1954–55 Colchester United F.C. season

Colchester United

1954–55 season
Chairman	Bill Allen[1]
Manager	Jack Butler (until 14 January) Alf Miller & Claude Orrin (January to March) Benny Fenton (from March)
Stadium	Layer Road
Third Division South	24th
FA Cup	1st round (eliminated by Reading)
Top goalscorer	League: Ken Plant (13) All: Ken Plant (13)
Highest home attendance	10,809 v Southend United, 8 April 1955[2]
Lowest home attendance	3,517 v Torquay United, 31 March 1955[3]
Average home league attendance	7,284[4]
Biggest win	4–1 v Northampton Town, 4 September 1954
Biggest defeat	1–6 v Northampton Town, 18 April 1955
Home colours
← 1953–54 1955–56 →

The 1954–55 season was Colchester United's 13th season in their history and their fifth 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. Following a replay, Colchester were knocked out of the FA Cup in the first round by Reading. Meanwhile, in the league, Colchester's poor run of form had Jack Butler allowed indefinite leave following a bout of ill health. After resigning in January 1955, Colchester appointed Benny Fenton as his replacement, and despite an upturn in form, a run of defeats at the end of the season meant Colchester needed to apply for re-election for the second successive season. Once more, all clubs applying for re-election were successful, with Colchester receiving 44 votes, behind Third Division North clubs Grimsby Town (49 votes) and Chester City (47 votes), but eleven votes ahead of division rivals Walsall.^[5]

Season overview

Eight successive league defeats from October to December saw Colchester bottom of the league for Christmas Day, and the plight of the club had begun to have an effect on the health of manager Jack Butler. After falling ill in November, Butler was handed indefinite leave until by the club until the end of his contract in 1956. Suffering from a mental breakdown, Butler eventually resigned on 14 January 1955, while club secretary Claude Orrin was charged with finding a new manager.

During this transitional period, Orrin and Alf Miller took charge of the first-team, before appointing Benny Fenton as manager after attracting 48 applications for the vacancy. Despite a brief boost in on-field fortunes in March and early April, performances tailed off as Colchester picked up just one point in the final eight games of the campaign. The club finished bottom of the Football League and were again required to seek re-election, in which they were successful.^[6]

Players

As of match played 4 May 1955.^[7]

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

No. Position Player GK John Wright DF Roy Bicknell DF Bob Dale DF Brian Dobson DF Austin Dunne DF Jimmy Elder DF Benny Fenton DF George French DF Trevor Harris DF John Harrison DF Bertie Hill DF Billy Hunt

No. Position Player DF Ron Hunt DF Fred Lewis DF Frank McCourt DF Reg Stewart FW Cliff Birch FW Russell Blake FW Mike Grice FW Paddy Leonard FW Kevin McCurley FW Johnny McKim FW Ken Plant FW Peter Wright

Match details

Third Division South

Third Division South results round by round

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	43	44	45	46
Ground	H	A	A	H	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	H	A
Result	D	D	D	L	W	L	L	L	D	W	L	W	W	L	L	L	L	L	L	L	L	D	D	D	W	W	L	L	W	D	D	W	D	D	L	L	D	W	L	L	L	L	L	D	L	L
Position	14	13	15	19	11	16	19	20	20	18	22	19	14	18	19	21	23	23	23	23	23	23	23	23	23	21	22	23	23	23	22	21	21	22	23	23	23	22	23	23	23	23	24	24	24	24

Last updated: 10 March 2016.
Source:
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Loss; W = Win; P = Postponed.

  Win   Draw   Loss

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv1	Pts2	Promotion, qualification or relegation
20	Crystal Palace	46	11	16	19	52	80	0.650	38
21	Swindon Town	46	11	15	20	46	64	0.719	37
22	Exeter City	46	11	15	20	47	73	0.644	37
23	Walsall	46	10	14	22	75	86	0.872	34	Re-elected to Third Division South
24	Colchester United	46	9	13	24	53	91	0.582	31

^{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

FA Cup

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

^[7][8]

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Third Division South		FA Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
	GK		John Wright	2	0	2	0	0	0
	DF		Bob Dale	34	4	34	4	0	0
	DF		Austin Dunne	1	0	1	0	0	0
	DF		Jimmy Elder	30	3	28	2	2	1
	DF		Benny Fenton	11	2	11	2	0	0
	DF		Trevor Harris	1	0	1	0	0	0
	DF		John Harrison	35	0	35	0	0	0
	DF		Bertie Hill	21	0	19	0	2	0
	DF		Ron Hunt	26	0	26	0	0	0
	DF		Fred Lewis	41	0	39	0	2	0
	DF		Frank McCourt	12	0	12	0	0	0
	DF		Reg Stewart	47	1	45	1	2	0
	FW		Cliff Birch	14	4	12	3	2	1
	FW		Mike Grice	40	7	38	6	2	1
	FW		Paddy Leonard	34	5	34	5	0	0
	FW		Kevin McCurley	18	1	16	1	2	0
	FW		Johnny McKim	34	8	32	7	2	1
	FW		Ken Plant	42	13	40	13	2	0
	FW		Peter Wright	23	9	23	9	0	0
Players who appeared for Colchester who left during the season
	GK		Jimmy Kirk	32	0	32	0	0	0
	GK		George Wright	14	0	12	0	2	0
	DF		Ron George	8	0	6	0	2	0
	DF		Digger Kettle	2	0	2	0	0	0
	FW		Peter Aitchison	6	0	6	0	0	0

Goalscorers

^[8]

Place	Nation	Position	Name	Third Division South	FA Cup	Total
1		FW	Ken Plant	13	0	13
2		FW	Peter Wright	9	0	9
3		FW	Johnny McKim	7	1	8
4		FW	Mike Grice	6	1	7
5		FW	Paddy Leonard	5	0	5
6		FW	Cliff Birch	3	1	4
		DF	Bob Dale	4	0	4
8		DF	Jimmy Elder	2	1	3
9		DF	Benny Fenton	2	0	2
10		FW	Kevin McCurley	1	0	1
		DF	Reg Stewart	1	0	1
			Own goals	0	0	0
			TOTALS	53	4	57

Disciplinary record

^[9]

Nationality	Position	Player	Third Division South		FA Cup		Total
		TOTALS	0	0	0	0	0	0

Captains

Number of games played as team captain.^[10]

Place	Nation	Position	Player	Third Division South	FA Cup	Total
			Not recorded	46	2	48

Player debuts

Players making their first-team Colchester United debut in a fully competitive match.^[11]

Position	Player	Date	Opponent	Ground	Notes
GK	Jimmy Kirk	21 August 1954	Swindon Town	Layer Road
DF	Frank McCourt	21 August 1954	Swindon Town	Layer Road
FW	Cliff Birch	21 August 1954	Swindon Town	Layer Road
FW	Paddy Leonard	21 August 1954	Swindon Town	Layer Road
DF	Ron George	16 October 1954	Brentford	Griffin Park
DF	Benny Fenton	5 March 1955	Brentford	Layer Road
DF	Austin Dunne	9 April 1955	Gillingham	Priestfield
DF	Trevor Harris	18 April 1955	Northampton Town	County Ground
GK	John Wright	30 April 1955	Southampton	Layer Road

Transfers and contracts

In

Date	Pos	Player	From	Fee	Ref
1 June 1954	DF	Frank McCourt	Manchester City	Nominal	[12]
1 June 1954	FW	Cliff Birch	Newport County	£1,000	[13]
1 July 1954	DF	Ron George	Crystal Palace	Free transfer	[14]
1 July 1954	FW	Paddy Leonard	Bristol Rovers	Free transfer	[15]
21 August 1954	GK	Jimmy Kirk	Bury	Free transfer	[16]
5 March 1955	DF	Benny Fenton	Charlton Athletic	£500	[17]

Out

Date	Pos	Player	To	Fee	Ref
29 April 1954	DF	Harry Bearryman	Metropolitan Police	Free transfer	[18]
31 May 1954	GK	Frank Coombs	Gravesend & Northfleet	Released	[19]
31 May 1954	DF	Doug Keene	Dartford	Released	[20]
31 May 1954	FW	John Church	Crittall Athletic	Released	[21]
6 November 1954	FW	Peter Aitchison	Sittingbourne	Free transfer	[22]
5 February 1955	DF	Ron George	Sudbury Town	Free transfer	[14]
19 February 1955	DF	Digger Kettle	Sudbury Town	Free transfer	[23]
11 April 1955	GK	George Wright	Sudbury Town	Free transfer	[24]
28 April 1955	GK	Jimmy Kirk	Torquay United	Free transfer	[16]

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: 1955". 11v11.com. Retrieved 27 March 2016. 
• "Statistics 1954/55". The Millwall History Files. Retrieved 27 March 2016. 
• "1950/51 to 1959/60" (PDF). Watford Football Club archive 1881–2015. Retrieved 27 March 2016. 

Specific