1975–76 Brentford F.C. season

1975–76 season of Brentford F.C.

Brentford 1975–76 football season

Brentford

1975–76 season

Chairman

Dan Tana

Manager

John Docherty

Stadium

Griffin Park

FA Cup

League Cup

Top goalscorer

League: Cross (14)
All: Cross (16)

Highest home attendance

12,452

Lowest home attendance

3,453

Average home league attendance

5,096

Home colours

Away colours

← 1974–75

1976–77 →

During the 1975–76 English football season, Brentford competed in the Football League Fourth Division. A poor middle third of the season led to an 18th-place finish, just three points above the re-election zone.

Season summary

Despite a strong finish to the previous campaign, only one incoming transfer (veteran goalkeeper Bill Glazier for £4,000) did not raise the belief around Griffin Park that Brentford would challenge for promotion from the Fourth Division during the 1975–76 season.^[1] Instead, manager John Docherty made up the numbers with members of the club's youth team,^[1] with teenagers Gordon Sweetzer, Danis Salman, Paul Walker and Graham Cox all joining the club.^[2]

Brentford had a strong start to the season, winning three and drawing three of the first six league matches of the season and advancing to the second round of the League Cup, where the run was brought to an end at Old Trafford by Manchester United.^[3] With goalkeeper Bill Glazier quitting the club after just 12 appearances,^[4] Brentford would tread water in the lower reaches of mid-table throughout the season, in which a run to the third round of the FA Cup became the focus.^[1] Having reached that stage of the competition for the first time since the 1970–71 season,^[1] the Bees took Second Division club Bolton Wanderers to a replay before losing 2–0 at Burnden Park.^[3] A slight upturn in form towards the end of the season was inspired by the signing of Oxford United forward Andrew McCulloch for a club record £25,000 fee.^[4]

Two club records were set during the season:

Youngest Football League debutant: Danis Salman, 15 years, 8 months, 3 days (versus Watford, 15 November 1975)^[5]
Lowest away Football League attendance: 894 versus Rochdale, 27 March 1976^[5]

League table

This section is transcluded from 1975–76 Football League. (edit | history)

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts
16	Crewe Alexandra	46	13	15	18	58	57	1.018	41
17	Bradford City	46	12	17	17	63	65	0.969	41
18	Brentford	46	14	13	19	56	60	0.933	41
19	Scunthorpe United	46	14	10	22	50	59	0.847	38
20	Darlington	46	14	10	22	48	57	0.842	38

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Results

Brentford's goal tally listed first.

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Pre-season and friendlies

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorer(s)
2 August 1975	Oxford United	H	1–5	1,420	Lawrence
4 August 1975	Walton	A	0–0	n/a
6 August 1975	Portsmouth	H	0–1	955
7 August 1975	Hayes	A	2–1	n/a	Graham, Bartlett
9 August 1975	Aldershot	H	1–1	1,490	Cross
11 August 1975	Bexley	A	5–0	n/a	Cross (2), Simmons, French, untraced (og)
29 April 1976	Hillingdon Borough	A	4–2	513	Scales, Lawrence, Sweetzer, Poole
3 May 1976	Hounslow	A	3–1	n/a	Russell, Malcolm, Sweetzer

Football League Fourth Division

No.	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorer(s)
1	16 August 1975	Bradford City	A	1–1	2,385	Johnson
2	23 August 1975	Hartlepool	H	1–1	4,948	Cross
3	30 August 1975	Torquay United	A	3–2	3,179	Cross, Allen, Graham
4	6 September 1975	Barnsley	H	1–0	5,605	Cross
5	15 September 1975	Doncaster Rovers	A	1–1	6,353	Johnson
6	20 September 1975	Stockport County	H	2–1	6,282	Simmons, Riddick
7	24 September 1975	Bournemouth	A	0–3	4,113
8	27 September 1975	Huddersfield Town	A	1–2	4,160	Sweetzer
9	4 October 1975	Newport County	H	1–3	5,678	Graham
10	11 October 1975	Lincoln City	A	1–3	6,312	Graham
11	18 October 1975	Southport	H	1–0	4,515	Johnson
12	21 October 1975	Northampton Town	A	1–3	6,225	Scales
13	25 October 1975	Cambridge United	A	1–2	2,596	French
14	1 November 1975	Scunthorpe United	H	5–2	4,227	French, Johnson, Cross (2), Graham
15	3 November 1975	Workington	H	4–0	5,379	French, Sweetzer, Johnson (pen), Cross
16	7 November 1975	Tranmere Rovers	A	1–5	4,326	Cross
17	15 November 1975	Watford	H	1–0	6,934	Scales
18	29 November 1975	Crewe Alexandra	A	0–1	2,248
19	6 December 1975	Rochdale	H	3–0	4,853	Johnson (pen), Cross, Riddick
20	20 December 1975	Darlington	H	3–0	4,193	Sweetzer (2), Cross
21	26 December 1975	Exeter City	A	0–0	4,912
22	27 December 1975	Reading	H	2–2	10,612	Johnson, Scales
23	10 January 1976	Torquay United	H	1–1	5,687	Johnson
24	16 January 1976	Stockport County	A	0–2	2,267
25	24 January 1976	Doncaster Rovers	H	0–1	4,885
26	31 January 1976	Northampton Town	H	2–1	4,114	Johnson (pen), Cross
27	7 February 1976	Workington	A	1–1	1,231	French
28	14 February 1976	Tranmere Rovers	H	0–1	4,725
29	21 February 1976	Watford	A	2–3	6,223	Bristow (og), Sweetzer
30	23 February 1976	Bournemouth	H	1–2	4,585	Graham
31	28 February 1976	Cambridge United	H	0–0	4,095
32	6 March 1976	Scunthorpe United	A	1–2	3,377	Sharp
33	8 March 1976	Newport County	A	0–1	1,150
34	13 March 1976	Lincoln City	H	1–0	5,386	Cross
35	16 March 1976	Southport	A	0–2	1,506
36	20 March 1976	Crewe Alexandra	H	0–0	3,851
37	27 March 1976	Rochdale	A	2–1	894	McCulloch, French
38	29 March 1976	Darlington	A	0–2	1,758
39	3 April 1976	Bradford City	H	2–2	3,453	McCulloch, Cross
40	5 April 1976	Huddersfield Town	H	0–0	4,413
41	10 April 1976	Barnsley	A	1–1	3,877	Cross
42	16 April 1976	Swansea City	H	1–0	4,623	Johnson
43	17 April 1976	Exeter City	H	5–1	4,175	Bence, French (2), McCulloch, Cross
44	19 April 1976	Reading	A	0–1	12,972
45	24 April 1976	Hartlepool	A	0–1	1,276
46	26 April 1976	Swansea City	A	2–2	1,480	French, Johnson

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorer(s)
1R	22 November 1975	Northampton Town	H	2–0	6,645	Sweetzer (2)
2R	13 December 1975	Wimbledon	A	2–0	8,375	Johnson (2, 1 pen)
3R	3 January 1976	Bolton Wanderers	H	0–0	12,452
3R (replay)	6 January 1976	Bolton Wanderers	A	0–2	18,538

Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorer(s)
1R (1st leg)	19 August 1975	Brighton & Hove Albion	H	2–1	5,360	Johnson (pen), Cross
1R (2nd leg)	27 August 1975	Brighton & Hove Albion	A	1–1 (won 3–2 on aggregate)	11,016	Cross
2R	10 September 1974	Manchester United	A	1–2	25,286	Lawrence

Sources: 100 Years of Brentford,^[6] The Big Brentford Book of the Seventies,^[7]^[8] Statto

Playing squad

Players' ages are as of the opening day of the 1975–76 season.

Pos.	Name	Date of birth (age)	Signed from	Signed in	Notes
Goalkeepers
GK	Paul Priddy	(1953-01-11)11 January 1953 (aged 22)	Walton & Hersham	1975
Defenders
DF	Michael Allen	(1949-03-30)30 March 1949 (aged 26)	Middlesbrough	1971
DF	Paul Bence (c)	(1948-12-21)21 December 1948 (aged 26)	Reading	1970
DF	Keith Lawrence	(1954-03-25)25 March 1954 (aged 21)	Chelsea	1974
DF	Alan Nelmes	(1948-10-20)20 October 1948 (aged 26)	Chelsea	1967
DF	Gordon Riddick	(1943-11-06)6 November 1943 (aged 31)	Northampton Town	1973
DF	Tom Sharp	(1957-07-30)30 July 1957 (aged 18)	Everton	1976	Loaned from Everton before transferring permanently
DF	Nigel Smith	(1958-07-03)3 July 1958 (aged 17)	Queens Park Rangers	1975
Midfielders
MF	Jackie Graham	(1946-07-16)16 July 1946 (aged 29)	Guildford City	1970
MF	Terry Johnson	(1949-08-30)30 August 1949 (aged 25)	Southend United	1974
MF	Danis Salman	(1960-03-12)12 March 1960 (aged 15)	Youth	1975
MF	Terry Scales	(1951-01-18)18 January 1951 (aged 24)	West Ham United	1971
Forwards
FW	Roger Cross	(1948-10-20)20 October 1948 (aged 26)	Fulham	1973
FW	Micky French	(1955-05-07)7 May 1955 (aged 20)	Queens Park Rangers	1975
FW	Andrew McCulloch	(1950-01-03)3 January 1950 (aged 25)	Oxford United	1976
FW	Richard Poole	(1957-07-03)3 July 1957 (aged 18)	Youth	1972
FW	Gordon Sweetzer	(1957-01-27)27 January 1957 (aged 18)	Queens Park Rangers	1975
Players who left the club mid-season
GK	Bill Glazier	(1943-08-02)2 August 1943 (aged 32)	Coventry City	1975	Released
GK	Graham Horn	(1954-08-23)23 August 1954 (aged 20)	Luton Town	1975	Returned to Luton Town after loan
FW	Dave Simmons	(1948-10-24)24 October 1948 (aged 26)	Cambridge United	1974	Transferred to Cambridge United

Sources: The Big Brentford Book of the Seventies,^[9] Timeless Bees^[10]

Coaching staff

Name	Role
John Docherty	Manager
Eddie Lyons	Trainer
Bob Pearson	Chief Scout

Statistics

Appearances and goals

Substitute appearances in brackets.

Pos	Nat	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Total
Pos	Nat	Name	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK		Bill Glazier	19	0	—		3	0	12	0
GK		Paul Priddy	34	0	4	0	—		38	0
DF		Michael Allen	45	1	4	0	3	0	52	1
DF		Paul Bence	46	1	4	0	3	0	53	1
DF		Keith Lawrence	35	0	4	0	3	1	42	1
DF		Alan Nelmes	28 (1)	0	3 (1)	0	3	0	34 (2)	0
DF		Gordon Riddick	23 (3)	2	1 (1)	0	0 (1)	0	24 (5)	2
DF		Tom Sharp	2 (10)	1	—		—		2 (10)	1
DF		Nigel Smith	37	0	4	0	3	0	44	0
MF		Jackie Graham	38	5	4	0	3	0	45	5
MF		Terry Johnson	46	11	4	2	3	1	53	14
MF		Danis Salman	3 (3)	0	0	0	0	0	3 (3)	0
MF		Terry Scales	43	3	4	0	3	0	50	3
FW		Roger Cross	37	14	3	0	2 (1)	2	42 (1)	16
FW		Micky French	27 (4)	8	1 (1)	0	2	0	30 (5)	8
FW		Andrew McCulloch	13	3	—		—		13	3
FW		Richard Poole	2 (5)	0	0	0	0	0	2 (5)	0
FW		Dave Simmons	10	1	—		2 (1)	0	12 (1)	1
FW		Gordon Sweetzer	25 (2)	5	4	2	0	0	29 (2)	7
Players loaned in during the season
GK		Graham Horn	3	0	—		—		3	0

Players listed in italics left the club mid-season.
Source: 100 Years of Brentford^[6]

Goalscorers

Pos.	Player	FL4	FAC	FLC	Total
FW	Roger Cross	14	0	2	16
MF	Terry Johnson	11	2	1	14
FW	Micky French	8	0	0	8
FW	Gordon Sweetzer	5	2	0	7
MF	Jackie Graham	5	0	0	5
FW	Andrew McCulloch	3	—	—	3
MF	Terry Scales	3	0	0	3
DF	Gordon Riddick	2	0	0	2
DF	Tom Sharp	1	—	—	1
FW	Dave Simmons	1	0	—	1
DF	Michael Allen	1	0	0	1
DF	Paul Bence	1	0	0	1
DF	Keith Lawrence	0	0	1	1
Opponents		1	0	0	1
Total		56	4	4	64

Players listed in italics left the club mid-season.
Source: 100 Years of Brentford^[6]

Management

Name	Nat	From	To	Record All Comps					Record League
Name	Nat	From	To	P	W	D	L	W %	P	W	D	L	W %
John Docherty		16 August 1975	26 April 1976	53	17	15	21	032.08	46	14	13	19	030.43

Summary

Games played	53 (46 Fourth Division, 4 FA Cup, 3 League Cup)
Games won	17 (14 Fourth Division, 2 FA Cup, 1 League Cup)
Games drawn	15 (13 Fourth Division, 1 FA Cup, 1 League Cup)
Games lost	21 (19 Fourth Division, 1 FA Cup, 1 League Cup)
Goals scored	64 (56 Fourth Division, 4 FA Cup, 4 League Cup)
Goals conceded	67 (60 Fourth Division, 3 FA Cup, 4 League Cup)
Clean sheets	14 (12 Fourth Division, 2 FA Cup, 0 League Cup)
Biggest league win	4–0 versus Workington, 3 November 1975
Worst league defeat	5–1 versus Tranmere Rovers, 7 November 1975
Most appearances	53, Paul Bence, Terry Johnson (46 Fourth Division, 4 FA Cup, 3 League Cup)
Top scorer (league)	14, Roger Cross
Top scorer (all competitions)	16, Roger Cross

Transfers & loans

Players transferred in
Date	Pos.	Name	Previous Club	Fee	Ref.
June 1975	GK	Bill Glazier	Coventry City	£4,000	^[2]
September 1975	GK	Paul Priddy	Walton & Hersham	n/a	^[2]
September 1975	MF	Danis Salman	Queens Park Rangers	n/a	^[1]
September 1975	FW	Gordon Sweetzer	Queens Park Rangers	Trial	^[2]
September 1975	MF	Paul Walker	n/a	n/a	^[1]
1975	GK	Graham Cox	n/a	n/a	^[2]
January 1976	MF	Larry McGettigan	Unattached	Non-contract	^[11]
January 1976	n/a	David Oxley	Dundee	Trial	^[2]
March 1976	FW	Andrew McCulloch	Oxford United	£25,000	^[2]
March 1976	DF	Tom Sharp	Everton	n/a	^[2]
Players loaned in
Date from	Pos.	Name	From	Date to	Ref.
November 1975	GK	Graham Horn	Luton Town	December 1975	^[2]
January 1976	DF	Tom Sharp	Everton	March 1976	^[2]
Players transferred out
Date	Pos.	Name	Subsequent club	Fee	Ref.
November 1975	FW	Dave Simmons	Cambridge United	Nominal	^[2]
Players released
Date	Pos.	Name	Subsequent club	Join date	Ref.
October 1975	GK	Bill Glazier	St. Louis Stars	1977	^[2]
1975	MF	Barry Salvage	Millwall	August 1975	^[2]
May 1976	DF	Keith Lawrence	Wealdstone	1976	^[2]
May 1976	MF	Larry McGettigan	Emeralds	n/a	^[11]
May 1976	DF	Alan Nelmes	Hillingdon Borough	1976	^[2]
May 1976	n/a	David Oxley	n/a	n/a	^[2]
May 1976	FW	Richard Poole	Watford	July 1976	^[2]

Awards

Supporters' Player of the Year: Michael Allen^[12]
Players' Player of the Year: Michael Allen^[12]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f White, p. 298-300.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q Croxford, Lane & Waterman, p. 128-130.
^ ^a ^b "Brentford results for the 1975–1976 season". Statto.com. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
^ ^a ^b Croxford, Lane & Waterman, p. 114.
^ ^a ^b "Celebrating 4,000 EFL Games: 1920–2016" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 April 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
^ ^a ^b ^c White, Eric, ed. (1989). 100 Years Of Brentford. Brentford FC. p. 393. ISBN 0951526200.
^ Croxford, Lane & Waterman, p. 116-126.
^ Croxford, Lane & Waterman, p. 308.
^ Croxford, Mark; Lane, David; Waterman, Greville (2011). The Big Brentford Book of the Seventies. Sunbury, Middlesex: Legends Publishing. ISBN 978-1906796709.
^ Haynes, Graham; Coumbe, Frank (2006). Timeless Bees: Brentford F.C. Who's Who 1920–2006. Yore Publications. ISBN 978-0955294914.
^ ^a ^b "Player: Lawrence McGettigan". Watford Football Club Archive. Retrieved 16 February 2024.
^ ^a ^b Croxford, Lane & Waterman, p. 295.

v t e Brentford F.C. seasons
1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900
1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10
1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20
1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30
1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40
1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50
1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60
1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70
1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80
1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90
1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000
2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10
2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20
2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24

1975–76 in English football

« 1974–75

1976–77 »

National teams

League competitions

Levels 1–4	Football League (First Division, Second Division, Third Division, Fourth Division)
Levels 5–6	Isthmian League (One, Two) Northern Premier League (level 5 only) Southern League (Premier, One North, One South)
Levels 7–9	Athenian League (One, Two) Cheshire County League (level 7 only) Eastern Counties League (level 7 only) Essex Senior League (level 7 only) Hellenic League (Premier, One) Kent League (level 7 only) Lancashire Combination (level 7 only) London Spartan League (One, Two) Midland Football Combination (level 7 only) Midland League (Premier, One) Northern League (level 7 only) South Midlands League (Premier, One) Sussex County League (One, Two) United Counties League (Premier, One, Two) West Midlands (Regional) League (level 7 only) Western League (level 7 only) Yorkshire League (One, Two, Three)

Cup competitions

FA cups	FA Cup (Qualifying rounds, Final) Charity Shield FA Trophy (Final) FA Vase
Football League cups	League Cup (Final)

European competitions

Club seasons
First Division	Arsenal Aston Villa Birmingham City Burnley Coventry City Derby County Everton Ipswich Town Leeds United Leicester City Liverpool Manchester City Manchester United Middlesbrough Newcastle United Norwich City Queens Park Rangers Sheffield United Stoke City Tottenham Hotspur West Ham United Wolverhampton Wanderers
Second Division	Blackburn Rovers Blackpool Bolton Wanderers Bristol City Bristol Rovers Carlisle United Charlton Athletic Chelsea Fulham Hull City Luton Town Nottingham Forest Notts County Oldham Athletic Orient Oxford United Plymouth Argyle Portsmouth Southampton Sunderland West Bromwich Albion York City
Third Division	Aldershot Brighton & Hove Albion Bury Cardiff City Chester Chesterfield Colchester United Crystal Palace Gillingham Grimsby Town Halifax Town Hereford United Mansfield Town Millwall Peterborough United Port Vale Preston North End Rotherham United Sheffield Wednesday Shrewsbury Town Southend United Swindon Town Walsall Wrexham
Fourth Division	Barnsley Bournemouth Bradford City Brentford Cambridge United Crewe Alexandra Darlington Doncaster Rovers Exeter City Hartlepool United Huddersfield Town Lincoln City Newport County Northampton Town Reading Rochdale Scunthorpe United Southport Stockport County Swansea City Torquay United Tranmere Rovers Watford Workington