0	0
	FW	SCO	Johnny McKim	24	8	24	8	0	0
	FW	ENG	Arthur Turner	38	15	36	13	2	2
Players who appeared for Colchester who left during the season
	GK	ENG	Barney Bircham	7	0	7	0	0	0
	DF	ENG	Bill Rochford	2	0	2	0	0	0
	MF	ENG	Bill Layton	8	1	7	0	1	1
	MF	SCO	Joe Locherty	11	1	10	1	1	0
	FW	ESP	José Gallego	4	0	4	0	0	0

Goalscorers

^[25]

Place	Nationality	Position	Name	Third Division South	FA Cup	Total
1		CF	Arthur Turner	13	2	15
2		IF	Bob Curry	12	2	14
3		WG	John Church	10	0	10
4		IF	Johnny McKim	8	0	8
5		CF	Vic Keeble	7	0	7
6		IF	Fred Cutting	3	1	4
		WH	Jimmy Elder	4	0	4
8		WH	Len Jones	2	1	3
9		WG	Bob Allen	1	0	1
		FW	Dick Cullum	1	0	1
		WH	Bill Layton	0	1	1
		WH	Joe Locherty	1	0	1
		FB	Trevor Rowlands	1	0	1
			Own goals	0	0	0
			TOTALS	63	7	70

Clean sheets

Number of games goalkeepers kept a clean sheet.^[26]

Place	Nationality	Player	Third Division South	FA Cup	Total
1		George Wright	8	0	8
2		Barney Bircham	1	0	1
		TOTALS	9	0	9

Player debuts

Players making their first-team Colchester United debut in a fully competitive match.^[27]

Position	Nationality	Player	Date	Opponent	Ground	Notes
WH		Jimmy Elder	19 August 1950	Gillingham	Priestfield Stadium
WH		Len Jones	19 August 1950	Gillingham	Priestfield Stadium
WG		John Church	19 August 1950	Gillingham	Priestfield Stadium
IF		Johnny McKim	19 August 1950	Gillingham	Priestfield Stadium
FB		John Harrison	30 September 1950	Northampton Town	County Ground
WH		Joe Locherty	30 September 1950	Northampton Town	County Ground
GK		Barney Bircham	17 February 1951	Northampton Town	Layer Road
FB		Bill Rochford	17 February 1951	Northampton Town	Layer Road
FB		Trevor Rowlands	3 March 1951	Southend United	Layer Road
FW		Dick Cullum	26 March 1951	Torquay United	Plainmoor

See also

• List of Colchester United F.C. seasons

References

General

Books

• Whitehead, Jeff; Drury, Kevin (2008). The Who's Who of Colchester United: The Layer Road Years. Derby: Breedon Books. ISBN 978-1-85983-629-3.
• Ambrosen, Tony (1993). Amber in the Blood: A History Of Newport County. Uxbridge: Yore Publications. ISBN 978-1-874427-40-7.
• Kent, Jeff (1990). The Valiants' Years: The Story of Port Vale. Stafford: Witan Books. ISBN 0-9508981-4-7.

Websites

• "Colchester United football club match record: 1951". 11v11.com. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
• "Statistics 1950/51". The Millwall History Files. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
• "1950/51 to 1959/60" (PDF). Watford Football Club archive 1881–2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 24 March 2016.

Specific