1946–47 Southampton F.C. season

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Southampton F.C.
1946–47 season
Chairman A. E. Jakes
Manager Bill Dodgin
Stadium The Dell
Second Division 14th
FA Cup Fourth round
Top goalscorer League:
Jack Bradley (14)
All:
Jack Bradley (15)
George Lewis (15)
Highest home attendance 25,746 v Newcastle United (12 October 1946)
Lowest home attendance 4,289 v Coventry City
(5 February 1947)
Average home league attendance 16,039
Home colours
← 1945–46 1947–48 →

The 1946–47 Southampton F.C. season was the club's 18th season in the Football League Second Division and their 20th in the Football League.[1] Southampton finished the season in 14th place in the league table, having won 15, drawn 9 and lost 18 of their 42 matches.[2] The club also made it to the fourth round of the FA Cup.[3] Inside forward Jack Bradley finished the season as the club's top scorer in the league with 14 goals,[4] while centre forward George Lewis finished as joint top scorer in all competitions alongside Bradley, with 15 goals.

League football in England resumed in 1946 following the Second World War.[5] The first post-war season was Southampton's first to feature Bill Dodgin as manager, who had previously played for the club during wartime and was appointed in March 1946.[6] In the summer the club signed a number of new players, including Bill Rochford and George Lewis, and due to the lack of official competition during wartime many first team players made their official debuts for the club during the campaign (including eight in the first game of the season).[5]

Pre-season

In preparation for the 1946–47 season, Southampton played two pre-season friendly matches.[5] On 14 August 1946 the Saints won 4–1 against Irish club Bohemians, with new signing George Lewis and Don Roper scoring two goals each.[7] They then beat French side Le Havre 7–0 at home thanks to a hat-trick from Don Roper, two goals from Doug McGibbon, and one each from Jack Bradley and Bobby Veck.[7]

Second Division

September–December 1946

Southampton began the 1946–47 season well with a 4–0 win over Swansea Town at home, with Doug McGibbon scoring a hat-trick.[5] The team dropped down to 10th in the table with a draw and a loss, before beating Nottingham Forest convincingly 5–2 thanks to goals from McGibbon (two), Alf Freeman (two) and Jack Bradley.[5] The Saints began to drop down the league table in October thanks to a winless run, but picked their form back up at the end of the month with wins over Newport County and Plymouth Argyle.[5][8] The club's fortunes continued to change week on week, although they finished the year off strongly with a 5–1 win over Newport County to remain in the top ten going into 1947.[8]

January–May 1947

The year began poorly for the Saints with three consecutive losses away from home in which the side conceded 11 goals,[8] prompting Dodgin to replace regular goalkeeper George Ephgrave with Len Stansbridge for much of the rest of the season.[4] Through February and March, the team won four out of seven matches to move away from the relegation zone and back up to the top ten, although four straight losses saw them drop back down to 15th in April.[9] Seven players were released by the club near the end of the month.[9] Three wins from their last six matches meant that Southampton finished 14th in the Second Division table, compared to 18th in the last pre-war season.[9]

Final league table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
12 West Ham United 42 16 8 18 70 76 –6 40
13 Luton Town 42 16 7 19 71 73 –2 39
14 Southampton 42 15 9 18 69 76 –7 39
15 Fulham 42 15 9 18 63 74 –11 39
16 Bradford Park Avenue 42 14 11 17 65 77 –12 39

Source: statto.com
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored.

Results by matchday

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
Ground H H A H A H A A H A A H A H A H A H A A H H A A A H H A H A H A A H H A H A A H H H
Result W D L W L W L L D D W W L D L W D W L D D W L L L W L W L W L W L L L L W D L W W D
Position 7 8 10 8 13 10 10 14 14 13 11 10 12 13 14 12 12 9 11 11 11 9 10 15 16 13 13 11 11 10 12 10 10 10 11 15 11 13 14 12 12 12

Source: statto.com
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Loss; W = Win; P = Postponed.

Match results

FA Cup

Bury (11 January 1947)

Southampton entered the 1946–47 FA Cup in the third round, facing Bury at home on 11 January 1947. The Saints controlled the game from the early exchanges, with Jack Bradley, George Lewis and Billy Bevis scoring within the first 16 minutes to put the hosts 3–0 up.[10] Bury pulled one back before the break through a penalty, which was awarded due to a handball in the area by George Smith.[10] In the second half, the Saints quickly reasserted their dominance and made it 4–1 through a second goal from Lewis in the 52nd minute.[10] After he was initially denied by the crossbar earlier on, Lewis did later complete his hat-trick (the club's first in the competition proper) when he converted following a run by Eric Webber.[10]

Newcastle United (25 January 1947)

In the fourth round Southampton travelled to face Newcastle United, who were then second in the Second Division league table.[11] The Saints took the lead in the 11th minute, as Don Roper shot from the outside of the box and scored due to a deflection off centre-half Frank Brennan.[12] The lead remained until the break, before Charlie Wayman equalised for the hosts shortly after half-time.[12] Nine minutes later he scored again, heading in a Doug Wright free-kick.[12] Wayman completed his hat-trick later in the game to put Newcastle through to the fifth round.[12] The Magpies went on to make it to the semi-finals of the tournament, before being knocked out by eventual champions Charlton Athletic.[3]

Squad statistics

Name Pos. Nat. League FA Cup Total
Apps. Gls. Apps. Gls. Apps. Gls.
Ted Bates FW England 22 4 0 0 22 4
Jack Bradley FW England 38 14 2 1 40 15
Stan Clements HB England 2 0 0 0 2 0
Eric Day FW England 19 2 2 0 21 2
Bill Ellerington FB England 19 1 1 0 20 1
George Ephgrave GK England 29 0 2 0 31 0
Wilf Grant FW England 21 3 0 0 21 3
Jack Gregory FB England 1 0 0 0 1 0
George Horsfall HB Australia 2 0 0 0 2 0
George Lewis FW Wales 28 12 2 3 30 15
Joe Mallett HB England 13 1 0 0 13 1
Alf Ramsey FB England 23 1 1 0 24 1
Bill Rochford FB England 41 0 2 0 43 0
Don Roper FW England 40 8 2 1 42 9
George Smith HB England 34 1 2 0 36 1
Len Stansbridge GK England 13 0 0 0 13 0
Bobby Veck FW England 12 1 0 0 12 1
Eric Webber HB England 40 0 2 0 42 0
Players with appearances who left the club before the end of the season
Billy Bevis FW England 14 5 2 1 16 6
Bill Bushby HB England 2 0 0 0 2 0
Harry Evans FW England 1 0 0 0 1 0
Alf Freeman FW England 7 2 0 0 7 2
Doug McGibbon FW England 12 9 0 0 12 9
Bill Stroud HB England 29 4 2 0 31 4

Most appearances

No. Name Pos. Nat. League FA Cup Total
1 Bill Rochford FB England 41 2 43
2 Don Roper FW England 40 2 42
Eric Webber HB England 40 2 42
4 Jack Bradley FW England 38 2 40
5 George Smith HB England 34 2 36
6 George Ephgrave GK England 29 2 31
Bill Stroud HB England 29 2 31
8 George Lewis FW Wales 28 2 30
9 Alf Ramsey FB England 23 1 24
10 Ted Bates FW England 22 0 22

Top goalscorers

No. Name Pos. Nat. League FA Cup Total
Apps. Gls. Apps. Gls. Apps. Gls. GPG
1 George Lewis FW Wales 12 28 3 2 15 30 0.50
Jack Bradley FW England 14 38 1 2 15 40 0.37
3 Doug McGibbon FW England 9 12 0 0 9 12 0.75
Don Roper FW England 8 40 1 2 9 42 0.21
5 Billy Bevis FW England 5 14 1 2 6 16 0.37
6 Ted Bates FW England 4 22 0 0 4 22 0.18
Bill Stroud HB England 4 29 0 2 4 31 0.12
8 Alf Freeman FW England 2 7 0 0 2 7 0.28
Eric Day FW England 2 19 0 2 2 21 0.09

Transfers

Players transferred in
Date Pos. Name Club Fee Ref.
April 1946 GK England George Ephgrave England Swindon Town Free [13]
July 1946 FB England Bill Rochford England Portsmouth £550 [5]
July 1946 FW England George Lewis England Watford £1,000+[lower-alpha 2] [5]
September 1946 HB England Bill Bushby England Portsmouth Free [14]
October 1946 FW England Wilf Grant England Manchester City Free [15]
February 1947 HB England Joe Mallett England Queens Park Rangers £5,000[lower-alpha 3] [9]
Players transferred out
Date Pos. Name Club Fee Ref.
September 1946 FB England Tom Emanuel Wales Llanelli Free [17]
January 1947 FW England Doug McGibbon England Fulham £4,250 [18]
Players released
Date Pos. Name Subsequent club Join date Ref.
April 1947 FW England Billy Bevis England Winchester City September 1947 [9][19]
April 1947 HB England Bill Bushby England Cowes Sports Late 1947 [9][14]
April 1947 FW England Harry Evans England Exeter City June 1947 [9][20]
April 1947 HB England Ken Fisher England Watford August 1947 [9][21]
April 1947 FW England Alf Freeman England Crystal Palace August 1948 [9][22]
April 1947 HB England Bill Stroud England Leyton Orient June 1947 [9][23]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 4,289 is Southampton's lowest post-war home league attendance.[8]
  2. ↑ Lewis's transfer fee is generally reported as "a four-figure fee".[5]
  3. ↑ Joe Mallett's £5,000 transfer fee was a club record at the time.[16]

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Holley & Chalk 2003, p. 5
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 Holley & Chalk 2003, p. 2
  6. ↑ Chalk, Holley & Bull 2013, p. 57
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Holley & Chalk 2003, p. 424
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Holley & Chalk 2003, p. 3
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 9.8 9.9 Holley & Chalk 2003, p. 4
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Holley & Chalk 2003, p. 302
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Holley & Chalk 2003, p. 303
  13. ↑ Chalk, Holley & Bull 2013, p. 310
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Chalk, Holley & Bull 2013, p. 266
  15. ↑ Chalk, Holley & Bull 2013, p. 333
  16. ↑ Holley & Chalk 2003, p. 544
  17. ↑ Chalk, Holley & Bull 2013, p. 66
  18. ↑ Chalk, Holley & Bull 2013, pp. 121–122
  19. ↑ Chalk, Holley & Bull 2013, p. 14
  20. ↑ Chalk, Holley & Bull 2013, p. 311
  21. ↑ Holley & Chalk 2003, p. 612
  22. ↑ Chalk, Holley & Bull 2013, p. 320
  23. ↑ Chalk, Holley & Bull 2013, p. 474

Bibliography

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  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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