1947–48 Colchester United F.C. season

Colchester United

1947–48 season
Chairman	Bill Allen[1]
Manager	Ted Fenton (until June 1948)
Stadium	Layer Road
Southern League	4th
FA Cup	5th round (eliminated by Blackpool)
Southern League Cup	Runners-up
Top goalscorer	League: Arthur Turner (25) All: Bob Curry (30)
Highest home attendance	17,048 v Bradford Park Avenue, 24 January 1948[2]
Lowest home attendance	4,665 v Bedford Town, 20 December 1947[3]
Average home league attendance	9,231[4]
Biggest win	8–0 v Gloucester City, 6 September 1947
Biggest defeat	0–5 v Blackpool, 7 February 1948
Home colours
← 1946–47 1948–49 →

The 1947–48 season was Colchester United's sixth season in their history and their sixth in the Southern League. Alongside competing in the Southern League, the club also participated in the FA Cup and Southern League Cup. The season was most notable for Colchester's run in the FA Cup, where they defeated three Football League clubs as they progressed to the fifth round, before being beaten 5–0 by First Division side Blackpool. They finished in 4th position in the Southern League, and while they ended as runners-up in the Southern League Cup, the final wasn't held until April 1949 due to fixture congestion.

Season overview

Manager Ted Fenton's first-team squad had featured 28 part-time professionals during the 1946–47 season, but this number was reduced to 17 for the 1947–48 campaign, while signings such as Bob Allen and Harry Bearryman, and the emergence of Vic Keeble bolstered the ranks.

The 1947–48 season was most memorable for Colchester's magnificent run in the FA Cup. The competition began with a 3–2 win over league rivals Chelmsford City in the fourth qualifying round in front of a Layer Road crowd of 10,396. It was the second year in succession that the U's would reach the first round proper of the cup, having been defeated 5–0 by Reading at the same stage twelve months earlier. The result on this occasion would go in Colchester's favour, with 8,574 fans watching their 2–1 win against Banbury Spencer.

Third Division North side Wrexham visited Layer Road for the second round match, with the visitors falling to a 1–0 defeat courtesy of a Bob Curry goal in front of a 10,642 crowd. With the U's into the third round, it would be the club that inspired Colchester's own strip, Huddersfield Town of the First Division, that would taste defeat at the hands of the non-Leaguers. With the national press making Colchester's Cup progress headline news, Fenton welcomed the extra publicity. He watched Huddersfield play a number of times prior to the tie, declaring to the media that he had come up with a plan to beat them. The plan became known as "the F-plan". Both teams changed colours for the game, with visiting Huddersfield in red, and Colchester in blue. The First Division side struggled to adapt to the cramped surroundings of Layer Road, and when Bob Allen's free kick was parried away by the goalkeeper, U's captain Bob Curry scored from the rebound. This was the first time that a non-League side had beaten a First Division club, with a record crowd of 16,005 witnessing that game.

With the increased interest in Colchester's cup heroics, the crowd from the previous game could have trebled had Layer Road been able to accommodate the fans. The club welcomed Second Division Bradford Park Avenue to the ground on 24 January 1948, with a crowd of 17,048 in attendance. With their opponents wary of Colchester's reputation, Bradford would take the lead, only for Curry to net a brace before being pegged back to 2–2. Fred Cutting went on to score the winner to send the club into the fifth round.

Stanley Matthews' First Division Blackpool were drawn as hosts to Fenton's side. With the effects of the war still evident, fuel rationing meant that the 52 scheduled coaches for the journey to Bloomfield Road were cancelled just 36 hours ahead of the game, meaning that only 12 coaches could travel, and the remainder of the away fans would have to travel by train to the North West. This meant that they would arrive in Blackpool in the early hours the morning of the match, but this did not deter the supporters, with the West Lancashire Post reporting:

“

The peace of Blackpool was shattered at dawn today by thousands of Colchester fans, waving rattles, ringing bells, blowing trumpets and shouting "Up the U's". Not since pre-war Illumination weekends has there been such an invasion as stormed our streets from 4 o'clock this morning.

”

Despite the good natured support, the home team defeated the U's by 5–0 in front of a sell-out 29,500 Bloomfield Road crowd. However, the FA Cup success had an effect on Colchester's league form, with the club eventually finishing fourth, nine points adrift of champions Merthyr Tydfil. They also reached the final of the Southern League Cup, but ran out of time to play the final during the season owing to fixture congestion.

Following all of the attention garnered from the Cup run, Fenton was much sought after, and was offered the role of assistant manager at his old club West Ham United during the summer of 1948, a role which he could not refuse.^[5]

Players

As of match played 1 May 1948.^[6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK John Le Mare GK Ernest Setchell GK Harry Wright DF Harry Bearryman DF Bill Bower DF Ted Fenton DF Digger Kettle DF Frank Stamper FW Bob Allen

No. Position Player FW Andy Brown FW Len Cater FW Bob Curry (captain) FW Fred Cutting FW Ian Gillespie FW Dennis Hillman FW Vic Keeble FW Ray Townrow FW Arthur Turner

Match details

Friendlies

Southern League

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv1	Pts2	Promotion, qualification or relegation
2	Gillingham	34	21	5	8	81	43	1.88	47
3	Worcester City	34	21	3	10	74	45	1.64	45
4	Colchester United	34	17	10	7	88	41	2.15	44
5	Hereford United	34	16	10	8	77	53	1.45	42
6	Lovell's Athletic	34	17	6	11	74	50	1.48	40

^{Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal average; 3) Number of goals scored}

^{(C) Champion; (P) Promoted; (Q) Qualified to the phase indicated; (R) Relegated.}

^Notes:

^{1 The system of using goal average to separate two teams tied on points was used up until the 1976–77 season.}

^{2 The points system: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for losing.}

Matches

FA Cup

Southern League Cup

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

^[6][7]

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Southern League		Southern League Cup		FA Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
	GK		John Le Mare	5	0	4	0	1	0	0	0
	GK		Ernest Setchell	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
	GK		Harry Wright	41	0	28	0	7	0	6	0
	DF		Harry Bearryman	46	5	32	2	8	3	6	0
	DF		Bill Bower	4	0	3	0	1	0	0	0
	DF		Ted Fenton	30	5	20	4	4	1	6	0
	DF		Digger Kettle	44	0	31	0	7	0	6	0
	DF		Frank Stamper	6	0	4	0	2	0	0	0
	FW		Bob Allen	44	0	31	0	7	0	6	0
	FW		Andy Brown	42	3	28	2	8	0	6	1
	FW		Len Cater	37	13	26	6	5	7	6	0
	FW		Bob Curry	44	30	31	17	7	6	6	7
	FW		Fred Cutting	31	15	23	12	3	2	5	1
	FW		Dennis Hillman	38	6	27	5	6	1	5	0
	FW		Vic Keeble	15	9	12	8	3	1	0	0
	FW		Ray Townrow	11	5	8	3	3	2	0	0
	FW		Arthur Turner	43	27	30	25	7	1	6	1
Players who appeared for Colchester who left during the season
	DF		Aubrey Darmody	3	0	3	0	0	0	0	0
	DF		John Leah	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
	DF		Albert Page	8	0	6	0	2	0	0	0
	DF		Frank Rist	13	1	10	0	3	1	0	0
	DF		Albert Walker	3	0	2	0	1	0	0	0
	FW		Arthur Biggs	10	2	8	1	1	1	1	0
	FW		Ian Gillespie	1	1	0	0	1	1	0	0
	FW		Taffy Williams	6	0	4	0	1	0	1	0

Goalscorers

^[7]

Place	Nation	Position	Name	Southern League	Southern League Cup	FA Cup	Total
1		FW	Bob Curry	17	6	7	30
2		FW	Arthur Turner	25	1	1	27
3		FW	Fred Cutting	12	2	1	15
4		FW	Len Cater	6	7	0	13
5		FW	Vic Keeble	8	1	0	9
6		FW	Dennis Hillman	5	1	0	6
7		DF	Harry Bearryman	2	3	0	5
		DF	Ted Fenton	4	1	0	5
		FW	Ray Townrow	3	2	0	5
10		FW	Andy Brown	2	0	1	3
11		FW	Arthur Biggs	1	1	0	2
12		FW	Ian Gillespie	0	1	0	1
		DF	Frank Rist	0	1	0	1
			Own goals	3	0	0	3
			TOTALS	88	27	10	125

Disciplinary record

^[8]

Nationality	Position	Player	Southern League		Southern League Cup		FA Cup		Total
		TOTALS	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Captains

Number of games played as team captain.^[9]

Place	Nation	Position	Player	Southern League	Southern League Cup	FA Cup	Total
1		FW	Bob Curry	15	3	3	21
			Not recorded	19	3	5	27

Player debuts

Players making their first-team Colchester United debut in a fully competitive match.^[10]

Position	Player	Date	Opponent	Ground	Notes
DF	Harry Bearryman	30 August 1947	Bedford Town	The Eyrie
DF	Frank Rist	30 August 1947	Bedford Town	The Eyrie
FW	Bob Allen	30 August 1947	Bedford Town	The Eyrie
FW	Andy Brown	30 August 1947	Bedford Town	The Eyrie
FW	Vic Keeble	30 August 1947	Bedford Town	The Eyrie
FW	Taffy Williams	27 September 1947	Yeovil Town	Huish Athletic Ground
FW	Fred Cutting	29 November 1947	Banbury Spencer	Layer Road
GK	John Le Mare	6 December 1947	Barry Town	Jenner Park Stadium
FW	Ray Townrow	17 January 1948	Bedford Town	Layer Road
DF	Aubrey Darmody	29 March 1948	Guildford City	St Joseph's Road
GK	Ernest Setchell	24 April 1948	Yeovil Town	Layer Road

Transfers and contracts

In

Date	Pos	Player	From	Fee	Ref
23 May 1947	FW	Vic Keeble	King George Youth Club	Free transfer	[11]
5 June 1947	GK	Ernest Setchell	Dartford	Free transfer	[12]
13 June 1947	FW	Bob Allen	Northampton Town	Free transfer	[13]
17 June 1947	FW	Andy Brown	Torquay United	Free transfer	[14]
26 June 1947	DF	Frank Rist	Charlton Athletic	Free transfer	[15]
4 July 1947	DF	Harry Bearryman	Chelsea	Free transfer	[16]
28 July 1947	DF	Aubrey Darmody	Norwich City	Free transfer	[17]
13 September 1947	FW	Taffy Williams	Northampton Town	Free transfer	[18]
6 December 1947	GK	John Le Mare	Woodbridge Town	Free transfer	[19]
6 December 1947	FW	Fred Cutting	Norwich City	Free transfer	[20]
2 January 1948	FW	Ray Townrow	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Free transfer	[21]

Out

Date	Pos	Player	To	Fee	Ref
7 June 1947	GK	John Jelly	Free agent	Released	[22]
9 October 1947	FW	Dennis Cant	Clacton Town	Free transfer	[23]
22 November 1947	FW	Arthur Biggs	Vauxhall Motors	Free transfer	[24]
1 December 1947	FW	Bob Hodgson	Brightlingsea United	Manager	[25]
27 December 1947	DF	Albert Page	Chingford Town	Free transfer	[26]
27 December 1947	FW	John Leah	Free agent	Released	[27]
17 March 1948	FW	Taffy Williams	Chingford Town	Free transfer	[18]
14 April 1948	DF	Aubrey Darmody	Great Yarmouth Town	Free transfer	[17]
21 April 1948	DF	Frank Rist	Tonbridge Angels	Free transfer	[15]
24 April 1948	DF	Albert Walker	Free agent	Retired	[28]

See also

• List of Colchester United F.C. seasons

References

General

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. 

Specific