1951–52 Colchester United F.C. season

Colchester United

1951–52 season
Chairman	Bill Allen[1]
Manager	Jimmy Allen
Stadium	Layer Road
Third Division South	10th
FA Cup	3rd round (eliminated by Barnsley)
Top goalscorer	League: Vic Keeble (16) All: Vic Keeble (17)
Highest home attendance	15,175 v Ipswich Town, 1 March 1952[2]
Lowest home attendance	6,128 v Watford, 3 May 1952[3]
Average home league attendance	9,429[4]
Biggest win	4–1 v Bristol City, 20 October 1951; 4–1 v Reading, 3 April 1952
Biggest defeat	0–7 v Leyton Orient, 5 January 1952
Home colours
← 1950–51 1952–53 →

The 1951–52 season was Colchester United's tenth season in their history and their second season 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. Colchester reached the third round of the FA Cup before being knocked out by Second Division side Barnsley. In the league, they bettered the previous season's 16th-placed finish by finishing 10th.

Season overview

Colchester's 1951–52 season began poorly, with six defeats in the opening seven games due to an injury-ravaged squad. Rooted to the foot of the table, a mid-season revival including a double over local rivals Ipswich Town eventually saw the U's finish the season 10th in the final standings.

Vic Keeble became Colchester's first export that commanded a high transfer fee when he moved to First Division Newcastle United for a £15,000 fee in January 1952. Despite his mid-season sale, Keeble remained the top scorer for the U's with 17 goals. Manager Jimmy Allen signed Kevin McCurley from Liverpool for £750 as a replacement for Keeble in March 1952. He scored six times in eleven games during the final two months of the campaign.^[5]

Players

As of match played 3 May 1952.^[6]

Name	Position	Nationality	Place of birth	Date of birth	Apps	Goals	Signed from	Date signed	Fee
Goalkeepers
Frank Coombs	GK		East Ham	(1925-04-24)24 April 1925 (aged 26)	0	0	Southend United	8 March 1952[a]	£450
George Wright	GK		Plymouth	(1919-10-10)10 October 1919 (aged 31)	95	0	Plymouth Argyle	May 1949	£1,000
Defenders
George French	FB		Colchester	(1926-11-10)10 November 1926 (aged 24)	0	0	West Ham United	February 1949	Free transfer
John Harrison	FB		Leicester	(1927-09-27)27 September 1927 (aged 23)	33	0	Aston Villa	30 September 1950[a]	Nominal
Digger Kettle	FB		Colchester	(1922-06-03)3 June 1922 (aged 28)	165	1	Arclight Sports	September 1946	Free transfer
Phil Rookes	FB		Dulverton	(1919-04-23)23 April 1919 (aged 32)	0	0	Portsmouth	July 1951	£1,000
Trevor Rowlands	FB		Wattstown	(1922-02-02)2 February 1922 (aged 29)	15	1	Norwich City	20 July 1950	£1,000
Reg Stewart	CB		Sheffield	(1925-10-30)30 October 1925 (aged 25)	99	0	Sheffield Wednesday	20 August 1949[a]	£1,000
Midfielders
Harry Bearryman	WH		Wandsworth	(1924-09-26)26 September 1924 (aged 26)	194	9	Chelsea	4 July 1947	Free transfer
Jimmy Elder	WH		Scone	(1928-03-05)5 March 1928 (aged 23)	46	4	Portsmouth	19 August 1950[a]	£1,000
Trevor Harris	WH		Colchester	(1936-02-06)6 February 1936 (aged 15)	0	0	Amateur	July 1951	Free transfer
Ron Hunt	WH		Colchester	(1933-09-26)26 September 1933 (aged 17)	0	0	Amateur	October 1951	Free transfer
Len Jones	WH		Barnsley	(1913-06-09)9 June 1913 (aged 37)	43	3	Southend United	19 August 1950[a]	Undisclosed
John Moore	WH		Chiswick	(1923-09-25)25 September 1923 (aged 27)	13	0	Brentford	8 September 1949[a]	£1,000
Harry Wilkinson	WH		Sunderland	(1926-03-20)20 March 1926 (aged 25)	0	0	Exeter City	1951	Free transfer
Forwards
Peter Aitchison	WG		Harlow	(1931-09-19)19 September 1931 (aged 19)	0	0	Amateur	August 1950	Free transfer
John Church	WG		Lowestoft	(1919-09-17)17 September 1919 (aged 31)	42	10	Norwich City	19 August 1950[a]	£1,000
Dick Cullum	FW		Colchester	(1931-01-28)28 January 1931 (aged 20)	0	0	Colchester Colts	28 March 1951[a]	Free transfer
Adam Davidson	WG		Invergowrie	(1929-11-18)18 November 1929 (aged 21)	0	0	Sheffield Wednesday	August 1951	Free transfer
Jack McClelland	FW		Colchester	(1930-08-11)11 August 1930 (aged 20)	0	0	Amateur	Summer 1951	Free transfer
Kevin McCurley	CF		Consett	(1926-04-02)2 April 1926 (aged 25)	0	0	Liverpool	June 1951	£750
Johnny McKim	IF		Greenock	(1926-01-22)22 January 1926 (aged 25)	24	8	Chelsea	19 August 1950[a]	£1,000
Augie Scott	IF		Sunderland	(1921-02-19)19 February 1921 (aged 30)	0	0	Southampton	18 August 1951[a]	£2,000
Arthur Turner	CF		Poplar	(1921-01-22)22 January 1921 (aged 30)	155	98	Charlton Athletic	September 1946	Free transfer
Peter Wright	WG		Colchester	(1934-01-26)26 January 1934 (aged 17)	0	0	Amateur	November 1951	Free transfer

Transfers

In

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
1951	WH		Harry Wilkinson	Exeter City	Free transfer	[7]
Summer 1951	FW		Jack McClelland	Amateur	Free transfer	[8][9]
June 1951	CF		Kevin McCurley	Liverpool	£750	[10]
July 1951	WH		Trevor Harris	Amateur	Free transfer	[11]
July 1951	FB		Phil Rookes	Portsmouth	£1,000	[12]
August 1951	WG		Adam Davidson	Sheffield Wednesday	Free transfer	[13]
18 August 1951	IF		Augie Scott	Southampton	£2,000	[14][a]
October 1951	WH		Ron Hunt	Amateur	Free transfer	[15]
November 1951	WG		Peter Wright	Amateur	Free transfer	[16]
8 March 1952	GK		Frank Coombs	Southend United	£450	[17][a]

• Total spending: ~ £4,200

Out

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
End of season	IF		Bob Curry	Clacton Town	Player-manager	[18]
August 1951	WG		Bob Allen	Bedford Town	Free transfer	[19]
2 November 1951	WG		Dennis Hillman	Gillingham	Free transfer	[20]
29 January 1952	CF		Vic Keeble	Newcastle United	£15,000	[21]
23 February 1952	IF		Fred Cutting	Great Yarmouth Town	Free transfer	[22][a]

• Total incoming: ~ £15,000

Match details

Third Division South

Results round by round

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts
8	Northampton Town	46	22	5	19	93	74	1.257	49
9	Southend United	46	19	10	17	75	66	1.136	48
10	Colchester United	46	17	12	17	56	77	0.727	46
11	Torquay United	46	17	10	19	86	98	0.878	44
12	Aldershot	46	18	8	20	78	89	0.876	44

Matches

FA Cup

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

^[6][23]

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Third Division South		FA Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
	GK	ENG	Frank Coombs	13	0	13	0	0	0
	GK	ENG	George Wright	36	0	33	0	3	0
	DF	ENG	John Harrison	44	0	41	0	3	0
	DF	ENG	Digger Kettle	3	0	3	0	0	0
	DF	ENG	Phil Rookes	28	0	25	0	3	0
	DF	WAL	Trevor Rowlands	26	1	26	1	0	0
	DF	ENG	Reg Stewart	47	0	44	0	3	0
	MF	ENG	Harry Bearryman	49	0	46	0	3	0
	MF	SCO	Jimmy Elder	47	3	44	2	3	1
	MF	ENG	Ron Hunt	3	0	3	0	0	0
	MF	ENG	Len Jones	18	1	17	1	1	0
	MF	ENG	John Moore	2	0	2	0	0	0
	FW	ENG	Peter Aitchison	9	2	9	2	0	0
	FW	ENG	John Church	41	3	38	3	3	0
	FW	SCO	Adam Davidson	21	1	19	0	2	1
	FW	ENG	Kevin McCurley	11	6	11	6	0	0
	FW	SCO	Johnny McKim	27	10	26	10	1	0
	FW	ENG	Augie Scott	48	6	45	4	3	2
	FW	ENG	Arthur Turner	9	2	9	2	0	0
	FW	ENG	Peter Wright	9	0	9	0	0	0
Players who appeared for Colchester who left during the season
	FW	ENG	Fred Cutting	20	9	18	9	2	0
	FW	ENG	Vic Keeble	28	17	25	16	3	1

Goalscorers

^[23]

Place	Nationality	Position	Name	Third Division South	FA Cup	Total
1		CF	Vic Keeble	16	1	17
2		IF	Johnny McKim	10	0	10
3		IF	Fred Cutting	9	0	9
4		CF	Kevin McCurley	6	0	6
		IF	Augie Scott	4	2	6
6		WG	John Church	3	0	3
		WH	Jimmy Elder	2	1	3
8		WG	Peter Aitchison	2	0	2
		CF	Arthur Turner	2	0	2
10		WG	Adam Davidson	0	1	1
		WH	Len Jones	1	0	1
		FB	Trevor Rowlands	1	0	1
			Own goals	0	0	0
			TOTALS	56	5	61

Disciplinary record

^[24]

Nationality	Position	Name	Third Division South		FA Cup		Total
	CB	Reg Stewart	0	1	0	0	0	1
		TOTALS	0	1	0	0	0	1

Clean sheets

Number of games goalkeepers kept a clean sheet.^[25]

Place	Nationality	Player	Third Division South	FA Cup	Total
1		George Wright	9	0	9
2		Frank Coombs	5	0	5
		TOTALS	14	0	14

Player debuts

Players making their first-team Colchester United debut in a fully competitive match.^[26]

Position	Nationality	Player	Date	Opponent	Ground	Notes
FB		Phil Rookes	18 August 1951	Brighton & Hove Albion	Goldstone Ground
IF		Augie Scott	18 August 1951	Brighton & Hove Albion	Goldstone Ground
WG		Adam Davidson	13 September 1951	Plymouth Argyle	Layer Road
WG		Peter Aitchison	25 December 1951	Gillingham	Priestfield Stadium
GK		Frank Coombs	8 March 1952	Bristol City	Ashton Gate Stadium
WH		Ron Hunt	15 March 1952	Port Vale	Layer Road
CF		Kevin McCurley	22 March 1952	Northampton Town	County Ground
WG		Peter Wright	22 March 1952	Northampton Town	County Ground

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: 1952". 11v11.com. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
• "Statistics 1951/52". 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