1937–38 Colchester United F.C. season

Colchester United

1937–38 season
Chairman	Maurice Pye[1]
Manager	Ted Davis
Stadium	Layer Road
Southern League	6th
Southern League Mid-Week Section	2nd
Southern League Cup	Winners
Top goalscorer	League: Alec Cheyne (19) All: Alec Cheyne (35)
Highest home attendance	11,000 (estimate) v Ipswich Town, 4 September 1937[2]
Lowest home attendance	2,500 (estimate) v Norwich City Reserves, 16 September 1937[3]
Average home league attendance	5,167[4]
Biggest win	8–0 v Newport County Reserves, 30 April 1938
Biggest defeat	2–5 v Norwich City Reserves, 23 April 1938
Home colours
1938–39 →

The 1937–38 season was Colchester United's first ever season after the formation as a professional club from amateur predecessors Colchester Town. Alongside competing in the Southern League, the club also participated in the Southern League Mid-Week Section and Southern League Cup. The club did not enter the FA Cup, but did win the Southern League Cup at the first attempt. Colchester finished 6th position in the league, and finished as runners-up to Millwall Reserves in the Mid-Week Section.

Season overview

During a transitional period from the amateur organisation at Colchester Town to a professional club, twelve directors formed the board, appointing former Huddersfield Town goalkeeper and Bath City manager Ted Davis to take charge of team affairs. On 14 July 1937, the announcement was publicly made that the new club would be named Colchester United. A week after his appointment, Davis had already organised for the club to play in the same blue and white striped kit as his former club Huddersfield.

With trial matches taking place between 19 and 26 August 1937, Colchester United played their first ever professional match on 28 August 1937, travelling to The Huish to face Yeovil & Petters United. The game ended 3–0 to Yeovil, but Colchester made amends in their first game at Layer Road against Davis' old side Bath City on 2 September in the Mid-Week Section. The U's thrashed their counterparts 6–1, with Reg Smith registering the club's first hat-trick. Proficient bugle and cornet player Ronnie Dunn, Colchester's goalkeeper, welcomed the players of both sides to the pitch with a rendition of the post horn galop, a tradition which would remain throughout the club's years at Layer Road. The attendance was recorded as £250 instead of numbers of supporters, with the amount equating to an approximate attendance of 3,500. Two days later, an estimated 11,000 came to Layer Road to witness a 3–3 draw in the first meeting between Colchester United and nearby rivals Ipswich Town.

Reg Smith was sold to Wolverhampton Wanderers in October 1937 for £250, and with a deal agreed for Cliff Fairchild to join Arsenal at the end of the season for £500, Davis used his entrepreneurial skills to arrange for both First Division clubs to contest the Colchester Challenge Cup at Layer Road. The friendly fixture proved to be a success, with 17,584 seeing Wolves beat Arsenal 1–0.

Following an excellent beginning to Colchester United's existence spelt a swift demise for Colchester Town. With the Oysters suffering financial difficulty, the amateur club folded in 1937, having joined the six-club Essex Senior League. The club re-emerged briefly in January 1938 to complete an Essex Senior Cup tie in order to avoid a fine, but the withdrawal of Town meant that United could enter a reserve side into the Eastern Counties League one month later, with the reserve squad boosted by many of those previously on the books with Colchester Town.

Layer Road suffered severe damage to the roof in January 1938 during a severe gale, with a recently erected corrugated iron roof and timber structure damaging nearby buildings, causing the ground to be closed for two days to clear the debris.

The return match with Ipswich saw 8,000 Colchester fans set a new Portman Road ground record attendance of 23,890, with United wearing a new orange and black away strip. They had worn these kits a week earlier in a friendly against Charlton Athletic to acclimatise themselves to the new strip.

At the end of the season, Colchester finished mid-table, but did reach the Southern League Cup final. They lost the first leg 2–1 at Yeovil, but triumphed 3–1 at Layer Road to win 4–3 on aggregate and secure the club's first ever trophy. The club then adopted the nickname "The U's" to differentiate themselves from "The Oysters" of Colchester Town. Across the season, Colchester found the back of the net 155 times in all competitions, with Alec Cheyne scoring 35 goals, Arthur Pritchard 29 goals and Jack Hodge 24 goals helping the U's to that total. With professional football proving to be a success, the same applied for Colchester's neighbours and rivals Ipswich Town, who were elected to the Football League for the 1938–39 season.^[5]

Players

As of match played 7 May 1938.^[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 Ronnie Dunn GK Don Youngs DF Jimmy Baker DF Jimmy Collins DF Cliff Fairchild DF Syd Fieldus DF Ian Haley DF George Leslie DF George Ritchie (captain) DF George Smith DF Alexander Wood FW Bill Barraclough

No. Position Player FW Albert Bennett FW Alec Cheyne FW George Crisp FW Jack Hodge FW Ken Mayes FW Bill Pendergast FW Arthur Pritchard FW Sam Simnett FW Ivan Thacker FW George Wallis FW George Williams

Match details

Friendlies

Southern League

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv1	Pts2	Promotion, qualification or relegation
4	Yeovil & Petters United	34	14	14	6	72	45	1.6	42
5	Norwich City Reserves	34	15	11	8	77	55	1.4	41
6	Colchester United	34	15	8	11	90	58	1.55	38
7	Bristol Rovers Reserves	34	14	8	12	63	62	1.02	36
8	Swindon Town Reserves	34	14	7	13	70	76	0.92	35

^{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

Southern League Mid-Week Section

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv1	Pts2	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Millwall Reserves (C)	18	13	3	2	59	21	2.81	29	Southern League Midweek Section champions
2	Colchester United	18	13	1	4	42	23	1.83	27
3	Aldershot Reserves	18	11	3	4	38	29	1.31	25
4	Folkestone	18	7	6	5	32	36	0.89	20
5	Norwich City Reserves	18	9	1	8	45	39	1.15	19

^{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

Southern League Cup

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

^[6][7]

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Southern League		Southern League Mid-Week Section		Southern League Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
	GK		Ronnie Dunn	51	0	31	0	15	0	5	0
	GK		Don Youngs	7	0	3	0	3	0	1	0
	DF		Jimmy Baker	31	2	17	1	10	1	4	0
	DF		Jimmy Collins	3	0	3	0	0	0	0	0
	DF		Cliff Fairchild	52	0	30	0	16	0	6	0
	DF		Syd Fieldus	21	3	13	3	4	0	4	0
	DF		Ian Haley	9	0	5	0	4	0	0	0
	DF		George Leslie	43	0	24	0	16	0	3	0
	DF		George Ritchie	31	1	20	1	7	0	4	0
	DF		George Smith	24	2	15	2	9	0	0	0
	FW		Alexander Wood	54	1	32	1	16	0	6	0
	FW		Bill Barraclough	26	4	19	2	6	2	1	0
	FW		Albert Bennett	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
	FW		Alec Cheyne	54	35	32	19	16	9	6	7
	FW		George Crisp	39	14	19	9	15	4	5	1
	FW		Jack Hodge	51	24	30	12	15	7	6	5
	FW		Ken Mayes	37	0	19	0	12	0	6	0
	FW		Bill Pendergast	11	6	8	5	3	1	0	0
	FW		Arthur Pritchard	37	29	22	17	11	8	4	4
	FW		Sam Simnett	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
	FW		Ivan Thacker	4	1	2	0	2	1	0	0
	FW		George Wallis	16	7	10	5	6	2	0	0
	FW		George Williams	4	0	3	0	1	0	0	0
Players who appeared for Colchester who left during the season
	DF		John Ormesher	2	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
	FW		Tully Day	15	15	7	9	4	2	4	4
	FW		Reg Smith	14	10	8	3	5	5	1	2

Goalscorers

^[7]

Place	Nation	Position	Name	Southern League	Southern League Mid-Week Section	Southern League Cup	Total
1		FW	Alec Cheyne	19	9	7	35
2		FW	Arthur Pritchard	17	8	4	29
3		FW	Jack Hodge	12	7	5	24
4		FW	Tully Day	9	2	4	15
5		FW	George Crisp	9	4	1	14
6		FW	Reg Smith	3	5	2	10
7		FW	George Wallis	5	2	0	7
8		FW	Bill Pendergast	5	1	0	6
9		FW	Bill Barraclough	2	2	0	4
10		DF	Syd Fieldus	3	0	0	3
11		DF	Jimmy Baker	1	1	0	2
		DF	George Smith	2	0	0	2
13		DF	George Ritchie	1	0	0	1
		FW	Ivan Thacker	0	1	0	1
		DF	Alexander Wood	1	0	0	1
			Own goals	1	0	0	1
			TOTALS	0	0	0	155

Disciplinary record

^[8]

Nationality	Position	Player	Southern League		Southern League Mid-Week Section		Southern League Cup		Total
	FW	Bill Barraclough	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	2
	FW	George Crisp	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
		TOTALS	0	1	0	1	1	0	1	2

Captains

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

Place	Nation	Position	Player	Southern League	Southern League Mid-Week Section	Southern League Cup	Total
1		DF	George Ritchie	17	7	4	28
2		DF	Jimmy Baker	3	4	1	8
			Not recorded	14	7	1	22

Player debuts

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

Position	Player	Date	Opponent	Ground	Notes
GK	Ronnie Dunn	28 August 1937	Yeovil & Petters United	Huish Athletic Ground
DF	Jimmy Collins	28 August 1937	Yeovil & Petters United	Huish Athletic Ground
DF	Cliff Fairchild	28 August 1937	Yeovil & Petters United	Huish Athletic Ground
DF	George Leslie	28 August 1937	Yeovil & Petters United	Huish Athletic Ground
DF	George Ritchie	28 August 1937	Yeovil & Petters United	Huish Athletic Ground
DF	Alexander Wood	28 August 1937	Yeovil & Petters United	Huish Athletic Ground
FW	Alec Cheyne	28 August 1937	Yeovil & Petters United	Huish Athletic Ground
FW	George Crisp	28 August 1937	Yeovil & Petters United	Huish Athletic Ground
FW	Jack Hodge	28 August 1937	Yeovil & Petters United	Huish Athletic Ground
FW	Arthur Pritchard	28 August 1937	Yeovil & Petters United	Huish Athletic Ground
FW	Reg Smith	28 August 1937	Yeovil & Petters United	Huish Athletic Ground
FW	Ken Mayes	2 September 1937	Bath City	Layer Road
FW	Bill Barraclough	11 September 1937	Yeovil & Petters United	Layer Road
DF	Jimmy Baker	23 September 1937	Folkestone	Layer Road
DF	John Ormesher	7 October 1937	Tunbridge Wells Rangers	Layer Road
DF	Syd Fieldus	9 October 1937	Plymouth Argyle Reserves	Home Park
DF	George Smith	30 October 1937	Dartford	Watling Street
FW	Tully Day	17 November 1937	Aldershot Reserves	Recreation Ground
FW	Albert Bennett	25 November 1937	Norwich City Reserves	Carrow Road
FW	Bill Pendergast	11 December 1937	Aldershot Reserves	Layer Road
DF	Ian Haley	1 January 1938	Barry Town	Layer Road
FW	George Williams	31 January 1938	Millwall Reserves	The Den
GK	Don Youngs	24 February 1938	Tunbridge Wells Rangers	Layer Road
FW	Ivan Thacker	3 March 1938	Dartford	Layer Road
FW	George Wallis	3 March 1938	Dartford	Layer Road
FW	Sam Simnett	23 April 1938	Tunbridge Wells Rangers	Down Farm

Transfers and contracts

In

Date	Pos	Player	From	Fee	Ref
23 June 1937	FW	Reg Smith	Bristol City	Free transfer	[11]
3 July 1937	DF	Jimmy Collins	West Ham United	Free transfer	[12]
3 July 1937	GK	Ronnie Dunn	Crystal Palace	Free transfer	[13]
3 July 1937	DF	Syd Fieldus	Brentford	Free transfer	[14]
3 July 1937	FW	Ken Mayes	Fulham	£500	[15]
9 July 1937	DF	Jimmy Baker	Bristol City	Free transfer	[16]
9 July 1937	DF	George Leslie	Guildford City	Free transfer	[17]
13 July 1937	FW	Jack Hodge	Luton Town	Free transfer	[18]
16 July 1937	DF	Alexander Wood	Nottingham Forest	Free transfer	[19]
17 July 1937	FW	George Williams	Ipswich Town	Free transfer	[20]
7 August 1937	FW	Bill Barraclough	Chelsea	Free transfer	[21]
12 August 1937	DF	George Ritchie	Leicester City	Free transfer	[22]
13 August 1937	FW	Alec Cheyne	Chelsea	£3,000	[23]
28 August 1937	GK	Ted Platt	None	Free transfer	[24]
28 August 1937	DF	Cliff Fairchild	Northfleet United	Free transfer	[25]
28 August 1937	FW	George Crisp	Newport County	Undisclosed	[26]
28 August 1937	FW	Arthur Pritchard	Yeovil & Petters United	Free transfer	[27]
7 October 1937	DF	John Ormesher	Colchester Town	Free transfer	[28]
27 October 1937	DF	George Smith	Bath City	Free transfer	[29]
5 November 1937	GK	Don Youngs	Martlesham RAF	Free transfer	[30]
17 November 1937	FW	Tully Day	Harwich & Parkeston	Free transfer	[31]
25 November 1937	FW	Albert Bennett	Colchester Town	Free transfer	[32]
9 December 1937	FW	Bill Pendergast	Bristol Rovers	Free transfer	[33]
1 January 1938	DF	Ian Haley	Colchester Town	Free transfer	[34]
22 January 1938	FW	Sam Simnett	Ipswich Town	Free transfer	[35]
18 February 1938	FW	Ivan Thacker	Hoffman Athletic (Chelmsford)	Free transfer	[36]
28 February 1938	FW	George Wallis	Bath City	Free transfer	[37]

Out

Date	Pos	Player	To	Fee	Ref
25 October 1937	FW	Reg Smith	Wolverhampton Wanderers	£500	[37]
15 January 1938	DF	John Ormesher	Free agent	Released	[28]
1 April 1938	GK	Ted Platt	Arsenal	Free transfer	[24]
19 April 1938	FW	Tully Day	Harwich & Parkeston	Free transfer	[31]

See also

• List of Colchester United F.C. seasons

References

General

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. 

Specific