1949–50_Colchester_United_F.C._season

Colchester United
1949–50 season
Chairman	Bill Allen
Manager	Jimmy Allen
Stadium	Layer Road
Southern League	2nd; Elected to the Football League
FA Cup	4th qualifying round; (eliminated by; Wealdstone)
Southern League Cup	Winners
Top goalscorer	League: ; Vic Keeble (42); All: ; Vic Keeble (46)
Highest home attendance	14,718; v Chelmsford City, 17 September 1949
Lowest home attendance	5,352; v Cheltenham Town, 23 March 1950
Average home league attendance	8,639
Biggest win	8–0; v Kidderminster Harriers, 19 November 1949
Biggest defeat	0–5; v Merthyr Tydfil, 26 April 1950;; 1–6; v Gillingham, 29 April 1950
	Home colours
	Home colours
	← 1948–49 1950–51 →

1949–50 Colchester United F.C. season

Colchester United 1949–50 football season

The 1949–50 season was Colchester United's eighth season in their history and their eighth and final season in the Southern League. Alongside competing in the Southern League, the club also participated in the FA Cup and Southern League Cup. The club finished as runner-up to Merthyr Tydfil in the league, but despite this Colchester were elected to the Football League at the end of the campaign with the expansion of the League from 88 to 92 clubs.^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8] The club won the Southern League Cup 6–4 on aggregate,^[9] while they exited the FA Cup at the fourth qualifying round stage following a 1–0 defeat by Wealdstone.^[10]^[11]

Quick Facts Chairman, Manager ...

Season overview

Layer Road suffered storm damage ahead of the 1949–50 season, and owing to a shortage of steel, re-construction work was not complete as the season commenced. Manager Jimmy Allen strengthened his defence with the signing of Reg Stewart from Sheffield Wednesday and Bill Layton from Bradford Park Avenue, and by Christmas 1949, Colchester had lost just three of their 28 games played, one of which was the 1–0 FA Cup fourth qualifying round defeat to Wealdstone.^[10]^[11] The game was one of the first FA Cup ties to be broadcast on television,^[12] but on this occasion it was the U's who were on the receiving end of a cup shock.

Colchester had topped the table all season until a fixture-congested April, which saw them held to home draws by Torquay United Reserves and Gravesend & Northfleet, while suffering 5–0 and 6–1 defeats at main title rivals Merthyr Tydfil and Gillingham in the space of three days. Between those defeats, the U's had recovered some pride with a 3–0 Southern League Cup final first-leg win over Bath City. Competing in their fourth match in just five days, a weary Colchester side allowed Bath to lead the second-leg 4–1, meaning the tie would go to extra time. Vic Keeble and Dennis Hillman scored in the added 30-minutes, helping Colchester lift the trophy for the second time with their third final appearance in 3 years.^[9]

With Gillingham having defeated Merthyr Tydfil during midweek, all Colchester needed to do in their final fixture was to win at Barry Town to secure the title. However, they were held to a goalless draw and Merthyr Tydfil took the title on goal average. Despite this, Vic Keeble had been the club's top scorer with 46 goals, a record which remains intact. Supplementing this were Fred Cutting's 24 goal haul and Bob Curry's 22, while fellow forward Arthur Turner had spent the majority of the season out injured with cartilage damage.

On 3 June 1950, only Everton and West Bromwich Albion opposed the expansion of the Football League from 88 to 92 clubs by expanding the Third Division North and South, instead preferring another regional league. Of the applications for Third Division South election, Gillingham polled 44 votes, Colchester 28, Worcester City 11, Chelmsford City 8, Peterborough United 5 and Merthyr Tydfil and Yeovil Town just one vote each. Colchester United were elected to the Football League with a Supporters Club membership of over 16,000 and an average gate of over 8,500.^[13]

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This article uses material from the Wikipedia article 1949–50_Colchester_United_F.C._season, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[SDG-15] Date of signing refers to the date of the player's first game in his second spell for the club

[DG-16] Date of signing refers to the date of the player's first game for the club

[DG-20] Date of signing refers to the date of the player's first game for the club

[SDG-23] Date of signing refers to the date of the player's first game in his second spell for the club

[FG-34] Date of departure refers to the date of the player's final game for the club

[2deb-40] Second debut for the club

[WWCU-1] [1]
Whitehead, Jeff; Drury, Kevin (2008). The Who's Who of Colchester United: The Layer Road Years. Derby: Breedon Books. p. 278. ISBN 978-1-85983-629-3.

[2] [2]
"Colchester Utd 4–1 Chelmsford City". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 31 January 2016.

[3] [3]
"Colchester Utd 2–2 Cheltenham Town". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 31 January 2016.

[4] [4]
"Average Attendance Figures Per Season". Coludaybyday.co.uk. Retrieved 31 January 2016.

[5] [5]
Willis, Tom. "Promotion to/Relegation from the Football League by year". Thepyramid.info. Retrieved 31 January 2016.

[6] [6]
"Four new clubs for the Football League". The Coventry Evening Telegraph. 3 June 1950. p. 11. Retrieved 8 May 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive. The Football League, at their annual meeting in London to-day, agreed to extend the Third Division by two clubs in each section. Gillingham and Colchester United were elected to the South Section ...

[7] [7]
"Bigger English League". Belfast Telegraph. Belfast. 3 June 1950. p. 5. Retrieved 8 May 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive. In the Southern Section Gillingham (44 votes) and Colchester United (28) were elected.

[8] [8]
"Four New League Clubs". The Times. 5 June 1950. p. 7. Retrieved 12 May 2019 – via The Times Archive. The Annual Meeting of the Football League was held in London on Saturday when each section of the Third Division was increased from 22 clubs to 24. The new clubs selected were Gillingham and Colchester United, to the Southern section, ...

[SLCup-9] [9]
"Colchester Utd. win S.L. Cup". The Essex Chronicle. Chelmsford. 5 May 1950. p. 7. Retrieved 12 May 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[1949FACup1-10] [10]
"Wealdstone defence held under heavy pressure". The Essex Newsman-Herald. Chelmsford. 15 November 1949. p. 8. Retrieved 8 May 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[1949FACup2-11] [11]
"Wealdstone's Great Cup Victory". The Observer and Gazette. London. 17 November 1949. p. 7. Retrieved 8 May 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[12] [12]
"Port Vale's Amateur Opponents in F.A. Cup". Evening Sentinel. Stoke-on-Trent. 19 November 1949. p. 4. Retrieved 8 May 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive. Wealdstone share with Barnet the distinction of having been the first amateur club to be televised—in 1946. They were again before the television cameras last Saturday in their Cup-tie with Colchester.

[13] [13]
Hudson, Matt (11 August 2013). "The 1930s and 1940s". Colchester United FC. Retrieved 25 May 2011.

[apps-14] [14]
"Appearances". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 31 January 2016.

[17] [15]
"Jose Gallego". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2016.

[18] [16]
"Bill Layton". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2016.

[19] [17]
"Reg Stewart". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2016.

[21] [18]
"John Moore". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2016.

[22] [19]
"Doug Beach". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2016.

[24] [20]
"Ronnie Sales". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2016.

[Sharpe-25] [21]
"John Sharpe". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2016.

[26] [22]
"Harry Wright". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2016.

[27] [23]
"Wally Nunn". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2016.

[28] [24]
"Frank Stamper". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2016.

[29] [25]
"Norman George". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2016.

[30] [26]
"Andy Brown". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2016.

[31] [27]
"Ray Townrow". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2016.

[32] [28]
"Alf Miller". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2016.

[33] [29]
"Len Cater". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2016.

[35] [30]
"Bill Bower". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2016.

[36] [31]
"Ronnie Sales". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 4 February 2016.

[goals-37] [32]
"Goals". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 31 January 2016.

[38] [33]
"Clean sheets (1st team)". Coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 22 June 2017.

[39] [34]
"Alltime- List of Debuts". Coludaybyday.co.uk. Archived from the original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2016.

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Name	Position	Place of birth	Date of birth	Apps	Goals	Signed from	Date signed	Fee
Goalkeepers
Ken Whitehead	GK		(1925-09-01)1 September 1925 (aged 23)	38	0	Clacton Town	May 1948	Free transfer
George Wright	GK	Plymouth	(1919-10-10)10 October 1919 (aged 29)	2	0	Plymouth Argyle	May 1949	£1,000
Defenders
Doug Beach	FB	Watford	(1920-02-02)2 February 1920 (aged 29)	0	0	Southend United	8 October 1949^{[lower-alpha 1]}	Free transfer
George French	FB	Colchester	(1926-11-10)10 November 1926 (aged 22)	0	0	West Ham United	February 1949	Free transfer
Digger Kettle	FB	Colchester	(1922-06-03)3 June 1922 (aged 26)	106	1	Arclight Sports	September 1946	Free transfer
Reg Stewart	CB	Sheffield	(1925-10-30)30 October 1925 (aged 23)	0	0	Sheffield Wednesday	20 August 1949^{[lower-alpha 2]}	£1,000
Midfielders
Harry Bearryman	WH	Wandsworth	(1924-09-26)26 September 1924 (aged 24)	94	5	Chelsea	4 July 1947	Free transfer
Bill Layton	WH	Shirley	(1915-01-13)13 January 1915 (aged 34)	0	0	Bradford Park Avenue	August 1949	£800
John Moore	WH	Chiswick	(1923-09-25)25 September 1923 (aged 25)	0	0	Brentford	8 September 1949^{[lower-alpha 2]}	£1,000
Forwards
Bob Allen	WG	Bromley-by-Bow	(1916-10-11)11 October 1916 (aged 32)	72	3	Gainsborough Trinity	13 June 1946	Free transfer
Bob Curry	IF	Gateshead	(1918-11-02)2 November 1918 (aged 30)	130	68	Northampton Town	13 June 1947	Free transfer
Fred Cutting	IF	North Walsham	(1921-12-04)4 December 1921 (aged 27)	73	31	Norwich City	6 December 1947^{[lower-alpha 2]}	Free transfer
Stan Foxall	WG	Crowle	(1914-09-08)8 September 1914 (aged 34)	35	11	West Ham United	June 1948	Free transfer
José Gallego	WG	San Sebastián	(1923-04-08)8 April 1923 (aged 26)	0	0	Southampton	July 1949	Free transfer
Dennis Hillman	WG	Southend-on-Sea	(1918-11-27)27 November 1918 (aged 30)	95	21	Brighton & Hove Albion	21 September 1946	Free transfer
Vic Keeble	CF	Colchester	(1930-06-25)25 June 1930 (aged 18)	30	17	King George Youth Club	23 May 1947	£10
Denis Maffey	CF	Sunderland	(1922-02-22)22 February 1922 (aged 27)	31	1	Ipswich Town	May 1948	Free transfer
Bob Neville	OL	Colchester	(1925-10-04)4 October 1925 (aged 23)	7	2	Rowhedge	October 1946	Free transfer
Arthur Turner	CF	Poplar	(1921-01-22)22 January 1921 (aged 28)	111	83	Charlton Athletic	September 1946	Free transfer

Date	Position	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
July 1949	WG	José Gallego	Southampton	Free transfer	^[15]
August 1949	WH	Bill Layton	Bradford Park Avenue	£800	^[16]
20 August 1949	CB	Reg Stewart	Sheffield Wednesday	£1,000 (paid on joining Football League in 1950)	^[17]^{[lower-alpha 1]}
8 September 1949	WH	John Moore	Brentford	£1,000	^[18]^{[lower-alpha 1]}
8 October 1949	FB	Doug Beach	Southend United	Free transfer	^[19]^{[lower-alpha 2]}
20 October 1949	CB	Ronnie Sales	Leyton Orient	Free transfer	^[20]^{[lower-alpha 1]}
22 October 1949	CF	John Sharpe	Southampton	Trial	^[21]^{[lower-alpha 1]}

Date	Position	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
End of season	GK	Harry Wright	Guildford City	Coach	^[22]
End of season	WH	Wally Nunn	Guildford City	Free transfer	^[23]
End of season	WH/IR	Frank Stamper	Hartlepools United	Undisclosed	^[24]
End of season	WG	Norman George	Free agent	Released	^[25]
End of season	IF	Andy Brown	Kidderminster Harriers	Free transfer	^[26]
End of season	IR	Ray Townrow	Clacton Town	Free transfer	^[27]
May 1949	WH	Alf Miller	Colchester United	Coaching staff	^[28]
10 September 1949	CF	Len Cater	Clacton Town	Free transfer	^[29]^{[lower-alpha 1]}
1 October 1949	FB	Bill Bower	Sudbury Town	Free transfer	^[30]
20 October 1949	CB	Ronnie Sales	Hartlepools United	Free	^[31]^{[lower-alpha 1]}
22 October 1949	CF	John Sharpe	Free agent	End of trial	^[21]^{[lower-alpha 1]}

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Results
1	Merthyr Tydfil	46	34	3	9	143	62	2.306	71
2	Colchester United	46	31	9	6	109	51	2.137	71	Elected to the Football League Third Division South
3	Yeovil Town	46	29	7	10	104	45	2.311	65
4	Chelmsford City	46	26	9	11	121	64	1.891	61
5	Gillingham	46	23	9	14	92	61	1.508	55	Elected to the Football League Third Division South

20 August 1949 (1949-08-20) 1	Colchester United	3–0	Weymouth	Colchester
	Layton Curry	Report		Stadium: Layer Road Attendance: 9,897

1949–50_Colchester_United_F.C._season

1949–50 Colchester United F.C. season

Season overview

Players

Transfers

In

Out

Match details

Southern League

League table

Matches

Southern League Cup

FA Cup

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

Goalscorers

Clean sheets

Player debuts

See also

References

General

Specific

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27 August 1949 (1949-08-27) 2	Colchester United	4–1	Headington United	Colchester
	Own goal Curry Keeble	Report	Unknown goalscorer	Stadium: Layer Road Attendance: 9,203

1 September 1949 (1949-09-01) 3	Gloucester City	2–3	Colchester United	Gloucester
	Unknown goalscorer	Report	Cutting Keeble	Stadium: Longlevens

3 September 1949 (1949-09-03) 4	Bath City	1–1	Colchester United	Bath
	Unknown goalscorer	Report	Bearryman	Stadium: Twerton Park

8 September 1949 (1949-09-08) 5	Chingford Town	3–1	Colchester United	Chingford
	Unknown goalscorer	Report	Curry	Stadium: Newgate Street

10 September 1949 (1949-09-10) 6	Chelmsford City	2–2	Colchester United	Chelmsford
	Unknown goalscorer	Report	Allen (pen.) Keeble	Stadium: New Writtle Street

14 September 1949 (1949-09-14) 7	Cheltenham Town	1–3	Colchester United	Cheltenham
	Crowe	Report	Gallego 48' Curry 67' Foxall 74'	Stadium: Whaddon Road

17 September 1949 (1949-09-17) 8	Colchester United	4–1	Chelmsford City	Colchester
	Allen (pen.) Cutting Keeble	Report	Unknown goalscorer	Stadium: Layer Road Attendance: 14,718

22 September 1949 (1949-09-22) 9	Colchester United	4–1	Worcester City	Colchester
	Curry Bearryman Keeble	Report	Unknown goalscorer	Stadium: Layer Road Attendance: 8,542

24 September 1949 (1949-09-24) 10	Colchester United	2–1	Gillingham	Colchester
	Curry Keeble	Report	Unknown goalscorer	Stadium: Layer Road Attendance: 10,942

29 September 1949 (1949-09-29) 11	Colchester United	3–2	Hereford United	Colchester
	Allen Cutting Keeble	Report	Unknown goalscorer	Stadium: Layer Road Attendance: 6,998

1 October 1949 (1949-10-01) 12	Dartford	2–0	Colchester United	Dartford
	Unknown goalscorer	Report		Stadium: Watling Street

8 October 1949 (1949-10-08) 13	Colchester United	5–0	Bath City	Colchester
	Curry Cutting Foxall Keeble	Report		Stadium: Layer Road Attendance: 9,003

15 October 1949 (1949-10-15) 14	Tonbridge	0–2	Colchester United	Tonbridge
		Report	Keeble	Stadium: Angel Ground

20 October 1949 (1949-10-20) 15	Lovell's Athletic	1–2	Colchester United	Newport
	Unknown goalscorer	Report	Curry Keeble	Stadium: Rexville

22 October 1949 (1949-10-22) 16	Colchester United	2–1	Yeovil Town	Colchester
	Cutting	Report	Foulds	Stadium: Layer Road Attendance: 10,632

29 October 1949 (1949-10-29) 17	Torquay United Reserves	3–5	Colchester United	Torquay
	Unknown goalscorer	Report	Curry Hillman Keeble	Stadium: Plainmoor

5 November 1949 (1949-11-05) 18	Colchester United	4–0	Lovell's Athletic	Colchester
	Layton (pen.) Curry Keeble	Report		Stadium: Layer Road Attendance: 6,231

19 November 1949 (1949-11-19) 19	Colchester United	8–0	Kidderminster Harriers	Colchester
	Curry Cutting Bearryman Foxall Keeble	Report		Stadium: Layer Road Attendance: 7,320

26 November 1949 (1949-11-26) 20	Exeter City Reserves	2–3	Colchester United	Exeter
	Unknown goalscorer	Report	Curry Keeble	Stadium: St James Park

3 December 1949 (1949-12-03) 21	Weymouth	0–0	Colchester United	Weymouth
		Report		Stadium: Recreation Ground

10 December 1949 (1949-12-10) 22	Colchester United	1–0	Hastings United	Colchester
	Layton	Report		Stadium: Layer Road Attendance: 6,536

24 December 1949 (1949-12-24) 23	Bedford Town	2–4	Colchester United	Bedford
	Unknown goalscorer	Report	Curry Cutting Keeble	Stadium: The Eyrie

26 December 1949 (1949-12-26) 24	Colchester United	1–0	Bedford Town	Colchester
	Cutting	Report		Stadium: Layer Road Attendance: 9,083

27 December 1949 (1949-12-27) 25	Hastings United	0–5	Colchester United	Hastings
		Report	Cutting Foxall Keeble	Stadium: The Pilot Field

31 December 1949 (1949-12-31) 26	Colchester United	3–0	Merthyr Tydfil	Colchester
	Cutting Keeble	Report		Stadium: Layer Road Attendance: 9,957

7 January 1950 (1950-01-07) 27	Colchester United	6–1	Gloucester City	Colchester
	Cutting 33' Foxall 43' Lawson 60' (o.g.) Keeble 67', 70' Layton 72'	Report	Unknown goalscorer	Stadium: Layer Road Attendance: 8,329

14 January 1950 (1950-01-14) 28	Colchester United	2–0	Barry Town	Colchester
	Layton Keeble	Report		Stadium: Layer Road Attendance: 9,131

28 January 1950 (1950-01-28) 29	Gravesend & Northfleet	2–1	Colchester United	Northfleet
	Unknown goalscorer	Report	Keeble	Stadium: Stonebridge Road

4 February 1950 (1950-02-04) 30	Headington United	2–3	Colchester United	Oxford
	Unknown goalscorer	Report	Curry Cutting Keeble	Stadium: Manor Ground

11 February 1950 (1950-02-11) 31	Colchester United	3–0	Chingford Town	Colchester
	Curry Cutting	Report		Stadium: Layer Road Attendance: 7,797