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]

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

No. Position Player GK George Wright DF Harry Bearryman DF Jimmy Elder DF George French DF John Harrison DF Len Jones DF Digger Kettle DF Bill Layton DF John Moore DF Trevor Rowlands

No. Position Player DF Reg Stewart FW Peter Aitchison FW John Church FW Dick Cullum FW Bob Curry FW Fred Cutting FW Dennis Hillman FW Vic Keeble FW Johnny McKim FW Arthur Turner

Match details

Third Division South

Third Division South results round by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44	45	46
Ground	A	A	H	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	A	A	A	H	H
Result	D	D	D	W	W	W	W	L	L	L	L	L	L	D	L	L	L	W	D	W	D	D	L	W	L	D	W	D	L	W	L	L	L	W	W	L	L	W	L	L	W	D	L	W	D	D
Position	14	13	14	4	2	2	2	3	6	10	12	14	15	16	17	20	21	19	19	15	16	16	17	15	18	18	15	16	17	16	17	18	19	18	17	17	18	16	18	19	17	16	18	15	16	16

Last updated: 28 February 2016.
Source:
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Loss; W = Win; P = Postponed.

  Win   Draw   Loss

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv1	Pts2	Promotion, qualification or relegation
14	Exeter City	46	18	6	22	61	85	0.729	42
15	Walsall	46	15	10	21	52	62	0.839	40
16	Colchester United	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

^{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

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

^[6][7]

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

Goalscorers

^[7]

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

Disciplinary record

^[8]

Nationality	Position	Player	Third Division South		FA Cup		Total
		TOTALS	0	0	0	0	0	0

Captains

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

Place	Nation	Position	Player	Third Division South	FA Cup	Total
			Not recorded	46	2	48

Player debuts

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

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

Transfers and contracts

In

Date	Pos	Player	From	Fee	Ref
20 July 1950	DF	Trevor Rowlands	Norwich City	£1,000	[11]
1 August 1950	DF	Bill Rochford	Southampton	£1,000	[12]
1 August 1950	FW	Peter Aitchison	Apprentice	Free	[13]
19 August 1950	DF	Jimmy Elder	Portsmouth	£1,000	[14]
19 August 1950	DF	Len Jones	Southend United	Undisclosed	[15]
19 August 1950	FW	John Church	Norwich City	£1,000	[16]
19 August 1950	FW	Johnny McKim	Chelsea	£1,000	[17]
30 September 1950	DF	John Harrison	Aston Villa	Undisclosed	[18]
30 September 1950	DF	Joe Locherty	Sheffield Wednesday	£1,000	[19]
17 February 1951	GK	Barney Bircham	Grimsby Town	£800	[20]
26 March 1951	FW	Dick Cullum	Colchester Colts	Free	[21]

Out

Date	Pos	Player	To	Fee	Ref
31 May 1950	GK	Ken Whitehead	Whitton United	Released	[22]
31 May 1950	DF	Doug Beach	Chelmsford City	Free	[23]
31 May 1950	DF	Ronnie Sales	Hartlepools United	Free	[24]
31 May 1950	FW	Stan Foxall	Chelmsford City	Free	[25]
31 May 1950	FW	Denis Maffey	Great Yarmouth Town	Free	[26]
20 January 1951	DF	Joe Locherty	Scarborough	Free	[19]
10 February 1951	FW	Bob Allen	Bedford Town	Free	[27]
24 February 1951	DF	Bill Rochford	Retired	Retired	[12]
24 March 1951	GK	Barney Bircham	Free agent	Released	[20]
26 March 1951	FW	José Gallego	Cambridge United	Free	[28]

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. Retrieved 24 March 2016. 

Specific