1925–26 season of Brentford F.C.
Brentford 1925–26 football season
Brentford 1925–26 season Chairman Alderman A.W. Bradford Manager Fred Halliday Stadium Griffin Park Third Division South 18th FA Cup Second round Top goalscorer League: Watkins (11) All: Watkins (11) Highest home attendance 16,893 Lowest home attendance 5,632 Average home league attendance 9,146
During the 1925–26 English football season, Brentford competed in the Football League Third Division South and finished in 18th place, conceding a club record 94 goals.
Season summary Brentford's 1925–26 team photograph. Brentford manager Fred Halliday overhauled the club's squad during the 1925 off-season, with all but seven players being released.[1] Despite running a deficit of £6,000 (equivalent to £432,300 in 2024), the board of directors pledged a "substantial sum of money" for the transfer of quality players and in came new goalkeeper John Thomson, four full backs, four half backs and new forwards Bill Finlayson and Bert Young.[1] The club's colours were changed to the now-traditional red-and-white stripes, black shorts and black socks.[1]
9 defeats from the opening 10 matches of the season left Brentford rooted to the bottom of the Third Division South and forward Reginald Parker (one of the club's highest scorers during the previous two seasons) elected to transfer to South Shields.[2] Griffin Park was closed by the Football League for the first and only time due to crowd disturbance during a 6–1 thrashing at the hands of Brighton & Hove Albion on 12 September 1925. The ground was reopened 14 days later. The poor run ended with the first victory of the season on 17 October, 2–1 over Bristol Rovers .[2] Five wins in the following seven matches lifted the Bees out of the re-election places,[2] with forwards Jack Lane , Bill Finlayson and full back Percival Whitton (who had been deployed up front by manager Halliday) all coming into form, with half back Alex Graham converting a number of penalties.
By 20 February 1926, a run of just five defeats in 19 matches lifted Brentford to 13th in the table.[2] The signing of forward Ernie Watkins from Southend United for a then-club record fee of £1,000 in January 1928 proved to be money well-spent,[7] with Watkins scoring 11 goals in his first 12 matches, including a hat-trick in the Bees' biggest victory of the season, 5–1 versus Norwich City on 2 April. The Bees' form petered out in the final two months of the season, winning just 3 of the final 12 matches to finish 18th with the worst defensive record in the division.[1] [2] The 94 goals conceded during the 1925–26 season is a club record.[8]
League table
Source: [citation needed ]
Results Brentford's goal tally listed first. Legend No. Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorer(s) 1 29 August 1925 Northampton Town H 3–4 12,317 Allen (2), Graham 2 2 September 1925 Southend United A 1–3 8,224 Allen 3 5 September 1925 Aberdare Athletic A 0–3 4,140 4 7 September 1925 Southend United H 1–3 6,409 Douglas 5 12 September 1925 Brighton & Hove Albion H 1–6 8,803 Parker 6 19 September 1925 Watford A 2–2 4,771 Young , Parker 7 23 September 1925 Plymouth Argyle A 0–4 8,384 8 26 September 1925 Queens Park Rangers H 1–2 9,719 Beacham 9 3 October 1925 Crystal Palace A 0–2 15,724 10 10 October 1925 Bristol City A 0–3 11,095 11 17 October 1925 Bristol Rovers A 2–1 7,095 Lane , Whitton 12 24 October 1925 Swindon Town H 3–1 8,282 Whitton , Finlayson , Graham (pen) 13 31 October 1925 Newport County A 3–2 4,933 Lane (2), Finlayson 14 7 November 1925 Luton Town H 1–0 7,533 Lane 15 14 November 1925 Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic A 2–3 4,530 Whitton (2) 16 21 November 1925 Charlton Athletic H 4–0 8,017 Whitton , Allen, Lane , Graham (pen) 17 5 December 1925 Merthyr Town H 1–1 6,932 Graham (pen) 18 19 December 1925 Reading H 1–0 7,064 Graham 19 25 December 1925 Millwall A 1–2 13,333 Hendren 20 26 December 1925 Millwall H 2–0 16,893 Allen (2) 21 28 December 1925 Exeter City A 1–6 5,493 Finlayson 22 2 January 1926 Northampton Town A 1–6 4,649 Allen 23 9 January 1926 Gillingham A 3–1 6,093 Watkins, Douglas (2) 24 16 January 1926 Aberdare Athletic H 1–0 5,632 Douglas 25 23 January 1926 Brighton & Hove Albion A 2–3 6,107 Lane , Watkins 26 30 January 1926 Watford H 4–3 7,711 Graham (2), Rae , Hendren 27 6 February 1926 Queens Park Rangers A 1–1 13,085 Plunkett (og ) 28 13 February 1926 Crystal Palace H 3–2 10,140 Watkins (2), Douglas 29 20 February 1926 Bristol City H 2–1 11,956 Watkins, Graham 30 27 February 1926 Bristol Rovers H 4–1 9,902 Watkins, Douglas, Graham (pen), Rae 31 6 March 1926 Swindon Town A 1–2 4,932 Hendren 32 13 March 1926 Newport County H 3–3 9,643 Watkins (2), Rae 33 20 March 1926 Luton Town A 2–4 6,072 Lane , Till (og ) 34 27 March 1926 Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic H 0–2 7,687 35 2 April 1926 Norwich City H 5–1 11,463 Hendren , Watkins (3) 36 3 April 1926 Charlton Athletic A 2–0 6,812 Young , Rae 37 5 April 1926 Norwich City A 0–1 11,694 38 10 April 1926 Gillingham H 0–0 7,942 39 17 April 1926 Merthyr Town A 0–6 2,329 40 24 April 1926 Exeter City H 2–0 7,889 Finlayson , Douglas 41 26 April 1926 Plymouth Argyle H 2–2 10,123 Finlayson , Douglas 42 1 May 1926 Reading A 1–7 17,432 Lane
FA Cup Sources: Statto, 11v11, 100 Years Of Brentford Playing squad Players' ages are as of the opening day of the 1925–26 season. Sources: Timeless Bees,[9] Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939,[10] 100 Years Of Brentford Coaching staff Name Role Fred Halliday Manager Tom Ratcliff Trainer Alex Graham Assistant trainer
Statistics Appearances and goals Brentford's highest appearance-makers in each position during the Football League season.
Pos Nat Name League FA Cup Total Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals GK Harry Stanford 2 0 0 0 2 0 GK John Thomson 40 0 2 0 42 0 DF James Donnelly 39 0 2 0 41 0 DF James McClennon 24 0 2 0 26 0 DF Jack Price 12 0 0 0 12 0 HB Jack Beacham 4 1 0 0 4 1 HB Tommy Cain 2 0 0 0 2 0 HB Evan Evans 7 0 1 0 8 0 HB Alex Graham 25 9 2 1 27 10 HB Alan Noble 31 0 1 0 32 0 HB Harry Rae 37 4 1 0 38 4 HB Jimmy Walton 36 0 1 0 37 0 FW Jack Allen 11 7 2 0 13 7 FW Alfred Douglas 27 8 0 0 27 8 FW Bill Finlayson 21 5 1 0 22 5 FW Patsy Hendren 28 5 2 0 30 5 FW Jack Lane 38 8 2 1 40 9 FW Reginald Parker 5 2 — 5 2 FW Ernie Watkins 19 11 — 19 11 FW Frank Watson 7 0 0 0 7 0 FW Percy Whitton 25 5 2 2 27 7 FW Bert Young 22 2 1 0 23 2
Players listed in italics left the club mid-season. Source: 100 Years of Brentford Goalscorers Players listed in italics left the club mid-season. Source: 100 Years of Brentford Management Name Nat From To Record All Comps Record League P W D L W % P W D L W % Fred Halliday 29 August 1925 1 May 1926 44 17 6 21 0 38.64 42 16 6 20 0 38.10
Summary Games played 44 (42 Third Division South , 2 FA Cup ) Games won 17 (16 Third Division South, 1 FA Cup) Games drawn 6 (6 Third Division South, 0 FA Cup) Games lost 21 (20 Third Division South, 1 FA Cup) Goals scored 73 (69 Third Division South, 4 FA Cup) Goals conceded 97 (94 Third Division South, 3 FA Cup) Clean sheets 8 (8 Third Division South, 0 FA Cup) Biggest league win 5–1 versus Norwich City , 2 April 1926 Worst league defeat 6–0 versus Merthyr Town , 2 April 1926; 7–1 versus Reading , 1 May 1926 Most appearances 42, John Thomson (40 Third Division South, 2 FA Cup) Top scorer (league) 11, Ernie Watkins Top scorer (all competitions) 11, Ernie Watkins
Transfers & loans Cricketers are not included in this list. References ^ a b c d White, Eric, ed. (1989). 100 Years Of Brentford . Brentford FC. pp. 119–120. ISBN 0951526200 . ^ a b c d e "Brentford results for the 1925–1926 season". Statto.com . Archived from the original on 20 March 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2016 . ^ a b Brentford Football Club Official Matchday Magazine versus Hull City 07/05/05 . 2005. pp. 46–47. ^ Haynes, Graham (1998). A-Z Of Bees: Brentford Encyclopedia . Harefield, Middlesex: Yore Publications. p. 79. ISBN 1 874427 57 7 . ^ Haynes, Graham; Coumbe, Frank (2006). Timeless Bees: Brentford F.C. Who's Who 1920–2006 . Yore Publications. ISBN 978-0955294914 . ^ Joyce, Michael (2012). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939 . Nottingham: Tony Brown. ISBN 190589161X . ^ a b Litster, John. Record of Pre-War Scottish League Players . Norwich: PM Publications. ^ "Brentford's New Back". Chiswick Times . 3 July 1925. ^ "Whitton Percy Newport County 1922". Vintage Footballers . Retrieved 4 January 2021 . ^ "Public Practice Game Tomorrow". Chiswick Times . 21 August 1925. ^ "Brentford Football Club". Chiswick Times . 14 August 1925. ^ "Sports Items". Chiswick Times . 28 August 1925. ^ a b Dorey, F.W. (1925). Season 1925–26 Brentford Football Club Official Handbook . p. 19.
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