1953–54 Colchester United F.C. season

Third Division South

23rd (re-elected)
FA Cup	1st round (eliminated by Millwall)
Top goalscorer	League: Bert Barlow (10) All: Bert Barlow (10)
Highest home attendance	10,316 v Ipswich Town, 19 December 1953[2]
Lowest home attendance	6,035 v Southend United, 29 April 1954[3]
Average home league attendance	7,797[4]
Biggest win	5–0 v Queens Park Rangers, 25 December 1953
Biggest defeat	0–4 v Millwall, 23 November 1953
Home colours
← 1952–53 1954–55 →

The 1953–54 season was Colchester United's twelfth season in their history and their fourth season 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. Colchester were knocked out in the first round of the cup by Millwall following a replay. The club struggled in the league for the second successive season, eventually finishing 23rd of 24 teams under new manager Jack Butler. The club had to apply for re-election at the end of the season for the first of three occasions in its history. All four clubs applying for re-election were successful, with Colchester receiving 45 votes, behind Chester by three votes but ahead of both Walsall (32 votes) and Halifax Town (28 votes).^[5]

Season overview

Following Jimmy Allen's resignation at the end of the previous season, the Colchester United board shortlisted three names for the vacant managerial position, and in-line with their cost reduction policy, appointed Ron Meades as player-manager. Meades had claimed to have been with Cardiff City, and more recently manager of Western League side Wadebridge Town. Journalist Arthur Wood investigated Meades' background and revealed that Meades was a fraud, and after just four days in charge, Meades was asked to leave by the club.

Colchester hurriedly appointed a new manager, Jack Butler, a former player for Arsenal and England international. He had coached in Belgium, initially with Royal Daring Club Molenbeek and had been in charge of the Belgium national team between 1935 and 1940, leading them to the 1938 World Cup finals. More recently, he had managed Torquay United and Crystal Palace, but Butler had little time to prepare his side ahead of the new season, and a 13-game winless run in late 1953 saw Colchester slump to 23rd position in the league.

With the crowd average falling season-on-season to 7,797, the club were required to apply for re-election after finishing the campaign ten points adrift of safety. Colchester earned 45 votes, enough to ensure another season in the Football League, but having been prolific goalscorers earlier in their history, the club had scored only 50 league goals this season.^[6]

Players

As of match played 29 April 1954.^[7]

Name	Position	Nationality	Place of birth	Date of birth	Apps	Goals	Signed from	Date signed	Fee
Goalkeepers
Frank Coombs	GK		East Ham	(1925-04-24)24 April 1925 (aged 28)	31	0	Southend United	8 March 1952[a]	£450
George Wright	GK		Plymouth	(1919-10-10)10 October 1919 (aged 33)	164	0	Plymouth Argyle	May 1949	£1,000
John Wright	GK		Aldershot	(1933-08-13)13 August 1933 (aged 19)	0	0	Colchester Casuals	23 May 1952	Free transfer
Defenders
Roy Bicknell	CB		Doncaster	(1926-02-19)19 February 1926 (aged 27)	8	0	Gravesend & Northfleet	June 1952	£1,000
George French	FB		Colchester	(1926-11-10)10 November 1926 (aged 26)	1	0	West Ham United	February 1949	Free transfer
John Harrison	FB		Leicester	(1927-09-27)27 September 1927 (aged 25)	128	0	Aston Villa	30 September 1950[a]	Nominal
Billy Hunt	CB		Colchester	(1934-11-25)25 November 1934 (aged 18)	0	0	Amateur	August 1953	Free transfer
Digger Kettle	FB		Colchester	(1922-06-03)3 June 1922 (aged 30)	168	1	Arclight Sports	September 1946	Free transfer
Fred Lewis	FB		Broughton Gifford	(1923-07-26)26 July 1923 (aged 29)	0	0	Chelsea	Summer 1953	Free transfer
Reg Stewart	CB		Sheffield	(1925-10-30)30 October 1925 (aged 27)	191	0	Sheffield Wednesday	20 August 1949[a]	£1,000
Midfielders
Harry Bearryman	WH		Wandsworth	(1924-09-26)26 September 1924 (aged 28)	293	10	Chelsea	4 July 1947	Free transfer
Bob Dale	WH		Irlam	(1931-10-31)31 October 1931 (aged 21)	0	0	Bury	24 December 1953	£1,500
Austin Dunne	WH		Limerick	(1934-07-31)31 July 1934 (aged 18)	0	0	Limerick	October 1953	Free transfer
Jimmy Elder	WH		Scone	(1928-03-05)5 March 1928 (aged 25)	143	10	Portsmouth	19 August 1950[a]	£1,000
Trevor Harris	WH		Colchester	(1936-02-06)6 February 1936 (aged 17)	0	0	Amateur	July 1951	Free transfer
Bert Hill	WH		West Ham	(1930-03-08)8 March 1930 (aged 23)	1	0	Chelsea	September 1952	£300
Ron Hunt	WH		Colchester	(1933-09-26)26 September 1933 (aged 19)	3	0	Amateur	October 1951	Free transfer
Doug Keene	WH		Hendon	(1928-08-30)30 August 1928 (aged 24)	0	0	Brighton & Hove Albion	20 August 1953[a]	£1,000
Forwards
Peter Aitchison	WG		Harlow	(1931-09-19)19 September 1931 (aged 21)	12	2	Amateur	August 1950	Free transfer
John Church	WG		Lowestoft	(1919-09-17)17 September 1919 (aged 33)	122	22	Norwich City	19 August 1950[a]	£1,000
Mike Grice	WG		Woking	(1931-11-03)3 November 1931 (aged 21)	13	1	Lowestoft Town	Summer 1952	£25
Kevin McCurley	CF		Consett	(1926-04-02)2 April 1926 (aged 27)	58	25	Liverpool	June 1951	£750
Johnny McKim	IF		Greenock	(1926-01-22)22 January 1926 (aged 27)	84	33	Chelsea	19 August 1950[a]	£1,000
Ken Plant	CF		Nuneaton	(1925-08-15)15 August 1925 (aged 27)	0	0	Bury	January 1954	Undisclosed
Peter Wright	WG		Colchester	(1934-01-26)26 January 1934 (aged 19)	21	2	Amateur	November 1951	Free transfer

Transfers

In

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
Summer 1953	FB		Fred Lewis	Chelsea	Free transfer	[8]
June 1953	CF		Tommy Harris	Leyton Orient	Part-exchange with Stan Edwards	[9]
August 1953	CB		Billy Hunt	Amateur	Free transfer	[10]
20 August 1953	WH		Doug Keene	Brighton & Hove Albion	£1,000	[11][a]
October 1953	WH		Austin Dunne	Limerick	Free transfer	[12]
24 December 1953	WH		Bob Dale	Bury	£1,500	[13]
January 1954	CF		Ken Plant	Bury	Undisclosed	[14]

• Total spending: ~ £2,500

Out

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
2 May 1953	FB		Phil Rookes	Chichester City	Manager	[15][a]
June 1953	CF		Stan Edwards	Leyton Orient	Part-exchange with Tommy Harris	[16]
22 August 1953	FB		Trevor Rowlands	Great Yarmouth Town	Free transfer	[17]
5 December 1953	CF		Tommy Harris	Tonbridge	Free transfer	[9][a]
23 January 1954	FW		Dick Cullum	Sittingbourne	Free transfer	[18][a]
13 March 1954	IF		Bert Barlow	Retired	Retired	[19][a]
17 April 1954	IF		Augie Scott	Cheltenham Town	Player-coach	[20][a]

Match details

Third Division South

Results round by round

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts	Promotion or relegation
20	Swindon Town	46	15	10	21	67	70	0.957	40
21	Shrewsbury Town	46	14	12	20	65	76	0.855	40
22	Crystal Palace	46	14	12	20	60	86	0.698	40
23	Colchester United	46	10	10	26	50	78	0.641	30	Re-elected
24	Walsall	46	9	8	29	40	87	0.460	26

Matches

FA Cup

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

^[7][21]

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Third Division South		FA Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
	GK	ENG	Frank Coombs	7	0	7	0	0	0
	GK	ENG	George Wright	41	0	39	0	2	0
	DF	ENG	Roy Bicknell	21	0	19	0	2	0
	DF	ENG	George French	2	0	2	0	0	0
	DF	ENG	John Harrison	42	0	41	0	1	0
	DF	ENG	Digger Kettle	4	0	3	0	1	0
	DF	ENG	Fred Lewis	48	0	46	0	2	0
	DF	ENG	Reg Stewart	27	0	27	0	0	0
	MF	ENG	Harry Bearryman	39	2	37	2	2	0
	MF	ENG	Bob Dale	21	4	21	4	0	0
	MF	SCO	Jimmy Elder	39	4	37	4	2	0
	MF	ENG	Bert Hill	16	1	16	1	0	0
	MF	ENG	Ron Hunt	2	0	2	0	0	0
	MF	ENG	Doug Keene	24	1	22	1	2	0
	FW	ENG	John Church	7	0	6	0	1	0
	FW	ENG	Mike Grice	18	2	18	2	0	0
	FW	ENG	Kevin McCurley	34	9	32	8	2	1
	FW	SCO	Johnny McKim	19	6	19	6	0	0
	FW	ENG	Ken Plant	17	6	17	6	0	0
	FW	ENG	Peter Wright	23	2	22	2	1	0
Players who appeared for Colchester who left during the season
	FW	ENG	Bert Barlow	34	10	32	10	2	0
	FW	ENG	Dick Cullum	1	0	1	0	0	0
	FW	ENG	Tommy Harris	3	0	3	0	0	0
	FW	ENG	Augie Scott	39	4	37	4	2	0

Goalscorers

^[21]

Place	Nationality	Position	Name	Third Division South	FA Cup	Total
1		IF	Bert Barlow	10	0	10
2		CF	Kevin McCurley	8	1	9
3		IF	Johnny McKim	6	0	6
		CF	Ken Plant	6	0	6
5		WH	Bob Dale	4	0	4
		WH	Jimmy Elder	4	0	4
		IF	Augie Scott	4	0	4
8		WH	Harry Bearryman	2	0	2
		WG	Mike Grice	2	0	2
		WG	Peter Wright	2	0	2
11		WH	Bert Hill	1	0	1
		WH	Doug Keene	1	0	1
			Own goals	0	0	0
			TOTALS	51	1	52

Clean sheets

Number of games goalkeepers kept a clean sheet.^[22]

Place	Nationality	Player	Third Division South	FA Cup	Total
1		George Wright	7	0	7
		TOTALS	7	0	7

Player debuts

Players making their first-team Colchester United debut in a fully competitive match.^[23]

Position	Nationality	Player	Date	Opponent	Ground	Notes
WH		Doug Keene	20 August 1953	Torquay United	Layer Road
FB		Fred Lewis	20 August 1953	Torquay United	Layer Road
CF		Tommy Harris	10 October 1953	Coventry City	Layer Road
WH		Bob Dale	2 January 1954	Crystal Palace	Selhurst Park
CF		Ken Plant	6 February 1954	Swindon Town	Layer Road

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
  .

Websites

• "Colchester United football club match record: 1954". 11v11.com. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
• "Statistics 1953/54". The Millwall History Files. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
• "1950/51 to 1959/60" (PDF). Watford Football Club archive 1881–2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2016.

Specific