1919–20 season of Brentford F.C.
Brentford 1919–20 football season
During the 1919–20 English football season, Brentford competed in the Southern League First Division. In the first season of competitive football since the end of the First World War in November 1918 , Brentford consolidated with a mid-table finish. It was the club's final Southern League season, as 21 of the 22 First Division clubs were voted into the new Football League Third Division in May 1920.[ 1]
Season summary
English -born New Zealander Reginald Boyne was Brentford 's top-scorer during the season.
Despite talk that Brentford would seek election to the Football League after the wartime London Combination title success of the previous season , the directors of the club decided to remain in the Southern League Second Division. As it was, by virtue of the Southern League First Division being expanded to 22 clubs and the departures of West Ham United and Croydon Common (voted into the Football League and resigned respectively), Brentford, Merthyr Town , Swansea Town and Newport County were all elevated from the Second Division to the First Division.
Four years of war meant that secretary-manager Fred Halliday needed to rebuild and expand his squad, with prolific forwards Henry White and guest Jack Cock having left the club, in addition to full backs Jack Peart , Dusty Rhodes and half back Bill Stanton . The only survivors of Brentford's final pre-war squad who made appearance during the 1919–20 season were goalkeeper Ted Price , half back Tom McGovern and outside left Patsy Hendren .
New centre forward Reginald Boyne 's six goals in the opening six matches ensured Brentford started the season well, but once his goals dried up, due to a niggling knee injury,[ 4] the team was robbed of potency in attack.[ 5] A 10-match winless streak ended when the team went on a five-match unbeaten run through November and December 1919.[ 5] While manager Fred Halliday was able to field a more or less a settled XI, numerous players were tried in the centre forward position before the arrival of Bert Spreadbury in February 1920.[ 5] Despite scoring four goals in his first five appearances, Spreadbury failed to help the team gain any consistency and Brentford finished the season in 15th position.[ 5]
League table
Source:
[citation needed ] Rules for classification: The system of using
goal average to separate two teams tied on points was used up until the 1976-77 season. The points system: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for losing.
Results
Brentford's goal tally listed first.
Legend
Southern League First Division
No.
Date
Opponent
Venue
Result
Scorer(s)
1
30 August 1919
Brighton & Hove Albion
H
2–1
Boyne , Morley
2
1 September 1919
Millwall
H
2–2
Boyne , Gilboy
3
6 September 1919
Newport County
A
4–2
Boyne (2), Gilboy , Morley
4
8 September 1919
Millwall
A
2–0
Boyne , Thompson
5
13 September 1919
Portsmouth
H
0–2
6
20 September 1919
Northampton Town
A
1–1
Boyne
7
24 September 1919
Exeter City
A
0–0
8
27 September 1919
Crystal Palace
H
0–0
9
4 October 1919
Southend United
H
1–3
Hendren
10
11 October 1919
Norwich City
H
1–1
Boyne
11
18 October 1919
Watford
A
0–1
12
25 October 1919
Merthyr Town
A
0–2
13
1 November 1919
Plymouth Argyle
H
0–0
14
8 November 1919
Bristol Rovers
A
1–3
Cannon
15
15 November 1919
Reading
H
1–0
Amos
16
22 November 1919
Southampton
A
1–0
Morley
17
29 November 1919
Luton Town
H
3–1
Searby, Morley , Cartmell
18
6 December 1919
Gillingham
A
2–0
Morley , Hendren
19
13 December 1919
Swansea Town
H
1–1
Hendren (pen )
20
25 December 1919
Queens Park Rangers
A
0–2
21
26 December 1919
Queens Park Rangers
H
2–1
Searby, Boyne
22
27 December 1919
Cardiff City
H
1–2
Thompson
23
3 January 1920
Brighton & Hove Albion
A
0–4
24
17 January 1920
Newport County
H
2–1
Searby, Embury
25
24 January 1920
Portsmouth
A
0–3
26
31 January 1920
Northampton Town
H
5–0
Boyne (3), Thompson , Hendren (pen )
27
7 February 1920
Crystal Palace
A
1–1
Thompson
28
14 February 1920
Southend United
H
2–0
Cartmell , Lockwood
29
21 February 1920
Norwich City
A
1–1
Spreadbury
30
28 February 1920
Watford
H
0–3
31
6 March 1920
Merthyr Town
H
3–0
Spreadbury (2), Hendren
32
13 March 1920
Plymouth Argyle
A
2–3
Thompson (2)
33
20 March 1920
Bristol Rovers
H
3–0
Hendren , Morley , Spreadbury
34
27 March 1920
Reading
A
0–1
35
2 April 1920
Swindon Town
H
2–0
Morley , Boyne
36
3 April 1920
Southampton
H
2–3
Taylor , Morley
37
5 April 1920
Swindon Town
A
1–3
Gilboy
38
10 April 1920
Luton Town
A
0–0
39
17 April 1920
Gillingham
H
1–2
Thompson
40
24 April 1920
Swansea Town
A
0–6
41
26 April 1920
Exeter City
H
2–1
Thompson , Boyne
42
1 May 1920
Cardiff City
A
0–2
FA Cup
Source: 100 Years of Brentford [ 5]
Playing squad
Players' ages are as of the opening day of the 1919–20 season.
Sources: 100 Years of Brentford, [ 5] Timeless Bees,[ 6] Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939[ 7]
Coaching staff
Statistics
Appearances and goals
Brentford's highest appearance-makers in each position during the Southern League season.
Players listed in italics left the club mid-season.
Source: 100 Years of Brentford [ 5]
Goalscorers
Players listed in italics left the club mid-season.
Source: 100 Years of Brentford [ 5]
Victory international caps
Management
Name
Nat
From
To
Record All Comps
Record League
P
W
D
L
W %
P
W
D
L
W %
Fred Halliday
30 August 1919
1 May 1920
43
15
10
18
0 34.88 |
42
15
10
17
0 35.71
Summary
Games played
43 (42 Southern League First Division, 1 FA Cup )
Games won
15 (15 Southern League First Division, 0 FA Cup)
Games drawn
10 (10 Southern League First Division, 0 FA Cup)
Games lost
18 (17 Southern League First Division, 1 FA Cup)
Goals scored
53 (52 Southern League First Division, 1 FA Cup)
Goals conceded
64 (59 Southern League First Division, 5 FA Cup)
Clean sheets
13 (13 Southern League First Division, 0 FA Cup)
Biggest league win
5–0 versus Northampton Town , 31 January 1920
Worst league defeat
6–0 versus Swansea Town , 24 April 1920
Most appearances
37, Sam Morris (36 Southern League First Division, 1 FA Cup)
Top scorer (league)
13, Reginald Boyne
Top scorer (all competitions)
13, Reginald Boyne
Transfers and loans
References