| Club: | Colchester United |
| Season: | 1951–52 |
| Chairman: | Bill Allen[1] |
| Manager: | Jimmy Allen |
| Stadium: | Layer Road |
| League: | Third Division South |
| League Result: | 10th |
| Cup1: | FA Cup |
| Cup1 Result: | 3rd round (eliminated by Barnsley) |
| League Topscorer: | Vic Keeble (16) |
| Season Topscorer: | Vic Keeble (17) |
| Highest Attendance: | 15,175 v Ipswich Town, 1 March 1952[2] |
| Lowest Attendance: | 6,128 v Watford, 3 May 1952[3] |
| Average Attendance: | 9,429[4] |
| Largest Win: | 4–1 v Bristol City, 20 October 1951; 4–1 v Reading, 3 April 1952 |
| Largest Loss: | 0–7 v Leyton Orient, 5 January 1952 |
| Pattern Name1: | Home |
| Pattern La1: | _white_stripes |
| Pattern B1: | _whitestripes |
| Pattern Ra1: | _white_stripes |
| Pattern So1: | _3whitehoops |
| Leftarm1: | 0000FF |
| Body1: | 0000FF |
| Rightarm1: | 0000FF |
| Shorts1: | FFFFFF |
| Socks1: | 0000FF |
| Alt1: | Football kit (white jersey with blue, vertical stripes; white shorts;; and blue socks with white, horizontal hoops). |
| Prevseason: | 1950–51 |
| Nextseason: | 1952–53 |
The 1951–52 season was Colchester United's tenth season in their history and their second 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. Colchester reached the third round of the FA Cup before being knocked out by Second Division side Barnsley. In the league, they bettered the previous season's 16th-placed finish by finishing 10th.
Colchester's 1951–52 season began poorly, with six defeats in the opening seven games due to an injury-ravaged squad. Rooted to the foot of the table, a mid-season revival including a double over local rivals Ipswich Town eventually saw the U's finish the season 10th in the final standings.
Vic Keeble became Colchester's first export that commanded a high transfer fee when he moved to First Division Newcastle United for a £15,000 fee in January 1952. Despite his mid-season sale, Keeble remained the top scorer for the U's with 17 goals. Manager Jimmy Allen signed Kevin McCurley from Liverpool for £750 as a replacement for Keeble in March 1952. He scored six times in eleven games during the final two months of the campaign.[5]
| Name | Position | Nationality | Place of birth | Date of birth | Apps | Goals | Signed from | Date signed | Fee | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | |||||||||||
| Frank Coombs | GK | East Ham | June 1, 1951 | 0 | 0 | Southend United | 8 March 1952 | £450 | |||
| George Wright | GK | Plymouth | June 1, 1951 | 95 | 0 | Plymouth Argyle | May 1949 | £1,000 | |||
| Defenders | |||||||||||
| George French | FB | Colchester | June 1, 1951 | 0 | 0 | West Ham United | February 1949 | Free transfer | |||
| John Harrison | FB | Leicester | June 1, 1951 | 33 | 0 | Aston Villa | 30 September 1950 | Nominal | |||
| Digger Kettle | FB | Colchester | June 1, 1951 | 165 | 1 | Arclight Sports | September 1946 | Free transfer | |||
| Phil Rookes | FB | Dulverton | June 1, 1951 | 0 | 0 | Portsmouth | July 1951 | £1,000 | |||
| Trevor Rowlands | FB | Wattstown | June 1, 1951 | 15 | 1 | Norwich City | 20 July 1950 | £1,000 | |||
| Reg Stewart | CB | Sheffield | June 1, 1951 | 99 | 0 | Sheffield Wednesday | 20 August 1949 | £1,000 | |||
| Midfielders | |||||||||||
| Harry Bearryman | WH | Wandsworth | June 1, 1951 | 194 | 9 | Chelsea | 4 July 1947 | Free transfer | |||
| Jimmy Elder | WH | Scone | June 1, 1951 | 46 | 4 | Portsmouth | 19 August 1950 | £1,000 | |||
| Trevor Harris | WH | Colchester | June 1, 1951 | 0 | 0 | Amateur | July 1951 | Free transfer | |||
| Ron Hunt | WH | Colchester | June 1, 1951 | 0 | 0 | Amateur | October 1951 | Free transfer | |||
| Len Jones | WH | Barnsley | June 1, 1951 | 43 | 3 | Southend United | 19 August 1950 | Undisclosed | |||
| John Moore | WH | Chiswick | June 1, 1951 | 13 | 0 | Brentford | 8 September 1949 | £1,000 | |||
| Harry Wilkinson | WH | Sunderland | June 1, 1951 | 0 | 0 | Exeter City | 1951 | Free transfer | |||
| Forwards | |||||||||||
| Peter Aitchison | WG | Harlow | June 1, 1951 | 0 | 0 | Amateur | August 1950 | Free transfer | |||
| John Church | WG | Lowestoft | June 1, 1951 | 42 | 10 | Norwich City | 19 August 1950 | £1,000 | |||
| Dick Cullum | FW | Colchester | June 1, 1951 | 0 | 0 | Colchester Colts | 28 March 1951 | Free transfer | |||
| Adam Davidson | WG | Invergowrie | June 1, 1951 | 0 | 0 | Sheffield Wednesday | August 1951 | Free transfer | |||
| Jack McClelland | FW | Colchester | June 1, 1951 | 0 | 0 | Amateur | Summer 1951 | Free transfer | |||
| Kevin McCurley | CF | Consett | June 1, 1951 | 0 | 0 | Liverpool | June 1951 | £750 | |||
| Johnny McKim | IF | Greenock | June 1, 1951 | 24 | 8 | Chelsea | 19 August 1950 | £1,000 | |||
| Augie Scott | IF | Sunderland | June 1, 1951 | 0 | 0 | Southampton | 18 August 1951 | £2,000 | |||
| Arthur Turner | CF | Poplar | June 1, 1951 | 155 | 98 | Charlton Athletic | September 1946 | Free transfer | |||
| Peter Wright | WG | Colchester | June 1, 1951 | 0 | 0 | Amateur | November 1951 | Free transfer | |||
| Date | Position | Nationality | Name | From | Fee | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | WH | Harry Wilkinson | Exeter City | Free transfer | [7] | ||
| Summer 1951 | FW | Jack McClelland | Amateur | Free transfer | [8] [9] | ||
| June 1951 | CF | Kevin McCurley | Liverpool | £750 | [10] | ||
| July 1951 | WH | Trevor Harris | Amateur | Free transfer | [11] | ||
| July 1951 | FB | Phil Rookes | Portsmouth | £1,000 | [12] | ||
| August 1951 | WG | Adam Davidson | Sheffield Wednesday | Free transfer | [13] | ||
| 18 August 1951 | IF | Augie Scott | Southampton | £2,000 | [14] | ||
| October 1951 | WH | Ron Hunt | Amateur | Free transfer | [15] | ||
| November 1951 | WG | Peter Wright | Amateur | Free transfer | [16] | ||
| 8 March 1952 | GK | Frank Coombs | Southend United | £450 | [17] |
| Date | Position | Nationality | Name | To | Fee | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| End of season | IF | Bob Curry | Clacton Town | Player-manager | [18] | ||
| August 1951 | WG | Bob Allen | Bedford Town | Free transfer | [19] | ||
| 2 November 1951 | WG | Dennis Hillman | Gillingham | Free transfer | [20] | ||
| 29 January 1952 | CF | Vic Keeble | Newcastle United | £15,000 | [21] | ||
| 23 February 1952 | IF | Fred Cutting | Great Yarmouth Town | Free transfer | [22] |
See main article: 1951–52 Football League.
See main article: 1951–52 FA Cup.
[6] [23] |-!colspan="14"|Players who appeared for Colchester who left during the season|}
| Place | Nationality | Position | Name | Third Division South | FA Cup | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CF | Vic Keeble | 16 | 1 | 17 | ||
| 2 | IF | Johnny McKim | 10 | 0 | 10 | ||
| 3 | IF | Fred Cutting | 9 | 0 | 9 | ||
| 4 | CF | Kevin McCurley | 6 | 0 | 6 | ||
| IF | Augie Scott | 4 | 2 | 6 | |||
| 6 | WG | John Church | 3 | 0 | 3 | ||
| WH | Jimmy Elder | 2 | 1 | 3 | |||
| 8 | WG | Peter Aitchison | 2 | 0 | 2 | ||
| CF | Arthur Turner | 2 | 0 | 2 | |||
| 10 | WG | Adam Davidson | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| WH | Len Jones | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||
| FB | Trevor Rowlands | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||
| Own goals | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| TOTALS | 56 | 5 | 61 | ||||
| Nationality | Position | Name | Third Division South | FA Cup | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=60 style="background: #FFEE99" | width=60 style="background: #FF8888" | width=60 style="background: #FFEE99" | width=60 style="background: #FF8888" | width=60 style="background: #FFEE99" | width=60 style="background: #FF8888" | ||||||
| CB | Reg Stewart | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||||
| TOTALS | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |||||
Number of games goalkeepers kept a clean sheet.[25]
| Place | Nationality | Player | Third Division South | FA Cup | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | George Wright | 9 | 0 | 9 | ||
| 2 | Frank Coombs | 5 | 0 | 5 | ||
| TOTALS | 14 | 0 | 14 | |||
Players making their first-team Colchester United debut in a fully competitive match.[26]
| Position | Nationality | Player | Date | Opponent | Ground | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FB | Phil Rookes | 18 August 1951 | Brighton & Hove Albion | Goldstone Ground | |||
| IF | Augie Scott | 18 August 1951 | Brighton & Hove Albion | Goldstone Ground | |||
| WG | Adam Davidson | 13 September 1951 | Plymouth Argyle | Layer Road | |||
| WG | Peter Aitchison | 25 December 1951 | Gillingham | Priestfield Stadium | |||
| GK | Frank Coombs | 8 March 1952 | Bristol City | Ashton Gate Stadium | |||
| WH | Ron Hunt | 15 March 1952 | Port Vale | Layer Road | |||
| CF | Kevin McCurley | 22 March 1952 | Northampton Town | County Ground | |||
| WG | Peter Wright | 22 March 1952 | Northampton Town | County Ground |
Books
Websites