1908–09 Brentford F.C. season

Brentford
1908–09 season
Chairman	Harry Blundell
Secretary Manager	Fred Halliday
Stadium	Griffin Park
Southern League First Division	21st
FA Cup	Second round
Top goalscorer	League: Reid (18); All: Reid (18)

During the 1908–09 English football season, Brentford competed in the Southern League First Division. A disastrous season ended with a bottom-place finish, but the club was spared relegation after the First Division was expanded in June 1909.

Season summary

Manager Fred Halliday brought right half Phil Richards to Griffin Park from his previous club Bradford Park Avenue.

After encountering severe financial problems during the 1907–08 season, the Brentford committee was forced to dispense with the majority of the first team squad in May 1908, due to many of the players being unwilling to accept lower wages for the 1908–09 season.^[1] Top-scorer Adam Bowman had been sold in April and he was followed out of Griffin Park by Tosher Underwood, Jock Watson, Jock Hamilton, Tom McAllister, George Parsonage, Fred Corbett, Jimmy Tomlinson, Andy Clark, John Montgomery, Vince Hayes and Patsy Hendren, while Oakey Field (who had returned in November 1907), Charlie Williams and Jimmy Jay elected to retire.^[1] Fred Halliday was appointed Brentford manager on 24 June and began assembling an almost entirely new squad, which eventually reduced the wage bill by 20%, to £2,565 across the entire season (approximately £280,000 in 2017).^[1]

Brentford endured a forgettable Southern League First Division season, matching the 33 points won during the previous season, but instead finishing five places lower at the bottom of the table.^[2] The return of Jimmy Jay in October helped solidify the back lines, which up to that point were leaking goals.^[1] Forward Alex McCulloch, signed during the 1908 off-season, caught the eye of manager Halliday's former club Bradford Park Avenue and departed for a £350 fee in November, with Geordie Reid arriving at Griffin Park in part-exchange.^[1] Reid would top-score for the Bees during the season with 18 goals.^[1] There was some cheer late in the season, with the Bees winning the Southern Professional Charity Cup.^[1]

Brentford's bottom-place finish was initially no cause for concern, with plans afoot for 16 Southern League clubs, plus another two from a list of six (which included Brentford), to form a Third Division of the Football League.^[1] The chance fell through when the Football League First and Second Division clubs voted against the formation of a Third Division, but Brentford were saved from relegation when the Southern League opted to expand to 22 clubs in June 1909, with Croydon Common being promoted from the Second Division and thus preserving Brentford's First Division status.^[1]

League table

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv¹	Pts²
1	Northampton Town	40	25	5	10	90	45	2	55
2	Swindon Town	40	22	5	13	96	55	1.75	49
3	Southampton	40	19	10	11	67	58	1.16	48
4	Portsmouth	40	18	10	12	68	60	1.13	46
5	Bristol Rovers	40	17	9	14	60	63	0.95	43
6	Exeter City	40	18	6	16	56	65	0.86	42
7	New Brompton	40	17	7	16	48	59	0.81	41
8	Reading	40	11	18	11	60	57	1.05	40
9	Luton Town	40	17	6	17	59	60	0.98	40
10	Plymouth Argyle	40	15	10	15	46	47	0.98	40
11	Millwall	40	16	6	18	59	61	0.97	38
12	Southend United	40	14	10	16	52	54	0.96	38
13	Leyton	40	15	8	17	52	55	0.95	38
14	Watford	40	14	9	17	51	64	0.8	37
15	Queens Park Rangers	40	12	12	16	52	50	1.04	36
16	Crystal Palace	40	12	12	16	62	62	1	36
17	West Ham United	40	16	4	20	56	60	0.93	36
18	Brighton & Hove Albion	40	14	7	19	60	61	0.98	35
19	Norwich City	40	12	11	17	59	75	0.78	35
20	Coventry City	40	15	4	21	64	91	0.70	34
21	Brentford	40	13	7	20	59	74	0.79	33

^{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.}

Results

Brentford's goal tally listed first.

Legend

Win	Draw	Loss

Southern League First Division

No.	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Scorer(s)
1	2 September 1908	Reading	A	2–2	Sugden (2)
2	5 September 1908	Southampton	H	2–2	McCulloch, Glen
3	12 September 1908	Leyton	A	0–2
4	19 September 1908	West Ham United	H	1–0	McCulloch
5	26 September 1908	Brighton & Hove Albion	A	0–4
6	28 September 1908	Queens Park Rangers	H	0–0
7	3 October 1908	Crystal Palace	H	1–3	Connelly
8	10 October 1908	Plymouth Argyle	A	0–2
9	17 October 1908	Luton Town	A	1–3	Ryalls
10	24 October 1908	Swindon Town	H	1–0	McCulloch
11	31 October 1908	Portsmouth	A	3–2	Glen, Connelly, Jay
12	7 November 1908	Queens Park Rangers	A	0–3
13	14 November 1908	Northampton Town	A	2–3	Reid, Glen
14	16 November 1908	Exeter City	H	0–2
15	21 November 1908	New Brompton	H	1–1	Connelly
16	23 November 1908	Southend United	H	4–1	Reid, Connelly (2), Sugden
17	28 November 1908	Millwall	A	1–2	Reid
18	12 December 1908	Coventry City	A	2–1	Buxton, Badger
19	19 December 1908	Bristol Rovers	H	2–2	Reid, Connelly
20	25 December 1908	Watford	H	3–1	Connelly, Sugden, Reid
21	26 December 1908	Norwich City	A	1–6	Buxton
22	28 December 1908	Reading	H	2–3	Buxton, Reid
23	2 January 1909	Southampton	A	0–1
24	9 January 1909	Leyton	H	0–0
25	23 January 1909	West Ham United	A	0–3
26	30 January 1909	Brighton & Hove Albion	H	4–0	Reid (4)
27	13 February 1909	Plymouth Argyle	H	1–0	Reid
28	20 February 1909	Luton Town	H	2–2	Reid, Sugden
29	27 February 1909	Swindon Town	A	1–2	McKenzie
30	13 March 1909	Exeter City	A	2–1	Reid, Sugden
31	20 March 1909	Northampton Town	H	3–1	Connelly (2), Ramsden (pen)
32	27 March 1909	New Brompton	A	1–1	Sugden
33	29 March 1909	Portsmouth	H	1–2	Reid
34	31 March 1909	Crystal Palace	A	1–3	Nicholson
35	3 April 1909	Millwall	H	4–2	McIver (2, 2 pen), Nicholson, Connelly
36	9 April 1909	Norwich City	H	3–1	Sugden, Connelly, Buxton
37	10 April 1909	Southend United	A	0–1
38	12 April 1909	Watford	A	0–2
39	17 April 1909	Coventry City	H	5–2	Reid (2), Nicholson, Sugden, Connelly
40	24 April 1909	Bristol Rovers	A	2–3	Reid (2)

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Scorer
1R	16 January 1909	Gainsborough Trinity	H	2–0	Richards (2)
2R	6 February 1909	Nottingham Forest	A	0–1

Source: 100 Years of Brentford^[2]

Playing squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.		Position	Player
		GK	Willie McIver
		DF	Dave Ewing
		DF	Ernest Ramsden
		DF	Dusty Rhodes (c)
		MF	Bert Badger
		MF	John Gordon
		MF	Joe Hisbent
		MF	Jimmy Jay
		MF	Alfred Podmore
		MF	Phil Richards
		FW	Steve Buxton

No.		Position	Player
		FW	Fred Connelly
		FW	Alex Glen
		FW	Gladstone Hamilton
		FW	William Jaffrey
		FW	Thomas McKenzie
		FW	Arthur Nicholson
		FW	Geordie Reid
		FW	Joe Ryalls
		FW	Sidney Sugden
		FW	Lindsay Syrad

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.		Position	Player
		FW	Alex McCulloch (to Bradford Park Avenue)

Source: 100 Years of Brentford^[2]

Coaching staff

Name	Role
Fred Halliday	Secretary Manager
Tom Cowper	Trainer

Statistics

Appearances

McIver

Rhodes (c)

Ewing

Jay

Badger

Richards

Sugden

Connelly

Reid

Ryalls

Buxton

Brentford's highest appearance-makers in each position during the Southern League season.

Goalscorers

Pos.	Player	SL1	FAC	Total
FW	Geordie Reid	18	0	18
FW	Fred Connelly	12	0	12
FW	Sidney Sugden	9	0	9
FW	Steve Buxton	4	0	4
FW	Alex Glen	3	0	3
FW	Alex McCulloch	3	0	3
FW	Arthur Nicholson	3	0	3
GK	Willie McIver	2	0	2
HB	Phil Richards	0	2	2
HB	Bert Badger	1	0	1
HB	Jimmy Jay	1	0	1
FW	Thomas McKenzie	1	0	1
DF	Ernest Ramsden	1	0	1
FW	Joe Ryalls	1	0	1
Total		59	2	61

Players listed in italics left the club mid-season.
Source: 100 Years Of Brentford^[2]

Management

Name	Nat	From	To	Record All Comps					Record League
Name	Nat	From	To	P	W	D	L	W %	P	W	D	L	W %
Fred Halliday		2 September 1908	24 April 1909	7001420000000000000♠42	7001140000000000000♠14	7000700000000000000♠7	7001210000000000000♠21	07001333300000000000♠33.33	7001400000000000000♠40	7001130000000000000♠13	7000700000000000000♠7	7001200000000000000♠20	07001325000000000000♠32.50

Summary

Games played	42 (40 Southern League First Division, 2 FA Cup)
Games won	14 (13 Southern League First Division, 1 FA Cup)
Games drawn	7 (7 Southern League First Division, 0 FA Cup)
Games lost	21 (20 Southern League First Division, 1 FA Cup)
Goals scored	61 (59 Southern League First Division, 2 FA Cup)
Goals conceded	75 (74 Southern League First Division, 1 FA Cup)
Clean sheets	7 (6 Southern League First Division, 1 FA Cup)
Biggest league win	4–0 versus Brighton & Hove Albion, 30 January 1909
Worst league defeat	6–1 versus Norwich City, 26 December 1908
Most appearances	42, Willie McIver, Joe Ryalls (40 Southern League First Division, 2 FA Cup)
Top scorer (league)	18, Geordie Reid
Top scorer (all competitions)	18, Geordie Reid

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 White, p. 91-93.
1 2 3 4 White, Eric, ed. (1989). 100 Years Of Brentford. Brentford FC. p. 360. ISBN 0951526200.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[White91-93-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 White, p. 91-93.

[White-2] 1 2 3 4 White, Eric, ed. (1989). 100 Years Of Brentford. Brentford FC. p. 360. ISBN 0951526200.

Brentford Football Club
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General	The Club Hall of Fame All articles
History	1889–1954 1954–1986 1986–present Matches
Grounds	Griffin Park Brentford Community Stadium
Affiliated clubs	FC Midtjylland
Players	100+ appearances 25–99 appearances 1–24 appearances International Player of the Year
Rivalries	West London derby

Brentford F.C. seasons
1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–00
1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10
1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20
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1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60
1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70
1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80
1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90
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2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10
2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19